The Wifi is a lie.
If you’re doing a trek in Nepal, chances are you’ll start from Pokhara. Following our time exploring Kathmandu and after precious little sleep from jet lag and noisy revellers in our hotel, we boarded our first long distance bus journey in Nepal – if 160 km could be called long distance. For 7000npr ($7) we were promised a modern tourist bus with air-con and wifi, but our bus had seen better days: air-con consisted of opening the window and the wifi was a lie. The winding road leaving Kathmandu is cut into the side of deep, lush green valleys dotted with little villages. Try to avoid sitting on the left or you’ll feel like you’re about to career into the precipice. This valley was most impacted by the 2015 earthquake and even though life was getting back to normal, piles of rubble along the way stood as poignant reminders of the damage.
Peaceful Pokhara
After 9 hours (average speed: 17.7km/hour) and a few too many pit stops at roadside dahl baht restaurants, we arrived in the lake side town of Pokhara, Nepal’s second city. We were blown away by the difference with Kathmandu. We’d come from a bustling, chaotic medieval city and arrived in a relaxed, peaceful town full of both tourists and Nepalese enjoying a late afternoon on and around an idyllic, mirror still lake. Strolling along the lakeside, we were taken aback by a makeshift mini-Ferris wheel which had been cobbled together with a few rickety planks of wood. Nepalese kids (big and small) were jumping on and off as it was spun around at ever increasing speeds. While this would clearly have been shut down in the UK due to the obvious health & safety issues, the Nepalese were loving it. After a few days in Pokhara, we really relaxed into the place. It’s hard not to. The traveller epicentre, with the now familiar array of restaurants, hotels, singing bowls and north-face knock off shops is along the lakeside main road, so most likely you’ll want to find accommodation there. We stayed in and can highly recommend the Silver Oaks Inn (£20/night for an ensuite double) which is quiet, has good wifi and a beautiful courtyard garden.
Things to do
We explored the city on foot, going to Davi Falls (underwhelming), Gupta Cave (underwhelming except for the extravagant step-well entrance – like MC Escher’s dreams rendered in concrete) and then up to the ‘World Peace Pagoda‘, and ended up inadvertently walking 20km in the process. The view from the Pagoda is stunning, and we’re told you can get a view of the whole Annapurna range and the city on a clear day. We also hired rickety mountain bikes (5oo npr per day or 1000 npr if you want something which doesn’t squeak in all the wrong places) and negotiated the traffic to visit the Gurkha museum (worth it for 200 npr and to see the close links between Britain and Nepal), Annapurna Natural History Museum (worth it only for the retro, slightly sinister decor, but free) and ‘Bat Cave’ (3oo npr – only worth it if you’ve never seen either a cave or a bat). We also took kayaks into the lake for half a day (500 npr). In only a couple of hours you can do a circuit of the lake, harass groups of Nepalese in their pedalos and orbit the temple island (though landing can be difficult when it’s busy). Make sure you do not make the mistake we did and eat at any of the restaurants at the foot of the steps to the Peace pagoda. The faint whiff of sewage should have warned us that it didn’t have a 5 star food hygiene rating, but hunger makes you take strange choices. We’re still suffering from that mistake.
Our best recommendation is to take decent mountain bikes and ride out west of the city along the shore of the lake. Keep riding until the road runs out: you’ll go through tiny villages which rarely see westerners, where fields are ploughed with oxen. The contrast with modern Pohkara life only a few kilometres away is quite striking and the scenery is stunning. You can even find a nice, secluded spot to have a dip in the crystal clear mountain river. Everywhere you go, you’ll be greeted by the cries of ‘Namaste’ as you pass people in their fields. This is where we realised our Nepalese was as good as the average two year old Nepalese child’s English as the only word either of knew in the others language was ‘hello’/’namaste’.
Finally, after our trek, stretching our aching bodies out was essential. Trekker massages are readily available along the lakeside strip (from 2000-5000 npr) , though the quality can be variable – we found that you get what you pay for. Much more effective was a yoga class to at the ‘Himalaya Yogini’ above Rosemary’s Kitchen for 1000 npr. The ex-monk teacher, although very young, is excellent. Finding a decent steak (Everest Steak House) in a country where cows are sacred was an unexpected surprise, and nothing beats playing cards by the lake over cocktails.
To conclude, definitely spend a few days in Pokhara. It may look like it belongs in the Swiss alps but it has the feel of a laid back Thai town, without the teenage revellers.
Ant and Will's World Tour 