{"id":6074,"date":"2014-05-10T14:44:57","date_gmt":"2014-05-10T08:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=6074"},"modified":"2014-05-10T15:08:55","modified_gmt":"2014-05-10T09:23:55","slug":"things-to-do-in-pokhara-when-youre-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2014\/05\/10\/things-to-do-in-pokhara-when-youre-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Things To Do In Pokhara When You’re Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fucking twisted my knee \u2013 I know not how. It\u2019s not too<\/em> bad; but it\u2019s bad enough to keep me out of the Bangkok maelstrom. Just, instead, enjoying the scene at De Talak, and pigging out on Watermelons, Mangoes, and Durian. (I was very skinny when I arrived from Kathmandu; but already, in just a few days’ time, I’m beginning to grow a little Durian Belly…)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the shit is kind of hitting the fan here in BKK. Tomorrow, Sunday, is set as a \u201cshowdown\u201d day between the Red Shirts and the Yellow Shirts. One of the hostel guests works for the Travel Channel, and has been assigned to cover the goings on. I\u2019d have been interested to go with him to check it out, but had already several days ago booked a passage for tonight\u2019s night-train to Chiang Mai.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

Spent a few days in Pokhara after finishing trekking. Factually, would have loved to have spent longer, but had some rental trekking gear I was being charged for by the day, so had to skedaddle back to Kathmandu. It breaks down like this.<\/p>\n

Eating The Fruit<\/h3>\n

After the three weeks\u2019 trekking, my body was craving fresh fruit like none other. Grapes, Watermelons, and Bananas were all crazy good and very reasonably priced.<\/p>\n

In re the latter: I found one vendor selling what I <\/em>understood to be South African Bananas. But when I mentioned this to others, both in Pokhara and in Kathmandu, they looked at me liked I was a spaceman from Outer Space \u2013 and then they laughed in my face. So, maybe I misunderstood the guy. Whatever they were, they were neither Indian nor Nepalian Bananas, and they were fucking good.<\/em> And I only ever saw them from that one vendor.<\/p>\n

A Spaniard at my Guest House was eating some tomatoes, and said they were quite good.\u00a0 I\u2019d been unimpressed with Kathmandu\u2019s tomatoes, but went ahead and tried some Pokharian, and, that Spaniard was right: they were the<\/em> shiz<\/em>. Best tomatoes I’ve ever eaten in Asia.<\/p>\n

Enjoying The Street Scenes<\/h3>\n

This one\u2019s pretty self-explanatory, I suppose.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-19<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-19<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

Particularly love this next shot. As much as I think that motorcycles are Satan, I gotta admit that motorcycle drivers<\/em> always seem to make good photographic subjects. I think it\u2019s something about the helmets \u2013 makes them look like spacemen from Outer Space (or what). Also, the older gentlemen all decked out in their \u2013 would you call those \u201cNehru Hats\u201d? \u2013 look so goddamned great I seriously considered purchasing one for myself.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, it really pays to always have a camera at the ready whilst visiting Pokhara (which, I usually did not), as you\u2019re bound to, at any given moment, see something hi-larious and\/or awesome.<\/p>\n

For example, this guy. He was riding down the middle<\/em> of the lane, and the van that\u2019s here in front of him had had to honk at him to get him to move aside and let it pass.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

Or, this\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to come across a wedding reception of a Sunday morning. Man, these guys just fucking kill <\/em>it to fucking death<\/em>, ain\u2019t it? Unfortunately, this was the very end of their performance; although they did later take part in the procession as well.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gPRZ7w3ItWU<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

<\/h3>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=x8lGdFUPR8I<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

<\/h3>\n

Gawking The Mountains<\/h3>\n

Trekking\u2026okay, nothing beats trekking for the insanely great Himalayan views. But early mornings in Pokhara (this time of year, the clouds set in before Noon) certainly offer more than their fair share of the old-time relijun. And when you\u2019re staying Damside, it\u2019s better still, as you\u2019ve very easy access to the hiking trails covering the hills on the west side of the lake.<\/p>\n

Here are some shots from amongst said hills.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

And some from around town.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-20<\/a><\/p>\n

One may also make the two-hour hike up to the World Peace Pagoda, situated at a particularly keen vantage point atop the hills surrounding the lake. Though the view from here is remarkable, it\u2019s difficult to really get a good photo \u2013 partly because the panorama is just too wide for the camera to satisfyingly capture, and partly because there didn\u2019t seem to be enough contrast at this time of day.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pagoda itself is pretty neat, so long as one takes care to respect The Silence.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

Pretty nice image of the Big Guy. Too bad, though, that he doesn\u2019t have that pinky-finger raised all the way up for the ol’ Ronnie James Dio devil-horns salute!<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

Gawking The Sunset\/Lake<\/h3>\n

Also pretty self-explanatory, perhaps.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-19<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-19<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-21<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026And that\u2019s what to do in Pokhara when you\u2019re alive! (Also, Paragliding is very popular \u2013 but far too expensive for my particular self.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fucking twisted my knee \u2013 I know not how. It\u2019s not too bad; but it\u2019s bad enough to keep me out of the Bangkok maelstrom. Just, instead, enjoying the scene at De Talak, and pigging out on Watermelons, Mangoes, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-grandeur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}