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Published: April 7th 2010
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We arrived in Pokhara on March 5th and on the recommendation of Jupiter (our host in Lumbini who also set us up with his brother in Chitwan), we stayed at his other brother's hotel, the Silver Oaks Inn - a mid-range hotel that we managed to secure at a budget price. Pokhara is Nepal's second largest city. It sits on the shore of a pretty lake, surrounded by mountains that reminded us both of home. The traveler district at 'Lakeside' is devoted to outdoor adventure activities. It is a very popular starting point for Himalayan treks, as well as being a mecca for paragliding (jumping off mountains with a parachute). As such, Pokhara's main drag is a string of small outdoor stores selling knock-off versions of everything anyone could possibly need for trekking. The copyright infringement on companies such as The North Face is astounding -- at least the quality of most of the items didn't seem too bad, and I have to admit that the stores were actually very handy for picking up some items that we needed for our journey into the Himalayas.
We spent about 3-4 days here on either end of our trek. The Lakeside area
Silver Oaks Inn
Our home in Pokhara - a very nice place, but not an oak tree in sight - let alone a silver one! of town has a feel not unlike that of outdoor-resort communities like Whistler...with the restaurant prices to match. For this reason, Mel & I were happy to discover the Laughing Buddha - a small, simple restaurant with delicious food and great prices. With items such as a tasty, steaming, meal-sized bowl of garlic soup with garlic bread (lethal breath no extra charge) for a mere 35 rupees (50 Canuck cents), we took to eating there at least once a day.
We filled our time in Pokhara with activities such as renting bicycles (and getting lost on the hilly, unpaved outkirts), looking through trekking stores, and checking out the night life. There was a pretty good jazz bar in Pokhara, as well as other spots with live music. Everything shuts down by 11:00pm, so it wasn't a problem to get to bed relatively early.
One day we rented a motorcycle and did a tour of some areas of interest in the area surrounding Pokhara. The bike was a step up from the scooters and smaller machines we'd rented earlier in the journey, which didn't involve any shifting of gears. It was actually a proper cruiser-style Indian-made (as in the
The main drag
Here is the strip in Pokhara - trekking stores, restaurants, and tour companies. country, not the company) motorcycle, called a 'Bajaj Avenger' - a model I'd had my eye on since Goa. I finally got the nerve to go and rent one and try it out on the Nepali roads. I'd ridden a dirt bike a bit as a kid, so I reasoned, 'how hard can it be'? Mel & I both opted for helmets on this outing... The bike turned out to be great - aside from stalling it a couple of times at the worst possible (i.e., most embarassing) moments, handling it was...well, like riding a bike - no problem! We went out and took a walk through a huge cave which has thousands of bats hanging on the ceiling, and we cruised around the shore of the lake. It was a fun day of sightseeing where getting there was more than half the fun.
Another highlight in Pokhara was an afternoon that we spent on the lake, called Phewa Tal. We rented a rowboat and went for a leisurely paddle in the sunshine. It was a warm, peaceful, romantic way to spend a sunny afternoon, and we got some great pictures as the sun set over the calm water.
Sunset cruise...?
Perhaps not in these crafts...made for a scenic photo though! Other memorable experiences from Pokhara included having beers and watching the sun set over the lake and the mountains from the rooftop of our hotel, and going out in search of good coffee in the mornings - there were some bakeries and cafes that actually had espresso machines and real coffee beans - a welcome treat and a great break from the much more common (and much less inspiring) instant coffee.
Pokhara was a scenic, comfortable, relaxing place to land before and after our trek. It was a nice balance of being big enough that it was possible to find a good coffee in the morning and a good jazz band in the evening, yet small enough that crossing the street on the main drag typically didn't amount to a near-death experience. We spent at least a week in Pokhara in total, and although it was one of our longer stays anywhere on the trip, it didn't seem too long.
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Ashraf
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wow
hey friends, its nice to see you.... wish to be there... big hug.. love and light. Ashraf