The first time I visited Nepal was in 1997, when I was invited by my TABLA guru to come and live with him in Nepal and study with him . Climbing was also HIGH on my agenda list. After almost a year of studies, I met my wife now, then she was my Travel agent. I had to book my ticket as a terrible ear infection had taken a terrible toll on me. She was the agent who booked it.
After arriving back in the states I had to figure out a way to get back to Nepal and retrieve my fiance . This was no easy task. Working and taking some loans and ccds , i finally got enough support to go back to Nepal and marry my fiance.
A year and a half it took, but it was well worth it. But since the 1st trip there the quality of HASHISH was forever embedded in my mind.
Nepal is a place a "mecca" for hash tourism, it would seem trekking and hash go hand in hand. When trekking one can view side of mountains covered in cannabis, hemp and pot both. cannabis grows everywhere in Nepal, when driving along roads there are a few police check points , they check for bombs (maoist) but to my surpise they have cannabis plants growing right in front of the police check stations.
As I said it grows everywhere, and any efforts in erradicating it is neutralized by seasonal crops popping up in every nook and cranny. Some plots are said to be hundreds of years old. these are the original "LANDRACE SATIVA". Never inbred nor tainted. THere are many of these around Nepal, especially in western Nepal where tourists never go.
The politics of ganja and hash only goes back about 35 years. But cannabis comes from nepal and central China, sorta like a "cannabis alley" if you will. It extends from central and south China to Nepal and N. India. Cannabis was first made illegal in Nepal by the USA government in 1974. The government paid the KING then 40 millions dollats to make it illegal so that smugglers would stop bringing it to the states. even the King smuggled it here with the NEPALI SOCCER TEAM once. Since then hash has been the forbidden fruit , whilst still being tolerated by the police. All they don't want is for it not to be smuggled out. They really don't care if your a tourist who is looking for and smoking hash, I have never been extorted nor repremended for hash. . It's still basically legal, and can be obtained in many ways. Usually obtaining ganja is more difficult as most of it is "hand rubbbed" in to charas and sold as a secondary item. The hash on the other hand is easily obtained and many different qualities. One can find so much hash in KATHMANDU it's hard to say no to the vendors who push it, as I always like to have many varieties.
Hash shops were plentiful until 1974 , when one could walk into a shop and sample the best hash , in a safe , humble , and non-intimidating way. Now one obtains it from heroin thugs. Unless you are smart enough to go to Pashupahtinath where the SADHUS sit and smoke to their hearts content. This is the place to get the best, babas go wild for good hash. Creamy, soft in it's texture, the aroma is the apithemy of good, quality hashish no matter who you get it from. I am always buying and getting great hash given to me. Since I have a house in KATHMANDU, my mother in law always has a cousin bring me the quality hash from South nepal, the TERAI, near the INDIAN border where it's smuggled out to INdia. I lovingly sit on my rooftop ,smoking hash from my chillum, looking at the rooftops of the HIMALAYAS, I used to view Everest, now a house sits in front , thwarting my view, nevertheless, I still see, LANGTANG , GANESH ANNAPURNA, MAKALU and DHAULAGIRI.
Each morning is spent sipping hot "CHIA" or chai in Hindi, delicious sweet buffalo milk tea. A cup of tea and creamy hash is best . I like a good breakfast usually , so i get on my motorbike and ride thru the chaotic traffic to get to my coffee shop, Nepal actually grows some really good coffee as well. Sitting on the veranda of the coffee shop the traffic is congested below me with honking horns and people walking in and out of traffic, loud horns bellow from huge trucks to a loud trumpeting sound, now I beleive they are banned, they were easily at 20 decibals. Makes your ears ring. There are no traffic laws in Kathmandu, but there are the normal striped streets and lights although noone uses them correctly. best thing about riding a motorbike is you can weave in and out of traffic easily. If you take a taxi, you just entise the driver to ripp you off and not use the meter, always ask for the meter, but more than likely they will tell you it's broken, I got so fed up with them my sister gave me her motorbike to ride.
My house isn't too far from the "tourist area" but far enough to be glad. I like going there to THAMEL only to shop for gifts and perhaps get some clothes made. I have found the best tailors in BAGHBAZAAR. where I had a custom suite made for about 150$ , let me tell you that this is the finest suite I have ever seen, and it was tailored to my specs. WOW.. Nepali tailors are some of the worlds finest as well as Indian tailors. Each time i go I get some kurtas made and nice light weight silk shirts. Beware however, some shops have changing rooms for girls, and yes peep holes. My tailor friends even invited me to share the secret taboo of peeping on a german girl changing, I thought this is insane! What if you got caught, the police would shut it all down!
