Pokhara and Surrounds

Pokhara is a launching point for many treks in the Annapurna region, and sits on the beautiful Phewa Tul, with scenic himalayan views on good weather days. I've been a number of times.  We spent a lot of time floating about on the lake, watching the locals and tourists alike paddling to the temple on the lake, a popular local picnic spot but also we visiting the Mahadevi Cave and Devi's Falls.  Pokhara is an amazing place to recover from the ailments of a trek with good coffee, cafes, French and German bakeries, Italian restaurants offering western comforts but more importantly, dozens of small hole-in-the-wall Nepali food caf-au-rants and plenty of "happy hour" deals such as beer with a FREE(!) side of popcorn - but to quote Krishna "I like popcorn, and beer is OK too, but beer and popcorn does not work".

Phewa Tul at dusk

School kids on a bus

Staying in Pokhara

Although we originally planned to stay at the Buddhist Meditation Centre that offered cheap rooms away from the hustle and bustle of the touristy Lakeside, we found the offering at Karma Guest House too good to refuse.  With access to the lake, nearby bikes (more on that later), food, actually functioning hot water, a variety of rooms, and a cheap rate, it was a bit too convenient to say no.  They also operate a travel agent/trekking guide service from the hostel that could easily organise your activities in the region.

Rowing around the lake

Eating in Pokhara

Our favourite "local" place was "Tara's Vegetarian Cafe" open all day from breakfast to dinner, we strongly recommend to anyone wanting a good meal but sick of paying add-on tourist taxes. Tara's was tucked away behind a Tibetan giftshop and a massage place at the southern end of the lake as Lakeside Drive starts to turn east.  While she still offers western-style food, she has some different Nepali dishes with a determined vegetarian focus.  We ate here a number of times, and she was so determined to have our return business that she even offered to take our orders for breakfast, promising to have it ready for us at 6am the next morning, early enough for us to arrive, eat and get to our bus in time.  At the dinner we had with her, we talked about the difficulties of running a small restaurant without power most of the time, and how to compete with the big players who all have generators and inverters.  To top it off, she has playing cards and English books (including a Nepali guide book).

Touristing in Pokhara

Devi's Falls is so named for a tourist by the last name Davis, who in the 60's, while relaxing in the natural pools of the falls was sucked down, dropping at least thirty feet through rough water that flows underground and ultimately into / through the Mahadevi Cave.



Devi's Falls



Kat and Krisha at the falls 

Mahadevi cave itself has become a religious site (hence the name) that houses a temple as well as a grand view of the pounding base of Devi's Falls.  The architecture on the way in probably has more appealing than the dank, dark cave, but I still recommend going in for the view at the end, or to perform puma if you are Hindu.

Entrance to Mahadevi Cave



Lord Vishnu

The base of Devi's Falls from within Mahadevi Cave

Determined to see a grand sunset in each country, we ventured to Sarangkot.  Sarangkot is a ridge sitting above Phewa Tul and Pokhara with views in all directions.  We took a cab as far as he would go up the hill, a drive that just seemed to keep going.  When we felt certain there was no mountain left, he told us to hop out and walk for another 30 minutes to reach the top!  On good days, the Annapurnas float above you like waves crashing on the ranges below with Mt Machapucharre rising high and the sun glowing in the west.  On the day we went, the sun peeked out of the clouds for a minute before disappearing again but we enjoyed the serenity of being away from the blaring horns and enjoyed a cup of tea with 2 dogs who had taken us under their protection for most of our walk. Kat wondered aloud why this happened so regularly.  During our Poon Hill trek, dogs would awaken from their sun-bathing slumber, to trot up and down giant steps with us for one or two kilometres. Initially, I thought it was because they wanted to see us off their territory, but they were far too friendly for that.  It was only sitting there, sipping tea and munching on snacks as the sun set (probably) behind a cloud, that I considered the snack in my hand and its strong aroma.  Beef jerkey.  A terribly inappropriate snack for a trek in Nepal, but there you have it - I'm culturally insensitive at the best of times.  These puppies wanted us for our snacks, not our company.

One of our hiking friends: Rangkot

The Great Dérailleur Incident of 2015

Cue DOLPHIN SANDS ROAD! moment *shakes fist*

While in Pokhara, we took the opportunity to rent some "mountain bikes" to go for a ride, as far around the lake as possible.  This was a nice and relatively peaceful way to see the lake for an hour or so.  Unfortunately, on account of the utter and complete failure of the rear dérailleur to stay attached to the bike, this led to a rather prolonged and angry dispute with the young sahuji (and all his supportive friends).  They "respectfully" (their words, not mine) asked for me to make a contribution for repair of the bike.

