A week in Pokhara and Kathmandu

---

Day 1 (Bangalore-Delhi-Kathmandu):

I’m propped up on two pillows on my firm double bed here at Thorong Peak Guest House in the heart of Thamel. I’m really tired as it’s 8.30pm now and I’ve been up since 4.15am having had to fly Bangalore-Delhi-Kathmandu. Getting here was a bit of a ‘mare as getting through Delhi airport took a span and then the visa queue at Kathmandu airport took an hour to get through. But I’m here! Back in Nepal for the first time in 4 years.

My accommodation is great. It’s in the heart of Thamel – I’ve never seen so many white tourists in my life, of course I’m one of them but like everyone else I think I’m superior to the rest, illogically – but tucked around a corner so it’s surprisingly quiet. I would definitely recommend it. They upgraded my room for free without me asking, guess they had the room maybe? (I’m paying $18 per night) with a double bed, bath and shower (a luxury as in India one never has a bath in their flat/hotel room unless they’re extremely lucky or pay extra), there are little balconies and a small tabled area outside, two guys were there to meet me at the airport even though I was an hour late, they helped me change my Indian rupees when I was finding it difficult to find a place that would, they booked my return flight to Pokhara for me and they do really great masala chai! I’m staying here again when I return from Pokhara in a week’s time and I’d recommend it to anyone.

So I ended up arriving here at Thorong at around 3.30pm. Since then I’ve withdrawn money from a nearby ATM, had a late lunch/early tea of pasta from La Dolce Vita (yes I will eat Nepali food tomorrow), wandered around getting my bearings and lots of drinking (non alcoholic) as I feel quite dehydrated from my journey. I’ve just come back from New Orleans Café which I really liked; got a table at the top overlooking everyone eating by candlelight and ordered an apple pie and ice cream whilst I started a new book on my Kindle.

Day 2: Kathmandu (morning) and Pokhara (afternoon and beyond)

I’m typing this at 7.30 in the evening in my new location, Pokhara. It is quite weird though as I’m starting to think I’m the only person staying in this hotel..’The Shining’ anyone? I changed hotels at the last minute because although I’d requested a lake view room at a recommended-by-a-friend place over 6 weeks ago, a few days they cancelled on me shifting me to a non-lake-facing room. Part of the point of coming here was to get a room with a view. So I quickly sought out another place and found this one – Waterfront Resort - on agoda.com that I’ve used before for bookings.

The hotel is set about 5-10 minutes walk away from the end of the touristy strip and despite the hotel’s website saying there was a pool, well, yeah, there is, but it’s unfinished so completely empty. Huh! Probably why I got a good deal on this place is because it’s so new so is trying to attract customers. So at present it is somewhat soulless. But I like it because there’s barely anyone here. I’ve only been in Nepal around 36 hours but already the scores of backpackers and tourists that are here are irritating me. When I walk along the street I see them lounging in hammocks, smoking, men with ponytails wearing sandals and cheesecloth shirts..arrgh. Here my room has great views across the lake and the side window looks over the lake and the paddy fields where I can see egrets flying. I’m outside at the moment on a little terraced area having a caffe latte and having talked to what I assume is the manager who said he can organise horse-trekking, paragliding and boating etc for me, which I will take him up on. While I’m here I want to go out on the boat at least once, birdwatch, go walking around, see the sunrise from the hills..we shall see.

Getting to Pokhara though was again, a bit of a nightmare. OK, not a nightmare, an annoyance. I spent until midday in Thamel having woken up at 6am but not risen til 8.30am, had a generous breakfast – as I knew the airport would not offer much in the way of lunch – of pancake, cornflakes, masala tea, juice and two slices of toast, headed out for a wander before coming back, heading off in the hotel taxi and arriving at the airport at around 12.45.

