Thursday, May 20, 2004

Civilised Terrorism

If you're a foreigner in Nepal, the Maoist brand of terrorism certainly seems a civilised one. Only a couple of hours before we visited one temple in Pokhara, the Maosits had detonated a small bomb in a tiny governmnet office. But before setting it off, they announced their intentions to all present, and kindly asked all to evacuate the premises.

The Maoists will often stop tourists while they're trekking and demand a thousand rupee 'donation'. But after you've contributed, you are thanked for your support and written a receipt so you won't have to pay again next time. We even heard of people being invited to join their robbers for lunch.

We saw the burnt out shells of a number of vehicles beside the roads. The Maoists are notorioius for setting fire to buses and cars, but never with people inside, and only those cars caught driving on Maoist-appointed national strike days.



And it was just one of these strike days that forced us to extend our stay in the Annapurnas. As we approached the end of our trek, rumours were flying around about strikes and a clash in the area between the Maoists and the military. Perhaps it was just common sense, perhaps it was the idylic mountain setting we found ourselves in, perhaps the good company of our fellow hikers, or perhaps it was just the deep-fried Mars Bars (don't knock them'till you've tried them!). Whatever the reason, we decided to play it safe and stay in the tiny village of ____ for another couple of days.



After two days, a lot of good food, countless games of cards and a swim under the nearby waterfall, we walked the last half hour to the taxi stand and got a ride back to Pokhara.

This time there had been no clash, and we'd had a good time of it all. But the reality is that for the local people, Nepal's problems are certainly no joke. You didn't have to be terribly perceptive to see it in the faces of the villagers and shopkeepers, who would sigh in resignation and mourn the glory days before 9/11, and before the political break down, when tourists were many and the milk and honey flowed. It's hard to see a quick end to the stalemate, but Good Luck Nepal!

Posted by Andrew Wallace @ 8:53 AM