Collected my Nepalese visa today and am ready to get moving again with a brief detour to Everest Base Camp.
I’ve always childishly amused myself by giving bogus and increasingly outlandish occupations on visa application forms (gymnast, chimney sweep etc), though at the Nepalese embassy this morning i nearly got caught out by actually having a visa application interview; something that’s never happened to me before. I was asked into the consular officials office, sat down and the conversation went something like this;
“Hello Mr Anderson, in what city in England do you live?”
“London”
“So you are a Welder?”
“Yes”
“What do you Weld?”
“umm… Sheet metal”
“What kind of metal?”
“Um, Stainless steel. For fences, mainly people’s gardens” (Shit! )
“People don’t use wood in London?”
“Yes, some do. But sheet metal is becoming more popular”
“Ah, so it is the fashion yes?”
“I do okay”
He seemed to buy it and gave me a 60 day visa, though I might stick to plain “student” from here on in…