Sunday morning from Chitwan we took the local bus to Pokhara, where we will be settled for a couple of weeks. We passed the marijuan* fields and the elephant dung paper shop (should have written my resignation letter on that!). The bus was cheaper than the 'tourist' one with better suspension, a willingness to pile as many on as possible and the same problems with the radiator. When the bus broke down they filled it with over 10 litres of water before we were on our way again. As you will see from the photos our new hotel in Pokhara is great, little courtyard to have breakfast, rooftop terrace with views of the Himalayas and now Paul has put his great negotiation skills into effect and got us a really cheap mountain view room (around £11 per night). We have hot water too! Pokhara is probably the most commercialised place in Nepal, there are many pizza places, German bakeries and bars along the main strip, prices are also hiked up to twice those in Kathmandu. Pokhara is a resort in northern Nepal set on a lake overlooked by forest clad hills and with the distant Himalayas appearing and disappearing behind the clouds. Pokhara is used as a base camp for those undertaking the Annapurna circuit - 16 days of trekking. Everest is unfortunately not visible, the centrepiece of the skyline is Machhapuchhre or 'Fishtail' mountain. We got settled in on Sunday and walked along the main strip, on Monday I was feeling a bit rough trying to shake off my Kathmandu Kold and Kough so we decided to take it easy and just explore the lakeside. We walked about 2kms when we came to the path up to Sarangkot - hilltop launchpad for paragliding and microlites and a popular place to catch the sunrise over the Himalayas. We were not sure how far up it was, but we thought we would start up. The path was stone cobbled and soon became very steep. We passed through little hamlets, wandered by goat herds and were occasionally redirected to the correct path by villagers. Despite my idea to take it easy, once we started we were loathe to turn round and return...but it just got steeper and the paragliders looked so far away. No water with us and no shops, of course, dogged determination spurred us on. We met a group of people from Thailand on the way up who told us - 45 mins into our climb - that they had been descending for about an hour ...eek... well we had come this far. Three hours from our hotel, a four km climb ascending 800ms, with thighs burning and hearts pounding we reached the hilltop view restaurant. Rather than presenting us with medals, they charged us an entrance fee to the very top...ah well. A couple of minutes later we met a Canadian couple at the top who had got a taxi part the way up. We sat chatting with them and before you know it Paul was networking and we took a taxi down with Muhsin and Masuma to have lunch at their hotel. Tuesday, I had a stomach upset to add to my growing list of complaints, so I stayed at the hotel whilst Paul had a walk round the older areas of Pokhara. Wednesday we ventured to Devi's Falls, only a 2km walk passing what appears to be the remnants of a Tibetan refugee camp. The falls themselves are very polluted, they appear to fall into a bottomless sinkhole. A nearby cave (pictured) enables you to get a view of the falls from below. We have booked and extra 10 days or so at the hotel so we have plans to boat on the lake, do a couple of treks and also head out to another quieter lake...