I had organised a bus ticket with the Premium and need to be at the Kandipath for the 8 hour bus journey. Having already done the 5 hour Chitwan journey I had somehow got it into my head that it took 5 hours, consequently was a bit surprised when we stopped off for a second break at 5:00 hours. I thought we should have been there. Obviously others were having issues with the long journey. I think I have worked out why the buses have sliding windows, a woman at the front of the bus puked through the window. Unfortunately the man in front of me had his window open too and the vomit sprayed him on the way back in the bus.
Yesterday afternoon in KTM the cloud lifted for the first real time and gave a spectacular view of the mountains. If I was impressed with that, I was going to be impressed today. There were some amazing views of the Annapurna range as we drove towards Pokhara. I wax picked up at the bus station by the hotel owner. ( maybe it's an Indian and Nepali thing but when a hotel offers a 'pick up' service, you are expected to pay. Maybe it's something to get around the numerous touts that always hang around the bus station and lie that the hotel you want to go too has closed or burnt down...
Kier, one of other volunteers had arranged my accommodation. It was a place that she had used the last time and was a real good deal at $10 per night. It was very comfortable, clean and run by lovely people.
I was going to take Pokhara as the opportunity to feed myself up. It was going to be three meals per day. I started as soon as I got there at a lovely restaurant called 'Once Upon A Time' . The staff were really friendly and I ended up eating there every breakfast and every dinner time. Full American breakfast with.... Bacon and a fuck off steak, veg and chips in the evening.
Three meals a day!
After a beer and some lunch on that first day Kier tracked me down and we had a nice chat. She had some shopping so declined an drink and we arranged to meet in the evening with Julia and have dinner and drinks in the bamboo bar which is on the lakeside. ! It was a fun night. A couple of happy hour cocktails and bed.
On the way to Pokhara the weather was wonderful, lovely views of the mountains. Now, it's shrouded in mist and low cloud. Bugger!
Still, I'm in no rush to get back. Kathmandu and particularly Thamel is not beckoning just yet!
Pokhara is just like a holiday resort. Very nice, pricy by Nepali standards, disco's restaurants, lots of souvenir shops and western travellers. Many of the travellers, wisely bypass KTM and either fly up here or take the bus.
Despite it's obvious commercialism there is a sense of the serene here. So much quieter traffic wise, the occasional honking horn but none of the driving on the footpath and incessant noise of the capital.
The bars are just like the strips of Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam. Local cover bands playing western rock music, often badly although there are the occasional good ones.
After a couple of days with Kier and Julia, a couple of Aussie girls who had been working with VIN and had travelled up independently , they have left, Julia to Bandipur and Kier back to KTM before she heads back to OZ and Adelaide. They were good company. Kier had been travelling for three months on her own in Asia. Julia, came to teach in the monastery, mad as a box of frogs.. Only 19 and I wonder how she survives. She had me in fits when she relayed the story of her trek. I had heard while back in KTM that she had headed to Pokhara to do a 2 week trek and obviously when I caught up with here here, asked about it. She looked suitably embarrassed. It turns out she'd only done 3 days, on her own with a guide but fir some unknown reason, no porter AND a 13kg backpack. Not surprisingly, after 3 days of 22 hr day trekking, she was struggling. Not so much with the trek, more to do with the luggage...
I asked why she'd taken all her luggage, "I didn't." was the reponsr, most if it was at the monastery in KTM. " I just brought the stuff I thought I needed".
Even funnier was the fact that she didn't want to tell her friends she had given up on the trek and was holed up in Pokhara till it was safe to cone out. She was concocting her trek story from snippets from other travellers . Priceless....
On the afternoon of the second day i was having a bite to eat and kier caught up with me. She asked me if i was doing anything in the afternoo . Julia had a new 'friend' and he had a boat. We spent a lazy afternoon on the lake with Guy, an Israeli guy and his two mates. His boat wasn't actually big enough for the five of us so Kier, Julia and I hired a pedlo type affair. Guy had his guitar and spent a couple of hours singing and playing. I also got a bit of welcome exercise on the pedlo.
It turns out I was becoming bit of a local legend as the Nomad who had been travelling Asia for 18 months. A number of people had heard of me. Later that evening we had big night out at the bamboo bar and then to busy bees. I must have acquired a low tolerance of alcohol as after a couple of cocktails and a beer i was pissed. I got chatting to Liverpudlian with Nepali accent! He had a business in Nepal and was married to a Nepali woman. It was certainly an odd accent.
One of the things that really gets my goat is getting ripped off. I like to think after all this time I'm very much more savvy than I was when I first arrived . It appears not!
I had been having a shave at a local Swoyanbhu barbers every couple of days when I was in KTM. The cost, 30 NPR, about 20p . I thought I would do the same here. On the way back from dinner the barbers shop across the road from my guest house shouted 'shave sir' I told him 'tomorrow' so I tipped up before breakfast. 'How much'
'150' was the reply, a bit steep but I agreed. After a very nice shave he asked I'd I wanted a massage, I agreed. It was average, no more than 15 minutes. How much????
1200 NPR. For fucks sake. That is over 10 quid. I cursed myself for being so stupid. Told the bloke, that was ridiculous. I gave him 600, still way too much but told him he would have got money from me every day if he hadn't been so greedy. Now, I will go elsewhere. Robbing bastard!
So today, low clouds, warm and fresh I have had a lazy day. A nice breakfast, a snooze and some reading. It's Friday night. I may yet go out. For the time being, it's an everest beer by the lakeside. I hope the cloud lifts soon. I would really like to do the sunrise 2 day trek to watch the sun come up over the mountains.
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Location:Pokhara, Nepal
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