Chapter 3: A Trip to Paradise - Pokhara

When booking tickets for domestic flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara, we had to pick from several airlines. A few years back, a Buddha Air flight (funny name, I know, but wait, the names get better) that took tourists up close to the Himalayan range had crashed. There were no survivors. So that bit of sad history put us off that airline. The next best choice with good flight times was Yeti Airlines (I imagined the airline crew to be all white and furry). Our friendly tour agent helped us arrange for the airline tickets plus two paragliding tickets with no hassle. While making payment by bank transfer, the local bank had deducted extra charges so he received less. He even agreed to meet us in person to pick up the balance. Seriously, they are mostly nice and accomodating people, who put a lot of trust on tourists. Most transactions and deals were done verbally and informally here without the use of documentation, written evidence, policies and procedures. Again, a contrasting way of things being done differently here.

This was the best image I could find on Google that looked like the weighing machine for our luggage 

Once again, at the airport, I felt the change. It was like walking into an ordinary market. No excitement that a usual airport has. Time slowed down. At the counter, they didn't even check the passports and let us go when we just showed our tickets. The weighing machine was an artifact. It felt good to experience a pace and a world like this one. Seats were first come first served! So we kept up with the rest of the passengers and dashed to board. The whole airplane was only three seats wide with an aisle in between. There was one air hostess and she handed out candy and cotton wool to all passengers. The cotton wool was to stuff inside our ears! I wish they gave those in fancy airlines these days. So overall, I was quite impressed by their service during this short 25 minute flight (this trip would have taken 6 - 8 hours if traveling by road). Once we took off and flew over Kathmandu valley, a snow capped mountain range came into view. I went berserk, started shouting and squealing until Charmaine had to calm me down. That was the first time I had seen such a beautiful mountain range capped with SNOW!!! I had never seen snow for real before. My friends who had been to the French Alps before weren't as excited as I was, but they agreed the views were awesome.

We walked to the plane, much like boarding a private bus 

Wait a minute, those are not clouds! Those are snowy mountains!!

Landing was interesting too. We just walked down the steps into the runway and walked to the … wait, there was no airport. It was just a shelter. We sat on the pavement outside until our luggage was carted by two guys on a large trolley. Soon after, the passengers swarmed around these guys and grabbed their baggage. We followed suit. Then we just walked out into the road and waited for our hotel pick up. He, the owner, came in a motor bike! Soon he negotiated a taxi for three of us and we were off to the North Face Inn at Lakeside, following his motorcycle – where Ila opted to get a ride on!

The street festivities continue

More Thihar festivities were going on in the roads. The drive to the hotel was very scenic. Pokhara was everything that Kathmandu was not. It was so peaceful, clean, green, slow, cool and I was immediately in love with the place. The hotel seemed like one from a picture book. It was small, but perfect. It was run by the owner Raju and his family. The rooms were perfect too, with hot water. I could not have the luxury of a shower yet with phlegm in my lungs. The hotel experience was wonderful, comparative to what went on at Thamel. Since there was still some day light left and with advise from Raju, we went to explore Lake Phewa.

 Just as the photographs on the booking site promised, even better perhaps with the flower garden 

Lake Phewa was really out of this world. It is the largest lake in Nepal, overlooking it is the Annapurna mountain range. So while sitting on a boat in this lake one looks up and sees a range of greenish brown mountains and right behind it, towers a snowy mountain range. We negotiated a boat ride and rowed to a little island in the middle of the lake to see Barahi Temple. Actually, one really strong young guy rowed the boat on his own with all five of us in it. Kara tried to use a paddle, but the boat started going in a different direction. Before we got on to the boat, a group of old Tibetan ladies made us promise that we'll come and see their collection of bead accessories. They even seemed a little aggressive, pushing us around to 'their corner', trying to compete with one another to secure their customers. We promised to meet them after the boat ride. After a very calming boat ride, the old ladies lay waiting for us at the shore. They explained that they were Tibetan refugees who had crossed the border. And they made their living making various accessories with beads and carved buffalo bones. We went through their collections and bought more souvenirs. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for dinner at the town area and got to try our very first dhal bhat. It is a staple Nepali dish, consisting mainly of of steamed rice, lentil curry, a vegetable, and other additions like a meat curry, pickle or yogurt. It did not disappoint. We were also treated to more celebrations on the streets with plenty of dancing and singing.

