First and most importantly I am happy to report that all of my clothes found their way back to me and very clean too! It’s the little things that are important….

I am hanging out in Pokhara for the rest of the week, relaxing; an interlude between my trekking adventure and my volunteer work. Since I am not being too ambitious, mainly wandering around and poking my nose in here and there, I thought now would be a good time to share some of the more mundane aspects of life as well as general observations.

I will start with the food, as that is a constant question I get when I travel. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that the menus for the guest houses along the treks where pretty much the same and also pretty starch intensive. Over the 19 days of trekking I managed to sample about 80% of the items even though there were differences in each dish from place to place. That is because all of the food, everywhere, was made from scratch! It should come as no surprise that it was all excellent.

A typical Dahl Bhat plate.

One of the many veggie pizzas I had.

One of the most versatile items I noticed was the bread- and, by the way, the bread was awesome. It showed up at breakfast as a platform for eggs or potatoes, or just as simple plain bread, in which case it might arrive rather puffy, like a heavy, crusty croissant or flat, like naan or a light weight pita. I really enjoyed having bread for breakfast and usually spread either honey or jam (or both) on it. It is so hard to get fresh bread in the US and it is a treat, when traveling, to indulge in that luxury. The same bread made an excellent pizza crust dough. I know this because I eventually settled into a bit of a routine for lunch, often ordering veggie pizza. The made from scratch pizzas were amazing and I appreciated the random collection of veggies that appeared on each version. I tended to eat a big lunch, a pizza, or veggie stir fried noodles, or veggie spaghetti, (yes, there is a theme, here). The portions of everything were huge- there is no way you are going to starve trekking in Nepal. At dinner, I usually had soup, which again, was home made. I sampled tomato (a favorite), mushroom, egg drop, and hot and sour, which was really spicy! I had Dahl Baht several times, because you just have to. No matter what I had, and where I had it, I really enjoyed it.

Nepali German Black Forest Cake

My “fish from the lake” lunch. The french fries here are also really good!

In the cities, both Kathmandu and Pokhara, the available cuisine is hugely diverse and so far very tasty. There is a strong representation of Indian, Korean, Thai, and Chinese food, besides Nepali, of course. Before Prem left we had Mediterranean (the restaurant he wanted to take me to for local fare was closed). I finally had the opportunity to sample a German bakery, ordering a piece of Black Forest cake, to explore. It was good even though not as sweet or moist, and a little less chocolate-y than you might find in Germany or a US version of the treat. Today I tried a fish from the lake- I have no idea which fish, just a fish from the lake. It was grilled and very fresh. The plate even came with veggies, so I was a happy girl on multiple fronts! So I can summarize by saying Nepal is great place to have a wonderful variety of fresh and interesting food.

On to Pokhara….

I am staying in the tourist area by the lake. It is a nice area with lots of activity and for some reason, tons of birds, who are very vocal in the mornings and the evenings. I can sit on the balcony of my room and hear a huge variety of bird calls. Hopefully they are saying something interesting. From my balcony, theoretically, I should have a view of the mountains, but all I have been seeing is a wall of white. The air here has been hazy all week and I can barely see the hill on the other side of the lake. I am told that is because it has not rained for several days to clear things out. As the air quality is pretty poor, I remain to be convinced that the haze is not mainly pollution. It is not as bad as Beijing but I do understand now why people wear masks. I’ve been trying to avoid walking along the main road, especially in the heat of the afternoon, when the air is especially bad. Consequently I have been exploring side streets, more or less randomly. It does not take too long to get off the beaten tourist path. It seems that most of the visitors stay on the main drag. I have enjoyed just simply walking around and observing, taking pictures, some of which I am inserting into this post.

This cow and I have crossed paths many times in the last few days. Maybe because we are both unoccupied.

Walking around on the side streets it is possible to get a better sense of the rhythm of life. The houses are varied, everything from fancy three to four story affairs, to concrete shacks stacked next to each other. I passed a haystack today, so I may have found where some of the cows live. Another mystery solved! The kids are in school from 10am to 4pm and I have seen them in large groups walking home. Motor bikes are everywhere, especially in front of what looked like a government court complex that I passed by. I saw signs for legal advice, there were people milling everywhere and police guards standing around. Needless to say, I was the only non-Nepali in sight! I have also seen, for some reason, an inordinate amount of barber shops. Apparently as part of their services, accompanying either a haircut or a shave, is a head massage. I may have to get a hair cut before I leave Nepal.

The only reason I can think of to have a haystack in your backyard is perhaps if it is accompanied by a cow!

One of the recommended things to do in Pokhara is to visit the Peace Pagoda. It is across the lake and one way to get there is to take a boat so I did that today. Usually when you read something related to a tourist site that says “to get there you take a boat…” you imagine a ferry of some type that moves large numbers of people back and forth. Not so here, I had a guy row me over in a canoe. If you were a big group, about six or eight, they had two guys in a paddle wheel driven boat available for transport. The trip took about 20 minutes, he dropped me off, said he would be back in two hours and turned me loose. The pagoda sits on a hill that overlooks the whole area so that meant more steps. It was about a 45 minute climb and I was glad I had my trekking conditioning to pull on because it was very hot! A Buddhist group in Japan, after WW2, started a project to build 100 of them world wide to encourage peace and this is part of that collection. Since Buddha was born in Nepal, it was an obvious place to put one, even though it took until 1999. There was a mix of pilgrims and tourists mingling around and I spent some time sitting on a bench and watching the activity. The boat guy was waiting for me when I returned to the pick up point and without incident we made it back across the lake. I settled myself at one of the lakeside cafes for the afternoon (where I had the fish), working on my computer and watching the world go by.

View of Pokhara from the Peace Pagoda. You can easily see the “haze”.

There should be beautiful snow capped mountains in this picture….

I did have a few tasks to complete today. This morning I walked over to the tourist bus station where I have to show up at 6 am on Friday to catch the bus to Basi Sahir, step one of the two step bus process required to get to the village where I am volunteering. I wanted to do recon to make sure a) I could find it, and b) it was definitely the right place to show up. Mission accomplished! My other task, which I have yet to complete, is to find Emory boards. I am down to my last one and it is becoming precious to me as I have yet to find a store that carries something to file fingernails. It is turning into a bit of a scavenger hunt. I have learned over the years when traveling, to pay attention to the stores and shops I pass because you never know when you might need something. Yesterday I passed small shop that specialized in health and beauty products so my goal tomorrow is to retrace my steps and check there. We are completely spoiled in the US where you can go to one mega-store and find everything you might need in one stop. Be appreciative about that convenience because that is not the “norm” in most of the world!

Tourist Bus Station where I have to be early on Friday. Reminds me of a similar bus station in Peru.

For the rest, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…..

Interested in renting an apartment?

Examples of some nice houses.

….and houses under construction.

I’ve seen these tractors all over the place. Nothing wasted here.

Street scene in the tourist area. Fairly typical, though.