Pokhara: The Vegas of Nepal

Where to begin...I spent the good part of a week in bed due to my leg injury and then a nasty stomach bug.  As it turned out school was closed anyway due to renovations so I didn't have to feel bad about missing a few days.  I showed up when I thought it was open but it turned out it was yet another week of work to be done, so I decided to seize this chance to pop over to Pokhara.

Pokhara is about 200km West of Kathmandu, and you have your choice of a 6 hour bus ride through the winding mountains, or a 20 minute plane ride.  Still recovering from the delightful stomach illness, I decided to go for the flight.  After 20 vaguely terrifying minutes in a small plane with spectacular views of the Annapurna Range, we had a quick descent into the tiny domestic airport in Pokhara.

The day I left was another banda (strike) so no taxis or personal vehicles are allowed to drive.  I was able to secure a ride with a green licence plate vehicle that allows tourist transport only.  It's pretty disconcerting to see the busy streets basically empty, and police standing everywhere to make sure no one is breaking banda.  I later found out from another traveller that the tourist buses were even stopped at roadblocks that day, so the 6 hour bus ride became more like 8.  Very thankful for air travel right now.  After arriving at the airport I had to walk in to the city, finally arriving at Lakeside.

Makin' sure cars ain't drivin'

I was able to get the nicest room at the Glacier hotel for a pretty good price.  No price here is ever truly fixed.  I'm starting to get some good bargaining skills.  I found the street merchants to be a lot pushier here than in Kathmandu.  Maybe it's because it's still the low season and people are desperate, but there were a few moments where getting constantly barraged with peddlers got a little much.  Shopkeepers tend to be dudes waiting outside their shop, staring you down, and then screaming "YES" and pointing at their wares as you walk by.  I wish there was a way to tell them this is not an effective method in getting westerners to buy from them.  Also, continuously yelling the name of the thing you're trying to sell me in my ear - "Taxi!" "Rickshaw!" "Tiger Balm!" - does not make it any more enticing.

Lakeview even!

All of the hotels are on the "strip", kind of like in Vegas. There's a higher concentration of dance clubs, bars, and adult stores than in the city, and it feels like rules are even more lax for tourists here.  They really, really want your money.  I imagine this place gets a little crazy in high season.

The Strip

You can even stay at the Tropicana. Vegas.

Once I got settled into my accommodation I decided it was time to get to it and walked across the street and quickly acquired a canoe.  They tried selling me a dude to paddle for me but I explained several times that I'm Canadian and didn't need one.  They thought that was a little weird but off I went.  Fewa Lake is extremely calm and beautiful.  It was actually on the hot side during the day, and part of me was tempted to jump out of the boat for a swim, but the thought of parasites and lake monsters stopped me.

Canoeing Level: Canadian

I made a pit stop at the little island in the middle, which turned out to be super boring.  It was about 40 minutes each way across the lake.  On the opposite side is the hike up to the World Peace Pagoda.  This is a super popular route, and it's about an hour up to the top.  There's a large amount of tourists and locals who go up.

Boring Island

The World Peace Pagoda was more than worth the hike, as usual, and I met some Canadians and Germans up there and chatted with them.  The Pagoda functions as a temple where there were lots of holy men circling it and doing prayers.  It overlooks the Annapurna Range also.  There are no bad views here, I swear.

I made my way back through the woods and across the lake I figured it was time to take rest.  Going from bedridden for a week to full tilt outdoor adventure is really tiring.  Day two was to be another crazy day.  I've come to terms with the fact that every time I step out of the door here I'm bound to be swept up in another adventure.

My plan on day 2 was to rent a bicycle and bike around the lake and visit a few tourist spots.  I literally walk out the door and there's a bike, motorbike, and scooter rental place set up.  The guy tries to sell me a scooter (scooty) but I tell him it's way too expensive so he ends up giving me a super deal to rent it for the day.  Awesome.  Now, I haven't driven for two months, and they drive on the left hand side of the road here, and I've only driven a scooty once before.  It took about 5 minutes to figure out the finicky thing and then I was off.  First stop: Bat Cave!

Scooty.  Powered by Love, protected by Ganesh

I'm trying not to do too many lame tourist things, but the bat cave was actually super cool. It was completely pitch black without the light, and there are something like 80-90 thousand bats in this place.  At the end of the tour we had to climb vertically out of this tiny crevice.  Some people were too big or unable to climb so they had to walk all the way back through the cave.

The cave and a couple other cool little spots were a few kilometres north of Lakeside, so I scootied back down for lunch before heading on a southern adventure.

I headed south to visit a waterfall, but got a little lost and sidetracked and started driving up a mountain instead.  The views were beautiful, and it's always interesting to see local life off the beaten path.  I was content taking this road up until I came to a roadblock where the police were checking for driver's licenses.  How was I supposed to explain that mine was sitting in the bottom of a suitcase somewhere back in Kathmandu and the guys that rented me the scooty for a super deal didn't even check?  I didn't want any of us to get in trouble so I plastered my best "dumb tourist" face on, and feigned ignorance as to where the waterfall was.  The police officer took pity on me and was able to give me directions back without checking for any identification.

The falls were okay if not a little underwhelming, but the story is interesting.  Davi/Davi's/Davis Falls are named after a Swiss couple who died there in 1961.  It's a super grim tale.  I was more interested in just cruising around Pokhara more and seeing as much of the real city as possible.  I got some weird looks from locals as I don't think a lot of foreigners visit the old parts of the city.

Since it's still technically low season there weren't a huge number of tourists, so the nightlife wasn't as exciting as it could be.  That was okay though, I was still feeling low energy from being sick.  I always went to the busiest bars and restaurants and managed to meet a few cool travellers along the way.

The merchants started getting pushier, or maybe I was just more frustrated, on my last couple days, but I was able to find some good peaceful spots by the lake to enjoy.  I even found the Himalayan Java location and had a beautiful coffee filled morning on a lakeside patio.  There are lots of hidden gems if you look hard enough and go off the beaten track.

The hotel was awesome and gave me a ride to the airport so I didn't have to walk all the way back.  The driver was laughing and asked why I didn't drive scooty there instead.  Anything out of the ordinary is hilarious to them here.

Every time I come back to Kathmandu it's always a shock at how busy and crazy it is here.  I don't think I'll ever really get used to it.  Back to school this week!