The bus journey from Kathmandu is a single road heading out of the valley and winding down the mountain. The road is packed... PACKED with trucks and buses end to end. I've never seen anything like it. The dust thrown up, and black smoke thrown out by old, struggling diesel engines is unbelievable! The plants look like they're covered in snow, or have just been through a nuclear holocaust, or volcanic eruption. It's sad, and as I think this I realise that I'm part of this (and I did this journey twice). The people of Pokhara want an international airport to increase business, but most people go to Pokhara from Kathmandu anyway, and would probably want to visit Kathmandu too! I'm not sure it would help in any way - it would just mean more guest houses (there's 500+ already) and big planes over peaceful Pokhara. When I first arrived there in rainy August, 80% of guest houses were probably empty and huge discounts could be found. October brought tons of tourists but I still cannot believe that all guest houses were full. That said, Pokhara is an incredible place and has so much to offer :)
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| Apocalypse?? No, just the road from Kathmandu |
My time here was spent with some great people: Jasmina, Bishnu and his family, Ganesh, Sita, Baba - we became very good friends and they kindly took me to their homes, introduced me to their families and fed me. Jasmina I'd met in India 7 months before - we'd never kept in touch but had randomly bumped into each other in the Prabin cafe - very surreal.
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