We drive on to Pokhara, which is the lakeside town from where it is good to do several short or longer treks. Of course our focus is sitting around in bad hotels drinking beer and arguing, rather than trekking, but the aim is to get out and do some walking while we’re there.
On our way we catch our first glimpse of the Annapurna Mountain range in the Himalayas. We stop the car to take photos in case this is the first and last time we see them.
We stay in a hotel on the lakeside which is really nice, despite the power cuts that run all day and through some of the night.
What I’m enjoying about Nepal is the presence of more women doing everyday things in public. In India, nearly all men worked in the service industries or were out socializing and chucking a ball around in the park.
Here there are women everywhere and from our balcony we can even see one hitting her husband over the head with a plastic bottle. I would too, considering he is clearly very drunk and they live in a tent and he just sat down, squatted and poohed on the grass outside the front door.
The next morning is given away to school work, although Louie seems overcome with sudden lethargy and needs to lie down.
Later in the day we plan to visit the Gupteswar Gupha cave and then walk to the Peace Pagoda at the top of a hill overlooking all of Pokhara and out to the Himalayas. It looks as though a storm is brewing as we set off and the man at the desk of the hotel warns us that it could be dangerous at the top. It’s almost as if he can tell that we just sit around drinking beer and arguing as he seems to doubt our trekking experience.
The cave is a holy place as well as a cool natural phenomenon where you can see the Devil’s waterfall through a crack at the end of the cave. There is also a very dark walkway with a holy cow in it. And some very large cockroaches.
We continue on to the Peace stupor where, considering we are now just planning to walk down hill along a clearly marked trail to avoid going up hill in the heat, there doesn’t seem to be too much risk. In fact, by the time we reach the top (in the car I might add) and walk the last stretch, the haze and clouds are clearing and mountains are visible.
The Peace Pagoda has four statues of Buddha presented as souvenirs from different countries: ‘Dharmacakra Mudra’ from Japan, ‘Bodh Gaya’ from Sri Lanka, ‘Kushinagar’ from Thailand and ‘Lumbini’ from Nepal.
As the sun starts to set, more and more clouds clear and we stay until the park closes, just to take it all in.
Louie plays with the panorama on the camera.
12th May: Travelling to Tibetan Homestay.
Not by paraglider of course, although we are very intrepid. We drive up to Sarankot where we might have a view of the mountains but it is so hazy and smoky that we can’t see a thing. Because the Sarankot ridge is high above Pokhara, it is a popular place for paragliding.
Our next two days are spent about 20 minutes out of Pokhara at the Tashi Palkhiel Tibetan Refugee settlement, established in 1962. The Tibetans in Nepal have very few of the same privileges afforded to the Nepalese (mostly because of Chinese Government pressure on Nepal) and most never attain a passport.
On arrival, we are amazed by the compact and organised little village with its school, community hall and Buddhist monastery.
We have organised our stay through a guy called Tenzin who then liaises with a homestay family.
Our host is Tashi and her fourteen-year-old boy Yonden. There are four free-standing buildings in the garden. One a kitchen and spare room, one the room of Tashi and her son, a toilet and shower and our room, once the home of her mother who, after being granted travel to Utah on a ballot several years before, has never returned. Tashi’s sister and daughter have also moved to Utah but Tashi wasn’t able to get a visa, despite having tried several times.
It is the closest we’ve come to a marae stay on our trip and it feels homely and familiar with our beds on the floor.
Here is our little house with the red window frames.
We take a walk through the village to the community hall where there is a fourteen-day period of alternate days fasting and silence.
Today is a talking day so we spend some time sitting with the locals.
On waking the next morning we are greeted with a crystal clear view of the entire Annapurna mountain range. Today is the first time in three months that we’ve worn long sleeves outside.
After breakfast we head over to the school. Fridays are a half day and there seems to be an extended staff meeting which has taken all of the teachers out of the classrooms.
We arrive to a marching band and the National anthem. The students then march themselves into class in straight lines.
We are given free reign to interact as we like. Roger starts by drawing a map of New Zealand in relation to the world and then talking about how lucky we are to have passports to be able to travel freely where we like. He ends his talk by crying. Stella is mortified.
Realising that we have more time than we thought, and feeling the need to reciprocate after the class sing us a very heartfelt song, Louie runs home to grab the ukulele so that we can perform a song. He and I sing a Maori number and then I take requests from the class and sing a few on my own.
We visit the preschool where we are mobbed by small children. We do some singing and dancing as they know all our preschool kindy songs.
We have promised Tashi that we’ll visit her stall near the main road where she sells jewellery for most of the day.
There are thirteen different people from the village, each with their own table. There are hand made items and jewellery from Tibet.
It transpires that in order for it to be fair, we should really purchase something from each table.
It all starts off quite leisurely but there is no place for an indecisive shopper here. Spending 1000 rupees at one stall and only 400 at another leads to a rush of offers for second and third items from the same stall. Sometimes it pays to just be an arsehole and buy one thing.
During the afternoon it pours with rain which is quite novel. Afterwards we visit the Buddhist temple for the Puja at 4pm.
Tibetan Buddhism really is the shiz, with huge drums and gongs and crazy big trumpets. The puja, where the monks chant for an hour, is very meditative and the temple itself is so beautiful. I take any opportunity I can for some quiet time and this is ideal because the children are forced into silence and I can be alone with my thoughts.
We are befriended by a monk who wants to take us through the story of Buddha’s life. Because his life is illustrated in beautiful pictures on the walls, it is a really nice way for the kids to get aquatinted with Buddha.
We spend some time talking about meditation and reincarnation and we all sit and do a guided meditation for a moment. It is such a nice experience that I’m surprised when Jasper leans over and whispers in my ear “in my next life I’m a pooh and you just stepped on me”.
On our last evening we get the instruments out.
Jasper hasn’t played trumpet for quite some time and we figure this is a good place for some practice. It is lovely and cool, to the point that we need extra clothes and we enjoy sitting outside talking to Tashi’s nephews who are visiting. Before long they have taken hold of my guitar and are playing Guns-n-Roses and I’m giving an impromptu guitar lesson. Jasper is still playing something completely different, over and over. Curious onlookers are poking their heads over the fence.
Our last morning is cloudy and we feel fortunate to have seen the mountains yesterday.
We say goodbye to Tashi and Yonden and our little room and head off in the car with Binud for another day of thrills and spills on the road on the way South to Lumbini.
0 Comments