Trip to Nepal
October 2006
Day 21-22 - Pokhara
Pokhara is a town built around a lake (Few Tal, and other spellings) and with mountains in the distance. It was a great town full of restaurants, crafts tchotchkes and as the starting point for many adventure travels. For tourists, there was pretty much one central area where you kept running into the same people. In fact, there were so many shops providing the same service, that when I dropped off some laundry to be cleaned, I searched for quite a while to find the place again. Like leaving your car in a mall and forgetting where you parked it. As with the rest of Nepal, no streets, no street numbers.
I was there for two nights, and on the second night the heavens opened up. The power was out and the town was dark, with the main street turned into a river. It was quite dramatic. The more relaxed thing to do, if doing a trip, is fly into Kathmandu, then fly from there into Pokhara, and begin your trip from there.
The town wraps itself around part of the lake. As you go around the lake, the paved area turns into isolated houses and dirt roads. | |||||
In the center of the lake is a religious prayer area on an island. Folks line up for a spot on a boat, dressed in their colorful day wear. |
|||||
Ram and I rented mountain bikes (20Rs per hour - no ID or deposit required) and rode out of the tourist area. This cow was happily taking advantage of the transportation strike. | |||||
On the bike ride, we saw this truck which had been stopped and stoned for violating the transportation strike. A good crowd gathered to discuss it. | |||||
A typical view of a vendor and cart, restaurant with green plants, and more shops next to it, with people sitting outside. |
|||||
I stayed here in the Khantipur Hotel while in Pokhara - it was very nicely landscaped and the rooms were nice, with balconies. |
|||||
Clearly stated costs. | |||||
I rented a bike a second time, and rode out to the Mountaineering Museum. It was difficult to find, and I was the only non-Nepali on the streets. But eventually I reached it, and there was a school trip there too. I parked my bike by the cliimbing wall (yes, I climbed it, sure; pictures to prove it? Um, no) and recommend this as an interesting activity. There's also a restaurant where I ate in the sun (momo's and orange nehi). While I ate, a woman with a small scythe, mowed the lawn. |
|||||
I arrived at the bus park for my bus to Royal Chitwan National Park; I'd gotten the ticket the day before, and it plainly said bus leaves at 7:15am, so I arrived at 6:45am. The bus park manager informed me that the bus would be leaving at 8:15am. So I watched the sun rise and spoke to a girl who did NGO type work in Bombay. She had a great attitude, and was a complete flake. On the right is my tourist bus. Whoo Hoo - meet the new bus, same as the old bus (The Kinks). |
|||||