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Pokhara is like a breath of fresh air after the mayhem of Kathmandu, it's a perfect tourist spot with lots of nice cafes, restaurants and bars and shops selling all your trekking gear and souvenirs but none of the hassle of the capital. Everything is based around the one main street running around the lake, there's SPACE- with real pavements with room to walk on and a huge road made for two way traffic (and the occasional cow or horse) things you never thought you'd be grateful for!
So the plan was to spend a few days here before going trekking, but I succumbed to the lure of the place and ended up staying over a week. On my first day there I met Sandi & Alex and their merry band, which ended up being about 12 of us- all solo travellers, who'd met along the way and created our own travelling family. Now I'm not one for going to the same place all the time but the Busy Bee bar seemed to be 'the place to be' and the whole town ended up there every night, so it's safe to say I spent a lot of time in there.
With our merry band I did a few of the 'must sees'- trekked to the nearby World Peace Pagoda with Pierre (FR) and Shaffer (USA). We thought it'd be a good test before going on our big trekking trips-and it was. We walked uphill solidly between 12-4 the hottest time of the day and managed to get completely lost for a while in the forest. Which made me think 1) Was I crazy thinking of doing this for 14 days of my own free will? 2) I definitely need a guide of some sort given my sense of direction. So for the return journey we went for the easier route involving rowing a boat across the lake- much more relaxing!
On my third attempt to see sunrise (that thing just happens too early in the morning) I eventually made it. Shaffer & I plus two other Italians we found wandering the streets at 5am took a taxi to Sarangkot, a village about 20 minutes away with spectacular views of the Annapurna mountain range. A particularly helpful and altogether too cheerful for that time in the morning taxi driver took us to the best spot, which was the flat roof of a local's house which they had decked out with plastic chairs. They even made us cups of tea as we sat back and watched the sunrise light up the whole Annapurna range one by one- breath taking!
I made a return trip to Sarangkot but by an altogether different means of transport this time- paragliding! Given the amazing scenery here and the cheap prices it gets pretty busy, which meant the instructors were a bit nonchalant about the briefing 'run when I tell you to run.' But it seemed to work as within 5 minutes of arriving I was in the air. It was pretty incredible! My instructor Max was fairly competitive so took us pretty high and as soon as he was sure I was not going to be sick on him (as we'd just witnessed another Chinese girl doing in the air) he decided I was ready for some acrobatics so we headed over the lake and did a few spins, at which point I was definitely a little closer to being sick but it was so worth it!
Sandi from our group first came to Pokhara two years ago volunteering at a local orphanage and can't keep away from the place since- she's already planning her next (4th) trip. One of the days I went with her to the orphanage to meet the kids. It's actually a pretty good one; they have about 25 kids from 6-16 years old and decent facilities with 4 dorm style bedrooms and a big play room. But I don't know how representative this is, there are so many orphanages even just around the Pokhara area, most with signs saying come in and visit (obviously in the hope of a donation at the end). I spent a few hours with the kids just playing and watching cartoons. Their English is pretty good and I suppose apart from the money paid by volunteers to work there which obviously helps, I think this is the biggest direct benefit for the kids. Spending time with the volunteers improves their English which will make them so much more employable in tourist areas.
I'd heard rumours of a festival in a nearby village that had to be seen to be believed, so Sandi & I and few others went to check it out. They were having a potato festival (I kid you not). Potatoes are such a cash crop here they have a festival in their honour. Now, news of this festival had not hit the tourist circuit (unsurprisingly) so as the only tourists there, we were treated like visiting royalty. They bestowed us with garlands of potatoes and carrot seeds -very attractive! I was even interviewed for the local paper. After spotting a camel strutting through the festival I decided it had all gone too bizarre and we decided to make our escape.
We were no sooner on the road than the heavens opened so we ran to a nearby monastery to take shelter. With no sign of the rains stopping anytime soon, the monks invited us to stay for their meditation session starting soon. So I settled myself down to search for some inner calm, which if I'd found it would've been short lived as the monks began an orchestra session with long horns, gongs, mini cymbals, bells and chanting. It was incredible, if a little surreal. I loved it but after about 30 minutes the rest of the guys had enough horn blowing and the rain had stopped so we slipped out. To top off an incredible day we hitched a ride back to town in the back of a pick-up truck with awesome views of the clouds just clearing from the mountains.
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