We have been relaxing in Pokhara Nepal since returning from an 8 day trek into the the Himalayas but not too high and cold .. Maybe about 12,000 ft. We hiked a loop from Niapol to Ghorapani - Poon Hill to Tatrapani to Gandruk to Landruk and Australian Camp then out. I left off some stops and probably misspelled some. It was a lot of steep ups and downs with some days being all day climbing and some felt like all day steep down hill. Many beautiful panoramas of the Anapurna Range of the Himalayas. The cyclone that caused eastern India so much trouble reached us the last night and day of our trek so we had some hiking in the rain. All in all a very good trek and it was good to get out into the traditional Gurung villages. They are happy friendly people and the villages are clean and prosperous. It is harvest time here also.
Pokhara Lakeside is a tourist town with tropical weather, butterflies, good food and lots of Europeans, Aussies, Chinese, but very few Americans. It is situated on a large beautiful lake with a hindu temple on an island in the lake and boats for rent. We are in the same guest house as last year .. Between 15 and 20 a night. Thanks to Peggy Emberson for introducing us to Nepal and the Nirvana Guest House last year. This guest house seems to have a loyal following with people who come here every year and have been coming here for 15 or 20 years.
We're on our second full moon in Asia and this one marks the end of the Dasain festival in Nepal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasain
On the trek there were nights of traditional music and singing by the guides and porters at the guest houses. People are dressed in their best clothes and wearing large Tikas on their foreheads. Little girls in what look like our princess dresses. Everyone happy and smiling and big bamboo swings erected everywhere with many children using them enthusiastically. We didn't see any of the early festival goat and buffalo sacrifices which was fine with us. We did see many herds of goats being taken to town for festival.
We had Hair cuts this morning .. Both of us in the barber shop ... "Sir head massage too for you and madam? Yes yes. Shoulder and neck massage sir? .. They say I am as good as going to the doctor sir! Yes yes.".
When all was over and Susan had long ago fled to go shopping I owed him a couple thousand rupees! The haircut started as 195 rupees. I am a real sucker sometimes --- a rupee is equal to a US penny, but it adds up fast!
There's a nepalese restaurant down the street with great Dal Bhat and then I saw Chang on the menu and they said yes we make our own Chang ( rice beer). I had a big glass and it was milky white and a little thick but had a pretty good flavor and evidently a lot of alcohol! Good Stuff .. Almost. ( 90 rupees a big glass).
We catch a bus for Kathmandu in a few days. Then fly to Calcutta India from there. We will be going to some other historic cities in Nepal before we leave --- like Bhaktapur.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaktapur
In the morning we will meet the Nepalese waiter we met here last year and stayed in touch via email -- Himal -- and go take a boat for a paddle in the lake.
I'll add more photos as I can.
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