The Eagles Have Landed

A heavy burden has been lifted off our shoulders! We can breathe deep again, stretch our legs without bumping into people, talk to each other without having to scream, and quit being intrinsically skeptical to anyone initiating a conversation with us. What is this wonderful place, which clearly isn't India? It's Pokhara, Nepal!

Lakeside lunch. The sky is dominated by Himalayas and sun.

First things first: The trip from Varanasi to here was miserable. Our night-train from Varanasi to Gorakpur, which we chose specifically because it started in Varanasi and thus had a smaller chance of massive delays, was obviously massively delayed. We waited at Varanasi Central Station, only the train's second port of call, for four hours - from 11 pm to 3 am. We stayed awake for most of the time, as the speaker voice announced that "the train will be arriving shortly on platform 2" for more than 45 minutes.

Scheduled arrival in Gorakpur was 7 am, and with a two-hour drive from there to the border crossing at Sunauli, we were hoping on a scenic bus ride over the Nepali mountains, and an afternoon arrival in Pokhara the 25th. However, the clock ticked past noon, 1 and 2, and we stood at the second last station, only a few kilometers from Gorakpur, for over an hour. A rickshaw would have been faster! But we had met a very friendly and helpful Indo-Nepali family traveling the same way, and we figured we'd stay with them. We also met Akio, a friendly Japanese guy going to Pokhara.

By the time we got in a border-bound shared Jeep it was past 3.30 pm on the 25th, and the day dragged on past 4.30 before we were out of Gorakpur's traffic jam. The sunset scenery on the way north was lovely, but it was pitch dark when we got to Sunauli. There we were, in typical Indian manner, assaulted by competitive cycle-rickshawers and deceitful money exchangers (claiming not only that we'd need five times the amount of Nepali rupees we would, but also that we'd better give him all our US dollars as well...), and we lost our friend-family in the chaos. We feel like we've had enough of India at this point!

The bus we didn't take!

On the Nepali side of No Man's Land (a chaotic and misleadingly named stretch) we quickly realized that people actually wanted to help us rather than take our money, and in our India state of mind we probably came across as overly rude and dismissive sometimes. We can start acting like people again! We were lucky and caught the last bus of the evening to Pokhara, to arrive in the morning of the 26th. A bumpy, windy ride in too short and trickily reclining seats meant a mostly sleepless ride, but the (again much friendlier than we were used to) taxi drivers awaiting us in Pokhara took us and Akio straight to a good-value Lakeside (tourist downtown) hotel, where we treated ourselves to a few more hours of sleep.

Waking up the next morning in Pokhara was magical. The sun was warm, the brilliant, snow-capped Annapurna peaks of the Himalayas were stunning in the not-to-distant distance. Pokhara lies on a picturesque lake and is a tourist's haven, the streets lined with trekking shops, trekker's grocery stores, traveler bookshops, tour operators, hotels and restaurants with fresh lake fish on the tempting menus. We chose to spend the day quietly and recharge our batteries, the main activity of the day being renting a wooden boat and paddling on the lake for an hour. But eager to make the most of our limited Nepal time, we booked a paragliding trip for the next day, and decided on a five-day trek starting the day after that!

It wasn't exactly a canoe Uncle Cornell, but we enjoyed it anyway.

The trek we chose is known as the Ghorapani-Gandruk trek. Its highest point is the underwhelmingly named Poon Hill, at just over 3200 meters (10500 feet), which allegedly offers spectacular views of Annapurna. We decided to go without a guide and porter, as it is a very popular route, with villages along the way and well-used trails. It won't be a true wilderness experience - at the world's most popular trekking destination you have to spend quite a few weeks and quite a few thousand dollars to get that - so for the price and the time we have this seems like a great trek. Though tour operators urged us to use their services, no one found it strange or reckless that we set off on our own, and since there's little chance of severe altitude sickness on this trip, we'll carry our own backpacks.

So we leave tomorrow morning. The backpacks are packed, we've rented down jackets and sleeping bags, and bought a map and some provisions. Today we've been paragliding, as seen below. It was totally awesome and adrenaline-inducing, giving us but a taste of the Himalaya-views. If we come across an internet cafe with actual functioning internet, we'll upload a video also :)

Very ready!

Thomas' trusty tennis shoes. Today: Paragliding. Tomorrow: Trekking.

Till after the trek!