Lake Phewa. My camera did not pick up the towering mountain ranges in the background

Dhal bhat!

Another night of loud thumping music and it was hard to fall asleep with all the noise. We had a big day ahead.

Early next morning, we got ready to go see the famed sunrise at Sarangkot hill. It was extremely cold and dark at that time of the morning. Many people walked up the hill slowly, like zombies covered up in warm clothes. We, took a taxi. We paid the price for not negotiating the price before the ride and the taxi driver was out to make the most money out of that ride. Later, we spoke to him and asked him if he liked to be our tour guide for the day as we had some other places to see. He was pleased with the idea and charged us reasonably afterwards. At the peak of the hill, we joined many other tourists and waited for sunrise. Hot chia was sold at a stall nearby and it helped to beat the cold. Little by little the sun rose in the east from behind a mountain. What I didn't expect was the see the sun's rays reflect off the Annapurna mountain range directly behind us. As the sun made it's full appearance, the breathtaking, panoramic views of this range became clearer. The valley below as well as Lake Phewa was also in full range. That's one experience I would never forget.

Slow ascent as we wait patiently in the cold

And there it is, in all its glory! 

The Annapurna mountain range touched by the sun's rays. Pokhara valley and Lake Phewa are seen down below. I wish at times like this I had a better camera. 

When that mission was accomplished, Kara and Ila made their way back to explore Pokhara town. Charmaine and I had a special appointment. Paragliding! I was extremely nervous and having cold feet by now. I felt like my death was rapidly approaching. Charmaine helped get through most of the panic attack. Good thing too, or else a US$100 ride of a life time would have gone to waste and later, I would have regretted massively for being a pussy. On top of the cliff, we met several tourists and paragliding pilots. We watched as the pilots unfolded their paragliders, untangle the cables and lay it flat on the ground. After that, everything happened really fast, soon we were given a quick briefing and strapped to the paragliding pilot. Then I was asked to keep running towards the edge of the cliff until the paraglider took flight. I didn't even reach the edge, we were already airborne. Gah! It was INSANE.

My pilot was extremely friendly and I asked her a list of questions, mostly to console myself. "Do you have to get a license to be a pilot? How many years does one need to get a license? How long have you been flying? Have you had any accidents while flying? Do you know anyone who died?". She told me not to worry and to try to relax. Actually, when the paraglider was soaring in large circles like a giant eagle on air currents, it was quite calming. I was then beginning to appreciate the beauty all around as well as other paragliders flying about. An altitude meter beeped whenever we soared higher than the recommended level and she would adjust our position accordingly and her head was constantly looking around to steer clear of collisions with others. After a while of going around in circles I felt nauseous. I was so embarrassed but I had to tell her, and she assured me that it was quite common for first-timers to feel that way. Then she told me that she was going to tilt the paraglider to a side so that when I threw up, nothing hit the glider or her. She told me later that I managed it quite well and that her paraglider did not have any of my gut contents. 30 minutes later, we skimmed over the lake and took a turn to land on a field. I was quite relieved to be alive. So was Charmaine.

At dizzying heights, soaring on a paraglider

Charmaine's paraglider. The two pilots knew we were friends so they tried to fly opposite each other when circling, so that Charmaine and I got to wave at each other a few times. I didn't tell any of my friends of my little incident up there!

Dipping close to Lake Phewa, before preparing for landing

Soon we joined up with Kara and Ila. In the time we were soaring like birds, these two had got accustomed with the town. They were able to show us stalls with good deals for linen clothes, jewellery, handicrafts, souvenirs and a book store. I bought some postcards and more souvenirs! There were several tour agencies in the town specialising in kayaking and trekking, but we had no time in our agenda to squeeze one. We were then off with our new taxi friend who also doubled up as our tour guide to sight see. We managed to do quick tours of Devi falls, a bat cave and see the Seti river gorge. Our two cautious friends stayed far away from the bat cave. It was a long winding walk with flashlights to the heart of a cave. And in it were thousands of bats attached to the top. After admiring this unusual place, Charmaine and I headed out quickly as we didn't want any bat poop on our heads or have them spook out. 

