March 2 - Pokhara

The early morning (Christoph got up at 7 a.m. and I at 7:30 a.m.) started with our first "cold shower". When Christoph came out of the bathroom and told me that only cold water came out of the taps I didn't wanna take a shower first. But he persuaded me that I needed to get used to it and the sooner that happened the better it would be. So I showered cold but at the end the water turned warm:-) (We learned that at this special guest house the water needed some time to turn warm:-)
While we were enjoying our breakfast (with lake-view on the balcony), we met another German woman, Silvia,  who had also arrived the day before.We got along with each other very well and when Christoph and I started off with sightseeing in Pokhara, Silvia joined us.
First we were rowed to the other side of the lake

Silvia and I

and around 11 a.m. we began walking upwards about 300m in altitude difference to the Stupa (in Buddhismus a Stupa is that, what a church for Christians and Temples for Hindus is).

at the other side of the lake

our first wildlife monkey

Halfway up (at around 11:30 a.m.) I was already sweating because of the steep stone steps leading us to the Stupa and so we took our first break at 28°C in the shade.

halfway up

my first Nepalese tea

After 45 minutes break we continued our way up to the World Peace Stupa and reached it 30 minutes later:

World Peace Stupa in Pokhara

For those of you who are interested in some more information about the Stupa

After strolling around for about 1 hours we descended the other side of the "hill" and were back in Pokhara at 3 p.m.

Peak Seasons in Nepal

The best time to travel to Nepal is in October and November. March and April are the 2nd best season. The disadvantage of March and April is the misty weather. Normally between 8 a.m. -11 a.m. it is still clear, but then it starts getting misty.
Near the Stupa is a Himalaya View Point but when we were on the peak of the hill (between 2 and 3 p.m.) it was so misty, that we couldn't see anything. Later on we saw the wonderful view on a postcard and while trekking we saw the mountain range again, but at that time it was a little bit disappointing.

Back in Pokhara we visited the Gupteshwor Mahadev Cave and Devi's Falls (a tributary of the Seti flowing out of Phewa Lake, disappearing into an underground gorge and reapprearing 500m further south) before we took a short break in a street cafe:

cave entrance gate

some information about the cave

view from the cave to the gorge where the tributary disappears into the underground

view from the outside

This place must be much more impressive in May and June (monsoon season, if the river carries much more water).

We took a taxi back to our guesthouse and Silvia showed us how to bargain:-) At 4:30 p.m. we were back and Christoph and I took a short nap. Later we joined Silvia who just got to know her guide for her upcoming trek.
We (Christoph, Silvia and I) had dinner at the same pizzeria as we ate the day before and when we left the restaurant at 10:45 p.m. all other stores and restaurants were already closed (closing time is around 10 p.m.) It was so dark that we were lucky that Christoph was the only one who had brought a small torch. At 11:30 p.m. we went to bed but even though I was very tired I coulnd't fall asleep easily.