April 2 – Jake – Pokhara, Nepal
We just got here and, already, we’re leaving again! Since the six days a week volunteer teaching schedule will take up a majority of our three months in Nepal, the next couple days are likely our only chance to see the beautiful mountain vistas of Pokhara’s Annapurna Range. So, we woke up at dawn and walked to a line of buses parked a short distance from the Thamel tourist district where we ate dinner last night. The buses were not labeled, so we had to check with many of the drivers to locate the one we were signed up to take. Even still, we were not one hundred percent sure we were on the correct bus. The six-hour ride was not very eventful, but we were quite a bit delayed in our arrival. Rajesh told us, “When you get to Pokhara, there will be a driver waiting to pick you up and take you to the hotel.” It was all rather vaguely explained with Rajesh giving us a note to give to the owner of the hotel we were to stay at, saying that we had paid him for the stay. Somehow they were old buddies and had an alternate arrangement for paying each other back. Thus began a soon-to-be-long list of things that boggled my mind about Nepal.
Turns out touts in Nepal are just as in-your-face as they were in India. The bus pulled into the center of a massive dirt filled bus station and was immediately flanked from all sides by drivers ready to help with bags and obtain fares. Unfortunately, we were the only bus and all we had to go on was the name of the hotel and this note, not ideal when you have a bunch of hungry drivers wanting your business and grabbing at your bags. Sensing that it would be difficult to determine the actual driver if we announced the name of our hotel, I asked everyone in our group to keep the name of the hotel quiet and ask the drivers instead which hotel they were from. It seemed very likely that telling them our destination would lead to either, “no problem I will take you there” or “that place is no good.” Both of which were unhelpful since we had already paid Rajesh for the stay and had already arranged for this unknown driver to meet us. We worked our way through the impatient and gawking crowd, completely baffled as to why these last few stubborn stragglers didn’t just take any one of the numerous cars available, like any sane person would do, and determined that “our” driver was not there. What now? No working phone, no idea of how far to the hotel or what was reasonable to pay and blood pressure rising because of all the people yelling at us and invading our personal space. One of the girls had the hotel number; so if we could find a phone, we could call the owner and see what the deal was. After asking around a bit to the minimally helpful touts, we determined that there was a phone in this small shack about one hundred yards away. I was volunteered to go over and make the call, or at least attempt to.
So we are not talking about a payphone here. And we are not talking about a normal store or anything. It was more like entering in someone’s living room and asking to borrow the phone on their wall. Oh yeah, and my language sounds like gibberish to them, and vice versa. And the person I am calling has no idea who I am and likely also doesn’t speak in a way that I can easily understand. Just wanted to make sure we’ve set the scene appropriately. Long story short, I did eventually convince the kind folks to let me borrow the phone for a few Nepali rupees, and I did end up calling the hotel owner who did end up vaguely understanding me. He kept telling me the driver was there, and I kept asking for him to tell me what the driver’s car looked like. At some point he got in touch with the driver and we connected up. It was all rather tiresome after a long bus ride. We were thrilled to finally arrive in the Pokhara main drag at our hotel.
Early afternoon sun peaked through a hazy blue sky to illuminate vibrant flowers of all different colors in the courtyard of the hotel. The natural beauty of this part of Nepal was already apparent. We meandered passed a Lilly-filled fountain and a table full of European tourists enjoying each other’s camaraderie and the serenity of the courtyard protected by Tibetan prayers, following a sign on a tree that pointed the way to reception.
Our rooms were nothing special.
The bathroom was standard fare for us by now: crazy little detachable shower head, bare floor slanted to towards a drain or hole in the ground, steps away from where you go number two. At least we had running water and a shower, people. Oh yeah, and a Western toilet, hurray.
The patio was outstanding, almost like being engulfed by flowers and vines.
Where to next? Well this set of signs was clearly no help.
Just kidding. The main road through town was actually visible from our place and the area we stayed is called Lakeside, for its proximity to Phewa Lake. We had the choice of Lakeside or Damside and having no knowledge of the pros or cons of either, except that Damside was more expensive, had decided in Kathmandu to stay on Lakeside. It was a good decision. The area is full of restaurants and shops, but not like in Kathmandu. There is no flaring bustle here. It is laid back, like a quiet beach town. The best time of year to visit, apparently, is October to April for clearer mountain views. So that explains the haziness and noticeable lack of mountains in the panorama, but also the slower pace. Word on the street says that Damside hotels have easier views of the mountains, so maybe we will have to give those a try next time.
Although we had only gotten a small taste of Thamel and Kathmandu, Pokhara was a relief from all that craziness. We walked on wide open streets with an underwhelming number of fellow tourists. I imagined finishing the 21-day Annapurna Circuit, after eating only beans and rice for every meal, and arriving here to feast on the delicious options in the stylish restaurants. We’d seen our fair share of disastrous excuses for tourist restaurants throughout Southeast Asia, but so far Nepal was proving that it knew how to do it right. With that said, our first destination was our Western staple, a pizza joint!
I have to back up a tick. We wandered around the town center and then made our way over to Phewa Lake for a walk along its rather unspectacular shore and this is how we happened upon this delicious dinner location, Pizza Base Camp.
Clearly I am upset to be relishing good pizza, a rare find, lakeside in the mountains. While we are only at 894 meters elevation, the Annapurna Circuit takes hikers through a gorge with mountains as high as 8,000 meters on each side. Not a bad reason to have it listed as one of the top hikes in the world.
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Great pictures Jake, I love every article you write!