Last night after walking along the edge of the beautiful Phewa Tal we went for dinner and had a Newari Thali. It was scrummy, though I am steadily getting more nervous in anticipation of the shits. A girl we met today said, "I thought I was doing a number one, but it was actually a number two"...lovely. The fact I eat a diet of veggie lentils and noodles at home seems to have fared me well.
I have never really been a follower of sport, though this is changing due to necessary watching as a barmaid in a sports bar for the last four months. I am starting to enjoy it. So tonight I would like to encourage the English cricketers to be better. The waiter at the restaurant asked where we were from, "England" we said in unison.
"Haha, you are not good at cricket" was his response.
"Eerm haha"...come on cricketers I am being insulted on your behalf!
The main road in Lakeside, Pokhara is filled to the brim with restaurants, maybe for trekkers to get a good feed before they leave, or a celebratory feed when they return; either way we are determined to explore all the culinary delights. I believe our eating habits are comparable to hobbits. After dinner part one, we strolled the main street in Lakeside, looking for dinner part two. Within the space of five minutes we hear a stream of remarks,
"You are sisters?"
"Ah, you are sisters!"
"Sisters?"
...we were'nt even wearing our matching shirts! Spending so much time together is doing us no good at all, it appears that we are either begining to look more similar than we thought, or there is a conspiracy going on. Security at the airport even asked if we were twins, you have our passports, how do you not know this?. I hope it does not last.
"You are sisters?"
"Ah, you are sisters!"
"Sisters?"
...we were'nt even wearing our matching shirts! Spending so much time together is doing us no good at all, it appears that we are either begining to look more similar than we thought, or there is a conspiracy going on. Security at the airport even asked if we were twins, you have our passports, how do you not know this?. I hope it does not last.
Bingo, we spent the rest of the evening in the delicious and lovely Fewa Restaurant and Bar. I had an orange whiskey tea (whisky is wonderful), and Alicia had lemon and honey, we both had some apple pie, we were filled with joy.
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| Nepalese substitute for my beloved Stag's Breath liqueur |
The entertainment at this bar was traditional Newari dance.
The fun did not stop there.
We were casually and unsuspectingly sat drinking when...the smiling dancers walked out into the audience and began to invite people up to dance. In this surprise situation I almost panicked, my brain said 'Oh god, no, I am far too unprepared and unco-ordinated for this.'
"No" Alicia says out loud with a feeble shake of the head.
The dancers enthusiasm did not wane though and I felt that after all, this is a time for adventure, so we did away with our inhibition and alighted the dance floor. When in Rome! Partners in hand, mine being one of the show dancers and Alicia's being the guy we think was choreographer; we proceeded to make complete douchebags of ourselves. Letting my partner attempt to lead my flails, my eye also began to water. In essence I believe I fitted the description of an uncoordinated (Newari dance is not my forte), slightly confused, overly happy (I was geekily grinning because I wanted to laugh quite a lot, especially on glimpsing Alicia's efforts) but also crying, buffoon. Alicia's partner asked her to wait around after the show. I believe he probably wanted her to join the troop as she was so spectacular...sensibly she declined and we went home to bed. All in all a splendid evening!
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| Bob |
On arrival at the shore "Its like the steps to Mordor" Alicia exclaims. Throughout the trip she has previously pointed out structures that resemble to the tower of Isenguard...Tolkien has had a dramatic affect on her. We walked up the steep trail to Pokhara's World Peace Stupa. It overlooks the whole of the lake and Pokhara on the other side. Taking our shoes off to climb up the steps, walking on the white stone, with the breeze and the view it really did feel like the most peaceful place on earth.
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| "Up, up, up, up the stairs we go" |
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| Peaks, Pokhara, Peace and Perfection |
Next on the itinerary was Devi falls, but having met some people on the way who said it was more like an underwhelming trickle at this time of year, we decided to take a leisurely trail down to the bridge near Damside. This adventure took us through some denser forest. Friends know how excited I get at the hint of new animals and plants...the forest was full to the brim.
We saw more spiders, of varying shapes and sizes, some massive ants, a gecko, butterflies everywhere, trees and vines and flowers that all made me happy and then...
'OMG dude, sssshhhh, what do we do', I pointed. Alicia seemed a little less aware, she always makes me go in front, maybe she thinks because I'm the eldest I should meet with danger first...Alicia, it is your turn next time. There in the middle of the trail were two monkeys (Rhesus Macaques, if u are intersted). We then looked around us and realised there were many more casually sat about their business. My brain 'Oh crap, what do we do?Please get off the trail. Maybe they will ignore us, maybe they are rage infested. Take a photo, they might want your camera, don't take a photo, what if they attack us anyway?' to Alicia 'Dude put everything in ur bag.'
'What do we do?' Alicia says, because after all I am the one who deals with monkey terror on a regular basis?
'I dont know, where's the book?' I ask, we proceeded to check the wildlife book, the only thing it has to say on the matter is that a group of macaques in Japan have taken to stealing sunglasses and only returning them in exchange for food, on a regular basis. We didnt have any food. We were not reassured.
'What have you got to give them? They can have my water and my book.'
'I've got lip balm?'
'Yeah, just give them ur lip balm.'
Plan in tact we edged closer, one of them was watching us from the side of the road...we held hands...the monkeys in a sinister manner (casually) strolled away. They could not have cared less that we were there.
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| chillin' |
Today I have learned: I am not a future bollywood dancer; I can walk a long way; monkeys are not as scary as I thought; I would rather spend my day walking up a steep foresty hill, in the sunshine, looking at butterflys and monkeys and trees and spiders and flowers and birds than doing anything else in the world right now. Bliss.
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| Perfect words found at the Peace Pagoda |
We are now back in lakeside after a day of walking and adventures. We trundled back over a rickety bridge and through Damside (which isnt that nice). On entering the Lakeside area we passed a sign 'Tourist Zone', I love the no nonsense signs best. Tomorrow, we plan to go to Sarangkot point at dawn. I am now ready for my dinner. Love x
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