Day 20... Permit to Pokhara

 

I woke up early.... my driver was going to arrive at 0800 and I needed to pack and get breakfast. Fortunately packing doesn't take long and shortly I was having a breakfast of essentially curried sausages and pancakes. It wasn't the best to be fair. 

My driver turned up promptly and proceeded to strap the bike on the roof rack. I was a little worried as he had only bought one strap and given the state of the roads, I had a vision of one good bump and it flying off! But he seemed happy. 

We set off. 

It was a pretty chilly morning and once again, it felt like winter was just around the corner here in the mountains. 

The good thing about paying a lot for tgis driver was that his english was pretty good and he told me a lot about living in the mountains and how people survived during the very harsh winters. 

Basically if they had a means of escape, they would rent a house in pokhara for 3 months, december to end of feb, as there were no tourists in the mountains during that time and therefore no work. It was also extremely cold. If they had to stay there, they used wood fires to stay warm, but it must be pretty awful. 

We bumped down the road, the quality in places was pretty terrible and I was mighty glad that I was not cycling today. My legs had felt pretty dead yesterday and the roads were worse today. The valley we were going down was a continuation of the river gorge I had followed before and was really beautiful. 

Isolated mountain communities stood high up on the hillsides with no visable means of getting there often. 

One village we passed through, everyone was dressed up and Just as I was about to ask why, I watched a procession of people bearing a body on a stretcher down the hillside. The body was wrapped in orange linen and the steps the procession was coming down was very steep. It looked very difficult. 

We finally hit a bit of tarmac road and the going became easier. There were still areas that had been washed away or where the landslide hadn't been fully cleared. At one point we stopped for a cup of tea. It was one of the best cups of tea I have ever had, not being a tea drinker as a rule. It tasted a little spicy and I asked the driver what spices were in it. Turned out, they crushed a few kernals of black pepper and added that to the tea. I wouldn't have guessed to be fair that that was what it was.... but it is something I might try at home! 

We took. a higher mountain road towards pokhara, the driver said that roadworks on the other road meant this was a better way ti go. We had also stopped in one of the bigger towns, Beni, for him to get some paperwork. Because he was going into a different district with his taxi, he had to get a different permit. Once he had that permit, he then had to take to a different office, to get his car checked over, and get some more paperwork. It seemed a complicated process of permits just to take me to Pokhara. 

The mountain road was a lovely road, winding through small and larger communities high on the hills. The view over towards Pikhara was stunning and it was here I got my furst sighting of Machapuchare. 

Machapuchare, fish tail mountain, is a very interesting mountain, with twin peaks almost, giving it it's alternate name. It is also referred to as the Matterhorn of Nepal, having a very similar shape. Also similar to the Matterhorn it rises on its own and not as part as a chain of mountains. 

Machapuchare, officially has never been climbed and never will be. One expedition in the 1950's was given permission with an agreement that they didn't go to the actual summit but stop below it. This is because the mountain is sacred to the Nepali people and thought to be the home of Shiva, one of the gods. 

The expedition stuck to their word and stopped short of the summit. Since then, no permits have been issued to allow anyone to climb. It is possible that the mountain was illegally climbed by someone, but he died on another himalayan mountain so it has never been confirmed. 

It is a very striking mountain and was in our view for most of the rest of the journey into Pokhara. 

Eventually Pokhara came into view and the roads became wider, the houses more expensive looking and the traffic increased (still not equal to Reading on a saturday afternoon though!) 

We drove through the outskirts until reached my hotel on the road towards the lakeside. 

The hotel staff seemed a bit caught out by my turning up, even though I had confirmed on booking. com..

They did however find my package containing my tent which I had sent from Besisahar all those days ago. Bonus!! 

Eventually though room sorted and installed and I headed off into Pokhara to have a look around. 

It felt more like Kathmandu but slightly. less sprawling. More tourist and hiking shops, more food places.... 

Food! 

I was starving! 

Needless to say I found a good pizza place... worth it! 

Then I tried to get some money out which is always a bit of a lottery abroad. The 3rd cash machine I tried worked and I breathed a sigh of relief. Stranded without cash here would be difficult. 

Next up was to work out how to get to Chitwan N. P with my bike. Now short of time, I needed to get a bus or taxi. Taxi is expensive so bus it is. I hopped in a taxi and went to the tourist bus park .... there I was met with unhelpfullness.... none of the buses could take my bike. None of them had roof racks, and not enough luggage storage for my bike. 

So it was off to the local bus park. My taxi driver was helpful and asked at the ticket counters for me. They won't do tickets ahead of time. It seems like I gotta just turn up and try to find the right bus. Its going to be interesting. As far as I could work out, the bike wouldnt be a problem here, they would put it on the roof. So fingers crossed, otherwise I'm not sure quite how I'm getting there!, 

The rest of the day was just walking around. I went down to the lakeside where you can hire boats but no kayak looking boats otherwise I would have been tempted. 

I have a day tomorrow to try and see one or two of the sights here before heading off to Chitwan (hopefully)