Pokhara

On the way back to Pokhara the bus driver handed out ginger to make the bumpy road easier. A small thing, but it stays with you. And it is not just folk wisdom: in two trials with more than 1800 people in total, ginger eased seasickness better than a placebo.

Soon after Tatopani the road crosses the Kali Gandaki at the Pokharebagar bridge. On 27 September, a month before us, the swollen river washed away the access road to the bridge. The road was closed for 11 days, and then a temporary one was built from stone-filled gabions. The August flood in the Trishuli valley was far to the east, but this one was right on our road.

The evening on the streets of Pokhara was very warm. I decided to shave off my eight-day beard as well. I let my feet take me in a random direction, and there it was: a barber. Along with the shave I got a face and head massage. All for 1,000 rupees (≈ €5.88, ≈ $6.58). In Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, the same would cost about €29, nearly five times more. My face is smooth and clean, and the blade was new, as it should be.

Monday, 26 October

The morning began with an hour of sleepy Pokhara. After breakfast five of us decided to go and see the Shiva statue, then the caves and the Mountain Museum.

On the way to Shiva we had to stop because one of the taxis overheated. We made that stop at a viewpoint, though, and it gave us perhaps the most beautiful panorama of the whole trip: mountains, city and lake.

The highest peak in the middle is Annapurna II, 7,937 metres. On its left shoulder is Annapurna IV (7,525 m), and further left Annapurna III (7,555 m). On the right stands Lamjung Himal (6,983 m), and at the left edge of the frame you can see Machhapuchhre, the Fishtail (6,993 m). The Annapurnas and Lamjung are 40–44 kilometres away from us, Machhapuchhre 32. The lake below is Phewa, and on the right shore is Lakeside, where we stayed.

At the Shiva temple we could feel Hinduism through the people. They prayed, lit incense and took an enormous number of photos.

The statue is 15.5 metres tall and sits on top of a white stupa, 32.9 metres in all. Around its base are 108 Shiva lingams. In Nepal only the Kailashnath Mahadev statue is a taller Shiva.

On the way back towards the caves we talked with our taxi driver for a long time: where he lives, whether he works all the time. It turned out he lives in the same city and rents a two-bedroom flat for 20,000 rupees a month (≈ €118, ≈ $132).

The caves were wet and short of air, so we didn’t spend too long inside. Outside, though, a lovely dog with wide ears was waiting. He will come back later in this story.

The Gupteshwor Mahadev cave is 2,057 metres long. The water of Davis Falls, across the road, runs through it.

Our last stop was the Mountain Museum. It holds everything about the Himalaya: who tried and who conquered the highest peaks and when, what gear they had, what maps. In just over an hour we couldn’t take it all in. Very informative and interesting, especially for mountain-mad people like us.

The International Mountain Museum opened on 5 February 2004. It was founded and is run by the Nepal Mountaineering Association, on 100 ropani of land, about 5 hectares. One of the display cases holds the first trekking permit of the Swiss geologist Toni Hagen.

Before heading back we stopped at the museum café, where I had the best food of the trip so far: spicy chicken chilli (dry). Experience gained, and the ride back could begin. It cost 1,200 rupees (≈ €7.06, ≈ $7.90) per person: two taxis, two drivers, four hours of their time.

Back in town we met up with our guide Muku again and took the local bus to the Tibetan refugee settlement to buy cashmere and other souvenirs. That is an experience money can’t buy: cramped, hot, but great fun. Two buses and we were there, and for the five of us it cost less than a euro in total.

As soon as we arrived we felt there was something special about the place. Something different, yet familiar to us Estonians from our own history of exile: the hope of one day going home.

The Tashiling settlement was founded in 1964 on land given by the Government of Nepal. The first settlers numbered 804, in 144 households. Today 103 families live there, and many of them work in the settlement’s carpet workshop.

The scarves, tablecloths, masks and stones really were beautiful. We left a fair amount of money there: two cashmere scarves cost 5,500 rupees together (≈ €32.35, ≈ $36.21). We also went into a carpet shop. Looking at the carpets I understood how high the quality was, but buying one on the spot wasn’t possible. It turned out they ship to Europe too. We’ll see. Maybe one of them will end up in Estonia one day.

With our rounds done, we stopped at a local café for lassi and coffee. While we were ordering, the dog with the big ears came and lay down to sleep at my feet. Whether it was a sign, time will tell.

In the evening Baburam, the head of Trip Pokhara, the agency that ran our trek, treated us to a thank-you dinner and a Nepali evening at the Boomerang restaurant in Lakeside. Thank you to him; that kindness will stay with me. I had garlic naan and chicken tikka, and I liked it.

Afterwards I walked a half-hour loop to feel Pokhara at night once more. I’d like to hope we meet again. Tomorrow we fly to Kathmandu, to spend two days there and discover new places.