Pokhara Paradise

"I would never think of smoking in a house or in a monastery, which is 'very sinful'. As for whistling in a house, this is also very shocking - as ghosts will come"...Michel Piessel, "Mustang, The Forbidden Kingdom", 1967

We are now in the lovely town of Pokhara in the foothills of the Himalaya. This is the starting point for many treks, including Anapura, Dopro and Mustang. It is a gorgeous place, right on beautiful Lake Fewa. The air here is clean, fresh and cool. This morning the town was totally empty with no traffic at all, a welcome change after the madness of Kathmandu. 

The flight here was 35 minutes in a turbo prop plane. The Kathmandu domestic airport was great; a very vintage looking place where you feel Humphrey Bogart will appear any minute. It was crazy in the checkin area, with lots of Trekkers and locals. 

Nance, me, Trina, Sheila and Ron. 

The flight itself was very nice and at a cruising altitude of only 12,000 feet you really felt you were flying, not in outer space like you do on a jet. 

After a nice lunch right on the lake, where I had a fried lake fish and of course an Everest beer, we took a really nice boat ride, a big row boat where we saw the lake with many paragliders overhead. That's a big thing here in addition to lots of ultralight planes. We even got blessed at a Hindu temple on a tiny island in the lake. 

Trina, Nance and our guides K.B. And Nirajan (with tongue). 

This will be my last blog for at least five days, maybe 11. We fly (or drive if the weather is be) tomorrow to Jomson and then start the trek, starting up the deepest canyon in the world along the Kali Gandaki river. Wish us luck and send us your good thoughts. We will need all the extra good energy possible!

Rare Tibetan turquoise. 

Street of Pokhara...