30 Nov 2012
For 5days relaxing in Kathmandu we literally did nothing except sleeping in til midday, walking to Thamel for lunch at this awesome chicken wrap place (seriously amazing wrap, all fresh salad, grilled chicken, amazing spices and only 200 rupees! ($2.50) )and eating dinner at our rooftop restaurant. Sam bought some hash our first day so we were smoking a lot of that and just chilling for that week. We feventually took the initiative and booked a bus to Pokhara.We had to be there by Dec 1st to have a meeting about our pre booked canyoning and rafting with Paddle Nepal.
The bus left at 7am and went along that same road we had already driven 3 times with the Annapurna Circuit and Chitwan. Only the ending changed. The bus stopped twice for breakfast and lunch and we arrived in Pokhara about 3pm. Ganesh, the owner of Lotus Inn (another guesthouse recommended by Anders) was waiting for us at the bus depot.
A short 5min drive and we were at Lotus Inn. Already we were loving the change of noisy and polluted Kathmandu to a much quieter and cleaner Pokhara. The city is situated around a lake and the Himalayan range, so the scenery certainly was a step up from Kathmandu to! Lotus Inn had a lovely lawn of green grass and all the rooms were large and well lit. Much nicer then our tiny dark and cold room at Monumental! We also had unlimited wi fi and hot water - even when the power went out - which it does in Nepal, several times every day, sometimes for hours and hours.
We met up with Aneka straight away who had been doing her own thing for the last few days and unfortunately had been very sick for all of it. She was starting to get better but still not 100%, she didn't even drink with us at dinner that night!
The next day, the three of us headed down to the lake with hash, the weed from the taxi driver and our cameras. We rented a canoe type boat and spent the afternoon chilling on the lake, smoking up and taking it in turns to paddle. The current ended up taking us to the other side of the lake and we were fighting it to get the boat back in time, while stoned off our heads and laughing at stupid shit. Whoever was paddling at the front always got the piss taken out of them because obviously everyone was watching them. When Aneka was in front she looked like a witch stirring her cauldron because of the big hippy pants, shirt and beanie she was wearing and the way she was paddling. It had Sam and I in fits of laughter!
Sam and I had to go to our canyoning briefing at Paddle Nepal so we rushed through dinner before heading over. There was only going to be one other person joining us, a nice young girl who was in her first year of med school and on an excursion to see the hospitals in Nepal. She was lovely. After the quick briefing the staff then told us our original 3day rafting trip had changed, there was no one else on it after some people got sick on their trek and also the level of the rapids had dropped significantly. We could still do it if we wanted but it sounded boring by this stage. We were offered to change to a 2day with 6 other people, level 4 and 5 rapids. So we did.
That night we went to bed pretty early as it was going to be an early rise for canyoning. We were both very excited!!
For 5days relaxing in Kathmandu we literally did nothing except sleeping in til midday, walking to Thamel for lunch at this awesome chicken wrap place (seriously amazing wrap, all fresh salad, grilled chicken, amazing spices and only 200 rupees! ($2.50) )and eating dinner at our rooftop restaurant. Sam bought some hash our first day so we were smoking a lot of that and just chilling for that week. We feventually took the initiative and booked a bus to Pokhara.We had to be there by Dec 1st to have a meeting about our pre booked canyoning and rafting with Paddle Nepal.
The bus left at 7am and went along that same road we had already driven 3 times with the Annapurna Circuit and Chitwan. Only the ending changed. The bus stopped twice for breakfast and lunch and we arrived in Pokhara about 3pm. Ganesh, the owner of Lotus Inn (another guesthouse recommended by Anders) was waiting for us at the bus depot.
A short 5min drive and we were at Lotus Inn. Already we were loving the change of noisy and polluted Kathmandu to a much quieter and cleaner Pokhara. The city is situated around a lake and the Himalayan range, so the scenery certainly was a step up from Kathmandu to! Lotus Inn had a lovely lawn of green grass and all the rooms were large and well lit. Much nicer then our tiny dark and cold room at Monumental! We also had unlimited wi fi and hot water - even when the power went out - which it does in Nepal, several times every day, sometimes for hours and hours.
We met up with Aneka straight away who had been doing her own thing for the last few days and unfortunately had been very sick for all of it. She was starting to get better but still not 100%, she didn't even drink with us at dinner that night!
The next day, the three of us headed down to the lake with hash, the weed from the taxi driver and our cameras. We rented a canoe type boat and spent the afternoon chilling on the lake, smoking up and taking it in turns to paddle. The current ended up taking us to the other side of the lake and we were fighting it to get the boat back in time, while stoned off our heads and laughing at stupid shit. Whoever was paddling at the front always got the piss taken out of them because obviously everyone was watching them. When Aneka was in front she looked like a witch stirring her cauldron because of the big hippy pants, shirt and beanie she was wearing and the way she was paddling. It had Sam and I in fits of laughter!
Sam and I had to go to our canyoning briefing at Paddle Nepal so we rushed through dinner before heading over. There was only going to be one other person joining us, a nice young girl who was in her first year of med school and on an excursion to see the hospitals in Nepal. She was lovely. After the quick briefing the staff then told us our original 3day rafting trip had changed, there was no one else on it after some people got sick on their trek and also the level of the rapids had dropped significantly. We could still do it if we wanted but it sounded boring by this stage. We were offered to change to a 2day with 6 other people, level 4 and 5 rapids. So we did.
That night we went to bed pretty early as it was going to be an early rise for canyoning. We were both very excited!!
Tilicho Lake TrekTilicho lake of Nepal lies on the Annapurna Circuit trek route. Read our Tilicho lake trek blog to know how to reach Tilicho lake from Kathmandu along with itinerary, altitude & cost details
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