Pokhara: week four - Pokhara, Nepal
Pokhara, Nepal
Perhaps predictably, by the beginning of our fourth week in Pokhara we still had a number of the city's tourist attractions to visit. Our last week therefore revolved around ticking our final few things off of the list, and spending as much time with the children as possible. After another quiet Sunday morning at the home and the discovery of a dire weather forecast for the following days, we decided to make Sunday our big Tourist Day Out. As we meandered down the hill, negotiating the now familiar piles of gravel and dirt, we wondered whether we'd made the right decision; we were sweltering in the heat and it was only 11am. Reminding ourselves of the stormy dark cloud drawings and thundery forecast however, and reaching a 'now or never' conclusion, we resolved to carry on and headed to the boat jetty. From here, we hired our own boat complete with boatman to take us to the opposite bank for Rs 375. Fewa Lake is beautiful, even when only reflecting the clouds obscuring the mountains, and we enjoyed taking in the scenery as our boatman paddled us across. On this particular day the water was quite inviting, but tempting as it was to ask our boatman to pause so we could have a swim, we continued our leisurely journey to Anadu on the forested bank. Boat trip on Fewa Lake? Tick. Pulling confused faces when our boatman made tip-like noises (tickets? Oh yes we've got them, thanks) we set off up the stone steps towards the World Peace Pagoda. Set on the top of a ridge, visible above the tree line at an elevation of 1113m, the Pagoda can be seen from a number of places in Pokhara. Built with funding from the Japanese Buddhist organisation, the pagoda stands at 40m tall. Climbing the steps was hard work in the heat, and Dave soon found himself as drenched, if not more so than when we climbed the 3300 stone steps when trekking. We paused a few times primarily to get some respite in the shade but also to admire the view of the lake which was becoming better and better as we ascended. One can only imagine how stunning it would have been were it possible to see the Himalayas behind the hills. When we finally reached the top we climbed the steps of the stupa and immediately sought shade, joining several other tourists, some of whom were enjoying a chat over a picnic, blatantly ignoring signs requesting silence and forbidding the consumption of food. We walked around the imposing structure, admiring golden Buddhas in several different poses before deciding a rest with a cool beverage was in order. Hike to World Peace Pagoda? Tick. We made our way to Elite Cafe, and rewarded ourselves with some cold drinks and a plate of veg momos while sat at a table overlooking the lake. After a useful conversation with the cafe owner who pointed us in the direction of Devi's Falls and Gupteshwor Mahdev Gupa, the next stops on our list, we departed. The route back down to lake level was far less picturesque than the walk up, with the only noteworthy scenery a party of goats being herded up the hill and small groups of Nepalis congregated around taps with seemingly nothing to do other than while away hours looking at the running water. We eventually arrived at the Gupteshwor Mahdev Gupa. Making our way down a spiral staircase, under tarpaulin sheets and past working sculptors we found ourselves in damp, dark and slightly slippery caves. We made an accidental detour past a plastic cow, managing to avoid giving the mandatory Rs 10 offering, citing our touristic ineptitude. Discouraged from getting any closer to a shrine-like cage by the ticket man who told us we'd need to remove our shoes and walk on the soaking wet floor, we made our way through a small tunnel (so small that even Jenna had to duck quite considerably) to find ourselves in a cave behind Devi's Falls. The experience was quite surreal; the noise was thunderous, and the waterfall just visible between two sections of rock. Being able to feel the spray made you appreciate quite how close you were to the waterfall, although once inside the cave the water immediately became calm, forming a pool before running through another tunnel and disappearing into another cave. After spending a while trying (unsuccessfully) to capture the experience with a photograph, we went in search of the other cave, said to house a shrine dedicated to Shankhar, who incorporates both Lord Shiva and his consort Parbiti as male and female halves of one figure. However, there were no other caves. Eventually, we realised that the shrine-like cage we'd dismissed earlier as insignificant actually housed the natural rock; it was decorated so extravagantly with amongst other things a carved Naga (snake crown), that we hadn't seen it. After a quick look, we made our way back into the sunlight and towards Devi's Falls. Gupteshwor Mahdev Gupa? Tick. Known locally as Patale Chhango, the origin of the name 'Devi's Falls' is unclear. While in Pokhara we heard several different stories but perhaps the most believable is that involving a Swiss Tourist falling in and being swept away whose surname was Devlin. Less believable is the story which says a guy called David was swept in, and the name has evolved from that. With the most natural Nepalification of David being Rabbit, this seems unlikely. The falls mark the spot where the Pardi Khola, the stream which drains Fewa Lake, enters a channel and sinks underground. The site is a huge tourist attraction, although seemingly not as much for Europeans as Indians. We thought we'd left the Indian Paparazzi well and truly behind, but at Devi's Falls they were out again in force, pointing cameras in our direction, moving to pose for photos with us in the