P is for Peaks & Pretty Pagodas in Pokhara

Uh, sorry about the title - I got carried away with trying the alliteration angle...

After my abortive mountain-biking day in Kathmandu, the next morning, I headed out to Pokhara – the other major tourist destination in Nepal that is at the base of the legendary Annapurna range


If I had to make a comparison, it's a bit like Nepal's version of Lake Tahoe in California, or Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, with gorgeous water backed up by high snow-capped mountains. Most of all, it was also famous for a much more chilled out vibe than busy Kathmandu – so it sounded like a perfect place to (as the Aussies say) chillax. Yeah, yeah – cheesy word, but what the heck... blame the Aussies!

An early bus ride out got me there in the early afternoon, and I headed out looking for a place to hole up for a few nights. And to inject a bit of suspense into the blog, this (gasp) is where I might be guilty of stretching an analogy...

I know, I know – cheesy but brace yourself.

Anywho – it's weird, but finding a good hotel is a lot like online dating. You can find out a bit about things through emails (or in this case, Lonely Planet), but it still comes down to that first meeting to see if you felt comfortable or not.

And, Pokhara was no different – I checked out a great hotel, cheap, clean, and so on, but the staff was just stone-faced and unfriendly. So I decided to roll the dice and kept looking...

…only to luck out with a stellar place called Sacred Valley. For about 400 rupees a night ($6), they were warm and welcoming... sold!

The next three days were actually a bit of the same... they revolved mainly around resting, reading, and eating, sometimes all at the same time. There's a good Italian-style cafe near the hotel that does good breakfasts, and for dinners, I always wound up at the Moondance on the main strip which was friendly, cheap, and had wi-fi AND wicked good apple crumble. Who can beat that?

Otherwise, Pokhara is pretty much geared to people heading out on multi-day treks in the stunning Annapurna range of mountains nearby. And, well, since both my schedule and the onset of the rainy season ruled those out, I decided to see what else Pokhara had nearby.

On the second day, I hiked up the nearby hill to the World Peace Pagoda – a massive brilliantly white structure on the top of a ridge that was built by a Japanese group to promote, well, peace (duh!). It was a fun hike – and the rewards at the top were some great views, and more importantly, a cold drink.


On the way back through the gate, I saw a woman and her two young daughters selling bananas in the hot sun. While anyone who knows me realizes I completely loathe bananas in all their forms, I figured it'd be fun to make some balloons to liven up their day. One balloon turned to three or four, and the kids came out of the woodwork, turning into 30 minutes of twisting, tying, and laughing in pidgin English or Nepali. Good times.


The third day continued my bad luck with bikes. The plan was to rent a bike and roll over to old Pokhara and the Gurka museum. Alas, for $1 a day rental, you really don't get quality... within the first 500 meters, the chain kept freezing which almost caused a few accidents. Deciding that discretion (and laziness) is the better part of valor, I retreated to the Moonlight for a beer and pizza.

The only other 'tourist' bit I really wanted to do had to be checking out the Annapurna range. Normally, the mountains can be viewed from the lakeside town, but the summer haze made that a no go most of the time.

So the morning I was heading back to Kathmandu, I caught a taxi up to Sarangote – a viewpoint at the top of a nearby hill, and got to watch the sunrise over the range:


Still a bit hazy, but it definitely whetted my appetite to come back to Nepal to trek through this magnificent area... 'course, now the main problem is that even with this trip, my list of countries to go and places to see just keeps getting longer and longer!

Nepal - Yaks, Mo-mo's, and Sherpas (Oh My!)

Now, I gotta admit – flying from Africa into Delhi, and then to Kathmandu, I was pretty excited. Sure, Kili was going to be a high point, and the safari absolutely amazing, but for some reason, Nepal has always seemed to be an extremely exotic destination – a perfect mix of Eastern religions amidst some of the world's highest mountains.



And... it didn't disappoint.

