Was up at 5:45 to meet Shaun and Steph to go up to Sarangkot (2000 metre hill near Pokhara) to see the Annapurna range before the clouds and haze come in. That's the idea anyway. We got a taxi to the top, and caught glimpses of a few peaks from the taxi ride, but by the time we got to the top (taxi plus a 20-30 minute hike), clouds/haze obscured everything. We stayed at the top for a bit, but hiked all the way back down to the townsite (long way!) When we got back, we stopped at a restaurant for breakfast, then back to my room about 11:00am. I had to shower, I was dripping in sweat.
Pokhara is nice, but I probably won't hang around for too long. There's nothing here to keep my interest. The waterfall is dried up, the bat cave sucks (so I've been told from Shaun and Steph) and the views are obscured, and there's really not too many people here.
I used the internet and tried my Mastercard at a bank machine...it worked fine. Potential disaster averted!
About 1:30, Wayne and I walked up to the World Peace Pagoda, atop a big hill on the other side of the lake. We walked around the near end of the lake then up the hill to get there, and it was tough going! We missed a turn, and ended up making our own trails for a lot of the way, before we finally found the real trail. The pagoda is very nice, huge, erected in 2001. As you can find anywhere, there are a few canteens up there, so we stayed and had a drink and talked to a couple of old locals who live up on the hill. They grow marijuana (among other things), and they were trying to offer some to us. As we were talking, we looked north and lo-and-behold...snow covered peaks were starting to emerge from the clouds! Slowly, the clouds were blowing off, revealing a number of peaks, and some fairly impressive views. The haze in the air still didn't give amazing views, but still, it was nice. I think I got some good pics, but the camera didn't seem to be able to pick up the faint colour variations really good...I guess I'll see when I get them back to my computer. Also, it was late in the day, so the sun wasn't in a good position to show much.
Instead of hiking all the way back down and around the lake, Wayne and I decided to hike right down the lake and take a boat back across the lake to Pokhara.
Another guy, Simon, from Switzerland, showed up, sweat beads on his forehead. He was the spitting image of Darren. As he approached, I would've swore it was my little brother. Same hair (colour/style), same nose, eyes, glasses (!), he moved the same, same facial expressions, same lips...same everything. It was bizarre. We invited him to come back down with us and share the cost of the boat...so he popped over the pagoda for 10 minutes or so, then came back and we all headed down. My feet felt like they were going to fall off, after all the hiking today. I don't know why this was so different then any of the treks I've done, but my legs and feet were tired to the bone, and my left knee was back to it's old tricks...much paining on the way down.
It was a quick jaunt down, and we got a paddle boat (170 rupees, with three paddlers...only two at a time) on this little wooden boat. Simon was hanging on pretty good, I think he thought the thing would tip over.
Wayne, Simon and me went to a restaurant showing "7 Years In Tibet" for supper at 7:00. Excellent movie. I'd never seen it. Simon left midway through (after eating) because he's in the process of reading that same book right now. I thought it was a movie about an American going to Tibet and becoming "enlightened" and turning to Buddhism...I had no idea it was the story of Tibet (and the Chinese occupation after WWII).
After supper/movie, we went to see if we could find Shaun and Steph, but they were not to be found, so we went back to the hotel and to bed about 9:45.
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