THE MAP

 

 

THE MAP

 

It started most innocently. My wife and I ordered take-out from our favorite Chinese restaurant. The food, as usual, was absolutely delicious. After stuffing ourselves, we reached for the four fortune cookies included with the order.

We decided the ones that she selected would be my ‘fortune’ and the two I was left with would be hers.

My wife’s first cookie: “The fortune you seek is located in another fortune cookie.”

My first cookie: “he who follows dirt is losing ground.”

The third cookie: “You’ll be hungry again in an hour.”

The fortune cookie guys had a sense of humor. My second cookie contained a folded note!

 

I opened it and saw a map. Of what? It peaked my curiosity. For the next few weeks, I did extensive research, but found nothing. It just served to increase my curiosity and my frustration.

One day, I accessed a site called, “The Ten Best Places to Visit in Nepal”. One of the ten listings had an asterisk next to it: ‘Chilanchu Bahal’. It was a beautiful temple in Katmandu.

I clicked the site and a mysterious note popped up on the screen with detailed instructions on how to find further information.

My curiosity reached a peak. It was as if someone or something was contacting me through the internet. But, why me? How?

My wife and I decided to spend our vacation in Nepal to further pursue this mystery. Most of our friends said it would be stupid to do so, but being adventurous, it seemed to be a great idea.

We booked our flights on Nepal Airlines and flew to Katmandu.

 

The trip was long, boring and grueling with several plane changes. When we finally arrived at our hotel in Katmandu, we fell exhausted on our bed and slept through the night.

The next day we went to the temple. We scrupulously followed the map. Eventually, we found other directions, hiding behind an enormous foot of the Buddha. It directed us to a run-down neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.

There we found yet another note! It read, “How stupid are you? Did you ever once think how rash your decision was? Get a life!”

Feeling like utter fools, we booked the next flight home. We vowed never to be so gullible again.

Ripley said, “There’s a sucker born every day!” Boy, was he right; we were a pair of those suckers!

Did I disappoint you, dear reader?

Sorry……