Down and Out in Kathmandu

In my experience, bad decisions have dire consequences. If they didn't, I’d make a lot more of them. But, occasionally, bad decisions and dire consequences have an unexpectedly rewarding outcome…

A few years back, I went to Nepal to trek. Although I'd been there several times before, I learned that crime - especially on popular but isolated trekking routes - was on the rise. I'd read this article that said you should spread your valuables around your body and baggage to safeguard at least some money in case of a robbery.

A flickering, dim 5 watt bulb appeared over my head, and I decided right then and there to outsmart even the most cunning Maoists by hiding the vast bulk of my money - two 100 US Dollar bills - in my boots. This was the pre-credit card me, so this was all I had to see me through a week of clean mountain air, followed by a few days of pampering in a small family-run hotel in capital Kathmandu called The Nice Yak.

I won't bore you with the trekking. It was nice. But on the last day of the trek, as I returned to Pokhara town, Nepal's second largest, I went to the money changer, confidently pulled back my inserts, and instead of finding two crisp Ben Franklins, I found a clump of light green muck. Apparently, in the course of 120km, I had managed to grind my money into a very expensive stain inside my boots.

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I sank in a stunned, unwashed heap on the stoop outside the money changer. The money changer guy even brought me a cup of tea to relieve my visible shock. He just smiled and shook his head in a way that means, "You idiot." in all languages.

"Okay. Think. THINK!" I told myself, trying to assess my situation. My flight home out of Kathmandu wasn't for another four days. There was no earlier flight with that airline. I had to get to the capital and find a place to eat and house myself until my aerial salvation. I checked my pockets - and I had exactly NO money left. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Duit habis.

I was smelly, broke and homeless. My grandfather was right in predicting how I'd end up if I didn't finish college. Who would have guessed his prediction would have come true so early - and so suddenly - in life?