Dec 26, coming to Pokhara

We didn't feel very Christmas-ly, because we had to rise early this morning in order to catch a bus at 7 to Pokhara. The young man from the agent did come and wait for us till we finished most of the breakfast box the hotel had prepared before at 6:15 am we left International. But we were surprised to know that we were picked up, not by a car, but by him and walked to the bus station.

But too late to complain now. Unlike the seven minutes he guaranteed, we walked 15 minutes at least, out of the maze of Thamel's narrow alleys till we came to the royal palace where long lines of buses were parking. After passing many new and clean coaches, we were guided to a Swiss travels bus, not new besides fairly dirty seats. But the good thing was the bus was not full at all, and the driver was careful.

Thick haze over terraces of fields

three locals on the road

a popular breakfast stop

scenery on the way to Pokhara

scenery

It was going to a long drive about 7 hours. We stopped in the middle way twice, for breakfast, and for lunch till it came to a shabby station at last. Lots people held the hotel boards for business. We became their heated target, since only six of our bus came to this final terminal. The other three were one European couple with their tour guide. Our heads were exploding by their overly warm and high pitched introduction of their places.

To run away from them we at first decided to walk to the lakeside, only three kilometers away. But concerning that A. had strained her ankle, we still followed a man charging 80 rs, calling himself a taxi driver to a car. He soon turned out to be one of them, intending to take us to his place, Angle guest house. We insisted on getting off at Hotel Meera, and spent about 20 minutes next in finally finding a nice but a little pricey family-run place, with decent rooms and TV, hot water and breakfast. 800 for my friends and mine 700rs for me.

From the clean streets and hotels, we agreed Pokhara was a popular tourist destination in Nepal after Kathmandu. Its fame has resulted from its lakeside ambiance and its proximity to one of the best trekking locations in the world, the magnificent Annapurna range as well as well as its mild climate, clean air, and snow-capped mountains reflected in a sheltered lake. The first Western tourists to discover Pokhara were hippies in the early 1970s. Here they discovered the perfect venue for doing the things they were best at :getting stone, eating ,growing their hair ,talking and starting into the middle distance while looking cool.They came for a week and stayed for months. The world has changed since then (and os have the drug laws and visa regulations), but Pokhara retains something of the laid back, hedonistic style of that time.

After some rest, we walked to the lake.

To be honest, the scenery was very similar to the lake in our city,except those snow mountains in the background. The famous Fish Tail now was behind the clouds. We tried some local foods at a local stand and took a boat ride to a small island in the middle of the lake.

cows roaming freely