Five Days in Pokhara

AV allows their volunteers a mid-term break. This is three days about the middle of the teaching period that we don't have to go to school, so essentially a half-term. We decided to take the mid-term with one of the many long weekends that the Nepali's have. Therefore we had five days free, which we used to visit Pokhara.

This is one of the more touristy areas of Nepal, with Lakeside (where we stayed) being the central tourist area. It was strange going from Gokrha, which is mostly untouched by tourism to an area that is aimed almost completely at tourists. What was strangest was seeing so many white people. We've spent the last month and a half being the only white people for miles and to suddenly have so manyof them was strange. Ironically, most of us didn't like it!

We left Gorkha on the 6 o'clock bus, which is early but doesn't seem to early because normally I am up by 7 anyway. A four hour bus journey later we were in Pokhara. We were meeting all the volunteers from AV in Pokhara as we hadn't seen most of them since early January. It was interesting to hear the different experiences the houses have had and the differences between the schools. A surprising number are English medium schools and I'm sure the Nepali government is encouraging all schools to follow suit.

We did lots of shopping in Pokhara. There is a much wider variety of choice and more things aimed at tourists. We all ended up buying similar things, which I suppose is to be expected. Some people also brought books. As there is no TV or internet I have found that I am reading more than I have for years. It also meant that there were a lot of conversations about books, as it replaces the conversations about TV. It was very relaxing to sit in a cafe with tea and a book and it is definetly something I will miss when I go home.

On Saturday morning (our second day) we went on the Phewa Tal, which is the lake by Pokhara. We hired boats for an hour and were rowed around the lake.There is a temple in the middle which you could get off to see, we chose not to and actually got better pictures as we got to go around the island that the temple was on.

Sunday morning was a bike trip to Old Pokhara. Originally 14 of us set off with 14 (relatively) working bikes. Not all 14 bikes quite made the journey. It was a mission to get back when you have a bike that breaks almost as soon as you have arrived at your destination, and so the furthest point from where you started off. Therefore we did try to fix one of the bikes. We had split down into smaller groups and so there were 3 of us with 2 working bikes. The third bike had handle bars that no longer turned the front wheel and a front wheel that therefore couldn't be controlled. We did fix this with multiple pieces of string so that it could be ridden down a very very gentle slope to make the journey back quicker. Turns out the string really wasn't strong enough and broke 50m down the road. it was still quite a nice walk/slow cycle back and, technically, we did fix the bike. The string was just rubbish, which isn't entirely surpirinsg as we got it free off a random shokeeper. I'm sure she considered it worth her while as we were a 30 minute source of amusement for all Nepali's within sight.

Monday was a trip to the Peace Pagoda. This is on top of one of the hills on the opposite side of Phewa Tal and was constructed by Bhuddhist moks to promote world peace. It was a nice 40 minute walk up and definetly worth it. Unfortunately, it was hazy most of the time we were at Pokhara so the views were obscured. However, it was mostly very peaceful up there. It is a dome-shaped, bright-white building and if I ever visit a white building again then I am taking sunglasses. As it is Bhuddist you walk clockwise around it to get the seven qualities of happiness. By now I think I am happy about 35 times over. We then headed back down as in the afternoon we had paragliding.

Some of the group had paraglided the day before but apparently we got the better day for it. The guy I was with had also won the 11th paragliding competition in Pokhara the day before. When you first take off you find a thermal. You then spiral upwards until you reach the edge of a cloud by which point I think I was above 2000m. It's also a little cold and there was a massive advantage to wearing long sleeves. We then glided around for a while and it goes very quickly. As it was hazy you couldn't see too much of the mountains but as we have spectacular views at school it didn't bother me as much as if I was just visiting Nepal for a few weeks. I didn't realise how big Pokhara was and apparently it is still expanding . It was great floating and just looking at the ground. I even got a chance to steer, which is relatively simple, and also got a chance of thermalling (essentially going round and round the thermal). The best part was the acrobatics. It's like a rollercoaster except better and, unfortunately, shorter. It was brilliant.

Tuesday was just the bus journey home which, because we're in Gorkha, was just one four hour bus. It was fun seeing a touristy part of Nepal but it was also nice getting back to Gorkha. You don't realise how much you've settled in a place until you go away and come back again. It's going to be very strange leaving Gorkha for the final time at the end of March.