Things I loved about sleepy Pokhara, Nepal :)
The highlight of Pokhara for me was undoubtedly PARAGLIDING!!!! What an incredibly fabulous day! I literally ran off the edge of a mountain with a French man attached to my back (of course he had to be French ;) lol) and tried PARAGLIDING for the first time ever!! What an absolute buzz that was. I felt like I was flying, I want to go again, and again, and again.... such enthusiastic people working there, such positive energy. We flew with the eagles (literally - 3 of them) and floated slowly across the mountainside. We caught light winds into the clouds, and then slowly flew across Lake Fewa and landed in a field across the water. I LOVED it!!
It is so unbelievably peaceful up there, it is almost as calm and peaceful as being 30m underwater. This could become an expensive hobby...they do a 10 day course to learn how to fly them solo later this year ;)
How do you beat a morning like that exactly? You can't, but you can use the excitement to inject even more enthusiasm and gratitude into your life for future adventures. By being open to more new things, more new things will find you :) Or share it! I gave a blow by blow out of this world enthusiastic account of my journey to Kate and Rhian, which resulted in Kate racing straight to the paragliding shop and signing up herself for the next morning! I should have been born a story teller :)
I spent a totally chillaxed afternoon on a boat on the lake with Kate and Rhian swapping old stories and life experiences while the most adorable man ever rowed us around giggling with (and possibly at...) us!! It was the most beautiful day weather wise, with the sun completely out and a glimpse of the Annapurna Mountain range in the background briefly. We have not had sunshine the whole time since I arrived in Pokhara until the Paragliding day - obviously it happened for a reason, and that reason being Kate and I getting to throw ourself off the mountain and fly through the sky for the first time ever :) <3 The boat trip was just stunning. You can see from the photo just how calm and amazing the water in Lake Fewa was that day. The calmness, the reflections in the water and the sheer peacefulness being there right then was stunning and so special.
Given that I spent the first part of my time in Pokhara feeling completely sick and exhausted, things were definitely looking up. I was feeling grateful to feeling human again today so decided to celebrate and make things happen to make me smile :) Hence the paragliding :) A great day!!!!
When I had first arrived in Pokhara I was very excited to be there for some me time and to explore a place, however from a health point of view I was a mess! Having made the tough decision to listen to my body I had reluctantly pulled out of the final days of the trek. I couldn't regain strength following our ascent to 5416m when a cold and stomach bug hit me. As the days progressed in Pokhara I would start to feel slightly better, and then would get these intense waves of tiredness and fatigue, sometimes accompanied with nausea. Very, very strange and I just didn't feel good at all. I could be sitting in a cafe totally chilled out and suddenly feel like I was possibly going to pass out. Luckily my return to health coincided with the sunshine arriving in Pokhara. And after days of standing in tip toes in my bathroom and peeking out of the window towards the mountain range in the distance, I could finally see a glimpse of the Fishtail!! Which meant clear skies and good weather were finally arriving. That is the day that I decided what the hell, let's go and see if I can paraglide soon. Upon arriving in the office the lady said hey yes let's go today at 12pm (it was 11:15am...). I guess being thrown in the deep end is probably a good thing lol as I was slightly nervous and this way I didn't have time to think about it! So excited and proud of myself for doing this as you can tell from above lol :)
During my earlier, recovery chilling in Pokhara days I would literally wake up at 11am and slowly make my way through the one main street that we called 'town', hoping that I wouldn't throw up, and find a cafe to sit in and literally set up camp there for the day drinking orange juice and cafe! You could easily tell the newbie trekkers from those who had done the trekking in this sleepy town. Newbies were excitedly up early and buying North Fake products galore. Old timers, like me - totally fried, sunburnt noses, and that pathetic, exhausted look - oh and a nice LARGE pot of Himalaya organic freshly brewed coffee and mango juice parker in front of them in a cafe with wifi where I intended to sit until they kicked me out. No -one ever did. It must be my smile, lol or my weary expression ;)
During those early days it rained every day so I didn't feel obliged to do anything other than sit still, (oh my body craved that after 6-8 hours of trekking every day), people watch, watch water buffalo walk the streets, and read my newly bought Vietnam and Cambodia Lonely Planet, suss out the nearest massage places, and ask advice from passers by on where I can find decent bacon and fresh smoothies. Oh and decide if I should take antibiotics or not to get me out of the nasty little funk I seemed to have stuck in. This bug just would not go and the lethargic feelings were killing me :( I did end up taking a 5 day course, and it helped to shift it. I couldn't help wondering if this was actually something left inside my system from my India bug days... I hate taking antibiotics but they did make me feel instantly better :)
Pokhara brought to life lots of dreams for me about health and fitness and a burning desire to be near the water. I found myself missing like crazy my old life of running, swimming, diving, training for races, track work, having burning thighs from a tough session in the gym or on the road, CrossFit, my healthy paleo lifestyle, healthy nutritious unprocessed foods. I dreamed about fruit, vegetables, smoothies, big salad bowls full of goodness, herbals teas, avocados, nuts. And I really, really missed the OCEAN. I really need to run again and soon. I have just been feeling so lazy lately. LOL and as the lovely Lauren just mentioned "ummm fairly sure that a 21 day trekking trip counts as fairly hardcore exercise" and she is of course right so I need to cut myself some slack haha!!
