Pokin around in Pokhara
Getting used to the included breakfast and the wait staff taking care of everything possible. Breakfast is starting to look like 2 veggie omelets (both for me), toast with butter and jelly (bread’s a little dry here), chicken sausage, some form of potatoes, fresh fruit, and a spot of tea. I’ve switched to tea since there is no decaf coffee here and tea has less caffeine.
Today’s events are to finish our arrangements for travel to Ghandruk tomorrow morning at 10:30am, repack our luggage so we can leave one bag here at Bar Peepal for our return, and take a quick tour of the local waterfall area and cave. Should be a full day so a hearty breakfast is just the way to start.
The trip tomorrow is to the Annapurna Massif so we needed to buy a trekking pass. Yes, Collette and I are actually going to ”trek” in Ghandruk. Probably not the 5 day hike to the Annapurna Base Camp, but we’ll be in the Himalayas. The altitude is only 6,365’ so no need for oxygen or altitude pills. (maybe)
The hotel arranged for our ride, a Jeep, to take us to Ghandruk. The one-way adventure takes about 2-3hrs depending on current road conditions and if there are any breakdowns along the way. One disabled vehicle and the trip can take much longer, some have said as much as 8-9 hours! Once there, it is a 45-minute hike to the hotel, no roads!
Our hotel in Ghandruk is the Hill Top Lodge, came highly recommended, and cost about ~$30/day including breakfast. No 5-star hotels or restaurants in this town, just good ole honest lodging and plenty of hot food.
But the views are supposed to be to die for! Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world, 26,545’. The range has Annapurna at 8,000 meters, 13 peaks over 7,000 meters and 16 peaks over 6,000 meters. And we’re so proud of our 14’ers!
Annapurna massif
That’s tomorrow, today we’re off to the world famous Pokhara Devis Waterfall, named so after the British woman who drowned there taking a bath in the river. The hotel provided our ride down the hill, we’ll taxi back. Takes about 15 minutes to get there and surprise, it’s right in the middle of town. There’s a small sign above a market area that has directions to the waterfall. You just have to wander through stalls of genuine Chinese trinkets, find the toll booth and pay the foreigner fee of 150 rupees (about $1), then hike down to the gorge. Well, there is a waterfall, not sure it was worth a dollar but since we’re here, let’s take some photos.
Davies Waterfall
Of course, Buddha.
OK, been here, done that. Next on the list is the cave. Located just across the street from the waterfall and through another bazaar selling even more Chinese trinkets, is the world famous Pokhara Gupteshwor Mahadev cave. Cost for foreigners for this one is even better, 100 rupees each, or about .72USD, a bargain! Unfortunately there was a sign at the entrance that prohibited photos so we don’t have anything to show for our .72 investment but I can tell you this, there is a low ceiling in the cave; goes down maybe 20-30 feet, levels off and has a small room (very hot and humid) that has a large ceramic cow that has a milky liquid flowing from an utter that people in front of us were worshiping and spraying on their faces. We passed on taking part of the celebration.
Cave entrance – pretty cool.
The Cow (compliments of the internet)
We ended our cave spelunking here but had we continued there is a passage at the bottom of the cave, about 40 feet further down, the connects to the river from the waterfall. I think after the animal celebration we had seen enough. Time to find a taxi back to the resort and document this experience before I forget something.
The cave (compliments of the internet)
Till tomorrow and our great road adventure…