Pokhara,
I woke up early, Bob, Sara, and I walked into town. It was quiet, peaceful and at 7:30am there were just a few kids walking around selling freshly baked goods on the side of the road. Compared to India this was what I was looking for, not to mention I was walking lake side into a town about the size of Tahoe City (by the lake), but a legit city of Pokhara pushes back into the hills, a part of town that I never made it to, nor does any tourist.
We rented some Bikes ($1) for the whole day and started riding around town, past the touristy area and around the lake (lake no bigger than Waccabuc), again the hills around me were filled with rice terraces which amaze me. The quietness of the area was something I fell in love with, I think if I flew straight to Pokhara I would not have appreciated it as much, but since most tourists come here via Katmandu (big city) or India their appreciation for the area is MUCH MUCH greater. Cruisin’ around the lake was nice, it was warm, and the sun was finally out.
The town its self is filled with restaurants, little gift shops, very touristy, all catering to the same types of people, trekkers, rafters, kayakers, crunchy people, an outdoors persons dream. Being completely oblivious to what I was walking into, I felt a bit caught off guard because both my Israeli friends and American friends were planning a 17+ day hike to the Annapurana mt. Range, something that I quickly became very jealous of.
Pokhara was great, I climbed up to a look out point which over looked the lake (3.5 hour hike), did some more biking, and even got a cab up to another look out for the sunrise, it was an great place. Being a moron and only getting a 15 day visa I knew my time was running out and on my 4th day I went to a trekker guide shop with Bob and Sara so they could discuss their hike with someone who has done it thousands of times. At this point the wheels in my head began to spin and I really thought I should just go for it and do a small hike. I talked to a guide, and booked my 7 day Annapuna Base Camp hike which is roughly a 40 mile hike, up hills, across rivers, through valleys and up to a glacier.
Being accident prone I decided to rent a guide/porter for $11usd a day who would carry what ever I asked him to and lead the way on the hike. I departed a day and ½ later.
Pokhara, was a great town, worth staying in, the views of the Annapurna Mt. Range in the morning (before clouds rolled in) was phenomenal, the people are friendly, and coming from India it was an awesomely relaxing time.
I woke up early, Bob, Sara, and I walked into town. It was quiet, peaceful and at 7:30am there were just a few kids walking around selling freshly baked goods on the side of the road. Compared to India this was what I was looking for, not to mention I was walking lake side into a town about the size of Tahoe City (by the lake), but a legit city of Pokhara pushes back into the hills, a part of town that I never made it to, nor does any tourist.
We rented some Bikes ($1) for the whole day and started riding around town, past the touristy area and around the lake (lake no bigger than Waccabuc), again the hills around me were filled with rice terraces which amaze me. The quietness of the area was something I fell in love with, I think if I flew straight to Pokhara I would not have appreciated it as much, but since most tourists come here via Katmandu (big city) or India their appreciation for the area is MUCH MUCH greater. Cruisin’ around the lake was nice, it was warm, and the sun was finally out.
The town its self is filled with restaurants, little gift shops, very touristy, all catering to the same types of people, trekkers, rafters, kayakers, crunchy people, an outdoors persons dream. Being completely oblivious to what I was walking into, I felt a bit caught off guard because both my Israeli friends and American friends were planning a 17+ day hike to the Annapurana mt. Range, something that I quickly became very jealous of.
Pokhara was great, I climbed up to a look out point which over looked the lake (3.5 hour hike), did some more biking, and even got a cab up to another look out for the sunrise, it was an great place. Being a moron and only getting a 15 day visa I knew my time was running out and on my 4th day I went to a trekker guide shop with Bob and Sara so they could discuss their hike with someone who has done it thousands of times. At this point the wheels in my head began to spin and I really thought I should just go for it and do a small hike. I talked to a guide, and booked my 7 day Annapuna Base Camp hike which is roughly a 40 mile hike, up hills, across rivers, through valleys and up to a glacier.
Being accident prone I decided to rent a guide/porter for $11usd a day who would carry what ever I asked him to and lead the way on the hike. I departed a day and ½ later.
Pokhara, was a great town, worth staying in, the views of the Annapurna Mt. Range in the morning (before clouds rolled in) was phenomenal, the people are friendly, and coming from India it was an awesomely relaxing time.
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