Our first weekend off!

This weekend has to one of the most indulgent, glutinous and excessive weekends of my life. However, it started with the most terrifying bus journey down from the village. The road down to Syangja is a dirt track with enormous boulders everywhere and a significant drop off one side most of the way which is extremely scary. The road from Syangja to Pokhara, although a highway was not an awful lot better and we were frequently bounced out of our seats. Furthermore, the seats are made for Nepalese sized people which we are certainly not so we were hanging off the edge most of the way. After our death ride we arrived in Pokhara in the rain and cloud. Unfortunately we missed our bus stop as the driver forgot to tell us so he put us in a taxi and paid for it which was so generous and kind but we did feel pretty stupid.

Pokhara is a tourist hub at the foot of the Annapurna mountains. It can be beautiful with amazing mountain views but this was not the case so we spent most of the weekend crawling from cafe to cafe and pigging out on western food. This was actually very enjoyable as we spent a lot of time playing cards and getting to know the other volunteers. We also spent some time browsing in shops, visiting the Tibetan market and wandering around.

On Saturday afternoon the cloud lifted and the mountains emerged which was beautiful. Pokhara is also home to Lake Phewa, the second largest lake in Nepal. It was stunning and very relaxing to wander around lakeside with the amazing views. There were lots of boats out on the lake and paragliders around the mountains which we were very jealous of and will certainly do on our next visit. There are also a number of treks you can do in the area so next time we will not be so idil and explore a bit more.

Despite our lethargy and consuming vast amounts of food it was a lovely break from school and a beautiful place to visit. All of our cravings have now gone and we all feel quite ready to return to the peace, quiet and simplicity of village life to start school on Monday.