Pokhara continued

I’m feeling pretty lucky to have ended up with so much spare time in Pokhara. I’ve resisted several people’s attampts to convince me to go trekking, and have spent the last few days exploring Pokhara and the surrounding villages.

Jason (the aforementioned Kiwi) and I hired a scooter for 2 days to explore the area around Pokhara, and we found so many picturesque villages, streams and rice terraces. The locals have been incredibly friendly, and at one village we were invited into a little shack by some kids to listen to them play music. They were part of a music academy for disadvantaged children, and soon enough half of the village realised that they had visitors, and bundled into the shack to sing and dance with us! Earlier that day, we’d visited two caves, one of which had 8000 bats in. It was pretty cool and luckily the bats were all asleep and not flying around into our faces!

The next day my mode of transportation changed to the local Nepali buses, built for people under 5’5’’ I think, seeing as my legs were completely crushed against the seat in front! After an hour’s journey and 2 bus changes, I arrived at Begnas lake, which is very similar to Fewa lake in Pokhara, except that it is pretty much untouched by tourism. It was really beautiful but soon after I arrived, it started to pour down. The bus station was a good 15 mins away and all I had to keep me dry was my pashmina. As I walked as quickly as possible in my squelching flip-flops, a Nepalese family in front of me noticed me and found my condition highly amusing. When we all gave up and stood under a tin roof, one of the boys started talking to me. He was very politically interested and kept telling me that Nepal needed to be developed so that the people could be happier. I tried to explain that although most people in England have more money than people in Nepal, it doesn’t mean that they’re happy. A pretty hard concept for a 13 year old Nepalese boy to understand as I’m sure you can imagine. Anyway, the family took me for masala chai and a chat before getting the bus once the rain subsided, and on the other end put me on the right bus to Lakeside. I thought that Indian people were friendly, but I think the Nepalese have the edge on them! And they are every bit as honest as the Indians – I left my camera on the table where we had chai, and a guy jumped on the bus after me to return it. I need that damn thing superglued to my hand!

Jason left for Chitwan yesterday, and I went for a horse riding expedition to Sarangkhot, which is a good viewing point for to see the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. I really enjoyed the going up part of the journey, which took 3 hours. By the time I reached the top, my legs and bum were getting pretty painful. As soon as I got back on the horse after soaking up the views, I was instantly in absolute agony! I could only take being on the horse for 1 more hour, and then I got off and walked the rest of the way home whilst my guide rode the horse back, yee-hawing all the way (literally).

My legs and bum are killing me today, so I’ve taken it very easy indeed. I finally got round to extending my visa, and other than that I’ve just moved from restaurant to restaurant, chatting to various people along the way. Its such a friendly place that despite being here alone now, I’ve not felt at all lonely. I just need to find something else now to fill my next couple of days with before Nikki returns and we start our volunteering. It’ll be nice to have something to sink my teeth into, and its been great being able to fully unpack my bag and feel at home somewhere for the first time in nearly 3 months!