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I didn't know what it felt like to fear for your life for 8 hours straight until I hopped on the bus bound for Pokhara. With horns beeping constantly, the driver swerving to miss oncoming vehicles and the wheels inching closer to the 100m vertical cliff face at every turn all we could do was pray we got there in one piece. The only saving grace was that we had 4 days to relax in Pokhara before we did it all over again!
In the end the bus ride from hell turned out to be worth it as Pokhara is by far our favourite place we have been to in Nepal. Its a lovely laid back town with a beautiful big lake and lots of nice shops and restaurants. There is no crazy Kathmandu traffic or pollution.
Our guesthouse is fantastic. It's called Butterfly Lodge and it has a garden with banana lounges, swings and butterflies. It's so relaxing and the staff are super friendly. The lodge supports the Butterfly Foundation that raises money to ensure children in Pokhara can afford to go to school as public schools in Nepal are not free and there are many families that cannot afford to give their children an education.
We decided to hire a row boat to spend a day on the lake so we packed some treats and Captain Callum took the ores. The Phewa Lake is 4.4 square kilometers so there were plenty of things for us to explore. We watched the paragliders descend in the sky from the mountains and rowed past all the lush jungle on the undeveloped side of the lake. There were so many birds and pretty flowers.
We bought tickets to a school performance of Romeo and Juliet by the kids from Shamrock School in Pokhara. The kids were amazing little actors. They remembered their lines so well and were eager to practice their English with us after the show. After the show we had an amazing dish cooked in clay 'magic pots'. The flavour was incredible. It was by far the best Nepalese dishes we have had in Nepal.
On our last day we decided to trek up to the world peace pagoda. We hired the boat again and crossed the river to the trail. It was a steep climb but it was so enjoyable as we were walking through shady jungle quite different to plants in the Everest region. There were wind monkeys jumping through the trees and lots of birds and insects. The view from the top was spectacular over the lake with the faint outline of the snowcapped mountains in the background. When we were up at the pagoda we ran into the kids from Shamrock School out on an excursion for the day. It was great chatting with them again. They are such lovely kids.
We spent most of our free time roaming the market stalls, reading, painting and lounging in the garden. It was a much needed relax after the trek and we really feel like we're on holidays now.
Then we were preparing to get back on the horrible bus again and leave our beloved Pokhara. The trip back was possibly more scary than the fist time but the bus didn't shake and rattle as much so I was able to sleep for a bit and try to forget about the crazy driver.
Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to Nepal which is a bit sad. Time has gone so fast but I'll certainly be back one day.
- comments
Tom Sounds good.. Cal rowing a boat must have been a sight to behold.