The Wandering Chocoholic

Pokhara, Nepal

Hi again from Pokhara, where the altitude may be fairly modest by Nepalese standards, but the attitude more than makes up for it.

Himalayan sunrise

4:30 am alarm today. Remind me why do I do this to myself again? Oh yeah, sunrise in the Himalayas. Right, then.

We trudged onto the bus and wound up narrow roads into the hills towards the Sarangkot Lookout. It was a little like driving up to Westmount Lookout… well, if Westmount Lookout were surrounded by the Himalayan mountains, that is.

We arrived in plenty of time and staked out a prime viewing spot. It was chilly and we were all shivering a bit in our jackets. One of the local restaurant ladies sold us some masala chai, which helped warm us up as we waited on the viewing platform for the sun to come up.

And, there it was: Slowly, as dawn broke, the light rose up illuminating the mountain peaks in beautiful hues of pink and orange. We had a clear view of Machhapuchhre, the tallest mountain whose peak is known as the Fish Tail. To be clear, this isn’t Everest; it’s a separate sub-range of the Himalayas. Hopefully I’ll catch a glimpse of Everest from Kathmandu. But it as still majestic and stunning and almost a religious experience.

Once the sun was up, we boarded the bus and went back to town for breakfast. The local restaurant around the corner served up fresh real coffee and wonderful “creep’s” (as they were spelled on the menu) and they were delicious. Best breakfast of the trip so far, hands down.

Up, up and away

After a short nap, we were picked up late morning for our main adventure activity in this country: paragliding! That’s right, folks, I went running off the side of a Himalayan mountain with a Nepalese guide strapped to my back.

Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve been paragliding; that was ten years ago in Slovenia. But hey, my motto is try everything twice. So why not? Besides, the Julian Alps are pretty and all, but they can’t exactly hold a candle to the Himalayas.

We were loaded into the back of a 4×4 van and driven up to the takeoff zone, which was up in Sarangkot near where we’d watched the sunrise this morning. But, while Ravi, our G Adventures bus driver, is cautious and careful, the paragliding company’s driver was crazy, taking the hairpin turns and bumpy rocky roads at a speed that surely exceeded rational sense, all with AC/DC blaring on the stereo. I hung on for dear life, hoping that we wouldn’t plunge to our deaths right then and there. All of us were a bit shaky by the time we pulled to a stop. The drive up was definitely more adrenaline-inducing than the paragliding itself.

After parking the car, we had to hike another good fifteen minutes or so, straight uphill. By the time we reached the top, we were out of breath and in need of some water. But, no time for that: It was time to fly!

We got assigned to guides. Mine was named Mahendra (I may be spelling it wrong) and he was a wisecracking rock n’ roll fan who had been working as a paragliding instructor for the past eight years. He got me helmeted and harnessed, and I secured my camera to my wrist, and he yelled “okay, run!” and we ran towards the edge… and we were off! Flying like an eagle over the lake, surrounded by the Himalayas on all sides. It was pretty glorious. It was a bit cloudy, so the mountains weren’t very visible. But even despite that, it was absolutely breathtaking!I have to tell you, this rates up there as a top ten life experience. There’s nothing like it in the world!

In the air, I took some photos and videos, and chatted with Mahendra about his life flying for “self air”, as he called it. He said he learned to paraglide from a French guy, so we spent a little time making fun of the French. He shared his love for Bob Marley and asked me if I liked to get high. Since we were hundreds of feet in the air at the moment, it was pretty funny. (Though I was secretly hoping he wasn’t baked at that particular moment.)

We got good wind and spent about thirty minutes in the air, doing a few acrobatics as we neared the lake just for fun. Finally, we dropped down and came in for a textbook landing right by the lake. The others from the group had landed at a different zone, so I hung out with Mahendra for a bit while we waited for the van to come pick us up. I met a Japanese guy who’s been trekking in Nepal this past month and who lost a sandal on his first paragliding experience this morning. He didn’t seem to enjoy it much; he looked a little green. He did try to convince me to join him and Mahendra and the guides for home-cooked Japanese food later tonight. I told him I’d try.

Back on the ground

Back in town, after paying for our gliding, I went by the German bakery for a late snack lunch, and spent a couple of hours browsing again in the shops. Pokhara is a chilled out place; it’s the first chance I’ve had on this trip to just wander around and not get harassed, harangued, pushed, shoved, nearly run over by tuk-tuks, buses, trucks or cows. Since one of my favourite things to do when I travel is to just walk around and explore, I’m enjoying this for all it’s worth.

For dinner, I met back up with the group and we went to a local restaurant to eat… pizza and beer. Yes, I admit it, after two weeks of thalis and curries, I had a hankering for some good ol’ American food. I did find my first craft beer of the trip there, mind you, which was nice after two weeks of generic commercial lager. Some of the others got pitchers of mojitos, so I expect we’ll see them feeling a bit rough on the bus tomorrow.

Pokhara is pretty great. Of all the places I’ve seen on this trip. this is the one I’d be most likely to return to. But alas, we leave tomorrow morning. Next stop: Kathmandu!