Two things, economic poverty and cultural poverty.

We are poor, literally, with every economic indicators. We know we are poor and those Americans (every white guys are Americans, and blacks are always Africans, for us) are really certainly definitely inadvertently super rich. So that gives us an eternal right to loot every white guy, or else why would they even bother to come to the poorest place on earth, if they don’t have all those dollars to blow away? This is typical Nepali mindset, and is clearly evident in all the state policies to local business policies. So nevermind those poor local guards, they are just doing their jobs. Felt bad? Wait for our cultural poverty that governs our economic poverty.

We are culturally poor, because we are morally corrupt, and vice-versa. We are poorly educated. We don’t read much. We have nothing to be proud of. We cannot give anything to the world in terms of enriching its cultural heritage. We use things and gadgets made with European and American technology, we watch Hollywood, we follow English and French trends, we dream of white stars, and we are so proud of the white players and their (ours) teams. We will never admit it because of some masochistic ego, but this gives rise to some inferiority complex, being of an inferior race and watching all those white guys have all the fun. So we overcharge all those white species, whenever they happen to be in our country to show them who is the boss around here. This gives a sense of explicit superiority for us. Kind of a payback, you see.

So, as long as you white people happen to be rich and travelling we won’t bother not overcharging you, and who knows, some of the extra dollars you pay might as well go into the hands that really need some of them. So, until Nepalis’ get a little more culturally civilized, brace yourself to pay a little more every time. I know you guys won’t mind, you guys are nice.

And for that temple thing, you don’t need to worry, you haven’t missed anything substantial. There is nothing much in those temples anyway. The real wisdom and salvation is in our scriptures and holy books, if you’re looking for them. I am not the perfect guy to comment on the religion thing because I probably hate them all, but Hinduism, as often as not, do stupid things. Forget about you, they ask even Hindus to do stupid things. Buddhism is fundamentally different. You don’t need to be a Buddhist to practice Buddhism. But as a non-born Hindu, I doubt if you can ever practice Hinduism. They won’t let you.