An Unexpected Rest (Day 5)

I was nearly out of money so we had to wait for the Nepal Bank to open at 10AM. It was nice to wait, really. We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast and checked emails on expensive internet. All was going well until I climbed the stairs back to our room and started packing up my bag.

Krissy later joined me and stated that phrase nobody wants to hear: "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" I already knew what this meant.

"Oh no, the bank is closed isn't it?" I said, panic apparent in my voice.

Krissy nods her head. "Well, what's the good news then?" I ask.

"There is a bank in this village," she adds brightly.

It turns our Nepali holidays occur on an almost weekly basis causing all public facilities to shut down. Does it matter that today is a Tuesday? Not at all! This is because Nepali's have their very own calendar.

Krissy and I pooled our money together and we found out that we had around 3000 rupees. The bill for lodges has been around 1700. The next bank is a two day walk. I'll spare you all from doing math and just tell you: we didn't have enough $$$ to keep walking.

That means that we had to spend another night at the Hotel Shangri-La. Of all places to be stuck, Shangri-La was not so bad. Good food, nice people and soft mattresses. Just keep an eye out for centipedes. Yuck.

After the bank closure news I promptly went back to bed and took a nap while Krissy went out to explore the village and find a quiet place to read her book. It was good for both of us to have a rest day. Yesterday involved a lot of walking and getting right back on the trail may have been met with some undesirable results. Now that we're all relaxed we're very anxious to move on and see the next beautiful place.