The domestic ‘terminal’ if you can call it that was just as I remembered it from 4 years ago when my family and I spent I think 4 successive mornings there trying to catch the Everest flight. It was heaving, barely a seat to be found, with a couple of shops offering magazines, imported food goods and a stall serving tea and coffee whilst foreigners like myself lay sprawled across the floor lying on/across their bursting rucksacks, a true mass of unbrushed hair, sun-weathered skin and trekking equipment along with a sense of smugness that they were being so intrepid. Yes I do sound sarcastic; I’m just getting fed up of backpackers already. Perhaps it’s irrational to think I am superior to these wanderers but I do!

Anyway as time passed there were power cuts on and off, which meant it was sometimes impossible to view the computer screens much less hear any announcements above the din of the room. My flight left eventually but at 3.50pm instead of 2.20pm so I was not amused. Luckily I was reading an engrossing book, latest by Patrick Gale who is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. Anyhow the flight was only 25 minutes and a 15 min taxi ride later, I arrived here at the hotel, so just before 5pm. It’s approaching 8pm now and all I’ve done is go for a wander down the hill and finished my book at the Lemongrass restaurant where I had some excellent ‘Nepali-style’ fish, fresh orange juice and then have wandered back to type this. Perhaps another night this week I may go somewhere to see some live music as there are lots of places but I may just stay on my own and spend my evenings like this one. I’m surrounded by a mass of people every day be it in the city or simply at school. I need some alone time and some space to clear my head and don’t need to be in the company of other people for a week. We’ll see how it goes. Looking forward to the rest of the week now I’m finally in Pokhara!



Day 3:

My body clock, used to school, woke me up at 6am-ish but I didn’t get up til 8.30am and headed down for breakfast. I’ve decided to try and fill up for breakfast as it’s included anyway and it might help set me up for the day with not much needed for lunch..but then again that didn’t quite work out today! I had cornflakes (I’m recently developing a penchant for them which makes me smile as that’s what my paternal grandpa used to have for breakfast every single day without fail), masala tea, fresh orange juice and a croissant. Yum..

After breakfast I got my hotel to organise a boatman to row me across Phewal Tal (the big lake here) so I could ascend to the World Peace Pagoda. The walk up there took an hour. I stopped every so often to try and get a good picture of the numerous butterflies that were around. I went for the climb (the exercise) rather than the view, which was good as you could barely see anything. I have no idea when the best time to come to Nepal is because I have heard this is a good time but as far as visibility goes, it’s pretty rubbish. Both Kathmandu and now here in Pokhara is blanketed in cloud/mist so although the guidebook raves on about ‘fantastic views’ I am resigned to the fact I am not going to see any of them. But never mind; I’ve been spoiled with amazing views in other places I’ve travelled (particularly Sri Lanka last Christmas) and I’ve come here to get away from it all so I don’t mind too much, anyway it’s out of my control so as we say in India, ‘what to do’, which is a statement, rather than a question!

It only took about 15 minutes to descend and nothing’s better than a bottle of lurid orange Fanta (as opposed to the developed-world Fanta which actually has real orange in) in the heat so I had one of those bought from ‘Typical Restaurant’ at the foot of the lake, then asked a boatman to take me over the other side again. I had lunch at Lemon Tree (grilled fish with ginger, delicious; am planning on eating fish every day here as it’s right from the lake) then walked around the main strip of Lakeside. I bought one halterneck top with a Kashmiri design on but that’s it and I reckon I won’t buy anything else. Having lived in Bangladesh, now India and having been to Nepal before my appetite is satisfied for embroidered bags, shawls and hippie trousers. There’s nothing here I haven’t seen in either Bangalore or Kathmandu anyhow so I reckon my bank account is safe! I purchased a small bag of goodies from Fishtail Organic Garden, an NGO-run programme that sells organic soap, honey, oils etc. I tasted and bought some strong honey (I always prefer the rawer-tasting stuff), some masala tea and spices.

