Road Trip

You can always rely on sleepy Pokhara for some quality R&R time away from chaotic Kathmandu. With Memorial Day on Monday and a local holiday on Wednesday, we decided to take one day off for a nice five-day weekend. The original plan was to go to nearby Bhutan, but the first class airfare, nationally mandated $250/day tourist fee (each!) and geographical similarities to Nepal made us reconsider. After much deliberation, we next decided on Oman. That's definitely different. But when I saw the temperatures hitting 120 F (plus I think there are like seven shade trees in the country) and Elyse read about the coronavirus on the Arabian Peninsula, we again changed our minds. With little time or energy for more planning, we settled on tried and true Pokhara. Sure we'd been there before, but it's a great little town surrounded by traditional Nepal. To make it at least a little different, though, we agreed to stay in new (to us) and more upscale lodgings. As one can see below, this really is a beautiful country well worth a visit.

Ryan's got her road trippin' pig tails in and is ready to roll.

 

The Old Bandipur Inn was so old fashioned even the photos came out in sepia tones.

Panorama from the Barahi Hotel, downtown Pokhara. Machapuchare (Fish Tail) is the pointy one in the center.

Night #2: Fish Tail Lodge

View during breakfast. More Fish Tail!

Last stop, Tiger Mountain Lodge. Ten km from Pokhara and on a quiet hillside, we had our own bungalow.

Ryan, "exploring the space." She needs more cowbell.

We had the whole resort to ourselves, including the hillside pool. Himalayas behind the clouds.