10th Jun 2007
Mal says:City or Condiment?
So we are in Pokhara at the moment. At first I wasn’t sure whether one travels to Pokhara, or orders it along with a Korma, but we decided to go with the “travel there” option. We met with success.
Hangon, before PokharaÂ… Kathmandu. In a word: cool. In more than one word: very cool. In point form: *Amazing food *Spectacular shopping *Rain *Durbar Square *Sadhus giving us Tikas *Sheeshas that for some reason made us feel very good... *All the Rickshaw drivers using squeaky toys as horns. *Rain (again) *Ancient stuff so common itÂ’s commonplace *Almost getting mugged.
One thing that was way cool was a protest. We were happily walking down the street and then about 50 young men came sprinting past in single file carrying flaming torches. The military were just running along side them, one soldier was even smiling. I still don’t know if it was a “this is ridiculous” smile or a “wait until I get my hands on you and see what I do with that torch” smile, but it felt like the Olympic torch relay on speed. There was even one straggler who came panting along a few minutes later, appearing more exhausted and sheepish than pissed-and-ready-to-fight-the-man.
There was a central circle of guys with this massive bonfire in the middle of an open area. One dude was yelling like crazy and waving a newspaper. At this point we decided to steer away from this area. As far as I could tell the purpose of the demonstration was to campaign for more copies of “Chariots of Fire” in the video store.
After Kathmandu, we flew to Pokhara on Yeti Airlines. I know what youÂ’re thinking, and sadly, no the flight attendant wasnÂ’t a yeti, but a mild mannered young Nepali girl. Obviously we are looking in to suing for false advertising.
ItÂ’s prudent to mention the trip from the airport to our hotel, which I think introduced us to Pokhara beautifully and also sums it up well.
Our hotel in Kathmandu organised an airport transfer for us. The transfer was two dudes with mountain bikes (Maoist party country wide strikes so no cars). We rode (slowly) whilst the hotel staff walked along and told us which way to go. On our way we passed what appeared to be a cow ordering from a food stand. Yeah. This place is chilled.
The lake is stunning, and the restaurants serve good food (including steaks so big that they could only come from a Woolly Mammoth.... or a YetiÂ… hmmmmÂ…).
IÂ’ll write a separate post on the Trek we just completed and the people of Pokhara and Nepal, as they deserve an entry unto themselves.
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| 10th Jun 2007 View from our guest house |
| Kathmandu rooftops |
| 10th Jun 2007 Vegetable Momos! |
| My new food addiction |
| 10th Jun 2007 Bakery |
| Too hard to resist...especially the pink things |
| 10th Jun 2007 Rickshaw and driver |
| 10th Jun 2007 Pigeon in the square |
| 10th Jun 2007 The window from where the Kumari waves |
| 10th Jun 2007 Durbar Square |
| 10th Jun 2007 Durbar Square |
| 10th Jun 2007 Durbar Square |
| Women in saris, sacred cows and pigeons...what any good square should have! |
| 10th Jun 2007 Karma Sutra Temple Carving |
| Oooh la la! |
| 10th Jun 2007 Durbar Square |
| 10th Jun 2007 Feeding pigeons |
| 10th Jun 2007 Durbar Square |
| 10th Jun 2007 Durbar Square |
| 10th Jun 2007 Colourful Rickshaw |
| 10th Jun 2007 Sleeping on the temple steps |
| Durbar Square |
| 10th Jun 2007 Cute school girl |
| 10th Jun 2007 Lining up for a slide |
| 10th Jun 2007 Old lady at the market |
| 10th Jun 2007 Woah! |
| In Nepal the method for carrying heavy items involves using the head! I think my neck would break off if I did this! |
| 10th Jun 2007 Kathmandu Valley |
| From Monkey Temple |
| 10th Jun 2007 From atop the monkey temple |
| 10th Jun 2007 Monkey Temple |
| 10th Jun 2007 Narrowest Doorway ever |
| 10th Jun 2007 Novice Monks |
| 10th Jun 2007 Monkey Temple Stupa |
| Love the prayer flags strung everywhere |
| 10th Jun 2007 Gridlocked |
| Funniest traffic jam evre. i have no idea how it eventually cleared! |
| 10th Jun 2007 Snake charmer |