In the evening, we bid goodbyes to Raju and his family and left to the airport. Once again, on Yeti Airlines. This time, we had a flight delay of one hour. So in that time, we found a canteen on a terrace, overlooking the runway. Treated to a large pot of chia, we relaxed and watched flights take off and land. During this time, I wrote some of my postcards. Life was perfect, right then and there (must have been the chia speaking). There was a small sense of dread of leaving behind such a magical place and going back to the chaos and pollution of Kathmandu.  

Chapter 2: Acclimatisation

After a comfortable 4 hour direct flight from Dubai on Flydubai, we landed in Kathmandu at around 7pm. Boy, was it cold (maybe 15 degrees Celsius)! For me, that is. My friends from cooler regions of the globe were at home with the temperatures. The first thing one feels when they step into the Tribhuvan International Airport at Kathmandu is that they have stepped back in time – not just a few years, but a few decades. It was a run down building, no fancy set up or sign posts (like at the airports of Dubai, Singapore or even Sri Lanka). It smelled to me strongly of incense and cows (yeah...). The immigration officers functioned without the aid of computers. It was manual checking of registers and paper documentation. I was fortunate enough to be granted free visa on arrival having a passport from a SAARC country (a rare instance that I found my Sri Lankan passport to be advantageous elsewhere in the world), unlike my traveling friends who had to pay a fee. The locals seemed to be familiar with seeing foreigners, as Nepal was a popular tourist hub. Soon after, currency was changed at one of the several money changers located inside the airport and I purchased a SIM card with a 100MB data package. With mobile internet on a smart phone, few things can go wrong when you are miles away from home!

The moment we stepped out of the airport, we were swarmed by a bunch of private taxi drivers. Some even trying to grab our luggage to convince us to use their service. Luckily, we requested for airport pickup in advance from the low budget hotel we were to stay in Thamel, Kathmandu. I was very suspicious about the pickup as one of my dear friends had openly admitted to many of the drivers to staying at “Backyard Hotel” so any one of those taxi drivers could have tricked us with this knowledge by pretending to be our pickup. Yes, I was very cautious, being more wary of ways that holidays can turn into nightmares in third world countries. After questioning the driver thoroughly, I was somewhat convinced. The taxi ride was an interesting experience, riding in a tiny mini-van with no seat belts, speeding and squeezing through very tight spaces! Not only that, we had arrived in Nepal by a very, very fortunate coincidence during their festival of lights, Thihar (better known elsewhere as diwali). The streets were lit up like no other time of the year, people were out on the streets rejoicing and children dancing away to loud local pop music late into the nights. It was certainly a sight to see! The driver seemed accustomed with foreigners and was happy to answer all our questions.

From Dubai to this - took a few minutes to adapt! Oh and NOBODY cares about seatbelts

Streets of Kathmandu, where all drivers are F1-qualified, though they don't participate in the grand prix

We arrived at the hotel to find out we didn't have a room for the night (due to an email miscommunication about our change of flights). So we were immediately packed off to another cheap looking hotel for the night. It had no hot water and through the pipes came brownish water tasting of rust. We were very tired and angry but decided not to fight with our hosts and probably lose the warm bed we got for the night. Good thing too, because later, we got a free night's stay on our last day with a little bargaining. Realistically speaking, being quiet, courteous and waiting for turns and opportunities to present itself don't work here. There were no organised systems in place for customers and here, only the loudest and most convincing bird got the worm. When in Rome, got to do what the Romans do, they say. So in Nepal, we quickly learnt to bargain where it was due – that's the only way they prioritised our needs and it seemed standard protocol. Even our guide books said so. My friend Charmaine, was a procurement manager by profession and she had the best negotiating skills which proved extremely useful throughout our trip. After satisfying conclusions were reached between both bargaining parties, it was customary to thank them and express gratitude for their consideration. Again, that's how it was supposed to be done here.

