Thursday 17 November 2011

World Peace Pagoda


Thursday 17th - Pokhara - World Peace Pagoda
boat trips - 1,  cost of meal for 2 in rupees - 135,  yeti sightings - 0.5
Thought I spotted a yeti walking through Lakeside East today, an unlikely sighting which did turn out to be a false alarm, just a very hairy man who's probably just got back from a long trek and not shaved.
Had a great day today.  Started with a rowing boat across the lake to get to a steep trail through forested hills leading up to the World Peace Pagoda.  About 45-60 minutes to hike up there and the reward at the top is an impressive white Pagoda with a huge gold Buddha and amazing views looking down to the lake and Pokhara on one side and paddy fields on the other side.  Took a different route down to take a longer walk right round the other side of the lake.  Some small children stoped us on the way down "hallo! chocla? chocla?"  we didnt have any but they liked having their photo taken so they could see it on the screen and all burst out laughing.  We stopped at a town at the bottom and had some samosas, pokhoras, curry and chapatis - very tasty so we asked for more, including some drinks the bill was 135 rupees (about £1), so cheap I thought it was a mistake at first.
Went to Devis Falls next, a big powerful waterfall hat has carved a deep vertical hole in the rock.  On the way back to lakeside we took a walk through some rice fields where we found medieval fairytale like scenery complete with workers harvesting by hand, thatched huts, schoolchildren skipping by and a little red temple on a ridge overlooking the fields.  The path then leads us to a high rope bridge over the river which swung about when we walked on it, Bec didnt want to walk over it but sorry Bec its the only way across!
Dark by the time we got back, spent a bit of time haggling in the tourist shops for a backpack for Bec to use when trekking, had momos and curry for tea then bed to get rested for trekking tomorrow.
(blogged retrospectively from diary)

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