Peaceful Pokhara

So the last few days i've been allowing myself to do not too much at all. My time in Pokhara has been largely (and in my opinion - wisely) spent laying around in the sun and reading books, with a little bit of sightseeing when i felt like it. 

Today, one of the guys that runs the hostel i'm in took me motorbike riding though the mountains. It was hillarious because the bike was ancient and kept conking out when it got too steep. We went up to the top of Sarangot and took pics from the lookout as well as visiting Buddhist and Hindu temples and a lake about 9kms out of town (for anyone who has been to pokhara obviously not the lake at lakeside). We saw the lake just before sunset....soooo beautiful. 

On the ride back to the hostel i decided one of the things i really like about Pokhara - aside from the wonderful people and laid back atmosphere (instead of the busy hustle and bustle of Kathmandu). The thing i really like is the mountains in the background. On hazy days you look up to the Annapurnas and all you can really see is the snow line (obviously the rest of the mountain is there - but it's the snow that really sticks out). It makes them look more like clouds and parts of the sky, than parts of the land. Anyone whos been here should know what i mean, they just seem to appear. 

Last night the brothers who run the hostel, Tal (another guest) and I sat around and played guitar/djembe/whatever we could find and drank raksi (nepali home made wine). It was a lot of fun - although we absolutely massacred the likes of pink floyd and eric clapton - luckily there were no hardcore musos about to catch us out....or if there was, they didn't make themselves known.

Tonight i'm joining the family who runs the hostel for Daal Bhat (Nepali national dish...some people have never eaten anything else). The whole time i have nbeen in Nepal i haven't eaten it so it's about time i did!

Hope all is grand at home
xx