Follow the heart(s): Pokhara

First stop on adventures outside the Kathmandu Valley was Pokhara. Pokhara is a curious place - a quaint touristy area in Lakeside, but a metro area of 1 million people. We stayed in Lakeside and spent most of our time there.

The trip to Pokhara was an adventure for me used to Canadian roads. With the mountainous terrain, crazy traffic, and the often poor road quality a 200km journey became a day long adventure. Total transit time was actually ~5hrs but we stopped multiple times for tea or lunch. Lunch was in a gorgeous valley by the river and across from the only cable car in Nepal. It was overcast though so we didn't bother going up.

There's green valleys!

Our car.

Once in Pokhara we checked in to our hotel in the Lakeside area and headed out to wander around. Lakeside is primarily centred around the main road parallel to the lake. Here there are shops and restaurants of all varieties, mainly geared towards tourists. It felt a bit like Banff with a Nepali flair. For dinner I wanted variety and ordered pork western style. It was the only time I encountered significant challenges with allergies in Nepal. Go figure.

The next day we visited local temples, and explored some caves and a waterfall. Later in the day we went boating on the lake. Naturally I went swimming despite it being a bit cooler :) We stopped at a bar accessible only by boat and had tea / napped.

Waterfall. Apparently the water will flood the lower platform during monsoon season.

Boating! (after swimming)

Boats! :D

Christmas Tree! :D

The final morning in Pokhara we hiked up to the World Peace Pagoda, before heading out on a drive to Chitwan. Along the way we dropped off the inaugural issue of the NCCDF publication The ICU Post (see NCCDF blog post). Included in this was a stop at Manipal College of Medical Sciences where my anatomy professor formerly taught and Dr. Subhash Acharya, founder of NCCDF trained. I.e. the base of the connection that brought me to Nepal.