Pokhara (The Real Nepal)

If there is one city in Nepal which cannot be skipped while planning a vacation here, it’s Pokhara. In fact, I can go to an extent and say that if there is one city in Nepal worth visiting, it’s Pokhara. Sadly, there is no airport here right now, but it is planned and hopefully by 2019, there will be an international airport in Pokhara.

Pokhara has the best view of the mountains in Nepal, specially Mt. Machupuchaare, famously known as the FishTail mountain. You cannot view Mt. Everest from Pokhara or from Kathmandu, in case you are wondering. And if someone tells you that the mountain you see at a distance there is Mt. Everest, then you are just being fooled. To have a glimpse of Mt. Everest, you can either go for the Base Camp trek or take a flight tour which hovers on top of Everest and gets you back in an hour, costs around INR 10,000 per person.

Pokhara also has some of the best cafes and restaurants. To name a few which we visited and were really awed by were — The Busy Bee Cafe and Freedom Cafe to spend an evening partying, Fresh Elements and Olive Cafe for a nice lunch, and ‘You and I’ for breakfast sitting by the lakeside

We spent two evenings strolling by the lake and talking about how we had spent the last two months, what our best memories of this trip were and what are our plans for the next few months. It was while strolling by the lake when I was also preparing Sidhi for flying the next day, literally. We were booked for paragliding right above Lake Phewa, starting from Sarangkot next morning at 10 AM.

The Juice:
1. There are hundreds of paragliding companies in Pokhara, we chose the BlueSky paragliding since they boast to be one of the oldest and their divers had a minimum of 10 years of experience in flying. I’d highly recommend them over many others who would offer a cheaper price but won’t be able to provide you with a similar experience.
2. We stayed at the Green Peace Lodge in Pokhara, which is owned by a Sherpa. While in conversation with him, we learnt that automobile prices in Pokhara are 2.5x that in India. Ford Ecosport in Nepal costs a whooping INR 24,00,000. Now we knew the reason for so less cars on the road and also why taxis in Nepal are super expensive.
3. Try different cafes and restaurants everyday. There are plenty of them in Pokhara and none of them would really disappoint you. The food is also quite cheap in Nepal, along with cheap liquor and Sheesha.