Great it is Great to be a Foreigner

As much as I bitch about always being ripped off by merchants etc, it is great being a foreigner here because of the interest people have in you. I was walking down a little dirt road out in a tiny village a few weeks back and a sweet girl struck up a conversation with me. The next thing you know, I am enjoying a cup of tea on her front porch. She shared with me what her life was like and we enjoyed a few laughs.

Two days ago we were visiting a monestary and we met this group of small kids a couple of times as we walked around. Later, we were walking down this path and we ran into them again. They asked me to climb a tree and get some branches which they needed for medicine. This was not going to happen. One of the girls was quite small and I lifted her up (much to her friends amusement), and they got their leaves. Again, we were invited back to their houses. At one we were given fruit and the other we enjoyed a cup of tea with them and their parents. Pretty good stuff.

Update

Yesterday we saw an enormous group of Maoist heading our way so we decided to go down a little alley that ended up being a dead end. We had nowhere to go so we figured we would wait until the Maoist were gone. It probably was completly safe, but you never know. I started chatting with a guy who was really nice...taught Japanese and Dance. We ended up going back to his house and looking at the pottery his family makes (which was quite good) and his drawings (which weren't). Either way a nice time which came from hiding from Maoist and being open to making friends.