Well, I just had to go again....
At the city bus park and absolutely nothing in English to indicate which is the bus for Sarangkot. A dark and dingy office amongst a row of equally dingy shops is selling bus tickets - I think that's a fair assumption. Thankfully the staff here know about the bus I need and points to the middle of the park.. Sure enough a bus is there, filling with passengers and giant bags of rice. Sarangkot - plenty of nodding from those inside, a good enough consensus that this is actually the correct bus.
35 rupees, about 28p ad the bus rolls away from the dusty park, and I even have a seat although it might be a struggle to get out given the number of people crammed into every inch of available space! About 25 minutes of gear crunching as the bus winds slowly up to the village getting close to the hillside edge at times! But at last time to get off as the bus stops by the little village school, and overshadowed by those towering glistening white mountains.
A short hike to explore more of the village and of course more of those mountain views. A very rural place with dwellings dotted around the hillsides and clustered on a plateau several meters below. Again, those crazy people are jumping off the hills wearing a parachute - an expensive way down at $100 a pop, but I guess for those seeking a thrill then this is it!
Gaining altitude as the hike becomes hard work in the thin air but to compensate - that stunning mountain vista. The dwellings here are well built with several guesthouses and coffee stops/cafes all family run enterprises - no Mac Donald's, no Starbucks and definitely no Tesco's up here!
Time has flown by and if I want to get that 12 o'clock bus down I'd better shift my butt! More photography of those unobscured views, yes, not a single cloud to be seen, just hundreds of paragliders and eagles using this airspace above Pokhara in seemingly harmonious fashion. I've missed the bus as its honking horns fade behind the hill. Thanks to a pair of white vultures for that - an amazing scene as they soar by then circle to land in a tree, right in front of my track down. Unlikely this will ever happen to me again and so the next 10 minutes or so spent photographing these amazing birds. "Yes, that bus has definitely gone", says a local shop owner who promptly proceeds to sell me a ride in one of those Jeeps used to bring up the paragliders. actually I'll walk, 300 rupees is a pretty expensive ride. 100 rupees, well that's better and worth saving my legs for, so it's a done deal with the next stop, Bindabasini.
At the city bus park and absolutely nothing in English to indicate which is the bus for Sarangkot. A dark and dingy office amongst a row of equally dingy shops is selling bus tickets - I think that's a fair assumption. Thankfully the staff here know about the bus I need and points to the middle of the park.. Sure enough a bus is there, filling with passengers and giant bags of rice. Sarangkot - plenty of nodding from those inside, a good enough consensus that this is actually the correct bus.
35 rupees, about 28p ad the bus rolls away from the dusty park, and I even have a seat although it might be a struggle to get out given the number of people crammed into every inch of available space! About 25 minutes of gear crunching as the bus winds slowly up to the village getting close to the hillside edge at times! But at last time to get off as the bus stops by the little village school, and overshadowed by those towering glistening white mountains.
A short hike to explore more of the village and of course more of those mountain views. A very rural place with dwellings dotted around the hillsides and clustered on a plateau several meters below. Again, those crazy people are jumping off the hills wearing a parachute - an expensive way down at $100 a pop, but I guess for those seeking a thrill then this is it!
Gaining altitude as the hike becomes hard work in the thin air but to compensate - that stunning mountain vista. The dwellings here are well built with several guesthouses and coffee stops/cafes all family run enterprises - no Mac Donald's, no Starbucks and definitely no Tesco's up here!
Time has flown by and if I want to get that 12 o'clock bus down I'd better shift my butt! More photography of those unobscured views, yes, not a single cloud to be seen, just hundreds of paragliders and eagles using this airspace above Pokhara in seemingly harmonious fashion. I've missed the bus as its honking horns fade behind the hill. Thanks to a pair of white vultures for that - an amazing scene as they soar by then circle to land in a tree, right in front of my track down. Unlikely this will ever happen to me again and so the next 10 minutes or so spent photographing these amazing birds. "Yes, that bus has definitely gone", says a local shop owner who promptly proceeds to sell me a ride in one of those Jeeps used to bring up the paragliders. actually I'll walk, 300 rupees is a pretty expensive ride. 100 rupees, well that's better and worth saving my legs for, so it's a done deal with the next stop, Bindabasini.
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