I spent a lot of time assessing my travel journey for life after Nepal during my time in Pokhara, I didn't really get too far. All I know is that I need to get underwater and diving again soon, and based somewhere where I can satisfy my running and yoga cravings and find a bit of a routine again. Everyone at home will laugh at my craving routine when I am 'living the dream' - my dream, your dream, everyones dream LOL! I blame May 24 half marathon for my sudden dreams of running!! Seeing everyones photos and all of those wonderfully colourful lululemon outfits made me homesick ;) Bermuda running friends - know that I was with you all every step of the way from Nepal!
In the absence of the actual ocean, I settled for a room which overlooked the lake regardless of it being outside of my 'budget'. The hotel was called Hotel Peace Plaze and was run by a really lovely guy who gave me a good deal despite being busy each evening. I also spent as much time as I could either by the lake, on the lake or watching the lake from my balcony. So I learnt something else about myself and what I want in life - no landlocked countries as they make me claustrophobic, and I MUST live by the water in order to be able to breathe. Progress :)
Cafe culture is rife in Pokhara which is something that as you know makes me very, very happy. I love finding little cafes hidden away from the world and was thrilled to find Oasis Cafe - a very cool cafe that played chilled music, served Illy coffee, had gorgeous plants, hip artists hanging out, amazing people watching potential, and most importantly foods like papaya and mango smoothies, brown rice and veggie brownies and delicious ice cream options!! It even turned into a funky little candle lit restaurant by night time. It quickly became my Pokhara sanctuary and I literally hid out there each day until my return to Kathmandu! Happy days!
The highlight of Pokhara for me was undoubtedly PARAGLIDING!!!! What an incredibly fabulous day! I literally ran off the edge of a mountain with a French man attached to my back (of course he had to be French ;) lol) and tried PARAGLIDING for the first time ever!! What an absolute buzz that was. I felt like I was flying, I want to go again, and again, and again.... such enthusiastic people working there, such positive energy. We flew with the eagles (literally - 3 of them) and floated slowly across the mountainside. We caught light winds into the clouds, and then slowly flew across Lake Fewa and landed in a field across the water. I LOVED it!!
It is so unbelievably peaceful up there, it is almost as calm and peaceful as being 30m underwater. This could become an expensive hobby...they do a 10 day course to learn how to fly them solo later this year ;)
How do you beat a morning like that exactly? You can't, but you can use the excitement to inject even more enthusiasm and gratitude into your life for future adventures. By being open to more new things, more new things will find you :) Or share it! I gave a blow by blow out of this world enthusiastic account of my journey to Kate and Rhian, which resulted in Kate racing straight to the paragliding shop and signing up herself for the next morning! I should have been born a story teller :)
I spent a totally chillaxed afternoon on a boat on the lake with Kate and Rhian swapping old stories and life experiences while the most adorable man ever rowed us around giggling with (and possibly at...) us!! It was the most beautiful day weather wise, with the sun completely out and a glimpse of the Annapurna Mountain range in the background briefly. We have not had sunshine the whole time since I arrived in Pokhara until the Paragliding day - obviously it happened for a reason, and that reason being Kate and I getting to throw ourself off the mountain and fly through the sky for the first time ever :) <3 The boat trip was just stunning. You can see from the photo just how calm and amazing the water in Lake Fewa was that day. The calmness, the reflections in the water and the sheer peacefulness being there right then was stunning and so special.
Given that I spent the first part of my time in Pokhara feeling completely sick and exhausted, things were definitely looking up. I was feeling grateful to feeling human again today so decided to celebrate and make things happen to make me smile :) Hence the paragliding :) A great day!!!!
