Nepal and Himalayas Day 5

Day 20 (3-5) - Saturday, November 16, 2019 - Two Hour Trek; Overland to Pokhara; Phewa Lake Boat Ride; Fly to Kathmandu; Farewell Dinner

The morning was bleak and the mountains were covered with clouds when we woke up at 5:30. Breakfast was at 6:00 and we had all of our small bags ready for the Sherpa porters by 6:45. We began our hike along the Modi River Valley at 7:00 sharp.

Our 1.5-hour hike followed the sandy and rocky road out of the Annapurna Valley and to the small village of Lumle where a small van was waiting for us. Sandy had ridden in the van along with Krishna, the manager of the lodge, who guarded our computer bag with his life.

The ride back to Pokhara took another two hours and was as dusty and rocky as our hike. It was almost easier to walk on these roads than drive, but after our morning hike, we were happy for wheels!

As soon as we entered Pokhara, we noticed the crowds of people. Saturday was a holiday and thousands of families were enjoying the pleasant weather and time off from their work.

We went immediately to the boat dock and donned life jackets for our boat ride on Phewa Lake. Our little boatman was only 14 years old but he was a hard worker and rowed our small craft. Kathleen was with us so we asked that we try to get closer to the shore so that we could see as many birds as possible.

As we got closer to the island in the middle of the lake, we could see the crowds of people at the Hindu Temple, Tal Barahi where people were worshiping the Goddess Durga (Barahi), the protector goddess.

We asked Kunal if we had to get off the boat and go to the temple and fight the crowds. He agreed that we did not, so we went directly to lunch. Our Indian/Nepalese lunch was at the Chilly Bar, right next door to where we ate three days ago.

We took a leisurely stroll through the shopping district and then the bus driver picked us up to take us to the airport. The 1:30 flight did not take off until almost 3:00. We were sensing a pattern with flights in this part of the world.

On the way back to Kathmandu we had a seat by the window and Gennie took a few photos of the terraced hillsides, the snowcapped mountain peaks, and the squiggly roads through the foothills. At 3:50 we were on our Kathmandu purple bus with our regular driver who took us on the hours drive to the Gokarna Forest Resort once again.

The porters had saved our large bags and we claimed them and found our new rooms for one more night. Kunal let us know that our welcome dinner would be at 6:30 giving us almost 90 minutes to shower and organize our bags for the flight tomorrow.

At our farewell dinner Kunal gave us the new flight information for tomorrow. Instead of leaving at 4:00, we had another early morning to go back to the airport at 7:00. Needless to say, everyone was upset, as we had planned on the day in Kathmandu.

By the time we had organized our bags and worked on the journal, it was past time to get to sleep. We knew that our 5:30 wake up call would give us a short night’s sleep.

Meals included: B, L, & D

Accommodations: Gokarna Forest Resort