Pokhara – Where we are

20. – 25 March 2023

 

 

In Pokhara I stayed few days for relaxing, blog-writing and see how to proceed. Actually, I had already experienced quite a lot on this trip and it felt good to let it sink in a bit. It was warm, the air was OK, people were there (first Verena + Michi and then I also met Katie again) and I did a little something too. But it is quite crowded for tourists. The lakeside road was well over 1 km long and was lined with shops, accommodation, restaurants, agencies, spas and other things.

 

 

The Phewa-Lake was always nice to look at.

 

 

 

 

 

And the one late afternoon there was a great light

 

 

 

In the evening at the latest, there were always thunderstorms with rain, once even early in the afternoon. Mountains could only be seen early in the morning, then it became dizzy again immediately.

 

 

There was also a museum for the mountains, the International Mountaineering Museum. I went there on foot to see how people live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The museum was fun because it was quite outdated. There was a film from the 80s, but after 5 minutes there was a power cut and you had to wait in the dark until it came back on. There were puppets in their traditional clothes from different mountain regions of the world (from Europe only Slovenia) and all the mountain tribes from Nepal. There were comparative photos from earlier times on certain themes from the Himalayas <-> Alps. There were lists of who climbed which 8,000-metre peak and when, with which records, and so on. – Annapurna I, the first 8,000-metre peak climbed in 1950 by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, was particularly highlighted. However, they didn’t fare so well, they suffered bad frostbite and had to have some parts amputated afterwards. It is surprising that others were eager to continue climbing the very high mountains. There was also early equipment to see – and then I wonder why they didn’t get even more frostbitten and hurt. There was also something about geology and climate and other changes. But everything was not so well maintained and updated.

 

 

 

Then a friend recommended Disneyland to me. It was special. And also especially empty. Only the boat swing was used once and the bumper cars. The music blared animatingly from the loudspeakers, but hardly any people were attracted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next door or adjacent to it was a roller skating rink. A few people went around in circles there and often plopped down.

 

 

Next door, young ladies were having bubble tea and I thought: when, if not now! I had never tried bubble tea in my life. It was too expensive for me in Germany at the time. But here it was affordable. I bought it, drank it – and my curiosity was satisfied. I don’t like it.

 

 

And while we’re on the subject of strange things, who thought up the idea of rebuilding a windmill and putting a statue of Buddha in it?

 

 

What I don’t have any pictures of: there is an institution here called “Seeing Hands”. They taught massage to blind people and offered it here. So I went there curiously and again had the problem of expectations (they can surely feel the parts of me to be worked on very sensitively), which were disappointed (only a programme was worked through automatically). The massager yawned profusely 2-3 times and even let out a big fart. I giggled and was glad that it wasn’t super expensive.

 

Soundtrack for this Post: “Where we are” by The Lumineers. Sometimes I wondered where I was and what I was doing here.

 

On the last evening, however, I had a very nice time at the Aarti on the lakeshore. As in India, rituals are performed by priests at the water’s edge. What was different from e.g. Varanasi and Rishikesh: there was also dancing! And a nice Nepalese woman took care of me. She works at a German Bakery and likes to go here in the evenings. And when it was done, she grabbed me firmly by the hand and arranged for me to be fanned by the fire on my face and then blessed by the priest. It was quite a rush there, but she manoeuvred me unerringly towards both. After that she was satisfied and I was allowed to go on my way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then it was time to move elsewhere…..