To Pokhara by jeep

Day 11 - Birethanti-Pokhara

Breakfast at Birethanti guesthouse

After breakfast - and a little more shopping by Phillipa and others - we were off to the familiar 'gateway' bridge for our ride to Pokhara. Two jeeps met us as the road was too bad for a van. This also meant a Birethanti pickup instead of needing to walk down the 4WD track to Nayapul.



The journey was comfy enough, even if Barb thought the driver wasn't old enough to have a licence yet. He seemed about 14. But he was pretty good. He got grumpy at some of the goat herders, taking up the road as they moved flocks of goats from Tibet to Nepal for slaughter during Dashain or Desia. The road wasn't scary but it certainly was quite destroyed. A van would definitely have struggled.

We drove via Sarangkot, hoping for mountain views but the clouds stubbornly persisted. A Pokhara-Sarangkot gondala is under construction, that will make life easier for the tourists soon (though likely not affect the locals because of the price). We were trying to spot Jimmy's house as we went ... only to see Jimmy himself at the side of the road! He hopped into the jeep behind us and we were able to catch up with him in Pokhara. Fantastic.

We had a short time for housekeeping things like laundry and proper showers before lunch at Rosemary, our go-to eatery with the best coffee.  This is where we said goodbye to our guides and porters. Bachan, Raam, Karna, Sunit and Ravi had looked after us so well. Karna in particular had made our Tolka trip so special.

With Karna and Jimmy

Then I had just enough time for a "haircut". Which meant a beard shave - and a head shave. The barber was great, cheerfully upselling me on a face massage (hmm, ok) and attempted a shoulder massage (nah). "Tell your friends," he happily said as I contemplated my now completely shorn head.

Next stop was the rugby. New Zealand vs Canada at a place called Paradiso Sports Bar. 2-for-1 cocktails meant that the group were already a little merry by the time we arrived.

Good game but no bother for the All Blacks.

Straight to dinner at a Chinese place Expansion had recommended. Superb. Yum. Better than Wellington and probably at least as good as Melbourne.

And that was Pokhara for us. Time to head to Limbini early next day.