A town of lights 

By 9pm we dumped our luggage and were all dressed up warmly and prowling on the colourful and crowded streets of Thamel. I have never before been so overwhelmed in my senses. The bright sights, the loud sounds, the fragrant smells were dizzying. There were street vendors shouting out bargains to tourists, close-by were groups of people gathered to watch children dancing, lights of different colours were sparkling on light posts and shop signs, shops played deafening music, the streets smelled strongly of burning incense, colourful hand crafted items were displayed on the pavements to attract curious tourists and it was very, very chilly! We wowed to come back to shop thoroughly the next day and settled for a nice warm and spicy Thai meal at an expensive restaurant (when new in the area, it's better to go with a decent and clean looking place and not fuss over costs) before we went back to the room at the cheap hotel.

A great time for girls to show off their dancing skills

My body, built for the tropics were not well suited for these temperatures. I was already feeling the start of a flu after one chilly night, starting with a sore throat. The symptoms that started out that day developed and stayed on with me for the rest of the trip. I must mention a few things about my first-aid box which weighed about 1.5kg (I was so proud of it!). I spent a considerable amount of time and effort preparing it. It had diarrhea tablets, Panadol, herbal brews, Strepsils, nasal decongestant, rehydration mixtures, strong pain killers, antiseptic creams, antibiotic courses, antacids, plasters, bandages and muscle spray. Luckily, I didn't have to use the diarrhea tablets throughout the trip but most of the others for relief from flu-related symptoms and coughs proved essential.

Back in the room and just outside our window, extremely loud local pop music played late into the night on the streets and it took awhile to finally fall asleep amidst the noise. I, for one, drugged myself with flu medicines as I longed to feel better the next day.

Day 2. A brand new day began in Thamel. We woke up to the smells and air of a new country. The hotel provided bed and breakfast and we were told that we can enjoy the breakfast on the balcony. The views were nothing fancy, just garden furniture placed on a small balcony overlooking hundreds of shiny roofs of congested Kathmandu. The menu appeared impressive at first with choices such as “English Breakfast”, “Eggs and hashbrowns”, “Butter Toast”, etc. But when the order came in, the food was really cold, the plates were a little greasy, and the hashbrowns were nothing like we imagined. No one fussed about the food and looking back, I realised that despite their sophisticated lifestyles in Dubai, my friends were great companions to have on this trip. I learnt later that Nepalese had their own version of “hashbrowns” made (to my understanding) with grated potatoes, tempered with oil, onions and Asian spices. We were served by two boys who could hardly understand our English. I could tell they were quite young and also shy, probably having to converse with four pretty girls! And I called myself pretty just for narration purposes or it would be odd to leave myself out. They ordered coffee and I had my very first Nepali tea. It took a awhile to describe I wanted tea with milk, and finally when I mentioned the word chai like the Indians call it, then their faces lit up and one said "chia!". I had sooooo many chias throughout my stay Nepal that I went nuts over it. It is a local tea made of fresh cows milk and spices, much like masala tea. It's heavenly and leaves a happy high for a few minutes after it's all drunk.

I miss chia. Recently in Singapore, I asked for masala tea at an Indian tea shop and got a "Are you crazy?" look and was recommended Teh Tarik instead

After breakfast, we explored Boudhanath. It is one of the world's largest Buddhist stupas and a famous ancient holy site in Nepal, that attracts many tourists. It is believed to have the remains of Kassapa Buddha. There were several temples with Tibetan architecture and art surrounding the stupa.

 

Boudhanath

Ceiling art 

Inside a Tibetan buddhist temple

Women labourers were seen shoveling and carrying heavy stone sacks for road construction work

Street vendors outside Boudhanath

And we tried momos - these are dumplings stuffed with a variety of fillings like cheese, potato, vegetables, chicken or even buffalo meat and are to be eaten dipped in a special sauce. 

By afternoon, we got back to the hotel, packed our bags, checked out and made our way to the airport. We were off to Pokhara on an airline with a very cool name!

Chapter 1: The Master Plan

The trip to Nepal took five months to plan and execute. For me – the one who is obsessive over details, paranoid over imagined situations and loves the sense of control - there was much joy in the preparation.

