Are you one of those souls hoping to escape from this mundane life? Are you confused or can’t decide where to go or how to go? We guess… You have come to the right place. This place is just for you; we work more to cater for your requirement and, at the same time, share our experience.
We call ourselves Travel Freaks……..
On opening this blog, the first question that might come to your mind is…………
Table of Contents
1. Why Pokhara?
Pokhara has always been the main centre of attraction in Nepal for foreigners, especially for high-altitude trekkers. It is mainly due to its Western appearance and the various adventure activities that this place has to offer. Most importantly, it is also the gateway for many trekking routes; one such popular trek is the Annapurna Summit trek. However, we were more inclined towards exploring Pokhara from a non-trekkers point of view. The bottom line was we were too much excited for our visit.
The next question that might come to your mind is………..
2. How did we reach Nepal?
We already shared our experience and frequently asked queries about reaching Nepal. Follow Chitwan Blog for details. Coming back to our story, we continued our journey from Chitwan.
3. How was the journey from Chitwan to Pokhara?
There are regular bus services that ply between Birgunj and Pokhara. Our journey from Chitwan took us (approximately 140 km) nearly 4.5 hours. As it was a December morning, and when we were about to start from Chitwan, the battery of the bus got discharged; it was a terrible start to the day. Somehow, with the help of the locals, the driver was able to start, and we were able to depart from Chitwan after some hiccups.
We started enjoying the journey and just then found ourselves stuck in a long queue due to some construction by the mountainside. Being curious souls, we jumped out of the bus to check out quickly. But it was chilling cold outside; hence had to return to the bus and close the door. Finally, the bus started moving slowly after being in the queue for over 45 minutes. We were able to reach Pokhara by late afternoon. We decided to stay in close proximity to Lakeside Road. There are a number of stay options available depending on your budget. After a quick break, we enjoyed our lunch.
So we would suggest our readers depart as early as possible from Chitwan in order to avoid traffic jams. Now your next question might be…….
4. How was the first experience of Pokhara City?
The first thing after getting down from the bus was the city was surrounded by the snow-capped Himalayas. It was definitely a treat to the eyes. Even pictures couldn’t do justice to the beauty of this place.
As there was a transition from afternoon to dusk, the mercury quickly dropped. We put on some warm clothes and decided to explore the city. There were a few souvenir shops selling out woollen clothes, and all of them were close to our stay. Interestingly, most of the locals could speak fluent Hindi and also accept Indian currency. One thing we observed was that even the local stationary shops have wine options, especially if you are a beer lover; you have plenty of options to explore.
So hope you got a glimpse of the first impression of this beautiful city. Many of the foodies reading this blog might be curious to know the following question…..
5. What are the food options available?
Of course, we were hungry after exploring for more than three hours. On our way back, we decided to look at the food options available & to our surprise; there were plenty of options: local Nepali Thakali (Thali), Indian Cuisine, Chinese, Italian and Continental dishes, to name a few. There were budget options too; you can also opt for street food like Tibetan Thukpa, Chat or Samosas.
Few restaurants and cafes were serving vegan food as well. Oh yes, fruit options were also there. Looking at the food options, we were a bit confused and finally called off our day with Nepali thakali. The taste was really nice, and it cost around 120 INR. Now it was time for us to head back to our hotel & grab some sleep as we had local sightseeing planned out the next day.
Now, all the curious souls might wonder; they won’t be coming just to have food or explore the city. They will definitely say…………………………
6. What to see in and around Pokhara City?
Let us share our experience, and at the same time, you will get to know what did we see. We were ready for another exciting & adventurous day, waiting for our bus to pick us up for the sightseeing. It was close to 8 o’clock when we started off.
The first stop was at the Bindyabasini temple. The temple was located at around 5-6 km from our stay. By connecting with locals, we got to know about the myths/history of this temple. It was told to us that a local farmer named Bindya was a devout follower of the Hindu faith and deeply revered goddess Durga. One day, while working in his fields, Bindya discovered a divine idol of the goddess Durga buried in the ground. Overwhelmed by his discovery, he decided to build a temple to honour the goddess. The story sounded interesting to us.
The temple ambience and the surrounding were breathtaking. We took a lot of snaps on the temple premises. After spending about an hour, we moved on to the next stop, Davis Falls. This is also known as the Patale Chango.
The history mentions that a Swiss woman named Mrs Davis was swept away by the water stream. Hence, this fall was covered as we could only hear the sound of the flowing water.
After close to an hour, we moved on to Mahendra Cave. This is a limestone cave that contains naturally formed sculptures and architecture within the cave. It was pretty dark and slipper.
We would suggest the elderly people be careful while visiting this cave.
As we had explored the entire day, so we hopped on to our bus to return back & planned to spend the evening hrs boating in Phewa Lake.
Besides the places already mentioned places, you can visit Sarangkot for paragliding or to view sunrise, the world peace pagoda, Gupteshwar Cave and International Mountain Museum, to name a few. However, covering all the places in a single day is difficult. Due to our time constraints and also to explore Phewa Lake, we returned in time.
This might prompt many readers to think………..
7. What is there to explore in Phewa Lake?
After returning, we had our lunch and then quickly moved to Phewa Lake. It was a paddle boat that we chose to go with. Initially, we didn’t realise how tough it could be to paddle for close to an hour. Somehow, we managed and reach the Tal Barahi temple, located on a small island in the centre of Phewa Lake.
The temple is dedicated to Goddess Durga. The temple premises were crowded with local tourists. There was a sense of hurriedness since we were asked to return as it started getting dark. It was already half past three. Somehow, we crawled, dragged, and finally reached it just at the nick of time.
After paddling for so long, our legs were tingling a bit. However, we got excited as soon as we saw an artist performing with fire. It was just fantastic to see him performing. It was time for us to bid adieu to this marvellous place after two days and head towards our next destination.
Hope that by reading this blog, you have got a glimpse of this place, and you will be able to plan an itinerary of this place.
8. What kind of help are we gonna provide to you?
Hmm, this question is bound to come to your mind. Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will be giving you a glimpse of our journey and also helping you to plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
Read about our Ladakh blogs.
Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
Read about our Andaman and Nicobar blogs.
Do follow our Instagram handle @mindfulllofvacations and keep an eye out for the next destination story of Nepal. For any query related to any trip, drop a mail at @mitkau007@gmail.com
by mitkau