Pokhara, Nepal

I'm not sure who's running my life or what their plan is, but things have been decidedly strange with my travels to and from Kathmandu. You'll remember that I somehow managed to miss my flight to Kathmandu from Bangkok all those weeks ago and that I've spent the last three weeks trying to get out of the city. I finally had it all sorted out and was at the airport yesterday to catch my flight to Pokhara. We boarded the plane, taxied down the runway, turned around and came back to the terminal. There were apparently monsoon rains in Pokhara so the airport was closed. Back I went to the Kathmandu Guest House, where they were kind enough to give me a room at half price based on the fact that I had been keeping them in business for almost a month.

I kept a low profile for the evening as I didn't want anyone to see me and convince me to join them for drinks and live music. I had way too much of that the night before - sort of a going away party of sorts - and was in desperate need of some sleep. I knew I had been in Kathmandu for too long when I became embroiled in the all the dramas between travelers and Nepali musicians. I'm a little to old for all the heartache and soap opera action going on there, although it was really fun to be on the fringes of it for a while. I did meet some great people who I hope to stay in touch with. Still, it was definitely time for me to get out of town and play grown-up for a while.

I was up before 5:00 this morning and back to the airport. My flight left as planned this morning, and I finally arrived in Pokhara. This is another town that looks exactly the way I remember it but I'm finding it much prettier this time. Last time I was here, I was coming off my trek and I found it very noisy and plain compared to the beauty and solitude of the mountains. Coming from Kathmandu this time, it is wonderfully quiet and beautiful. There are more cows and water buffalos in the streets than there are vehicles, and there aren't any horns honking. The sky has cleared to some degree this afternoon so I can see the hills surrounding the lake and town. There is still some cloud cover on the horizon, so the mountains are hidden from view, but that's to be expected at this time of year.

I will start my trek tomorrow morning. For the trek up to Jomsom, I will likely encounter rain on a daily basis and I probably won't get views of the mountains. I don't really mind as I've been here before so I know what the views are like. And really, as long as I'm out there walking and getting farther and farther away from the city, I don't care what the weather is like. Once I get to the other side of the mountain range, I'll be in the rain shadow of the Himalayas and therefore protected from the monsoon.

There may be internet in Jomsom, and if so I'll blog from there. Otherwise, it will be somewhere around July 1 or 2 before I'm back to the moderately hi-tech world of Kathmandu. I don't think there will be any way to contact me on this trek. The office phone number of my guide (Tshering Sherpa) in Kathmandu is 4483660. I'm not sure if they'll be able to find us as I think we'll be out of cell phone range most of the time and I don't imagine we'll have a satellite phone with us.

Again, no news is good news, so don't worry. I'm in really good hands and happy to be here.