Pokhara

I had a sharp shock back to the reality of the political situation of this country. As I was walking down to one of the many French style bakeries I was quickly approached by several heavily armed members of the military. Since I have been here I have noticed the army on nearly every corner holding machine guns or standing behind very large portable cannon things (I have no idea what they are but they look like cannons). But as none of them have ever really spoken to me I have just put it all to the back of my mind. Not today. I was told that I was not allowed to go any further as a riot had just broken out. I find that hard to believe as this place is so tranquil and the citizens so happy. I decided it was not a good idea to argue with a man that could hardly understand me while holding a very large very mean looking gun. The only thing left to do was walk away and spend the afternoon on a boat seeing the many riverside temples. Interestingly enough I scored a skipper that was currently studying at university and could speak perfect English. He quietly told me that there was no riot. He laughed at my surprise and explained that it was a group of students demonstrating against the new king. This new king was put into power when his brother and the rest of his family were mysteriously killed. My helmsman explained that everyone loved the old king and that he was a wonderful man. He had created an independent government to himself that would run the country. On the other hand this new king had, once in power, dissolved the government. Unlike Australia or England there is no freedom of speech in Nepal. The newspapers and television stations are run by the king. If anyone says anything negative or bad about the new king they can get into some serious trouble. So that is way the army said there was a riot, but you didn’t hear it from him or from me.

Done