Hi there, because we are doing so much at the moment we have loaded three new blog posts and about 5 new photo albums recently. We will revert to a weekly Thursday blog shortly. TO ACCESS BLOG POSTS CLICK ON POKHARA AND SELECT THE DATE, TO ACCESS PHOTO ALBUMS CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TAB. This blog rounds up our stay in Pokhara before we move on to our next destination in Nepal - Nagarkot. Nagarkot is a hill top resort east of Kathmandu boasting views of the Mount Everest side of the Himalayas, although the weather forecast is for showers/thunderstorms - bummer! Last Thursday was spent blogging and chillaxing before our highest climb yet on Friday. Friday we set off on an early local bus to Phedi (1100m above sea level) north of Pokhara and closer to the Annapurna. The bus journey was dramatic as a young guy decided to wipe the dusty back seat with one of the head rest covers and prompted the bus driver to lose it, storm to the back of the bus and whack him across the face with it. Apart from the bus getting very packed the rest of the journey was uneventful. We arrived at Phedi - a few guest houses and homes - the start of a short trek to Dhampus. The path up to Dhampus (at 1695m) our destination was a series of steep and high steps (some were 12-18 inches high). The climb up this steep path took us an hour and 45 minutes. We felt pretty good passing a tour guide with two young Japanese girls - our fitness levels were improving. Albeit we were bright red, sweating profusely and breathing heavily! At the top was a small village with a few guesthouses/restaurants and a viewing point. Paul headed straight to the view point without stopping to catch his breath. We have done a short video at the view point - click on the video tab. We took lunch - the most delicious veg Mo Mos yet and some veg fried rice (we are purely vegetarian now). With calories replenished we returned down the knee burning path to the bus for another tightly squeezed ride home.
Saturday was a day spent mainly eating - apple pie at the german bakery and veg curries, Paul even had a pizza! Sunday took us on another uphill walk this one through old Pokhara following the Seti river gorge north towards the mountains. This walk was a gentle uphill but was about 11kms, we went past the Bat's Cave and Mahendra Cave, deciding to give them a miss, the idea of the smell of bat urine and a rabies risk put us off. We climbed a steep hill to get a view of the mountains and the valley/river gorge.
Monday's highlight was an ultralite flight for Paul - an Ultralite is essentially a bathtub attached to a hang glider with an engine. Early start, 6:30 taxi (well it didn't turn up, but we got another one) to the airport. A bit now from Paul.... I arrived at Pokhara International Airport (Cow-shed!) and rushed through 'security' to a .. yes Cow-Shed with a variety of aircraft (bathtubs with engines..) outside. I was safety briefed - ie. keep helmet on and seat belt fastened - then was rapidly 'suited-up' by two locals with gloves/helmet/jacket/pants. Then invited to climb into the bath... er. plane. I was sat tightly behind Alex the Russian pilot who meticulously checked sat-nav, radio etc. and we set off towards the runway. We bumped across as Alex used the single 'bar' to accellerate the craft. As we hit the runway it was squeaky-bum time. Alex pushed the bar forward and we raced to take-off.. and we did - VERY quickly. The little tub screamed mercilessly and I felt the cooler air hit my face (as I raised my visor for photos). It was still showing 12.3 deg which was warm enough for me. Then we rose higher and circuited the Stupa and Fewa lake - affording great views of The Annapurnas which (as Anderson luck would have it) were completely cloud-less for the 1st time here. I snapped away like a madman (see photos!) capturing all kinds of new angles, impervious to the chill. We rose towards the mountains after the Pokhara circuit and I got some fabulous shots of Annapurna anew with the morning (07:10) sun glinting across its part-snow laden peaks and valleys. It was exciting and daunting when we were hit by cool and strong Westerlies which caused Alex to wrestle with the steering and accellerator bar. It was a quick 30mins but so awesome as I reached heights of over 2015m (over 6500 feet). Seeing the whole valley, Pokhara, the Lake and forests dwarfed by the Annapurnas put Nepal into perspective. Alex turned the tub into the bright orange morning sun and we headed down to the landing strip, with the engine still noisily humming behind us. We landed as smooth as silk, Alex directed us back to the shed. A quick handshake and de-brief (attempt to sell me some photos and video) and I was off with my offical flight certificate!... a very pleasant pre-breakfast flight! Tuesday will be the tourist bus and a 6 hour journey to Kathmandu, followed by another bus journey or two to Nagarkot.