Okay, so the banda is over. It was pretty serious. The previous post was written on Tuesday evening, there were no open internet places during the day. The banda was in full effect again yesterday. Thamel was fairly well shut down till about 6. I spent most of the day with four of the other volunteers. We were cycling from Mike's Breakfast in Naxal to Durbar Marg, rode past one protest twice (don't ask, someone said they knew where they were going and didn't) and got caught in a HUGE protest on Durbar Marg. They went ahead and I got out the camera. I can feel this making ma nervous. It was pretty interesting. People were asking me questions, trying to explain the situation. I didn't feel like telling them that Democracy, the one they are looking for, is an Ideal, and doesn't exist. I spent alot of time trying to figure out why the Five Party Banda is so much more effective than the Maoist ones, and this is the best explanation that I can come up with: The Five Parties are everywhere. They live in your house, they are you neighbor, your friend, your sister, brother, etc. When they call a banda, they will know every shop that is open, every driver of every car, motorbike. So it is dangerous to open, "they" will know. The Maoist, on the other hand, operate in the rural areas (primarily). They won't know every shop that is open, who is driving. Their methods of dealing with those that they catch is far more severe, but they are not the most popular people right now, so the people of Nepal are less inclined to listen to them. That being said, the three day Banda they called for next week is happening. Welcome to Nepal. What to do?