After the stresses of Everest and the madness of Thamel, we decided to bus it to the relative calm of lakeside Pokhara. It has changed dramatically over the 14 years since my first trip there. The lakeside has ballooned and there isn't quite the sleepy feel in the evenings as there once was. Nevertheless, a lovely place to unwind. We hired a boat with Max on one day and bumped into some lovely people who had recently returned from a yoga/meditation retreat on the hillside overlooking Lake Pokhara, so we booked in! A lovely fella called Charlie said he'd join us (as Max was leaving us!).
A short cab ride around the fringes of the lake and a hill climb later (Charlie was puffing and blowing a bit) - we were there.
We spent the first few days doing meditation, yoga (twice a day), karmic yoga (helping out), nasal cleansing (with salt water), optional steam or mud bath and morning walk. We did the first few days eating organic curries, then onto an apple diet for 2 days and a day of fasting (bar a honey and lemon drink & herbal tea). The penultimate day was 'gastric cleanse day.' We had to drink mugs of warm salty water, 2 at a time, carrying out exercises in between to clear out our bowels. Being a scientist, I was more than slightly skeptical about the theory behind this! Notwithstanding, the amount of debris which came through my tubes even hours after my drinking cessated was considerable! I really was full of xxxx after all! Gen found the downing of the salt water much easier than did I - adding a few squeezes of lime to aid its passage!
Charlie cheated I think! Lovely Laura from Holland did the most toilet runs I think!
Seriously though. We all felt much better for it afterwards. I recommend it. Our post-starvation meal of mung beans, daal and puréed veg, mixed with a dollop of ghee didn't satisfy our hunger, so we went against advice and had some veggie curry...and the bowels worked fine. Phew!