Nepal was recommended by good friend and ex-colleague Kara, who was originally from France. She had on a previous occasion visited Nepal and wanted to visit the same town in the same country again, and I only understood why after the trip. The other French friend and colleague Charmaine, married to a Sri Lankan was at ease with the Asian culture so she had no objections to the place. I am usually the one with least resistance in a group and it facilitates the decision-making process to a great extent. The way I see it, every suggestion has a multitude of sides to it, good, bad and in-between. The pros for Nepal far outweighed the cons. So whatever the cons, I was able to put a list of the positives together, take counter measures to face the challenges and look forward to it. To me what mattered most was getting to go anywhere safe and economical with a decent group of friends. This was also my first ever real holiday overseas, so wherever it was, it was going to be special and I was going to make the best of it.

After the destination was fixed, I realised that Nepal was also the birthplace of the Buddha and in a spiritual sense, it felt very fortunate to visit this historically significant ancient land I have heard so much about while growing up. I had the blessings of my mother to travel for this one reason! I wanted her to re-visit Nepal with me for the extra seven days I had as she would have enjoyed it very much, but unfortunately flights from my home country to Nepal cost twice as much as flights from United Arab Emirates to Nepal and it was beyond my budget during the time. So after all was decided, I announced my plans to my family. My mother was excited for me and with her wide network of contacts, I was introduced to a Chief monk of a monastery there and he was happy to help me out should I need anything while touring. Such is the power of networking.

We first discussed the possibility of an extended weekend in the month of May. Soon tickets were booked in July to coincide with a public holiday. A month to go and after a random conversation with a colleague from Nepal, I learned that July was the month of the heavy monsoons there! Disappointment (How did we miss this??? We didn't check the weather, that's how!!). Yet, we were lucky we found this out in time rather than have one disaster of a holiday spent in a hotel room, watching the rain flood the streets. The trip was on hold until all three of us could coincide leave – and that would be five days in October. Tickets were re-booked with penalty charges. Now, I tend to get excited about trips way ahead of time. I had more annual leave than my friends. And to top it off, we had five additional holidays, weekend included, for Muslim Eid celebrations. Without thinking too much, I went ahead and re-booked my tickets (another round of penalty charges) to add seven more days to the existing five days. Whatever I was going to do on those twelve days, I'll worry about later, I thought.

After a little research on the Lonely Planet forums while at work, I found a do-able five-day suggested itinerary. It suggested that we explore Pokhara (another region, that was either a 6-8 hour bus ride from the capital or a 25 minute flight) in addition to Kathmandu (the capital city that we were staying). When all agreed (and they did, without any hesitation), we went ahead with the actual planning. Closer to the dates, we found Ila, one more traveling companion from Algeria, increasing the head count to a nice round total of four. Everyone was excited (not as much as I was, but close) and everyone divided up little tasks to research, to email tour agents, to look for suitable domestic flights, to look for hotels, etc. We made good friends with a travel agent by email who was very learned, pro-active and efficient with our tickets. We found out later why he was so friendly when we met him in Nepal; he thought we worked for embassies as our passport renewals were all done in countries different to our places of birth (what an assumption!). So he figured we were good for promoting his business - his face dropped when we clarified his misunderstandings but he was a nice guy and even got us parting gifts. We bought travel guides at the bookstore, we spoke to people who knew the place, we got vaccines (I, the ultra-hypochondriac got both my hepatitis and typhoid shots), we got travel insurance, we were totally distracted at work, we were all on instant messaging at work and discussing things from hairdryers to US dollars to paragliding to malaria tablets.

The most trusted companion during the trip - could not have done without it. 

Fortunately for me, Charmaine was adventurous and happy to take up paragliding with me, so we were able to squeeze that into the agenda with a 50% vote. To be honest, the pictures didn't look that scary and it took a matter of weeks for it to hit me that it might be too nerve-wracking and death as a result of a dysfunctional paraglider or collision with another paraglider in mid-air would be anything but fun. The severity of things usually hits me a little late. But by that time I consoled myself thinking it was an opportunity not to miss plus I had moral support, and I am so glad I stuck to the plan. It was impossible to convince Kara and Ila to give it a try.

