Get up, stand up

Friday, 07/12/2012 – 176 A.D.

Woke up after a good, long sleep, but still not with much of an appetite. Did a bit of research online as to what foods you should not eat when recovering from food poisoning – protein foods, no; meat, no; spicy stuff, no. Therefore the Nepali chicken was a mistake! I shall try and be more careful in future. Jeez, talk about a slow process! I’ve even had to stop boozing!

It was a new day and I was b*ggered if I was going to spend it a prisoner in the hotel room, just like the day before. I’m British, after all, with the roar of an English lion inside me (or maybe a Merseyside squeak) and I felt that getting myself outside and being shaken about in the fresh air would do me some good. And so we went to the lake.

Here it was possible to hire boats for various rates, 700 NPR giving you full use of one for the whole day. Other less robust and lazy tourists could pay a fare that included a local to do the paddling, but we were up for sticking our oars in. The early cloudy weather from first thing had cleared and the lake was now as enchanting as ever, despite the occasional bits of crap floating past.

Tim made the right choice and went at the back of the boat, which is the bit where it’s easiest to paddle with least effort. Smart fellow. I was sitting in the middle and putting my lack of skill down to the fact that I’d had three pringles to eat all day (and those were simply to help the anti-malarial go down).   

We met various other boats of people coming past, saying hello, though secretly we called them wimps for wearing lifejackets (not that we’d been offered any when we picked up our vessel!) We were also offered all kinds of illegal narcotics by local boaters, though nothing as useful as a life belt. Out in the middle of the lake was the temple pictured below, but being out of action I hadn’t been able to do my research on it and given how busy it was, we decided not to stop.

Our disembarking on the other side of the lake went pretty well, not a ten out of ten, but we got the job done and got the boat tied up. Then we left the oars with the local restaurant so that no one would steal our pride of the seas, and started up the long path to the grandly-titled World Peace Pagoda.

It was a pretty steep hike, but we did it slowly and stopped for plenty of rests and water glugs. Then we saw a sign saying that people should only go up there in a group or with a guide because there had been robberies. Hmmm. Only that morning I had been thinking that we’d encountered pretty much everything so far on this trip, except for violence (despite Tim giving me a dead arm when I get too surreal). Nor had we been mugged. However, we had both brought our multi-tools, so we were reassured sufficiently. Besides, the state of me in recovery from food poisoning is enough to scare off any would-be brigand!

We didn’t meet anyone, bar the odd fellow tourist on the way down and considerably less out of breath than us. And while we didn’t see anyone lurking in the bushes, what we did see beyond those bushes were some excellent views of the lakes and the Annapurna mountains.

The World Peace Pagoda was built in 1996. There are several routes up to it, our water-based route seemingly one of the least popular. Coming up from the other side of the mountain taxis can get 15 minutes walk from the stupa and after that it’s walking all the way. It’s great being up there in the mountains and I would have loved to have kept on along the trail and done some more exploring, but Body said no. So instead I sat down and ate an apple. I was wondering yesterday…throughout America and Australasia I was religiously on an apple a day, but when I hit Indochina they became a lot more scarce and, with so many hotels providing breakfast, I got out of the habit of eating them. Could that be the reason for me being more susceptible to the poisoning? After all, they do keep the doctor away. It is also ironic that Nepal is the only Asian country in which I did not brush my teeth using water out of the tap…and look what happened!

The hike back down the way we’d come wasn’t too much trouble, a bit heavy on the knees, but we’ve done worse in recent memory. Apart from stopping to photograph grasshoppers and a gigantic spider’s web, we didn’t need to take five and were soon back at HMS Grayboy and ready to launch her onto the ocean waves again. This time I ended up sitting at the rear of the boat (stern? Bow?) and boy was it a lot easier than before!

We took it slower on the way back across the lake and moored up without a hitch. There was time left to stroll down the main street and buy any of the 1001 trinkets that we had not yet purchased on our trip. I even bought some beads to hang around my neck, re-opening the ongoing debate as to whether they can ever look macho on a bloke. But hey, I’m a traveller (for the next two weeks at least) and it’s what we wear! I’ve stopped short at the baggy cotton pants, straw fedora and out of tune guitar. Oh, and aren’t you impressed that I got through this whole post without mentioning how much fun there is in messing about on boats?     

It may be time for some closing observations on my time in Nepal, or even to say a few things about Pokhara. Unfortunately for obvious reasons I did not get to truly experience this “small” town (the second largest city in the country!) If you come here, you tend to do two things – stay by the lake, and go trekking. We’re here in the off-season and to be honest I prefer this time as there aren’t too many tourists around and the weather is just right. It would have been nice to sit out on the balcony and watch the summer sun set with a few beers, but that’s for another visit. I’d definitely come to Pokhara again.  

As for Nepal, well, the guidebook states that if the endless powercuts and awful infrastructure are the type of thing that wind you up then you will not enjoy your time here. But if you are prepared to look on these shortcomings with a smile and a shrug, and you keep in mind that you are in a third world country, Nepal provides a vibrant and exciting cultural experience. I agree with this. The second leg may have been marred by food poisoning, and the powercuts are an absolute pain in the backside when you want to charge your netbook, but overall it’s a pretty good place to visit. Maybe fresh from home though, and not after nearly six months on the road!