Pokhara

On our way to Pokhara we take a slight detour to the home of the parents of our guide in Nepal. This was to welcome us to Nepal, their home and the Dashain festival and the whole group were treated to food, drink and given the opportunity for a traditional blessing that involved the placing of red-dyed rice on our foreheads and flowers placed in our hair. On our way through the spectacular scenery we see swing bridges and pulley-operated suspended cages to cross the river. The roads in the mountains are somewhat poorer in terms of quality and quite narrow in a lot of places.
At Pokhara, amongst some of the activities we take a pulley operated pontoon ride to a luxury hotel for the afternoon, and one evening go to a local 'open mike' bar where Matt and Allen have the opportunity to play guitar and sing a couple of songs and Becky and Laura keenly assist on backing vocals. Unfortunately they're initially joined by a manic drummer and a very enthusiastic flautist. A Israel guy also suggests that a girl in his group should get up to sing as when we hear her, it will be cause us all to give birth – predictably the experience is more painful than that. It's a late night and the following morning there aren't too many of the group who make it up to Sedi Bagar to see the morning sunrise, which is a shame, because it's beautiful. Later in the day we take a four to five hour trek up to the World Peace Pagoda on top of an opposing peak, overlooking Lake Pokhara – and to think that David used to drive past the one in Milton Keynes most days for a few years. As part of the journey we end up on another dug-out boat across the lake on the way back on what appears to be a very unsteady vessel. On a sobering note, later in the day we learn that tragically the day before an English traveler lost his life by falling in and disappearing into the water.