During this time, I was also introduced to a friend of a good friend (First I assumed she was Nepali with her very sound knowledge and love for the place, but I later found out she was not. She had lived there for 15 years of her early life, while her parents worked there) who was overjoyed to help me plan the trip. Having spent many years of her childhood in Nepal, she has a strong sense of attachment to the place and dearly misses it now as she is not in the county anymore. She keeps planning and waiting for the day she gets to visit her childhood home again. At times during the planning stage, she seemed more excited to be doing it for me than I was visiting the place! She was able to list out places that were worth visiting and give many practical tips which proved to be very useful during the trip. A couple of times closer to the date, when I was feeling very nervous and having cold feet – like when I realised I'm going to be alone in a strange country where I barely spoke the language, for seven days after my friends left and a few hours before the flight when I realised I hadn't checked on my visa requirements - she was there to console and get my spirits back on track. I am truly in eternal gratitude to her for that and truly wish that she gets to visit Nepal over and over again!

Here is an example of her enthusiasm (looks like she invented the word "stunnermajicness" too!). As we found out later, her accurate descriptions did justice to the real thing.

Quote-

OMG OMG OMG OMG OH MY GOD!! Did you realize (coz I just realized) that you are going to be in Nepal for the height of the Diwali festival - which is the BEST TIME in the entire year to be in Nepal??? Did you plan it like that?? Coz if you didn't you are seriously very very lucky!!!!!!

Coz its Diwali - the city is SO GORGEOUS!! Lights will be on everywhere, celebrations, color, lamps - it is just an AMAZING AMAZING time to be in the city!!! So please enjoy the best of the night! - there'll be kids singing house to house in whats called Deusi and Bhaili to get food and money (a bit like trick and treat except no tricks :) and mind the crackers tho they are LOUD.

MAKE SURE YOU ENJOY THE KTM CITY OUTSIDE YOUR PLANE WINDOW COZ IT IS GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY STUNNERMAJICNESS ON THAT NIGHT!!! :D

Do try out sel rotti - which is this thin donut like thing that they make during this season.

I cant believe I missed this!! But OMG!!!! ENJOY!!

H

-Unquote

More time was spent planning the first five days of the trip (with my three friends) and less time spent on the next seven days I was going to be alone. I did manage to contact the Chief monk at the monastery and tell him which places I wanted to see. His written English skills were poor so I was not able to ask too many questions or get satisfying responses to all my questions. I also made it clear that I will bear all my costs while there, in hopes he will feel less burdened with my visit. It is difficult when you know you are imposing on others and not knowing what inconveniences they are undertaking to make you feel comfortable and happy. But then again, I guess people like the feeling they get knowing their involvement mattered and made a big difference in making someone happy (or they wouldn't offer their willingness in the first place, right?). So as I have gotten older, I have become a little more accepting of good graces like favours, keeping in mind to be thoughtful and less intrusive to them at all times. Also for this same reason, I have made it a point to lend a hand to anyone who needs it if I am in a position to do so. It kind of makes the cycle complete.

There was one more obstacle to bypass. Two days before the actual flight, one girl finds out that our outbound flights were cancelled and we were automatically pushed to the next day's flights, messing up hotel bookings and the domestic flights that were already booked and paid for.  There was a lot of inconvenience caused, trying to contact hotels and flights in Nepal for the possibility of making changes. It was too late and this was the tourist peak season and nothing could be done for the flights we booked from Kathmandu to Pokhara. Eventually, we figured the best thing to do was take an earlier flight from Dubai, get another earlier day of leave from work approved so that all bookings in Nepal remained unaffected. It was tough as handovers at work and report submissions had to be completed a day in advance. Two of us stayed two long nights at work, till 9:30pm to make up for this sudden change of plans.

But it was done! And we were officially off on a holiday! I was so nervous as usual with disturbed sleep, thinking of a hundred million ways that things could go wrong and the trip won't happen - this is my coping mechanism of mentally preparing myself for the worst IF disappointment follows.