Travel 10 - Nepal

Jet Airways B-777, Flight No. 9W229 lifts off from Pearson International Airport and my journey to Nepal begins.  A very long, tiring, journey comprising approximately 20 hours of flight time and 10 hours of stopovers.

The only flight memories are the chicken curry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Other than that, I could be tempted to fly Jet Airways again.

An overnight stop in Kathmandu introduced me to the continual, nationwide, electricity cuts, and the concurrent loss of hot water, TV, and WiFi.

Buddha Air ATR-32 at Pokhara, Nepal

The next day, Buddha Air’s ATR-32 took me, after a couple of low cloud weather delays, to the town of Pokhara.  The flight ended with the following announcement, “Please keep seat-belts fastened until we are in the terminal”.  I imagined a fast drive-through and pondered a hamburger order with cheese.  Then, there was a 45-minute taxi-ride, via a rough dirt road, to the mountaintop hotel that was to become my home for a few weeks.

Annapurna and Machhapuhhre mountains, etc. of the Himalayas, Nepal

My first impression was fantastic.  The view from my room, of the snow capped Himalayas, was worth five stars.  But, by the next day, star value began to erode.  Although, water was heated by a solar panel, together with battery backup, only a cold shower was available.  The floor was carpeted, but during my whole stay, a vacuum cleaner was neither seen or heard.

View from our balcony

The arrival of my partner from Dhaka was delayed for the first week, and this resulted in putting many kilometres under my shoes.  But it seemed that finding a remote place to stay in which sleeping was easy was, initially, difficult because of the total silence, also meant there wasn’t even another cafe within walking distance.  Nevertheless, foreign trekkers and a few Tibetan refugees made things interesting and less boring.

Island Hindu Temple in Pokhara, Nepal

Mindy arrived in the second week, and life took a turn for the better.  We took a few expensive (US$50 return) taxi rides into town, and discovered a great restaurant with rainbow trout on the menu (Cooked three different ways).

Downtown Pokhara, Nepal

Additionally, the hotel arranged some horses for us, which were the ideal way to trek in the area and, especially, an excitement for Mindy to sit on a horse for the first time of her life.

Nice Horses (as far as Mountain ponies go)

But even meditation and contemplation must end, and my return to Canada became necessary.  Unfortunately, I have nothing good to say about the return journey.  My companions were two Nepali locals having their first flight (it seemed) displaying their enjoyment by loudly mouth-slapping their chicken curry (Yes, three more chicken curry meals) and being quite unaware that they were shouting at each other due to wearing headphones.  Finally, I really wish that an airlines pre-boarding requirement would be the education of underdeveloped parents.

Nevertheless, all was worthwhile.

Click each photo to enlarge.