Nepali casinos and the missing Jackson

Namaste all! Today is one of my last days here in Nepal (its Nepali Mothers day...happy Nepali Mothers Day, ma!) an it feels pretty good actually...have seen all the sights, seen the crazy hospital and am ready to come back to civlization.

One thing I didn't get to exerience was a Nepali casino - there are just a few, and this Aussie guy from the hospital whom I became mates with (yes, mates) was keen on going (yeah, thats right, keen...he's aussie). And apparently they had poker, so I was gonna take 'em for everything they were worth (good attitude in a poverty stricken 4th world country, right?)

Turns out their "poker" is a version called caribbean stud, not texas hold 'em (the popular type in the states). I've played this kind before but didn't remember the rules quite right...I lost half my gambling money on the first hand and left that evil table for the rest of the evening. The dealer actually laughed at me 'cause I didn't play right (he didn't explain the important fact that you can buy new cards for your hand...grrrr).

So my mate is really keen on roullette - seems like a silly game to me, really. Its like, we could put some numbers on something and randomly select them and see who has those numbers - oh wait, we call that bingo and the state lottery. Thats about as much fun as roulette seems to me. Although its totally random where the balls rolls...he's like, "here, use this piece of paper, write down the numbers that come up as we go along....then don't bet on those numbers later because its less likely they'll come up again anytime soon." I say to the 26 year old who has a masters degree in medical informatics (of all things), "the odds are the same for any number on any spin...its completely random and inependent...it doesn't matter which number you pick...I don't think I'm going to write down any record of whats been coming up" He told me I was wrong - I ordered him a double rum and coke in an attempt to end the conversation right then and there...and it worked.

Nepali casino's are weird...its all you can eat food, drink and cigarettes, but for free. There were some seriously hammered hindu folk in there...one sad sight was of a wasted bengali with his 6 year old son sitting next to him on the blackjack table - it was 11pm on a Friday night, poor kid. Made me and the Aussie rather angry...but we watched a nepali hip hop show, ate some strange buffet food (prolly not the best idea). I took all my money at the end of the night ($5 at this point) and put it on my birthday number 29 - would've paid out $5 times 35 if it landed on it...ball landed on 28, lol! The crowd collectively groaned at the near hit...was a good time though...

Then some unpleasantness today...came back from some sightseeing with my sherpa master (today is the weekend - one day only, saturday). Came home and needed something from wallet - noticed $20 (USD) was missing. Looked all over for it; no way my family could steal from me, its just impossible. But couldnt find it - could have either been the maid or some riff-raff that snuck in while I was away overnight (but I always lock my door!). The only person with access to it is the live-in maid. So what to do - just forget about the $20, or bring it up with master sherpa and see what he thinks, potentially ruining our lovely relationship days before I leave. I choose the latter, being the bad choice-maker that I am...

So its just me and him eating lunch at the table. I butter him up by giving him this huge wad of nepali cash, which was my rent payment over this time. He seems happy - and then I bring up the $20. I explain I know none of his family members would have taken it, and maybe he had some insight into who might've - maybe some neighboring teens that broke in while I was trekking or something.

He stops eating (and this guy looooves to eat). Puts down fork...looks out window. Turns and says of all the people who have stayed with him, he has never heard of anything like this...uh...crap...maybe should've gone with former in penultimate paragraph. He looks angry but mostly distraught. Is he made at me? I apologize profusely and tell him I didn't even wanna bring it up...but it was bothering me so I decided to. I ruined his lunch - he either thinks I'm dishonest or that his maid is a theif. Good job dum-dum...unfortunately there's no class in med school entitled, "Introduction to basic and polite human relations". If there were, it might have a lecture suggesting you don't accuse your host family of stealing in middle of lunch to a starving sherpa who just spent 3 hours taking you out sight-seeing to the temple where he spends every morning praying. Ughh....I truly am a foreigner in this country.

I excused myself from the table, apologized, and came here to the internet cafe...I think its cool, but we'll see how things are when I get back.

Its been 21 days since I've been in Nepal and haven't had the runs.