Pokhara

Ah, the third 'P'.

Imagine a small city in a valley, next to a lake. Imagine the Annapurnas soaring behind. I'm in Pokhara, which is a kind of heaven. It's touristy, but touristy in a totally western way which is even enjoyable - you can get a good steak and chips - cool bars, nice clothes, clean hotels. You pay for all this, of course, but it's comparatively reasonable.

There's kind of a beach hippie culture going on, but it's nicely tempered and not as annoying as at Goa. You can go boating on the lake, with the mountains reflected behind, or even paragliding from a nearby hillside village. I spent a lot of time in bars, working on my pool game. The time of year was almost perfect - the monsoon clouds were beginning to clear, sunsets ripening and the weather warm.

My friend Jon from Bombay, who is now working in India with his girlfriend (of cheerleading fame), also came up to Nepal for a Visa run and we spent a few days together:

That's a cigarette, folks.

The hotel room, the morning after:

Nearby Devi's Falls:

I went back to Pokhara, but more on that later.