Shopping is insane, haggling at every corner, but speak a little Nepali and they will give you a locals price. I always tell them in Nepali, if you don't give me local price, my Nepali wife will come down and scream at you , LOUD! lol. My quest has brought me to some fine ART galleries. I like water colors and acrylics.
My passion in Nepal though is that of INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC. I study tabla and have been a student for almost 15 years. One of my gurus live in KAthmandu and each time I get taught by this master . Sometimes he has thrown me to the lions to perform, i have even performed for the KING of NEpal on the PALACE grounds! I was so nervous I thought I would throw up. Even my guru performed. I am still a beginner after all these years.
My next passion of course is the HASHISH, and trying and acquring all the various qualities. IT's so saturated with hash one can get many varieties each day, and let me tell you the JAPANESE are insatiable in their appetite for HASH. They smoke all day, constantly. Japanese love that Nepalese HASH. WHew. However, so DO I! I usually get it for free, but when I am approached by a dealer it's hard to say no when they flash it in your nose, haha, I could easily stuff it up my nose and love it! maliable when warmed with the hand, fresh creamy and the smell of the GODS. I could easily presume there is nothing like it in the world.. but I have a new idea, I will take bubble bags on my next return and start my own "BUBBLE BAG" hash center, lol. They have never seen or heard of this extraction process as it's all hand rubbed.
But I think some NEPALESE BUBBLE HASH would start a heavenly trend in Nepal. I just have to introduce it.
Nepali is derived from HINDI, they use the same alphabet, and syllables, a Nepali can understand and speak HINDI fluently but an INDIAN cannot understand NEpali. Most Nepali are by defualt , fluent in 4 languages. My wife can speak 5 languages. Each caste has their own language, there are probably more than 200 languages spoken in Nepal. Of course Nepal is a primarily HINDU and BUDDHIST country. BUDDHA WAS BORN in Nepal, In a place called LUMBINI. Buddha was enlightened in NEPAL and gave his first sermon in SARANATH , INdia, right outside Varanasi. But it's also the last HINDU monarchy with a king. THe current king was ousted, but became king only when his BROTHER was assasinated about 6 years ago.
Next time, i will do a documentary on "STRAIN HUNTERS IN NEPAL" the landrace sativa. This is an untapped resource of pure sativas and will probably never be exhausted nor tainted from prying western politics. There must be a documentary made on "CANNABIS IN NEPAL". it would be very informative.
If you ever get a chance go!
After arriving back in the states I had to figure out a way to get back to Nepal and retrieve my fiance . This was no easy task. Working and taking some loans and ccds , i finally got enough support to go back to Nepal and marry my fiance.
A year and a half it took, but it was well worth it. But since the 1st trip there the quality of HASHISH was forever embedded in my mind.
Nepal is a place a "mecca" for hash tourism, it would seem trekking and hash go hand in hand. When trekking one can view side of mountains covered in cannabis, hemp and pot both. cannabis grows everywhere in Nepal, when driving along roads there are a few police check points , they check for bombs (maoist) but to my surpise they have cannabis plants growing right in front of the police check stations.
As I said it grows everywhere, and any efforts in erradicating it is neutralized by seasonal crops popping up in every nook and cranny. Some plots are said to be hundreds of years old. these are the original "LANDRACE SATIVA". Never inbred nor tainted. THere are many of these around Nepal, especially in western Nepal where tourists never go.
The politics of ganja and hash only goes back about 35 years. But cannabis comes from nepal and central China, sorta like a "cannabis alley" if you will. It extends from central and south China to Nepal and N. India. Cannabis was first made illegal in Nepal by the USA government in 1974. The government paid the KING then 40 millions dollats to make it illegal so that smugglers would stop bringing it to the states. even the King smuggled it here with the NEPALI SOCCER TEAM once. Since then hash has been the forbidden fruit , whilst still being tolerated by the police. All they don't want is for it not to be smuggled out. They really don't care if your a tourist who is looking for and smoking hash, I have never been extorted nor repremended for hash. . It's still basically legal, and can be obtained in many ways. Usually obtaining ganja is more difficult as most of it is "hand rubbbed" in to charas and sold as a secondary item. The hash on the other hand is easily obtained and many different qualities. One can find so much hash in KATHMANDU it's hard to say no to the vendors who push it, as I always like to have many varieties.
