Two Weeks in the Himalayas

After concluding seven intense weeks of Iyengar yoga in the small town of Rajpur, India, we were ready for a bit of adventure. With three and a half weeks before our ayurveda training started in Pune, India, we had time for just about anything. The India guidebook we borrowed sat atop our desk, daunting page after daunting page – the possibilities were limitless. On one of the last day of classes, we passed our new friend Tegra (think integral) on the street and asked what she was up to next. She said she had just decided to return to Nepal for the final month of her year long stay in Asia. Our ears perked up and after about five minutes of discussion, she became our newest travel buddy. The native west coast chi kung teacher couldn't have made a more sincere invitation, and since we had tossed around the idea of going to Nepal since the conception of our trip, the decision was an easy one to make.
We took an overnight train to Gorakpur, where we learned how to throw our dinner trash out the window by Tibetan monks. We then shared a jeep with the monks, who were very nice and on their way to visit family in Kathmandu, to the border of Nepal. After a slightly hectic and dusty crossing, we hopped on top of a bus to Lumbini. It seems the majority of Nepal's bus system is run by teenage boys. On the bus bumpers, the phrase “one mistake game over” is painted.



We spent the following day exploring the grounds and small town of Lumbini, Buddha's birthplace. The UN has designated Lumbini as a world peace site, and many countries with a significant Buddhist population are building monasteries there. Our rented bikes wound us through the grounds all day, and we saw the actual rock where Buddha's mother squatted and gave birth (it's under bullet proof glass). Some fotos below from our bike ride...
















Our guest house owner arranged for our transport to our next destination, Pokhara. He sold us tickets on the mail truck, which he claimed wouldn't make any stops because it had to deliver the mail by three. We boarded the de-creped beast, no mail in site, and proceeded to sit for nine and a half hours while the bus stopped every hour. Maybe the mail bus had already left. Maybe there is no mail bus. One thing is for sure, our buts were sore by the end of the day. We climbed on another bus to arrive in Lakeside, the tourist district of Pokhara. Just as the sun set, our recent bus memories faded and we walked into what could arguably be the most beautiful place we've ever seen.

The town hugs a beautiful clean lake, and behind is the Annapurna mountain range. With ten peaks ranging from six to eight thousand meters, this section of the Himalayas was truly an amazing site.

We checked into our guest house, the Wood Pigeon, and proceeded to have real cheese and organic Nepali espresso. Delightful! Nepal was closed to tourists until 1960. Judging on the types of services and foods offered here, Pokhara started catering to westerners shortly thereafter. We have visited towns where they think they know what westerners want, and they do their best to provide it. But Pokhara gets it right every time, and they've spent a few decades perfecting it. The real coffee is key - usually quite expensive if available at all in most of Asia. After adjusting to the good food and slight change in altitude, we visited the Buddhist Peace Pagoda on a mountain near by. We took a canoe to get across the lake, then hiked up.





We rented bikes for the week and went to several nearby villages to watch the rice harvest and to go swimming.







Most foreigners arrive in Pokhara to trek through the Annapurna range. Totally unexperienced at trekking (fancy code word for hiking), we didn't think we would go on one during our stay in Pokhara. However, Tegra mentioned she was going on a three day trek with her friend Pascal and we were invited to join. We are very glad we did! The views and hikes were spectacular!

We took a taxi part way up, then hiked for six hours to Panchasee mountain.





Our first glimpse of the Annapurna range was from the hike. The range had been hiding behind clouds all week!




The range is about 40 kilometers from Panchasee mountain.

We made it to the village (consisting of two guest houses) just in time for the sunset.




Morning chi quong practice was great with such a spectacular view!





Fresh harvested millet pancakes for breakfast! Mmm!

We saw lots of bee hives all over the villages we passed on our hike down.

Lots of stairs on the way home!

We hope to return to Nepal the next time we come to Asia. Back to India now!