Oct 31, 2014 Friday, Pokhara

One of the main reasons to go to Pokhara is the views of the Annapurna range of the Himalayas.  So, with that in mind we were up at 5:00am to catch the sunrise.  Much too early to get up on vacation but it was very much worth it.  We were driven almost to the view point and had to walk the last mile or so as cars, buses, and vans clogged the roads.  All the tourists were up early to see the sunrise.  We had great seats on the rooftop terrace of a restaurant where we had tea and took tons of pictures.  The sunrise was minimally impressive but we stayed well after sunrise and as the sun rose in the sky we had awesome views of the mountains.  The mountains seemed to loom right over the valley.  By the time we left most of the parking congestion had cleared out. 

The photo below was at 50mm, roughly what you see.  The mountains do indeed loom over the valley.

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We had breakfast back at the hotel and then hit a number of sights around town and the surrounding countryside.

Pokhara neighborhood

 

There was a very long pedestrian bridge suspended high over a river. 

That's Paul...Mary wasn't interested in venturing too far out.

 

A hawk near the gorge

And a walk through some gardens and small farms outside of town.   

 

Our guide bought a kilo of cauliflower from one of the farmers, picked just for him.  Talk about farm fresh produce.

There was a lot of activity in the rice fields on the way back to town.

 

Rice Harvest

 

We had lunch on a balcony overlooking the lake.  There were a number of para-sails flying over the lake.  Mary said – "that one is doing loops, either out of control or on purpose".  Just then, the parachute deployed and it fell into the lake.  Thus ending our discussion of whether to go para-sailing.
   

After a walk through a nearby market we went to the Guptashwor Cave where we descended into the cave in order to see an underground waterfall, Devi Falls.  The entrance to the cave was lovely.  The falls were barely visible with some natural lighting from above. 

Entrance to Guptashwor Cave

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We then walked over to the park where the falls could be seen before they entered the caves.

Devi Falls