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Lots to cath up on, I will do my best. We left Kathmandu and headed to Pohkarra for a few days of relaxing in the mountains. Pohkarra is 200 km west of Kathmandu and takes 7 hours by bus to get there. It was a beautiful scenic bus ride winding alongside a river and up through the mountains. We did another over night trek in Sarangkot our guide was amazing, so funny and very informative. He stopped occassionally to try and scare us or give us informationon on the wildlife and flowers. Instead of doing the usual hike alongside the road he took us up and through the bush. Figuring we were young and could handle it, the scenery was suppose to be better and I am sure it was. We hiked up a mountain, along the ridge and up some more to our hotel at the very top overlooking everything. Parts of the trek the guide had to take our walking stick and knock down grass and trees to make a path to walk through. He warned us of one area we walked right through which was full of stinging neddle, which Michelle and I still rubbed up against. Causes a sting all over, luckily when we got out our guide picked some plants and told us to rub it wherever it was stinging, the stinging stopped almost instantly. About a half an hour before we reached the top we stopped at a small shop on the side of the trail, it was a small house with a girl weaving some yak blankets and an old lady, who came up and introduced herself as Mountain Women. She was the cutest old lady ever, she made us tea and amazing soup and invited us to come live with her and her husband, she didn't have a son she could offer. There was a viewpoint tower at the top of the hike where you could see the lake from the town and the full range of mountains, though it was partially cloudy and Annapurna was mostly hidden it still offered the most spectacular view. We relaxed and spent the night in a guesthouse at the top then headed down the next morning. Our guide joined us for card games in the evening insisting he only wanted to play if he wins. When he didn't know what to do or just had nothing he would put down random cards and say why not. He was an amazing guide and we had a blast with him. Our hike down was beautiful but less pleasant. It was a rainy day and our hike down was mainly just stairs all the way down. Stone stairs which were not always stable and very slippery. We got to go through a few villages and hand out candy to the children. When we got down from the mountain we were on the opposite side of the lake and chose to hire a boat to get back to the hotel.
After we returned and had time to shower and relax we decided to rent bicycles and try to find the waterfall which was supposed to be 20 minutes away. This seemed to be more difficult then was necessary, I love Nepal and all the people in it but when it comes to time and directions, I don't think they know what there talking out. Or maybe it is just us. The guy that rented the bikes told us to follow the road take the first right then next right and follow and you will be there, in 20 minutes. We did this and didn't see anything so we kept following the road, up a mountain stopping and asking kids and locals if it was the right way. Eventually two guys stopped us telling us it was way down the hill in town left after the police station about 2 minutes. We were excited not to be biking uphill anymore and headed down, we found he police station and a small road to the left after it. We biked up it for 5 minutes and seemed to be going nowhere. We stopped and asked for more directions and a local said go back and to the right. We did this and found a new road to the left after the police station, this also didnt look promising so a local told us to go back again. After biking back and forth we finally found it when we asked for directions when we were staring right at it. How could we miss a waterfall you ask, it was hidden behind a large tourist market and a place to pay to go in to see it. We paid figuring it better be damn good after all that hassle, it was pretty nice. Though we came at the wrong season, if it wasn't so high you can go in a cave on the other side of the road and walk behind the waterfall.
The next day our friend Ashish came in from Kathmandu to visit us and unfortunately Michelle left us to go meet Marc in Varanassi. Tash, Ashish and I rented a boat for a few hours and paddled around the lake. That's a lie, I chilled and Ashish and Tash did all of the work. It was a clear day and we spent it swimming relaxing and watching an endless number of paragliders jump of a cliff. It was an amazing day though we got too much sun and were all tired by the end of it and not feeling so good so went to bed pretty early.
The next day we shared a cab with a friend we met the night before, Jonathan. We checked out the bat cave which was not so spectacular, we walked down some stairs, into a big open cavern, found the only opening to go in the next, crawled through it into the next cavern saw about 20 bats sleeping. Then headed out the same way we came in. After that Tash went for a nap and Jonathan and I decided to rent a motorbike and head up the mountain for a couple hours and enjoy the sunny day. For the first time the clouds cleared around the mountains just enought one of the peaks of Annapurna (the Fishtail) appeared. Was unbelievably beautiful, I saw it then immediately thought of Tash and how pissed she was going to be that she missed it. Luckily the next day on our bus ride back to Kathmandu all of the clouds cleared and the full range of the himalayas emerged. I almost cried it was so beautiful and amazing. I can't even describe it, there are no words. One must see it for itself!
We headed back to Kathmandu for a few nights, Tash and I just weren't finished Nepal. We ended up staying in a guesthouse in Thamel. We did a day rafting trip which was a lot of fun, though the 3 hour local bus ride to get back to town was a little crowded and bumpy. We also saw the Kathmandu zoo.
- comments
Dan Lol at Mountain Woman wishing she had a son to offer you. Amazing entry and can't wait to see more photos!
Archie Couldn't sleep... wandering the Internet and ended up here at 1 AM... now I feel like going to bed. Not to say the post was boring =P... just the opposite! Descriptions of the hikes, bikes and boats in these places with amazing views seems to sooth my rambling mind. Thanks Britt! P.S. - Bet you were busy texting when it was your turn to paddle the boat LMAO... see if you can collect some of those plants that stopped the stinging... one can probably extract narcotics from them ^_^