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Fish Tail Lodge, Pokhara
The hotel we stayed at in Pokhara had a unique entry way - you had to be taken across the river by barge or canoe to reach the hotelFollowing an indeterminable wait at Kathmandu airport (it wasn't clear that anyone knew when or if our flight was supposed to depart), we arrived in Pokhara and were met by our local guide to be taken to our accommodation for the night; Fishtail Lodge. This was a property at the luxury end of Backpacker friendly Pokhara, but had clearly seen its glory days as "THE" place to stay, come and go some years before.
Nevertheless, it was nice with its most interesting feature being the method of entering the hotel - the only way to get to the property was via a rowboat or barge - quite an experience with a full pack (anyone who has seen our luggage knows what I'm talking about!). Anyway, after crossing the Phewa Tal (lake) by small canoe to the hotel, we checked in and decided to take a look around.
While Pokhara is definitely a tourist town catering to those starting and finishing treks in the nearby Annapurna Ranges, it also has some of its own charm as there are apparently fantastic views of the Annapurna's, including Mt Machhapuchhare (say that 3 times quickly) commonly known as Fish Tail Mountain, but unfortunately
for us the haze that had dogged us in Kathmandu was ever present in Pokhara and we couldn't see the mountains at all. The exception was early one morning when we could make out the vague, indistinct shapes of the range through the smoky haze, though it was hardly the sparkling alpine view we had heard so much about.
We initially thought that this situation was something that would pass and our patience would be rewarded with views of the Himalayas sparkling against a background of brilliant blue; unfortunately this wasn't to be. It turns out that the very time we visited Nepal was at the turn of the season when the farmers burn the remains of the previous years crops to prepare the fields for the planting that happens shortly thereafter; as such the haze in the air wasn't from industrial pollution (as it was in Kathmandu), but from the natural cycle of planting that occurs every year.
That evening we were briefed by Indra (our guide) on the three day camping trek through the Annapurna Range that we would commence the next day - also called the "Royal Trek" because Prince Charles did it in 1980
- the Annapurna Skyline trek is one of the less arduous treks you can do in Nepal, while still getting off the tourist circuit into the mountain villages and offering great views of the Himalayas (haze permitting).....I know what you're all thinking...how did I get Janice to do another three days camping (while walking through the mountains) after our 6 week camping "adventure" in Africa?? It was easy - neither of us knew anything about what we were doing in Nepal as we'd been so busy with everything else that we didn't have time to get into the details!!
Early the next morning, we got up and assembled the gear we would need for the next few days and headed across the river to meet our "crew" (guides, porters and cooks) with whom we would hike through the mountains - talk about service - for the two of us there were a total of eleven, yes, eleven people to support and guide us through the trek. While it felt a bit weird at first, once we got used to the idea that our 3 day walk was providing work for eleven locals who were usually farmers during the growing
season we settled down and enjoyed the company of this great bunch of guys.
We started the trail near Bijayapur Khola and then crossed a flat area of rice fields and grazing land (where we visited a local school and crossed a rickety bridge) before climbing a ridge to the village of Kalikathan (at 1,370 meres) where we camped the first night. Over the next three days, we wandered through villages, across valley floors, up steep, rock hewn steps and across dirt paths running beside terraced fields of mustard seed and grain crops. We met, communicated with and observed many people - children laughing and playing in the dirt, farmers butchering a beast, old women carrying huge loads on their backs up steep pathways and teenagers scrambling up narrow, rock hewn stairs on their way to and from school. One thing that stood out about all these people is that they were happy, smiling and friendly despite their obvious lack of material possessions and concerns. In addition, the scenery was stunning - the crop terraces with bullocks ambling along slowly ploughing the field, the haystacks in their prominent position beside the mud brick and thatch houses; many of them
home to families of the infamous and feared Gurkha tribe; and when we were lucky the beautiful view of Fishtail Mountain and the rest of the Annapurna range sparkling white in the distance.
On the second evening we camped on a family's property at the summit of Shaklung (1,730 metres) and we got to interact at length with the matriarch of the family; an eighty five year old lady who looked every day of 100; and her grand children. It was while we were camped here that I was able to catch up on my reading as we reached the campsite quite early - all the walking we'd done in our earlier travels was paying off! Anyway, it was during this respite that I read about the Nepalese Royal family - talk about a mess!! (Charles and Di's shenanigans pale into insignificance against this lot). A few years ago at a family gathering one of the royal princes walked in and decimated the entire extended family - something like 20 royals were murdered in minutes! Finally he turned the gun on himself, but ironically did not die immediately. Because he was next in line for the throne he was
sworn in while lying in his hospital bed where he died shortly afterwards - all because his mother and father (the King and Queen) did not approve of the woman he wanted to marry!!!
On the third day of the trek we descended to the valley floor then climbed again to the pretty Gurung village of Chisopani (1,629 metres) where we got to observe the local villagers operating a makeshift butchery. Finally we gingerly stepped our way down a dried out creek bed before crossing the ridge that separates Rupa Tal and Begnas Tal (Tal = lake) before being picked up by our bus and heading back to Pokhara.
The next day we headed off to Bandipur, originally a Magar village in the remote hills of Western Nepal. At a height of 1,030 metres we expected that we'd get great views from the village, but unfortunately this wasn't to be. The sky was filled from dawn to dusk with smoke as a result of the crop fires that the local villagers were using to prepare their fields for the next seasons crop. Until a few years ago, Bandipur was "undiscovered" by tourism and the Lonely Planet had assured
us that there would be few tourists around - clearly the guide needs updating as the place was filled with coach loads of daytrippers!! At one point I had several old men from a Chinese tour group gathered around me taking my photo as clearly I was starting to resemble some kind of strange mountain man by this time.
Our brief stay in Bandipur over, we headed off for our next major destination - the Chitwan National Park. The journey was unremarkable (other than the usual dicing with death on a regular basis) except that at one point we came to a sudden halt where lines of cars were stopped in the middle of a major highway - after waiting for a few minutes our guide and driver decided to go and investigate and some time later came back to report that someone had been in a motorbike accident and that was the cause for the delay.
We then got as close to the front of the line as we could and after much discussion between the guide and the driver decided that we should walk through the chaos and get picked up by another vehicle on the
other side. It was only while walking and talking to those around us that we found out that the accident had been several weeks ago and the delay was because the family of the deceased had shut down the road system (by laying burning tyres across the road) as they weren't happy with the level of compensation being offered by the other person involved in the accident!! Imagine that - traffic was stopped in every direction for about three kilometres all because people weren't happy with what they were getting due to the death of a relative - I guess that's one way to get what you want!
Luckily for us, we were able to walk far enough away to get picked up by a car coming from our hotel at the National Park; I felt sorry for our driver and the hundreds of others who were forced to sit in their vehicles for the next five hours until the road had been cleared.
P.S - for those wondering; we are now in Rome, Italy (having traveled through SE Asia for five weeks and Sydney for two we're now in Europe!!) I'll get caught up on the
blog as soon as I can........
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renee
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mountain woman
the "mountain woman" photo is amazing - a true national geographic pic. nice to see you both in sydney too.