background, and the most brazen (some would argue polite) even asked us to pose with them. We declined, thinking we're probably on enough Indian mantelpieces already and feeling a bit too hot to pose for photographs, even if it would apparently make God happy. After standing just above where we'd been not half an hour previously, and having a look at the waterfall disappearing underground, we made our way out onto the main road. Devi's Falls? Tick. Although the clouds had started to gather, we decided to risk a walk back to the children's home. After a quick pit stop to shower we arrived at 6pm to find a very quiet house. Milan was out with Nabine and Sagar, and the children seemed to be enjoying a bit of downtime after the previous evening's activities. We were more than happy to embrace this philosophy for the evening and spent most of the time quietly reading in the study room with some of the girls. Monday was a far less eventful day. The morning was reasonably normal, apart from the distinct absence of Milan, Sagar and Nabine. Despite directing numerous questions at both Sita and Mausami, we failed to get a straight answer about where they were and why Sagar wasn't on the bus to school. Following a bit of cleaning and some dal bhat we then spent the day reading, blogging and recovering from our exertions the previous day. Although the clouds kept threatening, despite predictions, rain showers were few and far between. That evening, we decided to take the string we'd purchased at the new bazaar round to the children's home so they could make bracelets. The evening wasn't quite as relaxed as we'd hoped however, since the children were all fired up about their impending end-of-term examinations, and anxious to do as much rote learning as possible. We therefore spent most of the evening being requested to 'ask me, yes?' Which roughly translates to 'please could you check I can recite this textbook off by heart?' Fortunately for our sanity, the girls did show a bit of interest in the string we'd purchased for them, and spent some of their time cutting lengths of thread and beginning the construction of some rather complicated looking bracelets. During the evening we also managed to solve the mystery of the missing boys; Milan had taken them to a family party in the village along with Tikka and Yougesh, which was apparently of enough significance for Sagar and Yougesh to miss school. After dal bhat we decided to head down to the hippy side of lakeside with Mim, Shannee and Claudia in order to prevent cabin fever setting in and to experience a new area of Lakeside. We made our way down a distinctly less frantic road/track to Freedom Bar and enjoyed a very chilled hour lounging on cushions only a couple of meters from the shore of the lake. We were joined by pretend-hippy Ivan, another volunteer working in a school, who was happy to regail us with tales of his rather privileged upbringing and made it quite clear he didn't normally dress quite so casually (documenting his claims with Facebook photo evidence!). Although evidently on another planet to us, he seemed a decent enough chap and was interested in our travelling story too. Less could be said for Libby/Livvy, an American who joined us after an hour, and totally shattered the calm we'd enjoyed. After an excruciating half an hour, we made eye contact over our lemonanas (mint and home-made lemonade) and decided it was time to leave. Wednesday again dawned reasonably fine, and we began to wonder whether we'd needed to have quite such a hectic day on Monday. Nevertheless, fine weather gave us an opportunity to do some washing in preparation for leaving, so after another routine morning at the home we went through the rigmarole of what we hope will be our last handwash-everything-in-a-tiny-bucket-wi th-cold-water-session for a while. With everything hung on the roof as far away from the building work next door as possible, we made our way into town. Pokhara is full of quaint little art shops where artists can be found at many times of the day working on their latest masterpiece, often featuring some of the mountains surrounding the city. Although we're budget travellers, we're also keen to collect mementos and unique items from our travels, and a painting seemed to fit the bill. After browsing throughout our time in Pokhara, we'd settled on an acrylic painting featuring the view from the pass at Ghorepani and wanted to make our purchase. Pleasingly for us, since its off season, the owner of the shop seemed keen to make a sale and we settled on an agreed price of Rs 3750, down from his original Rs 5000. Furthermore, the seller also turned out to be the artist, and he was happy to sign the painting in our presence. As we exited the shop, the heavens opened, so we took the opportunity to visit Moondance, a restaurant which had come highly recommended by both the Lonely Planet and Anju. Here we enjoyed a leisurely couple of hours, sampling both their BLT and lemon meringue pie, which thoroughly deserve their recommendations. The bacon turned out to be actual bacon, and the pie was perfect. Lemon meringue pie in Moondance? Tick. That evening, Dave attempted to remain sane while again responding to 'you ask me, yes?' requests, while Jenna joined the other female volunteers in the kitchen for a dal bhat lesson from Sita and Mausami. Her Nepali housewife cooking training now complete, Jenna at least has the recipe for a 24 person dal bhat; whether she can actually pull off cooking it remains to be seen. After cooking and revision the girls did agree to give themselves a little break and we spent some calm time making bracelets pre dal bhat. The following day again dawned sunny. Mim, Shannee and Claudia