Pokhara, Nepal

Pokhara is about 140klm from Kathmandu. The bus ride (a very bumpy one) takes about 8 hours.

Although I'm not one to get motion sickness, the bus ride was so rough that I think I did. On arrival in Pokhara I was....well, let's just say I was sick. I'll spare ya the details. 

The main beauty and attraction in Pokhara is Fewa lake and the Annapurna Himalayan Range. The lake is quite large and has water the colour of turquoise.

The peaks of the Annapurna range are easily visible by eye and towers above the high hills that surround the town. 

This is a lazy shot I took from the bedroom window...

It's such a pleasant change from the concrete jungle of Thamel.

The main hub for the tourist is Lakeside. Here is where you'll find the hotels, cafes, restaurants, shops and travel agents.

The International Peace Stupa sits high on a hill on the other side of the lake.

A short cruise (about 20min) across in one of the open paddlers is a prefect way to get there. 

It's about 300 metres above the water and the walk is pretty much straight up. It took me about 1 hour to walk up and about 40 minutes to come down.

Once at the top it's really the view that is the most interesting. In fact it's awesome....

Pokhara is the place to start trekking Annapurna and so many people I meet offer to be my guide. Depending on how far you trek the journey can take anywhere from 2 to 10 days or if you choose to walk around the entire Annapurna range it will take around 20 days. Depending on how far you ascend the temperature can drop to minus 30 deg.

There's plenty of things to do such as bike riding, hiking, kayaking, walking, paragliding and touring the neighbouring villages.

Pokhara is easily my favourite place I've been to so far in Nepal.