Chillin' at Chauhatter

The family at Gyalbo Guest House in Chauhatter was very happy to see us. We ended up here on a recommendation from a friend of Raju’s. We occupied two rooms with 2 single beds in each room. The walls were wood and the paint job looked like it was white washed. The sign out front boast of internet, hot showers and STD/ISTD. The only thing I could think of was Sexually Transmitted Disease and an International version of STD. Upon investigation it was some kind of telephone service. We did pass by a room and spotted a computer with someone surfing the net. So I asked if I could use it and was informed that it was available for 60 rupees per hour. I knelt down behind the keyboard and was guided through the dial up process. I forgot how slow dial up was. I decided that all I would do is a quick face book post and that took about 10 minutes. I also decided that dial up was not a good use of time even though there really wasn’t much to do till morning.

We ordered supper and waited and waited and waited. I ordered chow mien as my rice quota had long been surpassed. As I waited, I noticed an open door to what looked like a utility shed. I stuck my head in and noticed a fire inside with two girls cooking something. We exchanged “Nameste” and were invited to site is a small plank close to the fire. I didn’t hesitate and was soon nestled between two cooks. Apparently there was some sort of festival going on and they were making a festival treat called selroti that looked like a fat pretzel only in a circle and not in a figure 8. The treat was made from rice flour and sugar and they offered me one. I was starving so I snapped up their offering and consumed while I enjoyed the fire and watching them. The whole process seemed so surreal. On an open fire, in a shed, one girl was scooping up batter and skillfully placing it in the hot oil, in the pan, over the open fire. When done, the other girl was fishing them out with a stick. What struck me as really odd was the girl with the batter in her right hand, was sporting a cell phone with a built in flash light in the end, and using it to see what her other hand was doing. It seemed like no matter what your economical situation was dishing out to you, a cell phone was still in the budget.

I eventually got my slightly warm chow mien and my mistake was to think of my wife’s chow mien when I was ordering it. Instead of bean sprouts, they used noodles and my desire for noodles was on par with my desire for more rice. You have to order breakfast ahead of time so I ordered a double cheese omelette and so did Aaron. We were blessed with some extra blankets and when we did our daily teeth ritual we noticed that there was no sink to spit out your tooth paste so we just spewed it into the toilet. The “Hot shower” as advertised was a modern device that you plugged in for hot water on demand. It was in a very awkward place and it didn’t seem worth it. It was very cold that night but the extra blanket help stave off Jack Frost.

When I finally went to see what was taking so long, in the kitchen, with my breakfast, I noticed an omelette sitting out in the open, on a steel plate in a room that was about 2C. The other was still in the frying pan. They motion to us that breakfast is ready and Aaron and I sit down. I end up with the first omelette and Aaron ends up with the steamy one. Mine was cold and I have a disdain for cold food that is supposed to be hot. At home when you order an omelette you usually get toast and some kind of potato with it. Here you just get an omelette. After about 4 bites, we ask for another set of omelettes. Just then the Nepalese guys sit down and they have some kind of meal presented to them that also blesses them with some kind of bread that resemble a mini pizza looking for some toppings. After they notice we are staring and salivating, they offer us some and we snatch it up to each with our now hot omelette.

They have a stable out back with cows in it.

It is time to go and it starts to snow. Raju thinks that we can’t go because of the “Sheila.” I finally convince him to go and as we are leaving, it stops snowing but the ground has a pretty white blanket covering it. Our total bill was over 3,000 rupees ($38) for shelter and food. The shelter portion was 400 rupees ($5) for each westerner and 250 for the Nepalese. We found that other places have higher prices for westerners as well. At one internet cafe, 40 rupees for 4 hours for Nepalese but 2 rupees per minute for foreigners like me.