I then came back to my hotel, chilled out for a bit, went downstairs for momos and an iced coffee and am now sitting on my bed. I’ll run a bath now (oh to have a bath all the time) and perhaps start a movie. For some reason lately I’ve had the urge to watch ‘The English Patient’ again even though I know it’s intense and long for this time of night as it’s 8pm! I guess it’s partly having listened to a Ralph Fiennes interview on BBC Radio 5 Live the other day..I just find every shot so beautifully made, all the performances..it is, as my kids would say, epic, in all senses of the word. However perhaps instead I’ll continue with another book I’ve just started reading on my Kindle, Isabel Allende’s ‘Island Beneath the Sea’. She’s one of my favourite authors; all her novels have a historical backdrop usually Cuban-influenced with family sagas, violence, love and war..epic again!

Tomorrow the hotel is organizing a cab for me to help explore Devi’s Falls, the Bat Cave and maybe a couple of other places. In the afternoon I may go for a swim at one of the hotels walkable from here and/or get a massage or simply read my book in one of the many cafes along the main strip. I like the fact I’m in a place that caters for tourists but isn’t ostentatious. I like that I can get a pretentious caffe latte and a slice of apple pie as well as as a cheap plate of momos and masala chai should I so wish. Right. Bath time and then perhaps a wee bit of Anthony Minghella magic..

Day 4:

Nothing much to say here as the momos from the previous evening came back to haunt me at around 6am and finished at around 1pm with diarrhea and vomiting. Strange as didn’t think it would take that long; in the past when I’ve had food poisoning it occurs in a matter of hours not 12 hours later but..anyway so that was juuuuuust great. Needless to say I felt rubbish so spent the whole day in my room sleeping, being ill and listening to the BBC podcasts I’d downloaded. With so much sleeping/resting I didn’t think I’d sleep the night through but I did!

Day 5:

Felt a bit knackered today from yesterday but well enough to get out of the hotel (I was bored of staying inside for the whole day so although my breakfast is included, I decided to go elsewhere). My bag was heavy as I decided to take my laptop into ‘town’ to access somewhere with Wifi along with my camera, extra lens, Nepal guidebook, 1 litre of water, Kindle..you get the picture. Anyhow I settled on a place called ‘Tea Time’ where I had cornflakes, milk, coffee and a pancake, the last of which was so thick I couldn’t finish it! But it was good nonetheless. I then hailed a cab to get me to Old Pokhara, which I spent around 20 minutes wandering around but to be honest, Patan in Kathmandu wins hands down when it comes to old Newari houses and such, so if you have been there or plan to, I’d easily miss out Old Pokhara if you are pushed for time.

Back in a cab for 11am where I stopped at the Moondance Restaurant to write a couple of emails and have an iced coffee, mmm. My muscles have been aching for a while – I suspect partly due to the cough I have recently shaken after 3 weeks, and due to the day before yesterday’s climb up to the World Peace Pagoda – so I walked along (about 10 mins from Moondance Restaurant) to Seeing Hands Nepal, a charity that trains blind Nepalis in the art of massage. The following is taken from their leaflet:

Nepal shoulders one of the largest burdens of global blindness with an estimated 600,000 people either partially or totally blind. They face a desperate future, entirely dependant on others with limited or no opportunities for education or work.

Seeing Hands Nepal was set up to provide training and employment opportunities for young blind Nepalis as massage therapists..

Anyhow you can find out more on www.seeinghandsnepal.org I went for an hour long ‘Swedish massage’, which was wonderful. My masseuse said she felt tight areas in my back and arms (no surprise there, especially in the past few days where my backpack’s been quite heavy, and a teacher’s bag in any case is always far from light) and worked those areas but not in a painful way. It was under 10 pounds for that hour and I gave a tip. Definitely go there if you can. You have a superb massage and you know you’re doing good. What’s not to love? They also have a centre in Kathmandu so I might try and swing a massage there before I leave Nepal! Any excuse!

On the way back I stopped by Green Nepal organic shop only a few shops away from Seeing Hands. It has a wealth of honey, lots of different types, which you can try, and lots of different kinds of tea as well..coffee..herbal pillows..soaps..etc. I bought a present or two J I then rented a boat and a boatman to take me back to near my hotel was, which took about 20 minutes. It started to rain briefly (there was a massive storm last night) but thank goodness nothing more as I had no rain protection whatsoever!

