A blanket of fog covered the valleys around Bandipur this morning. Even though the town is only 1000m high, it felt like we were a long way above the fog.
In the distance, we could see the peaks in the distance as the sun hit their eastern side. It’s such a pretty sight, and a shame that we haven’t been able to capture in photos.
We stopped a couple of times along the way from Bandipur to Pokhara to take photos of the mountains. The Annapurna Range is only about 50km away, so seems to be visible from everywhere.
According to our guide, Padma, Fishtail Mountain in the picture below is one of the only mountains that has not been climbed in the region.
In the foreground, the locals are farming rice. This area achieves 2 crops per year, so is one of the more affluent.
Pokhara is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal. It’s on the edge of a large lake, and has fantastic views of some of the highest peaks. In other parts of Nepal, these are hidden by lower peaks.
It’s hard to believe it’s winter as we headed out on the lake to see a small Hindu temple where locals and tourists were making offerings on an island in the centre.
These little pedal boats were ferrying people all over. I think our pedallar would have been very pleased to have only 5 people on his boat!
December 30 is a public holiday in this part of Nepal, as the Gurung Community celebrates Tama Lhosar. Along the drive this morning we saw small street parades, and many community areas decorated with colourful flags. Men, women and children were dressed in local costumes and marched along the main highway, inches from the buses and trucks!
Meanwhile, the streets of Pokhara are blocked off for the celebrations which will also flow into New Year’s Eve tomorrow. , The hotels are packed, and all the restaurants have brought their chefs into the main street to contribute to the food festival. They’re also selling cans of beer and vodka from trestle tables on the kerbside – quite strange to see.
The Boomerang Restaurant was an interesting sight… not sure if they serve something resembling kangaroo, but it would be a fascinating combo with the Nepali cultural show!
Tomorrow we head into the hills for our 2 day trek – can’t wait! This means that it will be 2017 before I post the next blog, so enjoy you new year celebrations. It will definitely be a quiet one for us!
Love theBunch x
Comments are closed