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Published: August 9th 2009
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Picket line
Lakeside closed to outsiders! Friday 7th August
I had originally thought I would probably travel back to Kathmandu on the Sunday but with the school holidays giving me an extra day I booked a bus ticket for Saturday and allowed myself the Friday for a final full day in Pokhara. I wanted to go into the main town centre again to browse atround the Old Bazar area and also post a couple of English books to those kids I met in Kastikot last Saturday.
At breakfast Bindhu told me that Lakeside was on strike! There would be no buses, shops, taxis etc until 6:00pm. Outside Lakeside however things were still working so I just walked as far as the picket line and then caught a bus into towm. I found the post office and sent off my parcel then had a good wander around the Old Bazar district.
After lunch I caught a bus to Birauta Chowk near Damside then walked to the Phewa Rower House (Hydro-electric station) where there were supposed to be some good views of the Pardi Khola valley downstream of Devis Falls. To get dwon to the Power House were 304 steps (and I counted them all!) but
Old Bazar
Newarui houses it was worth it for the stunning views of the valley.
By the time I got back to Lakeside the strike was still in progress so I had to cross a picket line again to get back in. I hasten to add that I was not strike-breaking - the picket lines were just to stop commercial traffic getting in! In the evening I packed my bags ready for an early start in the morning.
Saturday 8th August
Saturday 8th August
Up at 5:30, breakfast then taxi came at 6:30 to take me to the bus park. The bus left on time for the seven and a half hour journey back to Kathmandu. 3 weeks ago I had sat on the left side of the bus on the way out so I opted for the left side again so that this time I could watch the scenery on the other side of the road. A large part of the journey was alongside deep river gorges, mainly the Trisuli River but a few others as well. Looking out of the window gave some very hairy views - at time the bus was only inches away from a vertical
Power House steps
down to the Pardi Khola drop of hundreds of feet and in some places there was no kind of barrier between the road and the drop, or a section of barrier was mysteriously missing! The final 2 hours or so of the journey were a long climb up to the pass into the Kathmandu valley and the road was full of very slow overladen trucks carrying rocks, gravel or sand dredged from the river valleys and presumably destined for building works in Kathmandu. Our bus overtook dozens of these, again producing sopme more hair raising moments - passing on a blind bend or blind hill brow is normal, you just sound your horn to warn any possible on-coming traffic that you are on their side of the road!
Eventually we arrived safely in Kathmandu but had to wait another half hour because it had just started pouring with rain and the bus guys were unhappy about unloading the roof rack in the downpour. I finally arrived at the "Bag Packers Lodge" in the Thamel district somewhere around 3pm. Very nice place, friendly staff with good English and a lovely rooftop restaurabnt.
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