If it feels like we've travelled through time a little, it's because we have. If you scroll back you'll see we've dropped some placeholders in between Manali (our last full post) and this post about Pokhara. We got a little behind and wanted to try and post as close to real time as possible while we are trekking in Nepal. We'll find some time to go back and add in the details later, and when we do we'll let you know.
We were so happy to have a reasonably affordable ride from the border that we weren't fazed by the nausea-inducing acceleration or slightly terrifying cornering of our young driver, we were just happy to be on our way to Pokhara. And, thanks to his rally driver tendencies, it ended up being quite a quick trip too. We arrived in Pokhara before dark and checked into our accommodation. It was a simple room, two single beds with mattresses where you can truly touch the bed frame underneath, but the most gorgeous family. We have immediately noticed the nature of the Nepali people we have encountered so far. So caring, funny, helpful and open. They just give you a good vibe. For dinner we found some overpriced and underwhelming Mexican (I know, what were we thinking) which was a good reminder we are in a major tourist town. We spent the evening wandering the main street, stumbling on lots of things to purchase and the most amazing bakery. After eating our weight in cinnamon buns, mango cheesecake and hot chocolate we rolled home to bed very happy to be here!
We spent two days in Pokhara, which were mostly filled with admin. We wrote a few blog posts (which hopefully you all enjoyed!), read about treks in the area and researched and booked our mandatory guided tour from Nepal to China via Tibet. Then we chose a a trekking company and booked and paid for our upcoming trek around the Manaslu circuit, which meant we needed to do laundry, fully repack our bags and purchase missing items for the trek! We also spoke to family and friends on the phone, finalized our course at Kopan, and did a big money and budget sort out. I’m tired just writing about all of that! I wanted to share that list just to give you an idea of what our reality is like. Usually we blog about all our amazing experiences, but there is a lot of mundane planning and organization that goes into it all as well. Some things, like trekking and Tibet, require a lot of planning to make sure you have a really special experience. Ticking all those things off the list was an amazing feeling, and it’s really nice to know that we are basically all planned now up to about July 20th, bar two spare weeks we have in the Kathmandu area to fill with activities (if anyone has good recommendations please drop them in the comments).
In general Pokhara is a really nice place to kill some time, and lots of people use it as a rest spot after they finish their trekking. There is great coffee, some nice sights and lots of adventure activities like paragliding, rafting, bungee jumping and ultralight flying. We stayed within about a 1km radius of our accommodation, but still loved the views of the mountains from our rooftop, and revisited a couple of cafes that I remembered from my trip here in 2017.
In terms of trekking, we had really been going back and forth on what to do. It’s the start of monsoon in mid to late June, so it’s not the best time of year for trekking in a lot of places. However, there are some spots that are tucked in behind the rain shadow. Often people will book full guided packages which would be way out of our budget, but we had met some people in India who had managed to do some really cool treks on a budget.
We were tossing up the Annapurna Circuit, Nar Phu Valley, Manaslu Circuit, Tsung Valley or some combination of the above. We met with a couple companies, and were really impressed by some and totally underwhelmed by others. Eventually we just walked in from the street to a place called ‘Ethical Trekking Nepal’, and met the most amazing guide, Mayla. He successfully talked us out of going to Annapurna and into Manaslu (much more remote and more of the adventure feel we love), and within 24 hours we were locked in. It was so nice to meet a guide and a company we clicked with, and this only continued when we met the manager Krishna. He had just been at the 75th Diamond Jubilee celebration for the first ascent of Annapurna I (the first 8000m+ peak climbed at the time), by Maurice Herzog. There is an excellent dramatised historical novel about this incredible feat of mountaineering called ‘Annapurna’ if you’re interested to learn more about the history of Himalayan mountaineering.
After we confirmed the trek and ticked off some other big pieces of admin, we spent the evening packing and enjoying a Nepalese meal of BBQ buffalo. Josh even had a beer! Tomorrow morning we’ll meet Mayla at 6:30 AM and catch a local bus to Gorkha, and then a local jeep (hopefully) to Soti Khola. The next day we will walk to Jagat, and we’ll be properly underway from June 8th.
During our trek we’re going to try and write a short daily post, but we’re not sure how much reception and WiFi will be available. We’ll keep you updated as much as we can, and we expect to be back to civilization properly by June 21th. Wish us (and especially my knees) luck!
