'Beautiful things can also be built from stones that are placed in one's way.' - J. W. v. Goethe

Fever - Hospital - Needles - Typhus...

First of all: I'm feeling much better now, so no need to worry! I've received a few infusions and now have to take a bunch of medications for some time, but then everything should be fine again.

But actually, I don't want to go into detail here and don't want to write about it anymore because I don't necessarily want to remember this part of my journey. And above all, Nepal doesn't deserve to be associated with negative memories.

Some bad things happened to me in the past few days, and I wasn't feeling well - but still, I can take away so many positive things from the situation:

A young student who approached me when I was sitting by the lakeshore crying because I wasn't feeling well and I had once again exaggerated my illness, and who wasted his short vacation to uplift me with nice conversations.

A young woman who was admitted to the hospital herself and simply gave me her local SIM card so that I can make cheap calls to Austria and who took better care of me than some nurses.

A hotel owner and his family who are so concerned about their guests that their son came to the hospital for me, waited there for several hours with me, and calmed me down until the doctor finally came and gave me information about my illness. He took care of all the paperwork and medication stuff for me because I only understood half of it, and he played the role of a taxi driver for me.

The nice wife of the hotel owner who makes sure that I get food, which is delivered to my room every day, even though the hotel doesn't actually offer meals.

A Nepalese pastor who supplied me with cookies during my second hospital visit and reassured me that he had already had both typhoid fever and malaria at the same time and survived.

And a dear host family who is already anxiously waiting for my return to Kathmandu.

Nepal may be one of the poorest countries in terms of economy, but certainly one of the richest when it comes to humanity.

The least I owe to the people here is my deep gratitude and connection to this wonderful country.

Although my stay here in Pokhara turned out differently than I had imagined, things always turn out differently than one thinks. My biggest fear was getting sick while traveling (I only thought of getting the flu or something, not typhoid fever...), but I managed that too and have grown a little bit from it. And as my dear friend Claudia B. wrote, nothing can easily knock me off my feet now ;) 

Attached are a few photos taken before I got sick in Pokhara. The second largest city in Nepal is truly a beautiful place. I actually came here to see a Himalayan panorama, but it has been so cloudy that I could only catch a glimpse of a mountain peak. Nevertheless, I really like it here. On my first day, I strolled along the busy street by the lakeshore and ate at a Tibetan restaurant (traditional Tibetan tea is not recommended, it somehow tastes like cheese...). On my second day, I did a little hike to the World Peace Pagoda, one of over 80 world peace pagodas built around the world. I returned by a small rowboat that I shared with a woman from Vorarlberg and her friend. After that, I treated myself to a massage at 'Helping Hands'. An organization that provides fair job opportunities for blind people and people with other disabilities, as they are often still heavily discriminated against in Nepal. I also had some good food.

Well, that's all I could do. But I really enjoyed the little things I did here and I'm looking forward to the rest of my time in Nepal.