Now, I cannot 100% rule out the fact that I somehow contributed to this rather disastrous (for the bike anyway) outcome.  I have actually had this problem on my own bike before....twice.  One might suggest, that as the common denominator in 3 incidents of rear dérailleur destruction, I actually did cause the dérailleur to get hung up in the back spokes and rip itself to pieces.  However, with this wealth of experience, it also means that I am (now) quite knowledgeable about what might cause a dérailleur to fail in the first place.  In the case of my own bike in Australia, it was the really the result of an excessive amount of force being applied to the bike in a way it is not designed to experience, namely, falling off the back of my car while flying down the highway.  This on its own did not cause the dérailleur to fail, but it certainly weakened the hanger, which eventually gave out.  The second time that it happened (again, to the same bike) could probably be explained by the fact that A) I fixed it and B) a rogue plastic bag wrapped itself between the dérailleur, the chain and my spokes while all of them were in the process of going round and round.  So in summary, I have seen what happens when the chain and dérailleur are out of synch and have a general idea what can cause it to fail, explode, and warp.

So imagine my surprise, when this Nepali dérailleur should fail exhibiting all of the same symptoms of a bike that had received massive and excessive trauma of bouncing down a highway after only an hour's ride on a bumpy road.

Mistakenly thinking that the failure of the bike we had borrowed for the day might be compensated for by a rental discount, we found on our return (that involved a great deal of walking and a negotiation with a taxi driver to actually get us back to where we started) ourselves discussing the ins and outs of customer service and expectations of a reputable business.  In case it is not clear, from my perspective: that would be not blaming the customer for a hardware failure that could only be caused by severe and repeated abuse.

Well, I'll save you all the blow by blow, but it seemed pretty obvious to me that the bike and others on display had had a deal of work already done on them.  Its likely that this problem has happened a number of times before with these bikes and been repaired - which just makes it likely to happen again.  Although none of the crowd "would suggest" that I'd intentionally thrown the bike on the ground and then stomped on it with a boulder borne of the great Saggarmartha itself, apparently I couldn't expect them to believe that this just "happened".  Trying to convey these complex arguments in my broken Nepali and their broken English was just another aggravating twist to the experience.

No one expects a dodgy side of the road place to provide a top quality bike, but I certainly felt that its their responsibility to fix and maintain bikes, because sometimes, they break down.  If you are in the business of renting a bike, it needs to work.  If you are in a bus and the carburetor fails, the passenger on the bus doesn't pay to fix it.  Therein lies the problem, it was always going to be a case of he said-she said.  A smarter person would not find themselves in this situation, a dumber would end it with fisticuffs.  Ultimately, I handed over a small but still annoying amount and left in a bit of a rage, that still flares when I think about it.

Tips for Pokhara

• Try to get out of Lakeside, even if just for a little bit.  For alternative places, climb to the stupa, visit Damside, the temple at the south of the lake or just catch a taxi to the middle of town and try to get back to your accommodation by local bus.
• Bike hire - if anything I can serve as an example to others to remember what you're getting into by borrowing from a small side-of-the-road provider.  Make sure you have a good discussion about terms prior to cycling off to the horizon hoping all will be well (and most times, it probably is):
• What happens if the bike breaks down?
• Discuss a deposit up front and make it reasonable for both parties.
• All care but no responsibility (good luck translating that)
• Accommodation
• Don't book online, you will pay inherent tourist tax. 
• Pokhara, and Lakeside specifically is undergoing a building boom.  Unless in super busy tourist season, show up in person and negotiate like the next place will give you a cheaper room, because they will!
• Hotel = $$$.  Guest house/lodge = $.  And as far as I can tell they offer you exactly the same thing, except you might even get to know the family running a guest house.

Costs (for the things worth talking about) - per person:

• Karma Guest House - 600NPR/night (bottom floor) - 800 NPR/night (top floor)
• Bike Hire - 500NPR/day or 150NPR/hour, 500NPR = idiot tax.
• Taxi to Sarangkot return - approx 1500-1800NPR (you have to negotiate hard)
• Bus from KTM-Pokhara - 1000NPR (if you are willing to negotiate, otherwise you can pay anything from 1500 to 3500NPR)
• Mahadevi/Devi's Falls - ~30NPR - not enough to make you disappointed when you see them