I Predict a Riot I thought I'd take a moment out to write about my experiences of the political situation here. I've read a bit about the politics here, but not enough to form any real opinion about it. Apparently, government corruption has created a lot of dissent, resulting in bandhs (strikes), protests, and the formation of a Maoist rebellion. During my trek, I passed several Maoist areas and a Maoist checkpoint, but thankfully, no one was there, saving me the hassle of being extorted money for their cause. From a tourist point of view, one of the most visible aspects of the uprising is the military presence. There are several military checkpoints on the road, causing severe delays. Tourist buses get waved through, but still have to queue up in often lengthy lines to pass the checkpoints. Most people use the stops as an opportunity for a toilet break, to stretch, or to buy food from bus vendors roaming around. A common military roadblock consists of a dozen or so heavily armed soldiers, some military barricades, and lots of road debris. Some soldiers interrogate the occupants of vehicles, while others just standby watching intently. Road debris, either military roadblock devices or any large junk items, are strategically placed on a stretch of road so only a single lane of vehicles may pass through while swerving slowly around the objects. Sometimes the debris stretches right across an entire town. It really disrupts traffic and makes going anywhere difficult (though pedestrians are usually free to roam through). Sometimes the roadblocks are in the middle of nowhere, but they're always at the entrance to every town or village. For major towns or cities, there are facilities for soldiers near the checkpoints, often heavily fortified by multiple layers of barbed wire and fences. And I really stress heavy. I saw one building with more fences and barbed wire than Auschwitz. I almost couldn't see the facility itself with the 10 barbed wire fences in front. In many other checkpoints, I would see sandbag bunkers, complete with high-calibre machines gun peaking out from the center. And I've seen more different types of automatic weapons than I have in my whole life. It looks like Yugoslavia in the 1990's - like there's a serious war going on, but unlike Yugoslavia, there's nothing happening, though I must be fair in mentioning that past conflicts in war torn areas have claimed the lives of 11,000 Nepal’s in the past 10 years. The army personnel are looking for Maoists, but seriously, Maoists don't look any different from any typical Nepali person. I talked to some people about it, always receiving in return a sarcastic response about the situation. I could only imagine the public dissent regarding the vast amount of money being spent on the army. Well, for the longest time I didn't see any real political action in Nepal; although I could somewhat feel the tension. When I came back from trekking, there was a major headline - 13 people were killed at a festival when things got out of hand and the army responded with excessive force. Large backlash protests throughout the country ensued. There were protests in Pokhara, a major city I rested up in after trekking, but it was in another part of the city and I didn't see anything. On my way to Royal Chitwan National Park however, I did see large mini-armies of riot control soldiers as I passed through some towns. Yuan was actually in Kathmandu at the time, and was at the center of one riot, standing on the side and filming it. I thought she was crazy until one morning in central Kathmandu. I was waiting for my breakfast to be cooked at a canteen. Food is always made on the spot Nepal and on average takes 20 minutes after ordering to be ready, so I took a walk around the area. To my surprise, I saw some stones being hurled from a school onto the street and several students standing on the roof. Before I knew it, all the shops had their metal doors pulled part way down, and the army had accumulated in the distance. Things didn't look like they were really escalating, so I walked over to investigate after finishing breakfast. The road had been closed, and in the distance down the road from the army, I could see a fire set in the middle of the road and a large number of protestors. Looking around at the locals, I could see that many people gathered to watch, while some others casually walked on by like it was a common occurrence. I walked up to the army, snapped some pictures, and waited for something to happen for a while before walking away. The next morning, there were a few bandh/strikes happening around central Kathmandu, forcing my taxi to take really rough alternate roads as I went about town. So that's the piece of the action I saw, and that's probably why every country has a travel warning strongly advising its citizens not to travel to Nepal. The U.S. re-issued its travel warning just a week ago. It made the front page of the Kathmandu Post (which is only 12 pages!), but it's big news for a country that depends heavily on tourism. And yes, tourism has been decimated. I can't tell you how many tourist establishments and accommodations I visited where my friends and I were the only patrons or guests. So yes, on one hand it's great to enjoy Nepal without all the tourists. Yet on the other hand, it also dismays me to see the economy in such shambles and seeing its formerly bright citizens in such dismal moods.