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.