April 15 1985: Pokhara

  Taken from Back to the East, India, Nepal, Kashmir  

15^th April: POKHARA

We got up at 5 AM to catch the 6.30 bus to Pokhara. It was a pleasant journey with beautiful scenery and often children on the side of the road. We passed four rivers, the Trishuli, the Marshyangdi and the Seti Gandaki, then a bridge over the Madi.

We passed many paddy fields. At Mugling, a small town, we saw the longest suspension bridge in Nepal over the Trishuli river. It looked like a lovely little town.

Pokhara itself seemed a quiet peaceful place. We stayed at the Ashok Guest House, with a great small garden, restaurant and beautiful view of the mountains. It cost us £2 a night for a double.

 

The lake was called Phewa.

In the afternoon we walked to the end of the village, along several roads, both tarmac and rubble, to rows of supply shops for trekkers, restaurants, cheap lodges and souvenir shops. We passed the Royal Palace but it did not look like there was much to see. We passed a small temple with a walled garden full of marijuana plants, more rows of stalls, passed the Guru Restaurant and the Anand Restaurant, then sat by the lake under a tree.

The only unpleasant things here were the flies and the young hasslers; the latter, at least, seemed to be doing well out of tourists, all shouting Namaste and trying to put a distance between us and what little money we have to spare.