Day 1
Another 6 hour journey from Chitwan and we arrive in Pokhara
for 2 days R&R before we go hiking to Poon Hill.
We checked into our new lodgings and had a brief look around
our surroundings. Pokhara is a lovely
town next to a huge lake which is overlooked by the World Peace Temple. It has numerous restaurants, bars and hiking
shops alongside the lake with lots of tourists just about to set off on their
treks.
After a few beers and something to eat we then head off home
for a shower and bed – No hot water!! Apparently something to do with no
electricity
Day 2
We rose early hoping for a shower, still no hot water! Apparently not enough sun for the solar
panels! As Shelley was now sulking I spoke to the manager and arranged a hot
bucket of water for us both to have a tarts wash in (Sorry Shelley wouldn’t let
me take photos!) After which we had a
pot of coffee before heading out to purchase some hiking gear.
The hiking gear we acquired was 3 walking poles, two woolly
hats, water bottle and water purification tablets all for the princely sum of
£20.00, we also arranged to hire some sleeping bags as we were advised that the
blankets supplied in the mountain lodges were dubious to say the least.
After this we went off to get a pedicure (Me not Shelley),
to remove some hard skin that was hurting my foot, I thought it would be better
sorting this to save me limping round the mountains. It proved to be quite interesting as the
owner then said he was teaching his daughter the trade, so she had a go first
but her father seemed to disapprove of what she was doing so he took over. When
his son entered the room he then decided that he would have a go whilst all the
time being coached by his father which seemed to irritate him – so much so that
he drew blood when clipping my toenails.
After about 20 minutes my ordeal was over, you’ll be happy to know that
I declined the purple nail-polish! I am
now ready for the mountains!! (Shelley insert! Glenn has failed to mention that
I had to hold his hand!, he was breaking out in cold sweats for fear of getting
a repeat performance of his massage in Vietnam (those of you who know the story
will understand!) )
A quick liquid refreshment near the lake watching eagles at
play and we decided to find an internet café to catch up on our blog before we
hit the mountains. Three hours later
(yes that’s how long it takes to write this rubbish – after Shelley has edited,
spellchecked and approved!) and we were ready to hit the bars and restaurants.
Having worked out that all Pokhara bars seem to have a happy
hours from 4 – 8 we had a few cheap beers in a couple of bars before finding a
nice Reggae bar that was doing happy hour on cocktails, we happily tested a few
cocktails out before finding a vodka, coconut liqueur and redbull one which we
quite liked, so we had a couple of these and were quite ticking so we thought
we would call it a day and head home for yet another early night.
Well that was the plan until we heard the strains of a live rock band playing in one of the
upstairs bars (as I have mentioned before – moths to a flame), so we thought we
would check them out – one more beer cannot do any harm can it!!
Anyway when we got upstairs we saw the band
and was amazed to see a Nepalese Slash-a-like on guitar (he also had all the
moves), and when they started belting out AC/DC, Nirvana , Gun’s N Rose’s and
the like, one beer turned into a number of beers. Shelley and I were now shouting out requests,
screaming along to the tunes and becoming their No.1 fans. In fact we eventually turned out to be their
only fans as from out raucous cheers and applause I think we scared everyone
else out of the bar. (…..no Glenn, this was definitely Glenn not
Shelley!)
Unfortunately just before we left, the band kicked into a
rendition of ‘Killing In The Name Of….’ And before I knew it I was on the dance
floor and Nepalese Slash joined me down there and we were both rocking out
together, him shredding on his guitar, me killing it on the air guitar both
headbanging like goodun’s – all I can say is this was not a good idea and I’m
glad we don’t have any video footage!!
Eventually I think Shelley had the good idea to leave and we went home.(.....
Again, failed to mention that Glenn and Slash emptied the bar!, also, 4 days
later, up in the mountains we were sitting in a lodge minding our own business
when a girl approached and asked us if we were in the bar in Pokhara, commenting
on Glenn’s moves!, Glenn is now a Nepali rock star!)
Day 3
Rising early as usual due to the gates to the hotel opening
very early (with a large scrapping noise)and all the staff appeared to like to have
social meetings underneath our room at around 5-6am (they do not seem to have
any volume control). I now discover the
price to be paid for my last night’s shenanigans – I now appear to be paralysed
in the neck and shoulders I can only move my neck 5 degrees in any direction (I
am no longer 21 – what a dumb-ass!) Once again no hot water!
So after a light breakfast at our new local café we decided
to do some sight-seeing.
Our plan was to visit the World Peace Temple, so we headed
to the lake and employed the services of a boatman to ferry us across the other
side of the lake, we thought the cost of around £4 was a bit expensive but had
no other option, but halfway across the lake we realised how far it actually
was with this poor small Nepalese guy struggling to row us two lumps across the
body of water, so we felt obliged to tip him as we disembarked.
We then began to take the steep track to the World Peace
Temple and it soon dawned on us that it was going to a bit harder than we first
anticipated (It stands at 1000 Metre’s). About half way up and sweating and panting
heavily we were happy to see a watering hole, so took the opportunity to drink
our friend Mr Everest before pushing on to the top.
When we finally reached our destination the temple was a
sight for sore eyes and legs, it also had a fantastic view over the whole lake
and the town of Pokhara. And a spectacular view of the mountains with
paragliders doing their thing around it.
Temple done we then found a bar just next to it, so we took
a seat on the edge (a scaffolding extension to the bar) which afforded us
spectacular views and had a bite to eat and another Everest beer. It was at this point Shelley was letting me
know her reservations about the 5 day trek we had ahead of us!
We then headed back down in search of the Devils Fall’s and
caves. After getting down and with no
sign of said falls we asked one of the locals and were pointed down the road in
the direction of town. A short while
further we eventually found the cave and at a cost of 75p each we decided we
should go and have a look – to be fair this seemed over-priced as it was a
small cave system with a temple inside and a short walk to the end when there
was a waterfall that you could barely see in the darkness!
Once we came back out we saw the sign for the waterfall across
the road, so we parted with a further 20p each to visit the falls, and once
again we felt a bit robbed – a small river with a very short waterfall. The only thing we got from this was it was
not actually Devil’s Fall but Davis falls, named after a swiss lady tourist who
whilst bathing in the river was swept down to her death down the falls in the
50’s (and apparently it was very hard to
recover her body!). Note to self, no bathing in the river!
We could no longer take the excitement of these attractions
so we then had a very long walk back to our hotel. Amazingly we finally had hot water, so we
freshened up (I even got to wash my hair) and we went back out. We collected our hired sleeping bags and then
went for a nice meal in a local restaurant (and a couple of more Everest’s)
before heading back for an early night, we had to be up for our expedition in
the morning!!
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