Nepal trip 1999 - Pokhara

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Pokhara

Pokhara is a beautiful city on the banks of the Phewa lake and surrounded by the snow peaks of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu ranges.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhara

On a clear day, perhaps, the snow peaks being reflected in the Phewa Lake would lend Pokhara an enchantment, which was lacking on the day we visited it, because the sky was overcast.
Clear days at Pokhara are a rarity. Pokhara is always rainy, it seems. No wonder, with 400 cm/year precipitation, what else do you expect?

However, we were still thankful to the weather gods that the sky remained cloudy but it did not rain, nor was it too cold.

Boating on the Phewa lake has a charm all its own, especially because the boatman allowed us to row the boat by ourselves, no matter that it was going round and round in circles. Once we were tired, he took the oars again and we managed to reach the small island in the lake where a small temple of Barahi Devi stands. (Barahi Devi is the “Boar” incarnation of the goddess Durga.)



A little bit of a put-off of Nepalese Hindu temples is that they allow sacrifice of live birds and animals, chickens and goats. This practice was prevalent in most of Indian Hindu temples also, but now it is, thankfully, discontinued.

Even human sacrifice was widely practiced once upon a time. I hope and believe that it is now eradicated throughout the world, though I am still not sure of it.

The Mahendra cave is nothing to write home about, but I am speaking from the perspective of a world traveler, who has seen Luray Caverns and Jenolan Caves. To the uninitiated, the tiny stalactites and stalagmites of the Mahendra Cave look quite good.

However, Devi’s Falls (Also known as Davis Falls) are definitely something to write home about. The sight of a whole lot of water just disappearing into a hole into the bowels of Earth, is mesmerizing. Just where does the water go?

The water does not vanish permanently, but comes out of the ground somewhere else, but you do not see it.

You might have noticed that so far I have not written a single word about Machhapuchhare, the famous ‘fishtail’ mountain that is seen from Pokhara, because we had not seen it. It was hiding in the clouds, and I was feeling pessimistic that we may leave Pokhara without seeing that majestic peak. That sort of thing had happened to us before at Darjeeling.

In a depressed frame of mind, we set out early next morning to view the sunrise on Annapurna. Many fellow tourists opted out because the sky was still overcast. The hotel staff was not at all optimistic that we will get good views of the sunrise. The way they were waxing eloquent about how fickle the weather was in those parts, and how, after all, we might be able to see the sunrise, made me suspicious. However, the weather was not under their control, and they couldn’t be blamed for it.



Our car climbed and climbed up to the viewing platform, and we waited there for the sunrise, shivering with cold. The good thing was that now the clouds were BELOW us, and we had clear views of the snowy peaks. The Machhapuchhare Does look like a fishtail. (Have you seen ‘Jaws’? The Machhapuchhare looks like the triangular fin of the shark cutting through the water. The only difference was that the mountain peak is white with snow.

The sunrise over the Annapurna range was everything that I had read and dreamed about. It was certainly a soul-satisfying experience, though it was very short. At Mukteshwar also, in an earlier trip, we had the same ‘transcendental’ kind of experience.

Recently, at Queenstown, we again experienced this magic of the sunrise over the snow peaks. Its charm does not diminish with repetition.

The Gods did bless us with this view after all.

When we came back to the hotel, we were again below the cloud cover. The hotel staff ‘tut-tut’ed about our misfortune that after coming to Nepal all the way from Mumbai, we had not had a glimpse of the miracle of the sunrise over snow peaks. The other tourists, who had opted to stay in the hotel on account of the cloudy sky, also were very sympathetic. “Weather is always very unpredictable” they uttered this aphorism as though they had invented it. “Getting up so early and going up there was not worth it” another tourist opined. They were so sorry that we had suffered cold and deprived of our sleep for nothing.

“Yes, you are right. The weather is always very unpredictable” we told them smugly. “Just look at the sky. Would you believe that the cloud cover was below us and we had wonderful views of the sunrise? WE really, really feel sorry that you people missed it.”

“You mean you actually were able to see the sunrise over the mountains? Despite the clouds?” they asked us disbelievingly.

“Yes, sir, and a most wonderful sunrise it was.” We told them gleefully.

A more crestfallen lot I have never seen.

Back in our room, Avi asked me “So, are you happy now that you have seen Machhapuchhare?”

“Oh yes. I am very happy. Now I only want to see Machu Picchu, which is another ‘fishtail’ mountain.” I said. Yes, I know. I AM an insatiable tourist.

“I am not promising you that I will take you there. If you are so fond of fish tails, just go to the fish market, buy a Pomfret and look at its tail to your heart’s content” He said thus absolving himself of any responsibility of taking me to Peru.

Oh, well, I live in hope.

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