Pokahara

Took the bus to Pokhara yesterday for what turned out to be a long and hot ride.
As there are still some quite heavy monsoon rains and no road maintenance the Kathmandu to Pokhara road is in quite a state of disrepair especially the first section from the valley rim down to the Trisuli river. Here land slides have reduced the road to a single lane and that combined with the usual lack of road rules resulted in the traffic jam from hell with trucks and buses backed up as far as the eye could see, and you can see pretty far when you are on the top of a hill.
It easily added three hours to the trip and that combined with the aircon not working on the bus made for a frustrating ride.
On the other hand the country side is lush and green and the river in full flood is spectacular, I am looking forward to starting my hike.

New Year

It's New Year in Nepal or maybe it has been New Year a few days ago. People are a bit hazy on this as the reckoning is by lunar calendar and observation of the new moon is different depending on location.
Anyway in Pokhara this is celebrated by among other things something between a fair and a carnival. After paying twenty Rupees you can ogle at the stands of generators, water purifyers and organically grown coffee or as most people do go to the ferris wheel, the hand powered Merry go Round or the House of horrors. However by far the most popular attraction, certainly with the kids, is the elephant.