Asshole cab drivers

3 July 2010          9:59pm          Old Baneshwor

Today was a pretty full day.  This morning I got up uncomfortably early (so, at around 7) to go to a conference at the Nepal Tourism Board, hosted by Martin Chautari and Social Science Baha.  It's actually a two-day conference, but I think I'm going to miss the second half of tomorrow because of our program.  The conference so far was excellent; there have been many interesting papers presented and lots of great comments/discussion.  The very first paper presented, however, elicited some very strong reactions.  One guy even gave a dramatic exit after his comments (which I thought was a little overdramatic).  Anyway, it was really good.

During lunch I made myself call Kashish's friend, whose number he had given me a couple of days ago (I say 'made' because I hate calling strangers).  I started talking with the guy to set up a meeting for tomorrow.  He had mentioned that he was going to be at the Martin Chautari conference tomorrow, and then stopped and asked, "Wait, are you here?"  I looked out the window and there was a guy on a cell phone, looking for someone.  When he turned, I waved, and voila!  It was him!  Pretty funny.  Anyway, I'm meeting with him tomorrow during one of the conference breaks.

After the end of today's session our group of 5 walked to Cafe Kaldi (they must get real sick of us there) to use internet.  I really should do some actual work, though.  Around 7 Martin had to meet some friends, and the rest of us went to Fire and Ice for some pizza.  We ended up getting 3, which were delicious.  Well, I can vouch for two of them, at least.  The third one had onions and olives on it.

As we heard shouts coming from across the street, we went to Himalayan Java after to catch the rest of the game (Argentina vs. Germany) and use a bit more wi-fi.  Unfortunately, all of the networks available sucked and we couldn't connect to anything.  On the bright side, Germany won 4-0!

On my way back home I had an interesting experience with a cab driver.  When I first told him my destination and asked him how much (well, I had to ask him twice), he said 400.  I said no way and offered 250, which he promptly took.  That made me know that he knew he was trying to rip me off.  The ride was uneventful, but when we got to my house and I handed him 250, he turns and says, "No, 350."  Asshole tried to get an extra hundred out of me.  Nice try, buddy.  I told him no way, that he already accepted 250, and hopped out of the cab.  Luckily one of the servants was unlocking the door as I was still in the cab so I could just walk in.  That would have been awkward to stand at the gate with the taxi driver still there.