Impulse buy of the day

In the evenings so far I've been lucky enough to have a couple of other medical elective students to go out for dinner with, but now that they've left for the heights of Everest, I have much more time on my hands. So, after some advice from friendly locals, I bought a guitar.

One of the things that immediately strikes you about Nepal is the people. I experienced this last time when I got lost in the city centre and asked for directions. After seeing that I looked pretty confused by the directions, I was escorted to my destination by the quickest route possible.

So, while I was in a coffee shop at the weekend, I asked if the staff knew where I could buy a guitar. They drew me a map, wrote down the road name in Nepali (so I could show to someone on the street) and recommended at least 4 different shops. So I set off full of coffee, breakfast and toast (from Chikusa cafe) and pretty soon found myself at an intersection with 5 roads spanning out like a star from the centre. At this point I would have normally given up, but I showed my bit of paper to someone on the street, and again was escorted a couple of roads until I was in the guitar shop. After some playing, comparing guitars and negotiating, I got the one above for around $30 (£17)!

Thanks to Lami from the street (at least I think that's what their name was), I now have a shiny (although slightly dusty) new guitar to entertain the guests of the hostel with.