Saturday, July 24, 2010

Rain, Rain, Lake, Lake, Rain: A Weekend in Pokhara - July 9th to July 12th

To start off, here's a photo from the set where 4-year-old Sumna figured out how to use my camera after playing with it for a minute and a half...


The weekend of the 9th, everyone left at the hostel (so me, Martin, Sebastian, Anna, and Amilie) along with Jude, who got back from Everest on the 8th, decided to go to Pokhara. Jude had gone to climb Everest base camp and finished it in only 4 days (the norm is at least a week, usually more) and did some other short hikes in that area. Pokhara is a lakeside tourist base where people go to start trekking in the Annapurna mountains, which are easier than Everest base camp so more people go to hike there. It was a riveting seven hour bus journey through the mountains in a bus built for people half a foot shorter than myself. I spent most of my ride with my head hanging out the window. It's a good way to travel in the green, leafy hills of Nepal, it really is.


Here's an introductory shot of Pokhara! (pronounced "Pokra")

The weekend we spent there was great if only because the rush and bustle of Kathmandu was nonexistent there. It was mainly a weekend of monging (a word I've picked up from my British counterparts here; "mong" = "relax") out around the sleepy town. It was really only sleepy since it was the off-season for hikers, but whatever. Since it was the off-season the shops had discounts and weren't horribly pushy about making sales, which was nice. It rained a good portion of the weekend, it was only really sunny a couple hours Saturday afternoon and for Sunday afternoon and that just reinforced the monging atmosphere.

Probably one of the best parts of the weekend was that we went to a different restaurant for almost every meal and had good food at each one. There was an amazing Chinese restaurant run by a Cantonese chef. In the words of Martin "it looks like a Chinese fashion designer got way too drunk and threw up everywhere in here." There were even Christmas lights hanging outside the front windows. On the other hand, the menu had something like 200 items on it! I was able to try Zha Cai (Ja Sai), a really odd tasting but delicious pickle and had duck in a hot bean sauce which was oh, oh, oh so good!


Wandering around the bat cave. (Nananananananana BAT CAVE...yeah, that was thought of pretty quick)


The joys of cars in Nepal!



As for the regular touristy things, on Saturday (after we had monged all morning) we had a taxi drive us around to the small sites around Pokhara. We went to a bat cave which was fun, if messy, crawling around in. Only saw a few bats which sounded pretty annoyed after having half a dozen flashlights being shone at them hanging there, but it didn't take away from the experience. The exit was an almost vertical climb up out of a hole in the ground. That was probably the best part. Being covered in bat guano, not so much. Second, we went to Mahendra cave but that one was not nearly as difficult and just ended up being us walking around underground with nothing really to do or see. There was a small Hindu shrine, but it would only really be interesting to Hindus. The third thing we did was go to a gorge over the Seti River. The most interesting thing about it was a couple of small shrines over the bridge an old man built and called a temple. Martin, being Martin, ended up talking to him and getting a tika (a blessing on his forehead). The guy just really liked to talk to foreigners, actually and having them sign his guest book. Then we went to a temple complex, called Bindhya Bassini, and it was a nice little complex with a paved courtyard. It really fit the feel of the town. There were a couple of guys following us around and telling us what things were, then wanted a tip, but it was just kind of irritating when we never said we wanted him to do anything and he didn't really tell us anything we couldn't figure out on our own. After that we stopped for samosas at a tiny little corner shop because, damn, they make good samosas in Nepal!


The most interesting part of Mahendra Cave...it's entrance...


My favourite part of Bindhya Bassini.

Last but not least we ended up at Devi's Falls. The falls themselves run under the mountains nearby and there's a cave where you can follow to where the falls end and run underground. If you're reckless it's possible to fall in but it's still worth just going down there to the water's edge. Devi's Falls aren't huge or anything but how it cuts into the rock makes it interesting. The landscape around the falls makes it seem almost from a fairytale, as well. Then we monged out for a while in a little building at the falls. That little while made the whole day worth it in my opinion.


The cave under Devi's Falls. (That's Devi's Falls in that crack up ahead)


Devi's Falls, in all it's fairytale glory.


Hangin' about.

Sunday when the sun burnt the rain clouds off we decided to go out on the lake. I really wanted to go kayaking so a guy at our hotel had a guy he knew rent me a kayak (that's how things work in Nepal, it's always a guy who knows a guy). That was kind of a bad decision, as it turned out. It was a shoddy kayak and sank while I was out on the water and had only been kayaking for twenty minutes. I later had to go to the man's house and argue with the drunken wanker for a while about how you can't rent someone something dangerous like that. I ended up getting the money back except for one hour's worth, which is fine by me, from his wife the first time I was there and from his mother the second time I went back with other volunteers (Martin and Sebastian really wanted to talk to the guy after the bullshit I had gone through and he still refused to give me some of my money back). The two women were really kind, unlike him. It's a shame good people end up with horrible bastards like that. I got to argue with him the next morning before we left, as well. He wouldn't come out and talk to us the second time me and the others went over there and that's when the older women gave me the rest of the money the man owed me, and he wasn't too happy about that. I might be a white tourist, but you can't rip me off like that. It's a poor country, but a wanker like that doesn't deserve any money.


The beauty of Phewa Tal and Pokhara.

But then again, if you ignore the kayak debacle the afternoon was fantastic though. I hopped on the wooden boat that the locals use and we rowed out in to the middle of the lake. Pokhara is simply stunning in the sunlight looking out from the middle of Phewa Tal (the lake), there's no other way to put it. We dove off the boat and went swimming too. Just hanging out in the water in the lake was a great way to spend a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I forgot my phone was in my swimming trunks pocket, so it got wet, and my camera got dropped in to a puddle on the boat, but both survived so whatever.

The bus trip back was fun as could be expected with each of us curled up in a pair of empty seats trying to sleep while it rained.

The whole weekend was a brilliant opposite from the busy life in Kathmandu. Plus it was so great to see Jude one last time before she left for Thailand, like I said, you really start to miss these people once they're gone.

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