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Published: December 4th 2009
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Mighty Machhupuchhre - Mt. Fish Tail Arriving in Nepal from India was a turning point of my trip. Despite crossing the border on foot in the dark and spending the night in a mosquito-plagued dorm next to a snoring Spaniard (who was an entertaining guitar player mind), the bus ride from Belahiya to Pokhara was filled with amazing views, pretty villages and smiling locals. The sun was shining, the mountains were in sight and I was finally out of India, and so happy to be out! We reached Pokhara late in the afternoon, but long before getting there we clocked our first sight of the mountain that marks out Nepal's second city so well - Machhupuchhre, or 'Fish Tail'. Its distinctive pyramidal peak stands proud of the rest of the Annapurna Massif from the south, despite being slightly shorter than a few of its near neighbours, and so I spent my first evening in the town on the roof of my hotel block watching the sun's last rays illuminate this towering chunk of rock.
Lakeside in Pokhara is probably the most unashamedly touristy place I've been so far, but for this it was also one of the most welcome. Here were pavements (no need to fight
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Lakeside's western temptations a constant battle against rickshaws, cows and cars for space), steak houses and, wait for it... litter bins! The main street is lined with trekking shops, wi-fi cafes and upmarket western restaurants. Now I know for some people this is a vision of hell, but after 6 weeks in India I was like a kid in a sweet-shop... not least of all because the stores here sell Mars bars, Twix, KitKat and (my personal favourite) Snickers! I could even buy that most missed item of food... a bacon sarnie! Does life get any better?!
So after indulging myself a bit, I began to prepare for my main reason for travelling to Pokhara... a 12-day trek to Annapurna Base Camp, which would start from Pokhara two days after my arrival. I started this preparation by having lunch with Eli and Magnus, who I'd met on the bus from Varanasi (Magnus had intended to go to Kathmandu, but a Maoist road block on the day of travel changed his plans). Pokhara Lakeside is, not surprisingly, located on the shores of Phewa Tal, a man-made lake at the foot of some fairly big hills, and containing a small island with a temple
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Looking down on Phewa Tal atop it. It's a very picturesque setting, and the restaurants down by the water's edge can easily eat up hours if you're not careful. We agreed to meet up the next day to attempt a practice climb to the nearby World Peace Pagoda, which crowns a hill on the opposite side of the lake and provides panoramic views of the nearby Himalayas. All three of us were planning treks... me to ABC and the others undecided between ABC and the famous Circuit trek. The pagoda walk would, we hoped, give us a bit of much needed trekking practice.
The next day, feeling a bit under the weather as my sickness picked up in Delhi had made an unwelcome reappearance, we headed down to the lakeshore after a hearty lunch and hired a boat to take us to the foot of the pagoda track. The path winds fairly steeply up the hill through forest and past a few local farms and shrines, providing ever-better views of Pokhara and the surrounding hills and mountains as you go. After about an hour, we reached the pagoda, a large white stupa housing a number of images of Buddha. Sadly for us, the clouds
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The serene Buddha at the World Peace Pagoda were pretty low that day which blocked out the Himlayas entirely, but gave us a pretty atmospheric view as the different ranges gradually disappeared into the mist.
With the pagoda done, and no more energy for wi-fi, cappuccinos or beefburgers, it was time to meet my trekking group and get ready to head into the mountains...
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