Pokhara chill out

We have spent the last couple of days relaxing in the best place to relax of the whole Nepal: the city of Pokhara!

Pokhara, or more specifically, the area of Pokhara called Lakeside, is the perfect place for chilling out after a trek. The relaxed atmosphere created by the Phewa lake creates the idillic conditions to enjoy its cool restaurants and cafes. They offer all kind of delicacies of excellent quality at very reasonable prices and beautiful gardens and terraces where to let the time pass.

Boats at the shore of Phewa Tal, Lakeside Pokhara

After spending the last couple of weeks in simple mountain lodges with basic services, we feel really spoilt with all this luxury! We have enjoyed the best pizzas in Nepal so far in the Italian restaurant Caffé Concerto, the best thali (Nepali dish) at the Pokhara Thakali Restaurant and the best breakfast of the trip at Mike’s Restaurant.

In Pokhara there is also a wide range of massage places which aim to relieve the pain of the tired muscles of trekkers returning from the mountains. Among them, we chose the Seeing Hands Clinic, a UK Charity which aims to give bling people in Nepal a brighter future. In the Nepali society, blind people are marginalized because of traditional beliefs that blindness is a curse or penance for sins in a previous life. The Seeing Hands project creates an opportunity for blind people in Nepal. We read about the project in the internet and we decided that we wanted to contribute to it. So we booked a time yesterday evening and we enjoyed one hour of massage by the hands of a couple of young and friendly blind Nepalese masseurs.

Seeing Hands Clinic in Pokhara (there is another clinic in Kathmandu)

After spoiling ourselves so much yesterday with food and massages, today we felt like we wanted to see Pokhara outside of Lakeside.

We read that there was a Tibetan settlement at the South of the city and we decided to visit it. A couple of local buses drove us to the suburbs of Pokhara and we followed the locals’ indications until we found the Tibetan camp. The settement is a nice green area with Tibetan flags, a modern monastery and several stalls selling Tibetan souvenirs. The ladies there try to attract you to their all stall with all kind of tricks, but they are all really kind and sweet and we bought several items at different stalls: earrings made of diverse precious stones such as turquoise, coral, tiger eye, lapislazuli and amber, silver necklaces with Tibetan symbols (Om, Bhudda face, etc) and hand woven clothes, among others. We also visited the carpet factory where Tibetan women weave carpets with beautiful motifs of tigers, bears and Tibetan vilages. We had a pleasant stroll around the village and all the Tibetans that we met received us with a broad smile.

Tibetan woman weaving a belt in the Tibetan settlement at the South of Pokhara

Finally, we went to the old part of town: the area called Bazar. We really loved it here! It was like travelling to India, but without all the hazzle. The bazar is a broad street with little traffic, but many, many people, some selling and some buying all kind of products: clothes, kitchen utensils, vegetables, toys, tools…It was really fun to see the Nepali making their bussiness, checking the quality of the products, negoziating the price, etc. And above all, Iván and I really enjoyed the food stalls!! We tried it all: the momos, the samosas and pakodas, the peanuts, the local bakery, the fruits…We ate so many of these delicious snacks that when we arrived to the hotel around 19:00, we didn’t feel like having dinner or like going anywhere else. Our day have already been full of great experiences and tomorrow morning we will take the early bus to Kathmandu. Our next post will actually be about the capital of Nepal. Post you soon!

Street lentils vendors in the Bazar area of Pokhara