Hash shops were plentiful until 1974 , when one could walk into a shop and sample the best hash , in a safe , humble , and non-intimidating way. Now one obtains it from heroin thugs. Unless you are smart enough to go to Pashupahtinath where the SADHUS sit and smoke to their hearts content. This is the place to get the best, babas go wild for good hash. Creamy, soft in it's texture, the aroma is the apithemy of good, quality hashish no matter who you get it from. I am always buying and getting great hash given to me. Since I have a house in KATHMANDU, my mother in law always has a cousin bring me the quality hash from South nepal, the TERAI, near the INDIAN border where it's smuggled out to INdia. I lovingly sit on my rooftop ,smoking hash from my chillum, looking at the rooftops of the HIMALAYAS, I used to view Everest, now a house sits in front , thwarting my view, nevertheless, I still see, LANGTANG , GANESH ANNAPURNA, MAKALU and DHAULAGIRI.
Each morning is spent sipping hot "CHIA" or chai in Hindi, delicious sweet buffalo milk tea. A cup of tea and creamy hash is best . I like a good breakfast usually , so i get on my motorbike and ride thru the chaotic traffic to get to my coffee shop, Nepal actually grows some really good coffee as well. Sitting on the veranda of the coffee shop the traffic is congested below me with honking horns and people walking in and out of traffic, loud horns bellow from huge trucks to a loud trumpeting sound, now I beleive they are banned, they were easily at 20 decibals. Makes your ears ring. There are no traffic laws in Kathmandu, but there are the normal striped streets and lights although noone uses them correctly. best thing about riding a motorbike is you can weave in and out of traffic easily. If you take a taxi, you just entise the driver to ripp you off and not use the meter, always ask for the meter, but more than likely they will tell you it's broken, I got so fed up with them my sister gave me her motorbike to ride.
My house isn't too far from the "tourist area" but far enough to be glad. I like going there to THAMEL only to shop for gifts and perhaps get some clothes made. I have found the best tailors in BAGHBAZAAR. where I had a custom suite made for about 150$ , let me tell you that this is the finest suite I have ever seen, and it was tailored to my specs. WOW.. Nepali tailors are some of the worlds finest as well as Indian tailors. Each time i go I get some kurtas made and nice light weight silk shirts. Beware however, some shops have changing rooms for girls, and yes peep holes. My tailor friends even invited me to share the secret taboo of peeping on a german girl changing, I thought this is insane! What if you got caught, the police would shut it all down!
Shopping is insane, haggling at every corner, but speak a little Nepali and they will give you a locals price. I always tell them in Nepali, if you don't give me local price, my Nepali wife will come down and scream at you , LOUD! lol. My quest has brought me to some fine ART galleries. I like water colors and acrylics.
My passion in Nepal though is that of INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC. I study tabla and have been a student for almost 15 years. One of my gurus live in KAthmandu and each time I get taught by this master . Sometimes he has thrown me to the lions to perform, i have even performed for the KING of NEpal on the PALACE grounds! I was so nervous I thought I would throw up. Even my guru performed. I am still a beginner after all these years.
My next passion of course is the HASHISH, and trying and acquring all the various qualities. IT's so saturated with hash one can get many varieties each day, and let me tell you the JAPANESE are insatiable in their appetite for HASH. They smoke all day, constantly. Japanese love that Nepalese HASH. WHew. However, so DO I! I usually get it for free, but when I am approached by a dealer it's hard to say no when they flash it in your nose, haha, I could easily stuff it up my nose and love it! maliable when warmed with the hand, fresh creamy and the smell of the GODS. I could easily presume there is nothing like it in the world.. but I have a new idea, I will take bubble bags on my next return and start my own "BUBBLE BAG" hash center, lol. They have never seen or heard of this extraction process as it's all hand rubbed.
But I think some NEPALESE BUBBLE HASH would start a heavenly trend in Nepal. I just have to introduce it.
Nepali is derived from HINDI, they use the same alphabet, and syllables, a Nepali can understand and speak HINDI fluently but an INDIAN cannot understand NEpali. Most Nepali are by defualt , fluent in 4 languages. My wife can speak 5 languages. Each caste has their own language, there are probably more than 200 languages spoken in Nepal. Of course Nepal is a primarily HINDU and BUDDHIST country. BUDDHA WAS BORN in Nepal, In a place called LUMBINI. Buddha was enlightened in NEPAL and gave his first sermon in SARANATH , INdia, right outside Varanasi. But it's also the last HINDU monarchy with a king. THe current king was ousted, but became king only when his BROTHER was assasinated about 6 years ago.
Next time, i will do a documentary on "STRAIN HUNTERS IN NEPAL" the landrace sativa. This is an untapped resource of pure sativas and will probably never be exhausted nor tainted from prying western politics. There must be a documentary made on "CANNABIS IN NEPAL". it would be very informative.
If you ever get a chance go!
