A drive into the Himalayas

Well, the last week of December is as festive as it can get for anybody and everybody. It’s a week that calls for some year-end celebrations, get together’s and travel. I wanted to plan something for that week since eternity but my usual attitude to push every work till the last moment, made me plan absolutely nothing till almost the 20^th of December! It was on the 20^th that it struck me that we needed to book tickets to travel, and of course, we needed to book a hotel to stay. Various places within the country, including popular destinations like Goa, were packed and out of budget for us. There were two options that we were left with; 1) stay back home and crib 2) explore something that we never explored before. After a series of discussions, we came to a common conclusion to travel to Pokhara city in Nepal. I tried searching a lot to get some details about the roads, the recommended route etc but couldn’t get any detailed post and thus I was certain to post a blog on it. 

Somewhere in between 

How to get to Pokhara?

You can get there by road or by air. We had driven down. The immediate city in India that connects to Nepal is Gorakhpur. If you decide to travel by road then you can expect an average of 9 hours journey from Gorakhpur city to Pokhara. This includes the time to get the permits made at the Indo-Nepal border. 

The Indo-Nepal border

There is a slightly shorter way by road as well, but it isn’t very safe, so better take the longer route. We had taken an SUV to travel which made the journey quite comfortable.  I wouldn’t suggest you to drive yourself, unless you drive long distances regularly. The roads were not too steep and were safe. 

The kind of drive you can expect

The drive was scenic but only after we were halfway through. You can have a look at the picture as to how it was like, the water body in the picture is the Narayani river, it ran parallel to us for a good 35-40kms. One advantage that you have while traveling by road is that, in case you have time you can go to Lumbini and the Manokamna temple, these are right there on the way with slight diversion. But yes, in that case, keep the entire day to travel and expect to reach Pokhara only by night. The alternate way to reach Pokhara is to take a flight from the Bahairava city in Nepal. This city is right there at the border, but since it is in Nepal the only way to book tickets from here is through a travel agent, the online sites do not provide any facility to book from Bhairava to Pokhara.

Scenes on the way

The flights are cheap, you can get it for an average of 3k per person per side and the tickets are also available readily from directly over the counter in case you plan for a last minute go. There is however some speculation over the safety of these flights since these are small aircrafts that run between the mountains and may have a higher risk of accidents, they do get a consent signed before you board these aircrafts. Whether you would want to take the risk of traveling by these or not, is a decision that I will leave entirely on you, yes as far as I am concerned, I will prefer flying if I ever visit there again.

Pokhara, the city: What to expect from it?

This tiny city in the middle of Himalayas has a lot to offer you. We had reached there by early evening, and unfortunately, the day we did, we did not get to see any of the snow-peaked ranges. I thought maybe its all in the pictures over the internet. Well but since the time of the year when we went was full of festive with New year’s around, we had a pleasant surprise for ourselves in the evening. The lakeside was full of fun; with beautiful and decked up eateries with some great live music and fun crowd, we had an amazing time in the evening for the entire three-day duration till we stayed there. The road has many fancy shops which are affordable and great. They had blocked it for any kind of traffic movement because of the festivities; there was cycling, juggling and other such fun which made it even better.

Lakeside nights

The next morning was a surprise, because our mountain view room gave us a beautiful frame of three major Himalayan ranges, the Annapurna, the Dhaulagiri, and the Machapuchare range, well and it was only after we stepped out of our hotel that we realized that the ranges walked with us to every nook and corner of the city!

When you wake up to this

What makes it more fascinating is the Phewa lake, the lake is partly artificial and partly natural, and the lakeside in the day time has an entirely different feel! More than the water activities in the lake, I enjoyed breakfast at the lake. With a pavement to jog on, there are these small and big shacks which offer tea, coffee, and breakfast, do spend some time sipping and munching something there, it’s worth it!

Serene, serene, serene

Early mornings in Pokhara: Well when in mountains, it’s not advisable to miss early morning hours. Sarangkot is a peak where people travel early in the morning to see the sunrise, by early I mean 5.30am! Another peak point which is a must visit is the World peace pagoda! Well Sarangkot is also the point for the paragliding activity so I rather went there to paraglide say at 11am, instead of the sunrise, and yes I went to the Peace pagoda top in the evening to view the sunset! Oooops! Are you guessing that I was too lazy to get up! Then yes you are right, I actually was!

When you want to see all of it at once: You paraglide

Take a Nepalese vehicle to go to Sarangkot, the roads are narrow and steep, and the drive is not too short, it takes a good half an hour, it was covered along with the paragliding activity for me, but if you book it separately for the sunrise, it won’t cost you more than 1000Indian rupees. The local drivers are experienced and you can get there safely. For the peace pagoda, you can trek up or cycle up or drive up know your stamina and go for it! As far as treks in the city are concerned the most famous is the trek till the Annapurna range, it’s an 8-day trek and people from all over the world go there to experience it. There are multiple other treks for a day or two you can take them as per the time you have.

On my way up to the Peace Pagoda

The World peace pagoda is a Buddhist monument, which offers a beautiful view since its location is on a peak, it gives you a lot of experiences together; the view, the serenity, and the sun it’s just perfect! Have a look at its panoramic image.

Well, that's too much at once, isn't it!

Besides these, there are some caves in the city, one at the center of it and for the others, you have to travel quite some distance. The caves in contrast to the rest of the city are deep and dark.

One of the caves we visited

They have some unique stories behind them. Also, there is an Annapurna base camp which Pokhara offers at the Annapurna Himalayan range, so they take you at the snowy mountain in a small helicopter and you can spend some time playing in the snow there, well its almost 25k INR per person and I didn’t do it! All these adventure activities can be booked either at your hotel or from the multiple points outside; they cost more or less the same.. Lastly, there are many many places to stay in Pokhara, you can choose from an array of hotels in the city, we had stayed in Pokhara grande and had a great experience.

So from snowy mountains to pretty lakesides, from a fresh and misty environment to dark and deep caves, from trekking and paragliding to playing in the snow, Pokhara offers way too much and it is definitely recommended to visit the place. Travel to unwind, travel to explore and travel to learn. Travel because there is way too much that the world has to offer! 

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