I was worse today, much worse, + as a result we decided to make only the short trip to the Govt Lodge at Gora Tabela, another hour further up the valley. Obviously there was no rush to get there, + I had no desire to crawl out from my bag. My stomach trouble, in the mysterious way it does, had faded, but my cold had become a real hum-dinger, closer to flu, with the aches it was dragging out of my bones. We left around 9, + took longer than the prescribed hour. Pleasant enough… or it would have been had I felt better.
Gora Tabela too was attractively located by the river. For the first few hours we lazed in the sunshine. I was reading Eric Newby’s “A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush”, a delightful + frightfully English book. During all our time travelling, it has generally been the case that the more English the book, the more I have liked it. I like being carried away to a more familiar place, I suppose. Even tho’ the book is almost entirely about Afghanistan, its terms of reference are English.
As the day wore on, it began to cool, + we were eventually forced indoors out of the wind. There, it was not nearly so pleasant. The place was full of men in Tibetan dress – they reminded me of extras from a Russian costume drama – + they were mostly drunk. We were pleased to have company – a young Israeli couple arrived in the afternoon, + they too announced they were staying. They were heading in the same direction as us, the first we have met. They turned out, regrettably, to be unattractive… I mean intellectually. The girl in particular was rude + bossy. I may be blinded by the particular, but I think it is an Israeli (not Jewish) national characteristic – arrogance. The whole country, + these 2 in particular, are so damn sure they are right, that there’s no possibility of error. Past mistakes, possibly; present ones, never. It’s a galling attitude for people like me, who are inclined to be their friends, to put up with.
As the evening wore on, a fire was lit, making things more cheerful, + dinner was served: enormous, rather tasteless, portions. Afterwards, Val + I attempted to play cards, but it was too dark, + we soon abandoned our efforts. I sat for a while, then went to bed. Once I had gone thro’ the difficult business of removing my clothes, + getting zipped into my bag without freezing in the intervening period, I felt blissful. I was warm, + thinking pleasant thoughts, + looking forward to the good night’s sleep I was sure was on its way. I was wrong, however. Before sleep came I was too hot, unbearably hot, + that escalated to a fever, in which I and my bag were soon drenched. And there was nothing I could do – it was far too cold outside the bag to advance even an arm. And, as is so often the case, discomfort piled on discomfort when the fleas, bed-bugs or whatever they are that had already been irritating me – either permanent inhabitants of my bag or fellow-travellers picked up along the way, decided to launch a full-scale attack. I was in despair, but rescued eventually by exhaustion + sleep.
Hm – the business with the Israelis is interersting. I pride myself on my lack of racism, and this very much includes anti-semitism. But I do run up against the problem of Israel, for it has so often been the case that (as with South Africans at the time) there is a decided chip on the shoulder, which is most unattractive, a sort of Millwall appraoch (a notorious |Londong football club, whose motto is “Everyone hates us, we don’t care.”
And I do have to take care over proclaiming my liberal credenmtials, when I am ware that I have also railed against Italians, Americans, muslims… One is so affected by personal encounters.
