Vacation time! Pokhara, here we come!

April 13, 2010
We went on a vacation to Pokhara, and it was quite the trip! To start, there were 7 of us piled in Uncle’s little, boxy child of an SUV. It seats 5 Asians easily, 5 Westerners maybe, and 7 people difficultly! So, Joshua road on Auntie’s lap the whole way, while Benjamin, Asha, Isha and I made due in the backseat. Let’s just say we all got to know each other better on the drive!

The drive wasn’t that bad though, even with being squished like sardines. The road was a little rough, and of course there’s always a risk of being knocked off the side of the lurking cliff, but besides that, the scenery was beautiful and we had fun. We stopped often, parking on the side of the road here or there to have a little snack of rice, dal, and these beans. It was the strangest picnic I’ve ever had, but it was tasty! We also stopped at this stop called the Hamlet, and they actually had full seat toilets (for those who have traveled in Asia, you know what you usually get... those squatting holes in the ground...).

When we finally got to Pokhara about 7 hours later, we found ourselves at a huge lake surrounded by looming mountains, late in the afternoon. We drove around, scoping out the best deal for a hotel for 2 nights, and we finally settled on one a stone’s throw from the lake! We spent a little time getting cleaned up, and to my excitement, the hotel had showers! One where I could stand up and the water would come out of a pierced pipe above my head. As this was my first “shower” in the 7 months that I’ve been here, I cannot fully describe the relaxing, enthralling effect it had on me. While it was a mere 10 minutes in the shower, it felt like an eternity!

After refreshing, we walked out to the lake for the sunset, which was absolutely beautiful! Watching the orange red glow twinkling over the gently rolling waters of the lake reminded me just how much detail God puts into those daily occurrences that we so rarely stop and appreciate! We went and ate dinner, and headed back to the hotel to sleep off the long day of traveling. When I laid down to read, though, I looked at the wall, and there, hovering a few feet from my bed midway up the wall, was a gigantic, ginormous, garganchuine cockroach, waiting for me to fall asleep so it could feast on my toes throughout the night. I sprang up like a Jack-in-the-Box wound just a little too tightly, causing a stir in my roommates, Isha and Asha.

Screaming immediately ensued (I’m sure some of y’all heard it in the US), followed by rapid jumping across the beds, trying to smash the thing with my shoes. Shoes were flying, our three twin sized beds were creaking as we bounded to and fro on them, relentlessly pursuing him until he died, knowing that we couldn’t sleep until he was dead, not just out of sight! Finally, Asha dealt the crushing blow, with a sickening crunchy squish as his guts splattered all over the floor. I checked to make sure he was really dead and not just pretending so he could arise and eat us at night, and measured him out to the length of my middle finger. That is one big cockroach. We finally drifted off to sleep, praying fiercely that no other bugs were waiting to nibble at us during the night!

The next morning, we woke up and had a breakfast of rice and curry, and then we headed out to “see the sights.” We went to Devi’s Falls, a river that’s cut so far down in the ground you can hardly see it. At one point there’s this huge waterfall where it plummets even further down into the Earth’s crust, and apparently some guy named Devi once jumped off it, so it’s now called Devi’s Falls. It was pretty, and made me really want to swim! We then loaded back into the car and headed up the mountainside to see the view of Pokhara from the top. There were so many Parasailers jumping off the mountain, one by one, only to float to the ground like the seeds of a dandelion in the wind. Really, they had some sort of good business going there, because one would leave the mountain every 5 minutes or so (I actually timed them because I’m a dorky math person!). Uncle asked me if I wanted to go, and if it hadn’t cost so much, I might have gone. But, on second thought, if I go parasailing, I want to do it with someone I know (as in, my dad!). So, we turned and headed back down the mountain, leaving those gutsy tourists in our dust (literally!).

On our way down, we stopped at the Seto-Collah, meaning the White River. In the US we have Red Rivers, Verde Rivers, and I’m sure there are other colored rivers. But this White River was literally white. The water was like milk flowing through a huge trough, waiting to be consumed by thirsty football playing boys! You couldn’t see anything in it, and it was flowing fast and strong. It wasn’t even like dirt was just stirred up in it. The water was literally white. I’m sure there’s some chemical reason for the white reason, but they say it comes out of the mountains like that. I think the mountains might be sick. But it was really cool looking, not at all dirty looking!

Our final stop was at my request: we rented a wooden canoe like boat and hired a driver and paddled out into the lake! It was by far my favorite part of the trip. Had I not been in jeans and my favorite kotessera top, I might have actually jumped in the lake. The kids were FREAKING out, which is somewhat understandable when you consider the largest river most of them have ever been in is the one where we wash clothes, which is like a piece embroidery string compared to a California king sized comforter! Eventually they settled in and realized we were going to be fine, but Isha was still pretty nervous. Especially when Uncle grabbed the other paddle and began paddling himself, causing the boat to rock a little more. The driver didn’t care, but Isha was sure we were all going to die immediately, and her knuckles were pure white as they gripped the side of the boat. To her relief, we only went out for about 45 minutes, so we were soon back on solid ground. And while I don’t expect that she’ll ever want to go back out on a boat, I was glad that she had the experience under her belt now :).

After dinner that night, Uncle and Auntie surprised me with a cake for my birthday from a local German bakery. There’s a lot of German bakeries around, which is surprising to me! But the cake was really good, and it was fun to celebrate with them. We went to bed, closing the door on our Pokhara adventures. A worthwhile adventure, fast as it was! And one day, maybe I’ll go back with a friend and go Parasailing... or maybe not :).