Last days in Pokara

So the following 3 days where spent in Pokara literally just sat in front of a computer using the Internet. Basically I was telling all the folks back home, and mates around the world, about the engagement, and to look into what the hell we're going to do with the remaining few weeks or months of this trip (i.e. what flights/trains/buses to get to where, for how much, and when). Luckily we'd found a really cheap Internet place when we were cycling around town sorting out permits and visas before we went off hiking (30 rupees an hour as opposed to 100 rupees in the tourist Lakeside area - they have a price-fixing thing going on there too, and they are obviously ripping off all the clueless tourists).

On our last full day in Pokara I wanted to get away from the Internet so we decided to hike out to see a local waterfall (but I took a wrong turn and so we missed it), and also to hike up to the World Peace Pagoda that is situated on a hillside overlooking the town. This was quite a hike really as we went around the long way, but the views of the town were great. By the time we reached the top the distant Annapurna mountains were well and truly hazed-over, but over the past few days we'd gotten various glimpses of them, and obviously we'd been well and truly in amongst them while hiking the big treks.

We'd also found a great local restaurant while cycling around the town - it was up a small side street and served up fantastic Tibetean food like momos and thenthuk. It was also the cheapest beer in town by far, so I did the budget many favors by dining there regularly. The owners were really friendly too of course and always greeted us with big smiles - it's uncanny just how often these tiny little no-name hole-in-the-wall places turn out to be real gems.

So the next morning we strolled to the nearby tourist bus park (the local bus park was too far away), and haggled a price for the bus to Kathmandu. Thankfully the tourist bus really was direct and didn't stop every 100 meters to pick up locals, so it was a really quick, easy and sight-filled 6 hours to Kathmandu.

Being a tourist bus it drops everyone off near the tourist enclave of Thamel, and although I didn't recognise were I was, after asking the bus guy for general directions and then just following a loose sense of direction we strolled into the very familiar surrounds of downtown Thamel. Outside the landmark Kathmandu Guesthouse we bumped into a Dutch girl we'd met trekking and she recommended a nearby place to stay. It turned out the Holy Lodge was a lovely wee place, very central and quite, and so we settled in there straight away.