Day 47: a weird day of sightseeing

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Raj took us on a weird day of sight seeing in Pokhara. It was 5 or 6 places and 10 to 15 minutes at each place with the exception of the Gorkha Museum which took us hours to get through. We started at a large waterfall which was renamed Devi Falls in the 1970s when a European woman drown while taking a shower. It took so much time and cost to look for the body they remained it after her. After we went to the caves which has the river from the falls flowing through it. It was very deep and had a Hindi temple inside. This was followed up by the hydropower damn that provides electricity to over 400,000 people. They had massive flooding in the early 1990s and the water rose 26 meters in 24 hours and knocked out the majority of the power grid and this station. The last stop in this area was the Tibet refugee camp where they sell TibetIan crafts to earn money. TibetIan refugees are not able to get jobs in Nepal because they are not citizens so they are limited to cash transactions. The Gorkha museum was a very simple museum that provided so much cool information. The Gorkha are famous fighters for Nepal who prevented the country from becoming a colonized territory. They were eventually lost a battle to the British and in the treaty agreed to enter into the British forces. They currently have units in Nepal, India and Great Britain. The Gorkha have fought in every major battle since and have been deployed out after natural disasters to countries. Every year, in order to become a Gorkha soldier, one has a to be selected on the basis of academics and fitness to ensure only the best are entered into training. For the initial screening they have around 2,800 people sign up and only select around 200 cadets. This is how the Gorkha have maintained their high standards and reputation. The last stop was the lake which has a temple on the island. What we didn’t expect was the island was only 100 yards away and they forced you to wear a life jacket. Don’t they know we grew up in a lake and our grandparents haven’t demanded we wear life jackets in years!!!!????? Still not feeling the best but getting better every day.

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