14th December: Travel to Pokhara

We left the hotel at around 6.30am to catch the bus westwards to Dumre, on the way to Pokhara.  From there we were planning to take a local bus to Bandipur, eight kilometres up from Dumre into the hills.  While on the bus, however, we decided that it would be easier to go directly to Pokhara, since we would have limited time in Bandipur anyway and the time saved could be better spent on the way down to Kolkata.  This meant that we had a seven-hour bus ride ahead of us.  The bus was nothing like we were used to in South America.  The small bus packed in the seats, with no leg room and no chance of reclining the seat.  There was no heating and the window wouldn't close properly, so we were glad to have come out wrapped up in our winter woollies.

We stopped once for breakfast, and again for lunch several hours later, which gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs.  We had lunch at a roadside restaurant that served a surprisingly decent vegetable curry with plenty of daal and rice.  Many of the passengers had gone for curry at the breakfast stop, but we couldn't quite stomach it that early so had chosen the chocolate digestives that were (miraculously) being sold nearby.

Lunch overlooking the valley

The views of the valley several hundred metres down from the road were stunning, and we often held our breath when we had to pass other large vehicles.  There was absolutely no room for error.  Thankfully our driver was careful and we arrived safely in Pokhara.

This photo doesn't do justice to the precipice

There we were greeted by a horde of touts trying to lead us off to their hotels.  We escaped by saying that we   already had a booking for a hostel (forgetting the name, of course) and just wanted a taxi into the centre.  Our alleged taxi driver turned out to be the owner of a hostel as well, but after extensive negotiations we persuaded him to drop us off where we had asked.  I had read about a calm little Tibetan guest house that sounded ideal, so we made our way there.  John checked it out while I waited with the bags, and he confirmed that it was indeed calm, little, and Tibetan.  With relief we dropped our bags and headed out into the town to work out what to do with our few days in Pokhara.  After speaking to a travel agency and booking a hike for the following day, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.