Day 73

Still feeling a bit anxious. I've got some unanswered questions. India remains a bit of a sore point... I think I'll just go to Delhi and get a new passport, since my current passport is just about out of pages. But that's a motherfucker: It will take three weeks to be printed, at least, and I will have to pay $105 for the thing. And I have to have some photos taken, I have to adjust my itinerary to pick it up, I have to get some references... and worst of all I have to travel without a passport for three weeks.

And I don't know how long I will stay on the subcontinent. I know that I really ought to leave India sometime around August 14. It seems that I can enter Pakistan around that date, and stick around for a month after I enter. But honestly, I have NO IDEA how the Pakistani visa really works. I might get 30 days of stay following my entry, while I might have to exit on August 14, no matter WHEN I enter. The latter possibility would really force me to move fast, if true, while the former would allow me to stick around that particular war zone until the middle of September. But do I want to be in such a horrible place for a whole month?

And what happens after Pakistan. I have been denied entry to Iran, with no hope of appeal. So my overland trek will have to end in Islamabad. One possibility is to fly to Bahrain, which is a hub for flights heading to Europe and the middle east. And if I take a short layover in that city, I can actually save a few bucks on a flight to Turkey or to the continent.

But where can I connect to? I would want to get back on land as soon as possible, so I could fly to either Istanbul (the original plan for post-Iran travel), or even to Cairo, and work my way up to Europe by land or sea.

Europe, meanwhile, is not a real destination for me. When I get there I plan to visit a friend in Paris, and to take a cheap Thomas Cook flight to Halifax from London.

Anyways... I'm still in Pokhara. I've leaving to India first thing tomorrow morning. I wish I could stay here for a bit longer, since it's a really great "hangout" (like Kathmandu, but cleaner). And while food/Internet/supplies are more expensive than in the Big-K, my hotel is pretty cheap, and stuff away from the backpacker ghetto is quite affordable.