were off to school, so we did some extra cleaning before our morning 'lunch.' After a rest we then walked again to Lakeside to finish off our shopping, purchasing yak blankets and small souvenirs. Since the weather was so fine, we then walked around the shore of the lake to Freedom Bar where we enjoyed refreshment in the form of more lemonanas, and a couple of hours lounging on a wooden platform in the middle of their water feature. In the evening, we were one volunteer short as Claudia was getting dreadlocks put into her hair, but we completed more of the revision mantra and convinced the girls to take a break for 20 minutes to carry on with their bracelets. Mausami and Anu had been working ******* theirs, and we were both delighted to be presented with them as gifts, which make a lovely reminder of our time at the home. The theme of the evening was gifts; since Milan was heading to Kathmandu on Thursday morning we gave him the money which has so kindly been raised and donated at home for the chicken project. He was very pleased to receive it and promised to send pictures of the chickens as they grow. Deciding we had very little interest in spending any more time with Libby/Livvy, we opted to spend the evening in our room. The Kathmandu Post had mentioned the Wimbledon App in their sports section that morning, so we decided to download it and spent an evening feeling slightly older than our 28 years listening to the tennis on the live radio. It turned out to be a big day with Sharapova, Federer, Tsonga and Azarenka all out. Thank goodness for the wonders of modern technology. Just as we went to bed, the rain came in and continued all night. The following morning, we found out that the girls had got stuck at Freedom since the rain had been so bad, and we were pleased we'd gone for the middle-aged option. Thursday morning the rain continued, and we made our way to the home in our waterproof coats, wondering whether we'd be able to venture out at all. As the children got onto the bus it seemed to ease, so after dal bhat we did some packing and headed back down to Lakeside. After some jewellery shopping and taxi driver baiting (Dave decided to play along with his suggestion that we'd like to go to Sarangkot) we spent a couple of hours again in Moondance, managing to resist the temptation to sample more of their menu (self controlled budget travellers). Since the thread we'd bought the previous week had been exhausted, we purchased more bundles of wool on the way back so that some of the older girls could make bracelets. We were a bit disappointed however, with how this was received. It seems an odd thing to say about children in a home, but some of their behaviour that evening was spoilt child-esq. Some lacked the patience to wait for thread to be unravelled and just hacked bits off, resulting in some very short pieces of wasted thread, and others seemed to perceive that there was such an abundance that if their bracelet went slightly wrong, they didn't need to bother unpicking it, could sulk and get new thread. Manners were also slightly lacking, with some of the older girls flouncing into the room, holding out their hand while simultaneously saying 'white' clearly expecting to be provided with white thread. Needless to say this wasn't how it worked under DaveandJenna rules, but it did give us an insight into how they perhaps behave with other volunteers. With the unplanned absence of Mim and the Aussies, we were treated to a large portioned dal bhat and given the girls' demanding behaviour, were pleased when it was served slightly early! Friday was the last school morning routine of our month in Pokhara. The Aussies had headed off to Chitiwan Natonal Park for the weekend, and Mim was ill, so we enjoyed helping the girls get ready for school, Dave did more acrobatics with Sabina (before she got told off by Santoshi for playing while in a skirt!) and we accompanied them to the bus for the last time. Following dal bhat we spent more time packing, and ventured down towards Lakeside for the final time, intending to visit Once Upon a Time... for a pizza. On the way, we decided to chance a visit to the cheese factory we'd spotted when taking a short cut from Freedom. At first glance, it seemed to be closed, but a rather helpful Nepali shop keeper did some shouting for us, and sure enough, the gate opened. We found ourselves face to face with a large Rottweiler called Zeus, who fortunately appeared to be more likely to lick us to death than bite (although the shopkeeper clearly thought the latter), and a Welsh lady. She kindly informed us that Pokhara cheese is actually a wholesaler, and she could only offer us either feta or haloumi cheese, which, despite being one of Dave's favourites, was a no-go without cooking facilities. Rather disappointedly, we apologised for intruding and thanked her for her time. Whether it was our slightly forlorn faces, or our British accents we couldn't say, but she then remarked that actually, she had some Stilton that was just about ready. We weren't sure we'd heard correctly... Stilton? In Nepal?! We followed her into her house/cheese making factory, and proceeded to watch her cut a block of Stilton from a cheese wheel. To make our day even better, she also announced she'd made some cream cheese that morning, and if we wanted we could purchase a 500g bag. We decided to be extravagant (and slightly gluttonous) and agreed we'd have both. Our conversation has also inspired us to try our hand at making our own cheese at the next opportunity, since apparently haloumi is reassuringly easy to produce. Thanking our cheese supplier profusely, we left Pokhara Cheese with a little over 600g of our first proper cheese (bar the