Spent the last couple weeks in Pokhara, about 7 hours from Kathmandu by bus. The town is pretty spread out, but the tourist area is like a cute village right on Phewa Lake. There are a million guesthouses and cafes along the main street and the lake is pretty big, surrounded by lush green hills. It took almost a week for the low clouds and haze to clear but when it finally did I was standing on the sidewalk with my mouth open, just gaping at the mountains. Pokhara is the starting point for most treks into the Annapurna range- a range full of 8,000+ meter peaks, some of the tallest mountains in the world. The peaks were gorgeous, snowy and just simply HUGE. They seemed to be more a part of the sky than the earth.
This past week in Pokhara was kind of interesting due to the political unrest that has been plaguing Nepal for a very long time. The Maoists, who are not pleased with the current government, initiated a nation wide strike that basically shut down EVERYTHING. No stores were open, no banks, no ATMs, locals couldn't sell their vegetables, no buses were running anywhere in the whole country, and no one was "allowed" to drive their cars or scooters. Pokhara was a ghost town, it was so peaceful and quiet- for the first time since I have been on this trip I didn't have to worry about traffic, could just walk freely in the streets. Kids were out riding their bikes and playing soccer in the streets since the schools were closed. Locals would just sit in front of their shops, some were gathered around playing guitars and singing. The shops were allowed to open from 6-8pm each night and the tourists would come out in full force for two hours of shopping, eating and organizing their postponed treks. During the day a few shops and restaurants would secretly open, finding food wasn't hard, but it was funny to have to go in and out of the back door. Rented bikes, rode around, lots of reading...Thankfully I had enough cash because the ATMs were closed or running out of money by the end of the week and from 6-8pm each night there would be a long line of tourists trying to get money. There wasn't any violence in Pokhara that I was aware of, the Maoists just wandered around like they were in a parade, wearing tshirts with a red star on the front and they like to carry sticks. There were massive gatherings and demonstrations in Kathmandu and I read in the papers that there was some violence between angry shopkeepers who had opened their businesses and the Maoists- they would vandalize the shops that had defied the strike and some citizens were beat for riding their scooters around. The strike was supposed to be indefinite, but it ended after a week. I don't think there was any agreement reached, which means there will probably be more strikes in the future. Not great for tourism at all. But it is very interesting to see how other governments operate and to see how a political body that is not even in power can have such a major influence on how the country is run. It is sad though because this is a very poor country and when there is no medicine available because there are no buses running to villages, then people die. Children still die of diarrhea in countries like Nepal and there was an outbreak of TB during the strike and no one was able to receive treatment. Anyway, I am back in Kathmandu and all is safe and busy and back to business as usual. Heading to Delhi in a few days and then that is the end of this chapter....
