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Friday : sunny
It's very dark at 4:30am, but that's what you got to do, when you want to go see a sunrise in the Himalayas.
We were on the bike at 4:45, there were so many locals up walking about this morning. Which was good for us because we had to stop a couple times and ask for directions because it was difficult to use our map with the lack of english street signs.
The ride took a little bit over 30min, with traffic. Lots of cars heading up into the hills for the sunrise. There was a big ticket queue at the top too, but being on a bike queues don't mean a great deal. We pushed in.
We parked the beast and made our way up the walking track. We had a whole roof top to ourselves, only because we walked a little further up the track. It was great we had lemon tea and the big Annapurna mountain range right infront of us. After the rain last night, the sky had cleared up perfectly.
Showtime, the sun broke the horizon in a red glow, and started to touch the peaks making them glow orange. It was very cool the mountains are positioned just right so they glow for the sunrise and sunset.
Seeing how we were all left alone and made our own way up the mountain. We were in no rush, so we finished our tea and soaked up the morning sun.
We ended up leaving round 7:30 and went through old town Pokhara. It's called old Pokhara because it's the way Pokhara use to be before it got all the hotels, restaurants and shops. It had more traditional businesses and homes, but we were looking for a place to have breakfast. We rode around but couldn't find one. So we headed back to lakeside and had breakfast.
The clouds have gone from covering the lake, so we thought it would be a good idea to get up to the peace pagoda. Its located high up on top of a mountain across the other side of the lake. It looks like had a great view over Pokhara and the mountain range.
By the time we got up the rough dirt track to the pagoda, the clouds have moved in and covered the snowy mountains. Crazy how quickly the clouds can move in.
Never mind we had a rest up there, before making our way back down the mountain and headed for the Gurkha museum.
We went back through old Pokhara, traveling more slowly this time. It looks very different, it looks like a normal older suburb back home. Slightly different homes of corse, but they all had front and back lawns, driveways, even front porches. The homes themselves were brick some covered with orange mud, and timber windows with detailed carvings.
We got to the museum, the Gurkhas, are trained by the Brits. So they are very similar to the Australian army, with their rankings they even have slouch hats. They also have been in the two world wars and plenty of other conflicts. Loads of locals try out for the Gurkhas, only the best make it, and you only get a chance to try out if your heritage is from a specific four groups. If your excepted you get a wage of 1000 pounds per month. Its a high paying job in Nepal, most of the recruits will do anything to get in. There's been stories of recruits running with broken feet and legs.
After the museum we dropped the bike back to the hotel, then went shopping for trekking supplies.
We got back to the hotel and then started to pack our bags. Our guide arrived and we had a big chat about the walk and other things, nice fella.
It was dinner time so we went down to a restaurant with a reputation for having the best steaks in town. It has a great location on the lake, I chose the mixed grill. The steak, bacon, sausage, veg, egg and potato got bought out on a hot sizzling plate. It tasted great, good to have a big meaty meal today. Going to be a veggo for the next week again, no fresh meat available in the national park.
We picked up some more ice-cream then dropped off the bike. Put way too much fuel in the bike last night, it was a very economical bike this one, thought it would of used a lot more.
Got back too the hotel and continued the packing before bed. We start trekking again tomorrow, looking forward to starting.
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