As the beginning of a new Gregorian calendar year is upon us (the Nepali/Hindu New Year is in April), I am delighted to offer that my partner and I sought to enter 2012 in a different city, engaging in new adventures, and of course discovering new bird-life! :-> (check out his revisited blog site at markdread.blogspot.com for more feathery details) Still in Nepal, we made our way to the city of Pokhara. Nestled in the central hills of Nepal, Pokhara is more known for being the stepping off point for many popular treks into the Himalayas than for much else. But with it being a trekkers paradise, the perks of Western cuisine, hot showers and a more active nightlife highlight the stopover in a way that the overcrowded, "hippie-esqe" hustle & bustle of Kathmandu is not. It was certainly a nice refuge for a week. The biggest and possibly only challenge, however, with visiting Pokhara from our current 'dera' or home in the Far West, simply comes down to "getting there and back".
Nepal has one highway. It is a dual-carriage/single lane highway, not highlighted by an central line, rudely maintained and cliff-teettering in spots, but often the only means of transportation (sparse air services do exist, but are temperamental based on weather and expense) from the east to the west of the country. All forms of moving vehicle and terrestrial animal, from rickshaws to lorries, cattle to dogs, use this highway, and often its "2-lane" width is in reality a "6/8-lane" roller-coaster experience. Getting from Dhangadhi to Pokhara, therefore, comes down to a choice of 3 transportation options: a flight from Dhangadhi to Pokhara. This requires a transfer in Kathmandu (which is further away from Dhangadhi than Pokhara, but ALL flights come in and fly out of the capital regardless of internal destination or start-off points). There is a tourist bus which will take you again toward Kathmandu (a 19 hour no stops/overnight ride) of which you can get off 2 hours this side of Kathmandu and flag down another tourist bus to finish the journey to Pokhara which would take another 6 hours, depending on bus availability on the side of the highway. OR a local bus, which is a direct bus to Pokhara but stops everywhere, resulting in a 20 hour, cramped adventure on a bus that is reminiscent of the comfort felt riding a children's schools bus.
Flying in Nepal is cheap on an international cost scale, but as a volunteer, it far exceeds my allowance. The tourist bus option, this time of year in particular has odds of leaving one stranded on the side of the road for hours, if not overnight, and so the local bus won out, as it was the most direct, least confusing/scary in tempting the unknown, and by far the cheapest. The great thing about the local bus though...is you never know with what or "whom" the bus-boys will jam it with to generate any form of payment for transportation. :-> All in all, an interesting experience, and one that would not be dismissed readily for the next adventure....but be for warned.... goat pee and rain initially retain the same qualities coming down against open or closed windows... but that "fresh-rain" smell is sorely lacking with the first option by far.... :-}
View of Pokhara City from the Peace Pagoda Hilltop Vantage Point.
Phewa Lake which borders the city of Pokhara, and boat rides are a cheap way to spend a day. (No motor boats allowed!)
The Annapurna Mountain Range, the view again from the Peace Pagoda Vantage Point.
....and the last of 20 goats being loaded on to the roof or our bus for what would be another 18 hours of our trip to Pokhara. Wonder how much each one of them was charged for the journey??? ;->
Nepal has one highway. It is a dual-carriage/single lane highway, not highlighted by an central line, rudely maintained and cliff-teettering in spots, but often the only means of transportation (sparse air services do exist, but are temperamental based on weather and expense) from the east to the west of the country. All forms of moving vehicle and terrestrial animal, from rickshaws to lorries, cattle to dogs, use this highway, and often its "2-lane" width is in reality a "6/8-lane" roller-coaster experience. Getting from Dhangadhi to Pokhara, therefore, comes down to a choice of 3 transportation options: a flight from Dhangadhi to Pokhara. This requires a transfer in Kathmandu (which is further away from Dhangadhi than Pokhara, but ALL flights come in and fly out of the capital regardless of internal destination or start-off points). There is a tourist bus which will take you again toward Kathmandu (a 19 hour no stops/overnight ride) of which you can get off 2 hours this side of Kathmandu and flag down another tourist bus to finish the journey to Pokhara which would take another 6 hours, depending on bus availability on the side of the highway. OR a local bus, which is a direct bus to Pokhara but stops everywhere, resulting in a 20 hour, cramped adventure on a bus that is reminiscent of the comfort felt riding a children's schools bus.
Flying in Nepal is cheap on an international cost scale, but as a volunteer, it far exceeds my allowance. The tourist bus option, this time of year in particular has odds of leaving one stranded on the side of the road for hours, if not overnight, and so the local bus won out, as it was the most direct, least confusing/scary in tempting the unknown, and by far the cheapest. The great thing about the local bus though...is you never know with what or "whom" the bus-boys will jam it with to generate any form of payment for transportation. :-> All in all, an interesting experience, and one that would not be dismissed readily for the next adventure....but be for warned.... goat pee and rain initially retain the same qualities coming down against open or closed windows... but that "fresh-rain" smell is sorely lacking with the first option by far.... :-}
View of Pokhara City from the Peace Pagoda Hilltop Vantage Point.
Phewa Lake which borders the city of Pokhara, and boat rides are a cheap way to spend a day. (No motor boats allowed!)
The Annapurna Mountain Range, the view again from the Peace Pagoda Vantage Point.
