I
don't want to dwell too much on leaving Bardia because it was a bit
of a negative finish to what has been one of the highlights of our
trip. In short we had no way of leaving Mr B's under our own steam
because the location is so rural, and Mr B had repeatedly assured us
that leaving would not be a problem; however it was a problem because
Mr B was not there when we were leaving to take us in his jeep and
Mrs B volunteered to help us arrange our journey in his absence but
gave us some incorrect information. This left us with a rather scary
and soggy motorbike ride in heavy rain which involved riding through
rivers, and roads which had turned into rivers, to get a bus to
somewhere to get a horrendously bumpy bus to somewhere to get a
packed and uncomfortable bus to Pokhara about 20 hours later.
Fortunately
Pokhara was just what we needed after our arduous journey. It is
very much a traveller enclave – chilled out with plenty of
western-style restaurants and bars with live music. In fact, if you
were to wake up in the middle of Pokhara you would be hard-pressed to
realise that you were in Asia for a few moments at least. The city
isn't really a true Nepal experience, however Pokhara is the gateway
to the genuine Nepal experience – the Himalayas, and specifically
the Annapurnas.
Our main purpose for visiting Pokhara was to partake in some
trekking in the mountains, more about which in a separate post, but
before and afterwards we were able to enjoy what the city had to
offer.
After
some sleep and a bite to eat at our guesthouse we went for a wander
around the area which mostly consists of a long road lined with
restaurants, bars, travel agents, art shops and what seems like
hundreds of shops selling trekking equipment. Behind the shops is a
sizeable lake surrounded on the remaining three sides by a sneak peak
of the mountains, albeit obscured by clouds and mist.
Unfortunately
as we arrived in Pokhara so did the rain, and for a while it looked
like the rain would stay for as long as we would, so we didn't have
chance to enjoy the lakeside views just yet. The weather did,
however, provide us with an excuse to have a lazy day and do little
more than to plan we would be trekking and to enjoy some western food
(don't judge us – it had been over three months since I had last
had the chance to have a beef burger or a steak and I wasn't going to
let the opportunity pass me up).
We
couldn't resist looking in a few of the art shops, and we discovered
that Pokhara is home to a whole host of talented artists inspired by
the mountain landscapes and whose work sells for dangerously
reasonable prices. Notwithstanding the fact that we do not currently
have an abode with walls on which to display paintings we couldn't
help but buy a painting that caught our eye, followed by another,
followed by two more...and then two more. Ok, we went a little
painting crazy, but in our defence the paintings we bought are all
beautiful and irresistibly cheap.
After
we decided on our route it took us a day to prepare for trekking (it
might have taken less time had we not been so distracted by art
shops!) by the end of which we had arranged the requisite licenses
and hired/purchased hiking boots, thick socks, rucksacks (although
our travelling backpacks are fairly small we still weren't about to
drag them, and their entire contents, up to 3200m+), hiking poles,
silly looking hats, water purification tablets and enough snacks to
keep us alive for a week if the worst came to the worst. The
trekking shops of Pokhara are packed with all sorts of knock-off
clothing, mostly branded with North Face logos. These aren't
half-heated fakes either – the hiking boots I bought came complete
with branded box and numerous labels drawing attention to the various
features and high-tech materials which were clearly not present in
the articles. I really don't know why they bother with the fake
branding as no-one would believe that they are the genuine article
(and none of the sellers tries to pass them off as genuine) – the
manufacturers would be better off selling them as what they are and
saving the effort of reproducing logos, labels etc.
As
mentioned earlier, I will leave our trek itself to a separate post,
but we returned to Pokhara tired and in need of some home comforts.
We treated ourselves to a blow-out three-course meal at a restaurant
we had enjoyed eating at prior to trekking (owned by a Brummie from
Hall Green and his Malaysian wife) partly to celebrate surviving the
Himalayas and partly to celebrate Monique's official graduation as
Dr. Ziebro.
The
weather was much nicer this time around so we were able to enjoy the
lakeside scenery, and more of the beautiful Nepalese sky, on a lazy
day recovering from trekking.
We
hadn't had enough of the mountain views yet, so we decided to go
paragliding the following day to see the area from a different angle.
This involved: driving up to the top of one of the peaks overlooking
the lake; being strapped to a stranger who, in turn, was attached to
a parachute; being given a 30 second briefing along the lines of “You
see the edge of the mountain? Run at it”, and then running towards
the edge of the mountain until our feet were no longer touching the
ground. It was slightly counter-intuitive, but not scary. After
that it was a case of enjoying the beautiful scenery in near-silence
as our pilots navigated the up-lifts (using birds, clouds, and other
paragliders as guidance) to get as high as possible. It was really
fantastic and one of the highlights of our trip so far!
We
had the option of a short 20-30 minute flight or a longer 40-60
minute flight, however we were warned that in the rainy season it is
more difficult to ensure a longer flight because the up-lifts are not
as strong as they are when the weather is hotter. We initially used
a nearby up-lift to spiral higher than our take-off point, after
which my pilot went in search of different uplifts to try to travel
further over the mountains. Unfortunately the only other uplifts he
located were not particularly strong, so we were only able to fly for
about 30 minutes, but Monique's pilot had better luck/judgment and
was able to fly for around 45 minutes or so. It did mean that I was
able to see Monique coming in to land:
It
was definitely a unique experience to float around over such
spectacular scenery (which would have been even better had it been a
clearer day when we could have seen the snowy higher peaks), and
really memorable.
In
the remainder of the day we visited a few sights around Pokhara.
First stop was the Mountain Museum which was quite enjoyable
(although slightly rushed because our paragliding trip had been
delayed while we waited for suitable weather conditions). It was
interesting to read information about the world's highest peaks
(putting our modest trekking efforts into perspective) and the
nutters people who have climbed them and, perhaps
most interesting of all, see the equipment they used to do so.
Apparently woolen mittens and a pair of goggles were sufficient to
climb to over 8000m in the '50s. It also included a display of empty
oxygen tanks that have been removed from Mt. Everest (mountaineers
are not the most eco-friendly of people, and Everest is not the
easiest place to clean up after messy visitors), and a
disappointingly blinkered display about Yetis that suggested that
they don't exist.
Next
stop was the Devi Falls. Unlike most waterfalls that you view from
the bottom and see the water fall down towards you, at the Devy Falls
you watch the river flowing past you and then disappear out of sight
down a sink-hole (a bit like Oblivion, for those of you who know
Alton Towers). The water was incredibly powerful as a result of the
recent rain, and it was interesting to see a different type of
waterfall. However, Monique and I spent more time looking at and
photographing the beautiful light rays caused by the sun passing
through the nearby trees and the mist-cloud created by the falls.
After
that we stopped at the Tibetan Village, which is apparently the only
place outside of Tibet where you can see a genuine Tibetan community.
The atmosphere around the village was really nice; there was a
football tournament taking place with lots of people watching,
including monks in the traditional Tibetan deep red coloured robes
(as opposed to the orange robes word by Buddhists in most other
countries). We wondered around for a while enjoying the atmosphere
and taking a few photos of the main stupa as one of the mountain
peaks peeked out from behind the clouds for a short while.
The
following day we reluctantly left the comfort and relaxation of
Pokhara, and the mountain views, behind us, and made our way to
Kathmandu.
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