POKHARA

Arrived in Pokhara from Bandipur on Thursday mid day after a 2 hour car ride through the countryside. Pokhara is the second largest City in Nepal and the tourist area abuts Lake Phewa Tal and is surrounded by hills, mountains and in the distance the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas. Great views of the mountains from our hotel, including  Hiunchuli (6441 metres), Annapurna 1 (8091 metres), Machapuchare (6997 metres), Annapurna 111(7555 metres), Annapurna 4 (7525 metres) and Annapurna 11 (7937 metres). We are here simply relaxing for three days prior to heading further north on Monday to Jomsom for five days of trekking.  The first afternoon, we walked through the town. Seems to be a smaller version of tourist area of Thamel in Kathmandu. Must say that they have made a real effort here, especially in the tourist area, to keep the area clean and clean up the garbage.  We have even noticed vehicles from the City of Pokhara picking up garbage. Only non motorized boats are allowed on the lake. You can either have an oarsman take you on a boat ride, or take a boat out yourself.  They made the decision not to allow motorized boats for various  reasons. Firstly, not to pollute the lake, secondly to provide employment to some of the locals and lastly no noise pollution either. Since we have been here, lots of boats on the lake at all times, many of whom visit a small temple on an island. On our second day, we visited the Ghurkha  museum, which displays the achievements of the famous Nepalese regiments who have fought in many conflicts since the 19th century Indian Mutiny. Today the Ghurkhas still have a presence in Brunei, protecting the Royal family there, in England and  in Singapore.  The British still have a recruiting camp here in Pokhara and every year hundreds of young Nepalese men vie to gain a spot in the rigorous training.   Then went to visit the World Peace Pagoda which was built by Buddhist monks from Japan to promote world peace. It is situated on a high hill above the town with great vistas of the lake and the Himalayas in the background. Got some great pictures from here.   There are a couple of  Tibetan refugee camps near Pokhara. On Saturday, we went for a long walk along the lake and met a young Tibetan lady named Tangay who told us about the plight of the Tibetans. Her parents were nomads in Tibet and freely crossed the borders of Tibet and Nepal with their animals for many years. She was born in Nepal, as we're her younger brother and sister, yet they cannot get recognition from the Nepalese government and they cannot and do not want to go back to Tibet due to the repression there by the Chinese government. She makes her living here by selling jewelry by the lakeside. The Tibetans have been banned by the local government here from selling on the main street. Needless to say, we did buy a little something from her. We also went for a one hour boat ride in the lake with an oarsman, but Robin also helped out with paddling. One of the popular things to do here is paragliding and each morning you see many people gliding over the local hills, landing near the lake. Some ultralights flying about as well. We opted out of this activity saying we are too old and oh yes....too smart!  A bit cloudy Saturday afternoon and some light rain on Sunday morning. Today, Sunday the 18th is our last day here in Pokhara, so we will probably go for a couple of walks around the town and lakeside to limber up for our next five days of trekking. This afternoon an acquaintance from Calgary, Elsie James, will be joining us, along with her friend from Nepal, Ramesh. Ramesh arranged the Nepal part of our trip. We had met him years ago when he visited Elsie in Calgary. He owns a travel agency and also works part time for Medical Mercy, the same charity that Elsie works for six months of the year here in Nepal. The forecast for Jomsom is sunny with highs of 10 degrees mC and lows of 0 C. We have the proper clothes with us so shouldn't be a problem. After our five days of trekking, we will fly back to Pokhara from Jomsom on the 24th then another flight later in the afternoon back to Kathmandu where we will relax for a couple of days before our flight back to Delhi on March 27th.  We have run into a few Canadians, but in the minority  both here in Nepal and in India. The biggest groups of travelers  seem to be the French followed by Germans.  Many young Australians and English kids here in Nepal also.