When I had first arrived in Pokhara I was very excited to be there for some me time and to explore a place, however from a health point of view I was a mess! Having made the tough decision to listen to my body I had reluctantly pulled out of the final days of the trek. I couldn't regain strength following our ascent to 5416m when a cold and stomach bug hit me. As the days progressed in Pokhara I would start to feel slightly better, and then would get these intense waves of tiredness and fatigue, sometimes accompanied with nausea. Very, very strange and I just didn't feel good at all. I could be sitting in a cafe totally chilled out and suddenly feel like I was possibly going to pass out. Luckily my return to health coincided with the sunshine arriving in Pokhara. And after days of standing in tip toes in my bathroom and peeking out of the window towards the mountain range in the distance, I could finally see a glimpse of the Fishtail!! Which meant clear skies and good weather were finally arriving. That is the day that I decided what the hell, let's go and see if I can paraglide soon. Upon arriving in the office the lady said hey yes let's go today at 12pm (it was 11:15am...). I guess being thrown in the deep end is probably a good thing lol as I was slightly nervous and this way I didn't have time to think about it! So excited and proud of myself for doing this as you can tell from above lol :)
During my earlier, recovery chilling in Pokhara days I would literally wake up at 11am and slowly make my way through the one main street that we called 'town', hoping that I wouldn't throw up, and find a cafe to sit in and literally set up camp there for the day drinking orange juice and cafe! You could easily tell the newbie trekkers from those who had done the trekking in this sleepy town. Newbies were excitedly up early and buying North Fake products galore. Old timers, like me - totally fried, sunburnt noses, and that pathetic, exhausted look - oh and a nice LARGE pot of Himalaya organic freshly brewed coffee and mango juice parker in front of them in a cafe with wifi where I intended to sit until they kicked me out. No -one ever did. It must be my smile, lol or my weary expression ;)
During those early days it rained every day so I didn't feel obliged to do anything other than sit still, (oh my body craved that after 6-8 hours of trekking every day), people watch, watch water buffalo walk the streets, and read my newly bought Vietnam and Cambodia Lonely Planet, suss out the nearest massage places, and ask advice from passers by on where I can find decent bacon and fresh smoothies. Oh and decide if I should take antibiotics or not to get me out of the nasty little funk I seemed to have stuck in. This bug just would not go and the lethargic feelings were killing me :( I did end up taking a 5 day course, and it helped to shift it. I couldn't help wondering if this was actually something left inside my system from my India bug days... I hate taking antibiotics but they did make me feel instantly better :)
I spent a lot of time assessing my travel journey for life after Nepal during my time in Pokhara, I didn't really get too far. All I know is that I need to get underwater and diving again soon, and based somewhere where I can satisfy my running and yoga cravings and find a bit of a routine again. Everyone at home will laugh at my craving routine when I am 'living the dream' - my dream, your dream, everyones dream LOL! I blame May 24 half marathon for my sudden dreams of running!! Seeing everyones photos and all of those wonderfully colourful lululemon outfits made me homesick ;) Bermuda running friends - know that I was with you all every step of the way from Nepal!
In the absence of the actual ocean, I settled for a room which overlooked the lake regardless of it being outside of my 'budget'. The hotel was called Hotel Peace Plaze and was run by a really lovely guy who gave me a good deal despite being busy each evening. I also spent as much time as I could either by the lake, on the lake or watching the lake from my balcony. So I learnt something else about myself and what I want in life - no landlocked countries as they make me claustrophobic, and I MUST live by the water in order to be able to breathe. Progress :)
Cafe culture is rife in Pokhara which is something that as you know makes me very, very happy. I love finding little cafes hidden away from the world and was thrilled to find Oasis Cafe - a very cool cafe that played chilled music, served Illy coffee, had gorgeous plants, hip artists hanging out, amazing people watching potential, and most importantly foods like papaya and mango smoothies, brown rice and veggie brownies and delicious ice cream options!! It even turned into a funky little candle lit restaurant by night time. It quickly became my Pokhara sanctuary and I literally hid out there each day until my return to Kathmandu! Happy days!
The day that Kate and I left Pokhara for Kathmandu, was the day that the entire Annapurna Mountain Range typically decided to show its magnificent self to us!! You can see from the handstand photo below just how spectacular a view it is and how lucky we felt to be able to catch a glimpse of this stunning view before leaving town :)
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