rubbery cheese we had in Ilam) in almost 5 months. Thoughts of a visit to Once Upon a Time... were forgotten, and we popped into a bakery recommended by the Welsh lady. Deciding the occasion should probably be celebrated with a bottle of red wine, Dave set about sourcing a half decent bottle (with Bordeaux in the title and something about fromages in the description!) and collecting some photographs for the collage we had decided to make for the home, while Jenna burned a CD of Nepali music in the Internet cafe. Chores complete, we then marched back up the hill, anxious to tuck into our cheese course. It was blissful. Cream cheese had never tasted so good. Unfortunately, our corkscrew which had just about managed to open the Grapple Cider a few weeks previously, was no match for a Bordeaux cork. We therefore had to abandon our afternoon glass of wine with stilton plans until we'd retrieved a combo pen knife from the children's home. We made our way there at 5pm to find the children studying avidly, and were immediately pounced upon for more testing. Although we were happy to assist, we soon began to feel that asking the same questions again and again was slightly pointless, especially when, if we corrected answers according to what was written in the textbook, we were informed the textbook was wrong. Dal bhat was again early, and after distributing some string to Preeti who had missed out the day before, we left, feeling slightly exasperated by statements like 'when you leave, you give us, ok?' (referring to the thread). This certainly isn't a consequence of poor language comprehension, so is perhaps indicative of learned behaviour with bequeaths from other volunteers. We returned to our room and gratefully tucked into wine and cheese to the soundtrack of live Wimbledon radio. Another middle aged evening! The following day was our last full day in Pokhara. We arrived at the home in time for dal bhat, and were then engaged in testing for the next few hours. Some of the girls were highly productive, Tulsa in particular engaged in her maths revision with unrivalled dedication, asking for harder and harder sums. Eventually, she was able to successfully add 3 three-digit numbers, 'carrying over' in every column - a significant improvement on three days earlier when she couldn't carry over for 49 + 6. Frustratingly, her examinations will only assess her ability to make number bonds up to 25, but at least we can feel some satisfaction from her progress. Other girls were significantly less dedicated, or less inclined to believe us when we corrected them resulting in Mim employing a 'good' and 'bad' side of the board behaviour management/motivational technique! After a few hours of hard graft, Mim and Dave went out to purchase milk and biscuits for a mid-afternoon snack. The distribution of this provided another opportunity for learning another DaveandJenna rule, that holding out a hand and saying 'give me' will not get you a biscuit, even when 'give me' is repeated several times in a louder and louder voice. Eventually, we managed to get the whole kitchen (including Tika) to use the word 'please,' which was an achievement. Whether this reduction in manners was something that happened in Milan's absence, because we were leaving, or because we simply became more sensitive to it is difficult to say, but it did make our last few days slightly frustrating. After dudh chia, we returned to our room for some respite and well-overdue Skype chats with family and friends. Our conversation with Matt and Dani had coincidentally been scheduled for the Lions game, and to our delight, Matt had purchased the viewing rights, so we managed to watch the entire game and catch up properly. The Lions managed to make a hash of winning the series in two games, Halfpenny missing a last minute kick. With the remaining red wine and cream cheese to consume, we could have been in the UK rather than our little room in Pokhara. At 6pm we went back to the children's home, participated in more testing and enjoyed our very last Sita dal bhat before heading to Bullet for farewell drinks with Mim. Our final night at Bullet proved to be our biggest night out in Nepal; we won Rs 1000 in a game of poker with Mim, Ed, another couple, Preeti and Steven, and a British guy called Paul, and then proceeded to introduce them to the game of cliff jumping. After several rounds of drinks and a lock-in, we wandered home at 1.30am and enjoyed an entertaining (probably more so for them) Skype chat with the Meaden family before Dave collapsed in a heap and Jenna was left to finish the AAN collage. A 5.30am alarm the next morning was greeted by grunts from Dave. Fortunately Jenna was slightly more awake and we proceeded to finish packing, and headed out of our house at 6.30am to find Harimaya and Santoshi waiting with our taxi, scheduled to arrive at the children's home at 7am. We therefore wandered to the home to find all the children assembled on the front steps. We presented them with our collage, which they seemed pleased to receive, and then hugged each of them in turn. Although all were quite happy to hug Jenna, some of the girls were more reserved with Dave, still untrustworthy of men despite us being at the home for a month. Despite their reluctance, no one escaped a hug from Rabbit and most hugs were accompanied by a lift up or a swing round, much to the surprise of some of the older girls! At 7am approached, we bid our final farewells (#jennatears) and made our way to the waiting taxi. At Pokhara bus station we purchased some pastries, settled down in our non-allocated seats (since a rather grumpy Nepali had bagged ours), and crossed our fingers for an uneventful last bus journey in Nepal.