Our last stop in Nepal was in Pokhara. This is where most people would start if they were going to the Annapurnas. On a clear day you can see the mountains from the lake. We spent about 5 days here and loooooved it. It's hard to believe how different Kathmandu is from Pokhara.
We didn't do any trekking or real sight-seeing and basically continued on with our lazy-assed routine we were doing in Kathmandu. Eat, drink, sleep, walk, repeat. The highlight of our time in Pokhara was renting a boat for a full day with some of our friends. We bought beers and just paddled around the lake until it was time to get more food or bevvies, at which point we paddled to shore and reloaded before heading off again. Eating chicken sandwiches in the middle of the lake was priceless.
The vibe in Pokhara was a lot more chill than it was in Kathmandu-- not as many people touting and hounding you to buy something or eat somewhere. We also found a lot nicer accommodation than we had found in Kathmandu, and at a cheaper price.
Gorkha Beer. Evan's verdict: not the best beer.
Tips/Hints
You will be hounded by touts once you get off the bus because if you take the public bus it stops on the outskirts of the city. We were able to get a good deal on a room by banding together with the other foreigners we were travelling with and we were given a free ride to the hotel. Haggle haggle haggle!
If you had your eyes on anything special shopping-wise in Kathmandu, don't expect to be able to pick up the exact same thing once you get to Pokhara. You will easily be able to outfit yourself in trekking gear but you might not be able to find some of the unique things you saw in Kathmandu.
If you are planning on selling your guidebooks (and Pokhara is your last stop in Nepal) you might try to sell them before you leave Kathmandu. We didn't really need our guidebook that much, and found it really hard to re-sell it to any of the bookshops in Pokhara.
You CAN get a bus out to the Sonauli border from Pokhara. We thought we were going to have to back-track back to Kathmandu but had no problems finding a bus and we didnt need to buy tickets in advance. We left around 630, and were able to cross the border and get all the way out to Gorakphur in the same day. It is a fairly long haul (bring snacks as the food was super limited) but really easy to navigate. Some might tell you to just fly but we saved ALOT of money by going overland.
We didn't do any trekking or real sight-seeing and basically continued on with our lazy-assed routine we were doing in Kathmandu. Eat, drink, sleep, walk, repeat. The highlight of our time in Pokhara was renting a boat for a full day with some of our friends. We bought beers and just paddled around the lake until it was time to get more food or bevvies, at which point we paddled to shore and reloaded before heading off again. Eating chicken sandwiches in the middle of the lake was priceless.
The vibe in Pokhara was a lot more chill than it was in Kathmandu-- not as many people touting and hounding you to buy something or eat somewhere. We also found a lot nicer accommodation than we had found in Kathmandu, and at a cheaper price.
Row row row your boat
Gorkha Beer. Evan's verdict: not the best beer.
Impromptu beer opener
Tips/Hints
You will be hounded by touts once you get off the bus because if you take the public bus it stops on the outskirts of the city. We were able to get a good deal on a room by banding together with the other foreigners we were travelling with and we were given a free ride to the hotel. Haggle haggle haggle!
If you had your eyes on anything special shopping-wise in Kathmandu, don't expect to be able to pick up the exact same thing once you get to Pokhara. You will easily be able to outfit yourself in trekking gear but you might not be able to find some of the unique things you saw in Kathmandu.
If you are planning on selling your guidebooks (and Pokhara is your last stop in Nepal) you might try to sell them before you leave Kathmandu. We didn't really need our guidebook that much, and found it really hard to re-sell it to any of the bookshops in Pokhara.
You CAN get a bus out to the Sonauli border from Pokhara. We thought we were going to have to back-track back to Kathmandu but had no problems finding a bus and we didnt need to buy tickets in advance. We left around 630, and were able to cross the border and get all the way out to Gorakphur in the same day. It is a fairly long haul (bring snacks as the food was super limited) but really easy to navigate. Some might tell you to just fly but we saved ALOT of money by going overland.
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