Nepal: The perfect India antidote?

Hello all and welcome back to my blog. I am once again relaxing in Pokhora in Nepal (Nepal's second largest city) and enjoying it greatly. My time in India was amazing, but it left me fatigued. I was sick and tired of dirt, touts and travelling everywhere at a million miles an hour. So my arrival in Nepal could not have come at a better time.

I knew that I had arrived in a very different country the second that I crossed the border. As I ascended towards Pokhora into the foothills of the Himalayas the difference in the countries was evident. When you look out of the window of your bus in India, you will see little more than rubbish in the majority of places. But in Nepal, the natural beauty is astounding, and for the most part unblemished. In Pokhora it is even possible to swim in the lake! In India the concept of a non-Indian actually bathing in the water is farcical. the one traveller I met who actually did swim in the Ganges, and then assured me he felt fine, swiftly came down with several illnesses, requiring a trip to the hospital. So it was a pleasant surprise when I arrived in Pokhora and the two Swedish girls in the room opposite asked if I wanted to head down to the lake and hire a boat and go for a swim. I rowed across to the other side of the lake and we enjoyed an afternoon relaxing in the cool waters of Pokhora's lake surrounded by the snow-capped Himalayas. As I lay back relaxing watching the sun set with the mountains perfectly reflected in the lake as two bikini-clad blond Swedish girls rowed me back to Pokhora (they insisted, damn all this equal rights stuff!) I knew that Nepal was going to be the perfect antidote to India.

That is not to say that I have been lazy since my arrival in Nepal, in fact quite the opposite. After a couple of days realizing in Pokhora and enjoying two of my favorite things which are fairly difficult to find in India, meat and alcohol, me and a fellow Englishman I am currently travelling with named Brad decided to go paragliding. This was great fun and an enjoyable combination of breathtaking views and adrenaline. The the next day we decided to head up to the Peace Pagoda which sits atop a hill above Pokhora and take in the views of the city and the lake. This merely whetted my appetite for what was to come.

The next day me, Brad and a Nepali guide we hired named Hari left Pokhora on an 8 day expedition to Annapurna Base Camp. the base Camp itself sits at just over 4000m altitude in the Annapurna sanctuary area. the area is famous for trekking and is famed for its' astounding beauty. the trek itself was at times difficult, but well worth it. If you watch the video you will see the view from the Base Camp itself, which was stunning, albeit cold as you can probably guess from the commentary.

Anyway I am now back in Pokhora and relatively unscathed, aside from a slightly sore knee and some leech bites (not painful just annoying as it requires intense laundry as you usually don't notice you have been bitten until they are long gone and a large pool of blood has appeared on your clothing).

Anyway I best be off, have a few days of relaxation planned before I head to Kathmandu and then hopefully onto Tibet, but we shall see.

Speak to you all soon

Phil