Pokhara paradise

Second attempt at writing Pokhara blog entry a go go. Yesterday's attempt at an entry deleted itself after more than half an hour of arduous writing. One was not pleased. Anyhoo, on with the show!

After Kathmandu, Pokhara truly is a paradise on earth. The gorgeous Phewa Tal lake that sits nestled among the green, lush hills, the little boats that sit Lakeside and the utter quiet compared to Kathmadu. Of course there are cars and bikes and vans that pollute the streets with their black gunk coming out of their exhaust pipes, but  it's not to the same scale as Kathmandu, and I actually feel I can breathe. On the bus ride to Pokhara (the travel agents I booked the tickets from said the journey should take around 6 hours, and I felt that for a trip of 200km that was very optimistic. The bus ride took almost 9 hours) I got to sit by the window, and with stifling heat outside and inside the bus, I had the window open for a bit. And then noticed my seat was by the exhaust pipe, and black stuff was being expelled from this tourist bus I was on. Once I got to my hotel I scrubbed my face for quite a while and blew my nose at least 10 times. Oh to be in a country with unleaded petrol....

I have to tell you I won't be doing any trekking, mostly due to high prices on the most popular treks (4 days and 3 nights on the Poon Hill trek will set you back roughly $300). So instead I've spent my time relaxing and seeing the local sights. I hiked up to the World Peace Pagoda, an incredibly sweaty 90 minute hike through the forest. The forest was swarming with monkeys, butterflies, buffalo taking a cool bath, and leeches that could potentially fall out of a tree and attach itself to you. Luckily I survived without meeting a single leech (leeches always remind me of that one episode of Black Adder where the doctor prescribes him leeches to cure all his medical problems).

From the top there are breathtaking views of the lake and valleys. The stupa itself is nothing spectacular, but worth the hike up. To get down from the stupa I opted to go down the "direct route", rather than enduring the leech forest again. The direct route is a steep path made of uneven stone steps that take you down to the lake, and from there you take a boat back to Lakeside. Now I shall impart a little bit of wisdom on you: going uphill is always better than going down. I barely had functioning knees when I got down to the lake level, those steps were awful. And I mean awful. My legs just shook when I stood still. That boat ride back across the lake was glorious. Followed by an even more glorious cold shower.

I also visited Davis's Falls, a small waterfall a few kilometers from Lakeside. Apprently the falls got their name after a Swiss woman named Mrs. Davies was taking a bath nearby in the river, fell and then died once she hit the waterfall... I don't really know what to say...

It's easy to spend a day doing nothing but reading, eating so much curry (dal bhat, paneer butter masala, palak paneer, malai kofta..) and drinking beer or mint lemonade in Pokhara (I should know, I've had plenty of those days). Especially if you walk on a bit from the tourist hub of Lakeside, there is beautiful little place by the lake where the locals come and do their washing or bathe, and where there is shade in which you can sit with a book and find that hours have gone by and you're resembling a boiled lobster. And I've gotten teeny weeny tiny freckles on my arms from being exposed to the sun so much. Thanks for that, Dad.

I've basically turned vegetarian since I came to Nepal, simply because seeing all of that meat sitting outside for who knows how many hours just puts you off it. And let's face it, vegetarian curries are the best I've eaten a lot of curries whilst I've been here. A lot. Anything with paneer in it... *drools*

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Chitwan National Park where I'm going to see some elephants! And hopefully rhino too. And maybe a tiger. From there the plan is to cross the border into India after the weekend, hop on a train and go to New Delhi where it's even hotter than it is in Pokhara. I may melt at some point. And I think I've finally sent a postcard to everyone who provided me with their addresses, so if you have given me your address you should hopefully be getting one soonish!