More of Pokhara

For my last week in Nepal, I get to explore and take a week of vacation before heading back to the states. My friend flew in to the Pokhara airport to visit and explore with me. First we headed to the main tourist area in Lakeside to shop. There are many shops, restaurants, and coffee shops in the area to fill your day and bags with local things. They have a lot of counterfeit camping and hiking equipment which are actually decent quality and very cheap. Some of the other common things here are fabrics, cashmere, brass sculptures, books, ammonite fossils, brass bowls, paintings, yak leather goods, teas, and several travel agent and activity shops.

Pokhara Airport. A flight from Katmandu to Pokhara is about $120 US and takes about 20 mins. It's a great time saving alternative to the 7 hour bus ride for $20 US. 

The two main airlines are Yeti Airlines and Buddha Air that fly to Pokhara. 

Showing my friend Lakeside... She's a bit jet lagged

Rain blowing in over the lake at evening. 

Street view of Lakeside shopping on a rainy day

Lakeside street view

A definite Must-Do in Pokhara is going to the World Peace Pagoda. There is a road that takes you up there which costs about Rs 1000 one way or Rs1500 to go there and back. We bargained the price down significantly, but after seeing the rocky dirt road in the rainy weather and being amazed at how the taxi driver drove, we payed a good tip because it was totally worth it.

The taxi that took us up to the World Peace Pagoda

World Peace Pagoda 

Amazing view of Pokhara from the World Peace Pagoda. Unfortunately, the Himalayan Mountains are still hiding behind clouds off in the distance. 

View on the other side of the hill from the World Peace Pagoda. 

On the way back from the Peace Pagoda, we went to the cave across from Devi's Fall and saw the bottom of the falls... see previous posts for pics of Devi Fall

One of my other favorite things so far was going Paragliding over Pokhara. It was about $100 US and it was totally worth it. There are several paragliding companies in town that are all similar. The launch point is from the top of Sarangkot which is a beautiful drive and view just on the other side of the lake from the World Peace Pagoda.

View from Sarangkot. The reg flag at the top w the 2 triangles is the Nepalese national flag. 

Paragliding launch site waiting for a good head wind.

View during paragliding. It gets crowded up there at times. My pilot says there can be up to 50 other gliders at the same time, all circling clockwise to catch the updrafts next to the hill. 

View paragliding 

View paragliding

View paragliding

The "up-river" side of the lake across from Pokhara

Looking back at Pokhara

Our landing "target"

Me coming in for my landing

I kinda got motion sickness and used his emesis bag.

Another awesome thing to do in Pokhara is to go shopping in Mahendrapul which is a major intersection and trading/shopping center. Here are a few pictures of our shopping experiences there.

One of the walk in shopping areas in Mahendrapul

Street view at Mahendrapul

Moooooooove off the sidewalk

One of the main intersections near Mahendrapul. You pass this intersection on the way to Manipal Hosp... It's basically a Kamikaze intersection w five narrow streets and lots of traffic.