April 12th – More eating in Pokhara

There isn’t a whole lot to do in Pokhara. Most of your time there consists of eating, walking around shopping and surfing the internet. We started off the morning at the famous Mike’s breakfast where I had some steak and eggs, fried potatoes, muffins and orange juice. Total cost? Around 200 rupees or roughly $3. The restaurant is quite nice and right on a lake in Pokhara. They have tables that you can eat at outside and the place was frequented by westerners who were dressed nicely.

Most of the rest of the day was spent shopping and surfing the internet. I found a couple of Nepal patches and a map of the trek for souvenirs. There are tons of shops that have North Face hiking gear, and every other major brand you can think of. The problem is that it’s all rather obvious that it’s all Chinese knockoff crap. I wouldn’t trust any of the gear when out trekking, and lord knows how many toxic chemicals or lead paint that all of the stuff contains. Buy your stuff before you get to Nepal to avoid the counterfeit garbage.

While out shopping, I managed to run into the Germans that I had met in Thorong Phedi and Tatopani. They had just flown in from Jomsom and were up for a few days of relaxing and eating. I gave them some recommendations on food and wished them well before we parted ways. Another thing that you see on the streets here in Pokhara and in Katmandu as well is Nepalese men hanging all over one another. For them, it’s totally normal to be draped all over one another, be walking down the street holding hands or arms around each other. Even walking along with their hands in each other’s back pockets. In the Western world, that has a totally different connotation, but around here it’s completely normal. Blaine managed to get a great picture of this sort of activity.

Still trying to catch up on sleep from all of the hiking, and filled with food from all of the constant eating, I crashed in our hotel room for several hours. I woke up to a torrential rain storm that had seemingly started from out of nowhere. The wind was howling and swaying trees back and forth as the shopkeepers below scrambled to bundle up their goods so they weren’t ruined by the rain. This is a difficult job for them due to the fact that the shops often extend out onto the sidewalk with a plethora of items stocked outside and on the sidewalks under awnings. In a large rainstorm with lots of wind, the awnings are useless and everything will get drenched.

Fortunately the storm was short lived and it found Mike, Blaine and I at a local bar in the late afternoon for some beer, pizza and pool. When a group of customers turned their back on a plate of chapatti, Blaine and Mike ate it right off the table while they were still sitting there. It was not the first time during the trip that they pulled such a stunt, but I was explained that when you’re out traveling, you learn to eat free food whenever it becomes available. I would draw the line at eating food of strangers’ plates when they weren’t looking. When they weren’t busy eating other people’s food, Michael and Blaine joined me in perhaps the worst game of pool the world has ever seen. I’m no pool shark by any stretch, but was even worse than I normally am.

While playing pool, we were joined by Andrea and Bethany. The major news was that Andrea had decided that she wanted a nose ring. They had headed off to get one each while the guys went to play pool, but only Andrea ended up getting one. We all headed back to the hotel where I catnapped / watched TV while the rest of the group did some internet work and arranged items for their trip to China before we all headed to bed.