Even the flight in from Delhi was stunning – from the flat plains of India, Nepal appeared as a sudden explosion of mountain ranges, steep slopes and isolated villages. We landed around 2 in the afternoon and I headed out to meet my hotel taxi.

(As a random aside – the whole process of catching a cab in the airport in any Third World country would be a funny case study in business retail behavior. Whenever you exit the final doors from customs, you walk through gauntlet #1 – the 'recognized' taxi companies by the airport. They pay rent for their stall, and their quotes reflect it, being 200-300% higher than normal. They're banking on the naive/tired tourist segment of the market. Ha! Suckers – with a firm “No, thank you”, I'm through the first hurdle.

Phase 2 begins along the railing as you walk through to the exit. It's all about location/location/location – as each cab driver tries to catch their share of the traffic. With each step past, you see an immediate discount, often 10% a pop as the levels of desperation start to peak. Normally, I'm pretty immune here, but I get more than my share of attention as I have to stop and look for a sign that has my name on it.

And then... there's the phase 3 – the bottom feeders. Call them opportunistic, persistent or just plain annoying – they go for the leech approach, sidling up alongside you and trying to find out your hotel/country of origin or anything else that they can talk about to persuade you to take their cab. A near constant litany of 'no thank yous' mixed with NO eye contact is your only defense here.)

Right – enough about taxis. Arriving in Thamel (a warren of tourist hotels, equipment shops, and bars), I arrived at Hotel Ganesh Himal. I was a bit lucky here as I picked what turned out to be an amazing hotel for the price. At $13 a night, it was quiet, had a garden, friendly service, and big clean rooms – a huge plus after a 24 hours worth of catnaps, flights and transfers. (Note: if you're ever stuck in Qatar's airport, they've got an A&W that serves a surprisingly good burger!)

After a long overdue shower (sheesh, I was offending even myself with body funk) and a nap, I headed out into the chaos that is Thamel.

First – a quick description. Imagine a 6 block wide neighborhood of 3 story buildings, separated by narrow 10' foot winding lanes. Space is at a premium so now imagine literally the entire street side covered with discount laundry, pirated music stores, hotels, bars, internet cafes and even knock-off outdoor gear shops... basically, everything that a backpacker could want or need at amazingly low prices.



The downside is that garbage collection is something of a rare thing, so there are odd piles of garbage on most corners – I guess the idea being that it will eventually just vanish.

Oh, and I forgot the most exciting part. Traffic.

Nepal is something like 65% mountains. From ridiculously tall Himalayas, to the merely quite impressive local foothills at a mere 3000 to 4000 meters, Nepal is all about mountains, mountains, and mountains.

And... as a flipside to this, they are REALLY good at maximizing what little flat space they've been blessed with.

So, in Kathmandu, rather than waste precious space with something as ridiculous as extra lanes... the Nepalese are great at sending pedestrians, the odd cow or two, bikes, cars, and buses down a street that really is no wider than a one-way alley.

Oh, and no traffic rules. Traffic just... flows around whatever obstacles pop up. This way, that way – it's all good... and surprisingly accident-free.



'course, this makes your first walk around town one for the memories, as cars cruise by literally a foot away. Thankfully your body gets really good at getting accustomed to this, else you'd be an exhausted mass of fright-induced adrenaline within a few minutes of leaving the hotel!

Right. So, my first foray into this was a bit like dipping a toe into the deep end of the pool. Tired and really thirsting for a beer, I wandered around a bit and quickly mastered the “no, thank you” in Nepali (chhaina dhanyabad). For any of you REI/North Face loving types, you'd be pretty happy – as every third store specializes in selling good quality knock-offs of everything from trekking poles, to Gore Tex jackets, all for super low prices.

Deciding to pace myself, my first foray was pretty short – I ducked into a great Thai place called Yin/Yang, and after a meal of really good pad Thai, and a strong gin & tonic (mmm... gin & tonics), I was more than ready for bed.