POKHARA & SARANGKOT

7th - 9th March 2015

We survived the seven hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara. This involved twisting narrow mountain roads, coupled with skilled manoeuvres such as overtaking three lorries in one go, or overtaking a herd of cows on a blind mountain corner at breakneck speed. We eventually rolled in to Pokhara at 2pm. Only a couple of children and a German chap next to Helen were sick, however, miraculously Helen wasn't.

Pokhara is a beautiful old city that sprawls away from a picturesque lake surrounded by a rich green hillside. We stayed in the hustle and bustle of the Lakeside area. It has a holiday feel about it and the main street is alive with bars, shops and restaurants. The food here is great and to our delight, happy hour seems to be any hour.

The main reason for heading to Pokhara is because it is a popular place to start and end treks in the Annapurna's. However, there are some great sights round the city and lots of high adrenaline activities such as paragliding with eagles, white water rafting and sky diving. However our plan was to keep dry and our feet on the ground.

Early one morning we were up and out by five. Just north of Pokhara is a smaller mountain peak called Sarangkot. It towers over the old city and also has a fantastic panoramic view of the Annapurna range. We flagged down a cab, and ended up sharing it with a French couple who had the same idea. We had actually met them in Kathmandu a few days back. They were unfortunate enough to be on a plane that crash landed at the airport. They told us no one was seriously hurt and they got to exit the craft via a massive slide.

The cab dropped us off 25mins short of the top at a lower viewing area. As we had time to kill before sunrise we hiked up the rest of the way to the very top. We all fell completely silent when we saw the breathtaking view from the summit, this was partly because we were all out of breath from the climb. Jagged white peaks soared above a hazy white mist creating a divide between the mountains above and the rest of the world below. There were quite a few other folk waiting in anticipation for the first rays of sun to hit. We sat quietly just taking it all in. Gradually the sky became brighter and the tips of the peaks turned golden in the morning light. It really was a magnificent sight, every second the entire landscape changed before your eyes. Dark purple shadows came and went, new peaks would suddenly become ablaze with light and colour and eventually the sun filled the whole valley below with light, burning away the mist.

After an hour or so, we hiked back down where our friendly cab driver was reading the paper. He whisked us back off to the Kiwi Guest House (our Pokhara home), where we sat on the roof and ate breakfast, still with a clear Himalayan view. It seems weird to think that in a few days from now we will be plodding through those guys.