I met Shaun and his 17yr old step daughter Mithra who live in Bali but are Aussie on zee bus, so I've been hanging with them here and they're good company.
Pokhara is beautiful and relaxed. We're staying at Hotel Nirvana, which was recommended by Candy. I'd booked a cheaper room on the ground floor but they upgraded me because the ground floor rooms were actually booked. What a shame. I have a gorgeous corner room with windows on two sides, big bed and the first legitimately hot shower I've had in Nepal (rather than the room temperature "hot" water in Kathmandu). The place is very airy and chill and there's verandas and terrace where you can eat on every level.
Lake Pokhara is very scenic and surrounded by mountains, which look amazing at night when they disappear except for the dots of light from the scattered homes.
Women from the Tibetan refugee camps here set up stalls on the side of the lake selling jewellery and ornaments to make a living. They kill me. I bought some overpriced stuff off one woman just because I know she could use the money more than me. Then I felt awful not buying something from the rest of them. I'm soft.
Christmas today and we were all supposed to go to Sarangkot in the mountains before dawn to watch the Himalayas at sunrise but poor Mithra ended up with gastro (classic Nepal). Shaun and I went up anyway and it was really amazingly beautiful and completely surreal.
Have really just been chilling the rest of today. Had a massive breakfast (it's not Christmas if you can walk away from the table straight away) at Boomerang cafe, the German bakery (makes total sense). I then spent all my money on buying gifts from an amazing and lovely Tibetan woman (got a little carried away with all the Christmas spirit) and then went back to my room for a food coma.
Tonight I'm booked into Moondance Restaurant for their Christmas roast dinner, which includes an apple crumble and ice cream dessert! It's no pavlova... But it's still apple crumble!!
My first ever cold Christmas. The goose down jacket Barga lent me has come in handy. Does it count as a 'White Christmas' if I saw snow on the mountains?
Merry Christmas everyone. Lots of love from Nepal xxxx
Update:
This was dinner
Met a couple Californian guys and went out for Christmas drinks:
Ended up dancing with a bunch of locals to Jack Johnson covers.
Tired today. Paragliding should wake me up ;)
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