We couldn't understand why the bus blokes were getting so upset with us. We had arrived with 15 minutes to spare after all and it was at only 0600 that the bloody bus was leaving! After much shouting and swearing at each other, we had our bags tied on the roof (AGAIN! - Will this ever end?) and we sped off down the road for about 15km to the next bus station. For breakfast. I kid you not, we applied the old military thinking of HURRY UP and wait! We left our point of origin at 0601 and arrived at breakfast bus station at 0610! Oh, by the way, we were only scheduled to leave at 0700 anyway! Four five six! Why all the angst before we left! This is Nepal after all! Maybe it is because the bus station is only a scant 4km from the Indian border and this proximity means that logic and common sense are not able to be applied. Since the bus conductor and his mate did not display any remarkable intellect, I think this may have led to a break down in common sense application! We had been in peaceful Nepal for less than 12hours and we almost had our first serious fisticuffs with the locals! How ironic after six weeks avoiding the same in India! Welcome to Nepal.....I can't wait!There are two roads into Pokhara, Nepal's second biggest city, cunningly named "Long" and "short". The difference being about 40km and since we have spent many days on Indian buses through the mountains, 40km translates into about 3extra hours on the road!"Two tickets for the short road please, Mr ticket-seller!" After all 165km couldn't take more than 6hrs, could it? But it took us a leisurely 9hrs, on the short road mind you, to travel from the border to Pokhara! Even though there was a marked difference between the landscape here from India, we were more interested in getting into Pokhara for some three days R&R! When six hours came and went, and we were nowhere near Pokhara, we knew that we were in for an extremely long haul! After all that stop-starting to pick up and drop off, I was reminded of why I am highly allergic to bus journeys. As it is pretty contagious, Ing has it now too! A memento for the future then!But once we had installed ourselves in a resto on the main street and started taking in the atmosphere of Pokhara, we knew that the 9hr, 165km journey was worth it! Pokhara is nestle deep with the foothills of the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas and is sublime in its beauty. High above the city, the holy mountain, nicknamed Fishtail looms at a paltry 6700m! While further behind are the impressible Annapurna peaks all towering over Fishtail at 7500 - 8000m! With their permanent snow tops, their reflections in the Fewa Lake that Pokhara sits next to are outstanding in their beauty. The still waters of the lake are a perfect canvas in which the surrounding hills and floating clouds and high mountains are forever painted!Since Pokhara is the jump-off point for most of the western side of Nepal's trek it is undeniably touristy in its offerings, but after India we were absolutely fine with that! It felt like bliss to just take a load off and enjoy a place without feeling like aliens from a galaxy far far away! And the Nepalese and the refugee Tibetans are an incredibly friendly lot with an almost constant twinkle of humour in their eye! Ahhh.....it felt pretty good to be here!Since Uganda and our stint of volunteering there, we had made plans with our great friend Jacci, to make an effort to meet up in Nepal while we both happened to be in the country. After not inconsiderable effort and emailing on both our parts, it turned out, through almost divine intervention, that Jacci and her friend Susie would be in town! What a bonus. Added to that it was Jacci's birthday and we had planned to hook up with her and Susie to celebrate! Nepal was just getting better and better!Disclaimer - did you know that Nepal is the only country that puts it clocks forward by only 15 minutes? No? Well, you are not only ones. We had no idea either.