I’ve just come back to the hotel and asked them to book a cab for me to Sarangkot at 5.30am tomorrow morning, my last full day in Pokhara. From Sarangkot you can (apparently) see the peaks of the Himalaya BUT I will not hold my breath as I expect cloud will obscure everything. Still, why not try..one might be lucky..it’s nearly 4pm now and I reckon I’ll walk up the road to a place with a view and get a cup of masala chai and read my book before venturing out for dinner. My hotel is fine and it will be even better with more people in! and when the pool is finished..but I like a bit of a buzz in the evening so I’m going to walk around and find somewhere else to eat tonight. I’m glad I brought a torch with me as the strip along the lake is not that well lit and the ground is uneven, so the more light, the better.

Day 6:

Weirdly I woke up around 4.30am anyway, a bit before my 4.50am alarm, so by 5am I’d got into the cab the hotel had ordered for me and it took about 30 minutes or so to wind our way up to Sarangkot, the viewing point for the Annapurna Range. It wasn’t that busy – nothing like the crowds at Tiger Hill in Darjeeling – and there were plenty of plastic chairs laid out at the viewing point, together with tea and coffee on offer! I ended up talking with another family nearby and turns out they live in Dhaka! Anyhow I was there for about an hour until 6.45. The last 15 minutes were the clearest. It’s all down to luck I guess and this isn’t the best time of year..but I still got to see another view of the Himalaya, different from Darjeeling!

I went back to the hotel but then walked down by the Lakeside, ending up at Moondance for breakfast, which was really good. They had granary bread for my toast and real jam (unlike some jam here which has a tiny amount of real fruit in, it’s disturbingly bright red), a thick banana smoothie, a big bowl of cornflakes and a café latte..mmm. For the rest of the day I took an hour’s boat trip on the lake to try and spot some birds (instead I just got sunburned), read my book, had some more fish for lunch and got back to the hotel by 2pm by taxi as the clouds gathered once again and it started to rain. It has rained every day here at some point in the afternoon, which is ok as long as you’re not caught in it! I don’t mind as I haven’t seen rain since October. For the afternoon and evening I watched ‘The Great Gatsby’ (extremely dated I think now, upon first watch, and is Daisy Buchanan the most annoying character in all literature or is it just Mia Farrow’s portrayal of her? The book kind of left me cold so not sure either is for me), read my book..that’s it!

Day 7:

Got up at 7am, had my breakfast and then left at 7.45am for the airport. I was there by about 8am and I’m glad I was early as the opposite happened to before; they were able to put me on an earlier flight leaving at 8.50 instead of 9.50am, it left on time and 25 minutes later we landed in Kathmandu! Perfect. That gave me a full day in Kathmandu. I checked into Thorong Peak Guest House again and set out to wander again..some focused shopping to be done! I bought a North Face waterproof and windproof jacket at a Lonely Planet-recommended store, and he gave me a discount ‘as it is the morning time’ (!?). I went to a Tibetan store near that and bought another beautiful ring (I have quite a few rings now from all over, it’s an addiction)..bought a bag for my mum..had a bacon burger at New Orleans (my favourite eating place in Thamel both for food and ambience), got a cab to Patan and wandered around a bit..had another Seeing Hands massage in the evening..wonderful! I wanted a bath but there was no plug to be seen. The staff could not help me – no spare rooms to get a plug from – so lucily a glass in my room fit, so I was able to have my last bath in a while.

Day 8:

Last day in Kathmandu. I woke up at 6.15 because of the light through the curtains and people chattering outside. A guy knocked at my door soon after saying ‘you ready?’ I explained I was not leaving yet..lucky I was already awake, eh?! Had breakfast at New Orleans at 7.30am and typed this travelblog there for a bit. For the rest of today I plan to do some more shopping and wandering before going to the airport at midday..fun. Then back to reality. This is time enough in the tourist trap though. I'm fed up of 'hello, madam..' followed by a sales pitch.

---