Once again, we've arrived in heaven. This time it's called Pokhara. We left Kirtipur early yesterday morning in a flurry of dhanyabads, namastes, and "pherri auunus," and 100 miles (or about 45 as the crow flies) and eight and a half hours later, complete with two mountain traffic jams, a broken drive shaft 20 minutes out, pushing the bus off the road and loading into a new one, we arrived at the Three Sisters Guest House, far too late and yet just in time for dal bhat and mango nectar and a walk along Fewa Lake and through town. After dinner on our own, we had a late church service up on the roof of the office/childrens' school a couple doors down. Town is at the same time quaint and touristy (filled with restaurants and outdoor gear shops), and the setting is so beautiful. The sky was amazing, and hang-gliders tickled the horizon.
We're surrounded by farmed and forested mountains right now, but this morning we were rowed across the lake and hiked up to a mountain-top stupa, from where we could see the Holy and thus unclimbed Fishtail (I forget the Nepali name right now), with the Daulagiri to the left and the Annapurna to the right. Like I said: heaven.
On our walk yesterday, we spoke some Nepali with a darling family of mother (aamaa) and three kids, took in the water, the mountains, the clean air, and walked through the town where it seemed every other shop offered a different price for hang-gliding (which, it turns out, will have to wait for a future adventure). But the sky. The sky was just incredible. The bright white clouds populated the sky in tall, billowy tower of heavenly perfection, and the sun's rays broke free and shone shamelessly through as if the great star just couldn't keep from glorifying all things good.
No comments:
Post a Comment