A Mountain Holiday

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After our Everest flight we got to kill lots of time waiting for our flight to Pokhara. A pleasant hour was spent drinking a couple of expensive cups of coffee in a beautiful old hotel. The rest of the time was spent waiting for our delayed flight in Kathmandu’s less than modern domestic terminal. The roads in Nepal are poor to say the least. There is only one east-west route in the entire country. It runs in the southern part of Nepal. The 200 km distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara can take 6-8 hours by car. The 25 minute flight was easy, once it took off, it was all the getting to the airport and waiting around that took half a day. I loved that we flew on “YETI” airlines.

After checking into the not so aptly named Shangri La Village Resort, we began our Pokhara tour with our guide, Krishna. First stop, Devi’s Fall, a raging wall of rushing water dropping over 100 meters into a deep crevasse. We saw this same rush of water from several different vantage points: in a cave 100 meters down, and from above as it passed through a deep and beautiful (if it were not for garbage strewn around) gorge.

Our day included a visit to a Tibetan Refugee camp. There we helped the economy again, by making a purchase in their handicraft shop.

We did take an interesting walk through a museum of Nepalese culture. Our guide was able to give us interesting insight into the country. On the surface, Nepal doesn’t feel as poor as India, but based on what we are hearing, it is MUCH less developed thereby leaving much harder lives for is inhabitants. Seeing what we did in India, it’s not that easy to imagine. Although temperatures go below freezing in the valley during the winter months, fewer than 5% of the residents nationwide have heating in their homes. They rely on firewood, heated rocks and blankets.



Our guide was raised in a remote village in the Western portion of Nepal. Up until 5 years ago, they had no electricity. Schooling is not mandatory and families without enough money for books and uniforms do NOT send their children to school. Although there is currently a move toward improving the situation, women lead extremely hard lives, subjugating their needs to the men in their lives. Human trafficking of girls and young women is a quiet but, known problem in the country. Nepal has a large trade deficit and not much to offer outside of its natural beauty. Tourism is a major source of income.

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Comments

[matt]

looks awesome