Pokhara Weekend

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According to WikiTravel, Pokhara, Nepal is considered by many to be the most beautiful places on earth. After spending the weekend here, I was able to understand a small piece of their meaning. Pokhara is about 183km west of Kathmandu, and nestled in amongst lakes, mountains, and agricultural terraces. It has an almost cottage-like feeling to it, with a European flavour which makes you feel as if you have been whisked away to some hidden mountain paradise (well, maybe you have…).

Leaving Kathmandu, the first think that struck me was how almost every hillside was terraced. When I say hillside, I refer to hundreds upon hundreds of meters of slopes, close to 45 degrees in their natural angle, which have been transformed into steps to grow corn and other crops. When you look at one of these hillsides, what immediately becomes evident is that even one plot of this type of land could not have possibly been finished in one lifetime. To transform, maintain, and expand upon farms like this takes generations of labour, constant attention, and (one would think) the best of technology. But not once when I was traveling to Pokhara did I see a single digging machine or construction vehicle of any kind. To look at a landscape like this is quite humbling.

The highway to Pokhara was surprisingly well maintained. We averaged about 45 km/hr in our tourist bus, labeled thusly so it can pass through any strikes which may happen on our route (the Maoists and other political forces generally don’t stop tourist busses due to the revenue that they generate). However, you needed to either sleep or read a book, so you wouldn’t look ahead through the windshield. Driving in Nepal is a bit of a different affair than in Canada. For example, our two-lane highways are well-maintained and carefully labeled to inform you of when it is safe to pass a car going in your direction. In Nepal, these highways are sufficiently maintained, but somewhat lacking in lane dividers. The rule of thumb seems to be to drive down the center of the road unless there is oncoming traffic. Then, if you want to pass a vehicle, you just honk really loudly so that they know they are being passed. This is especially important when you pass a vehicle on a corner, which happens quite frequently! What seems to keep vehicles safe is that, for the most part, your speed can’t exceed 50 or 60 km/h, and we had an excellent driver. However that doesn’t help when you’re watching your driver skillfully dodge an oncoming Bedford truck! So, as I said, reading a book is essential.

Even though it was raining when we arrived in Pokhara, it was nice to be away from the smells and noise of Kathmandu. The rain almost made the town more peaceful than it already was, and although we all got soaked, it was nice to just wander and enjoy the differences in this new community. We went to a very nice Canadian restaurant, which as it turned out, had the best apple crumble in Nepal. It was a dessert of epic quality and proportions .

Today most of our group went paragliding off one of the Annapurna foothills, of which I was incredibly jealous! But I spent the day caving, checking out waterfalls, and paddling on NewaTal. I can’t tell you how incredibly jealous I was, but one must save money for the rest of the journey! The caves were glorious though - and underground, not only did we see the waterfall from below, but we also got to see a very small temple to Shiva, and an interesting cow-shrine, which none of us understood. We were led through this snail-shell like crevasse until we got to its centre, which was a lawn chair facing what appeared to be a giant paper maché cow. Interesting, eh?

We were all sad to leave Pokhara, but I suppose we do have to actually start “volunteering” now, as crazy as that sounds.

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