I’ve been traveling for two weeks now, but it feels much longer. Being on my own, I’m experiencing Nepal differently. There is more space to observe everyday life and that’s exactly what I wanted.

During the first week, I stayed at Hotel Diplomat. A decent place, but not somewhere you’d want to stay for too long. At some point, you start missing simple things: a closet to hang your clothes, a table to sit at, a fridge so you don’t have to go out for every drink or snack. That’s why I’ve moved into an apartment a bit farther from the tourist center, though still in the Lakeside area.

Lake Phewa gives Pokhara a different atmosphere, at least on this side of the city. The light and the sounds feel different than in Kathmandu. Strolling along the lake is a favorite pastime for both locals and tourists. At the moment, I mostly see Indian and Chinese tourists, with a few Westerners in between. It’s low season, and you can sense it in the shops. I don’t think the sellers are necessarily lowering their prices; rather, they seem to hope you’ll decide quickly, so they can at least generate some income this month.

Unfortunately, on my first day I spent a day sick in bed, but that’s part of the deal. The rest of the days I happily played tourist: relaxing, wandering around, sitting at cafés, and gazing at the people on the water. There are rowboats, small water taxis, kayaks, and SUP boards. Here the SUP boards are mostly used sitting down (probably the safest way to avoid falling in). I rented a single kayak, it was delightful. I’ll definitely do that more often.

After all that relaxing, though, I wanted to get my body moving again. I decided to walk to the World Peace Pagoda on the hilltop across the lake. Apparently, we visited it back in 2006, but I have no memory of it. The pagoda itself isn’t particularly spectacular, but the view certainly is. All week it had been fairly cloudy, with no distant views. But this time, I could see the entire Annapurna range. It’s an awe-inspiring sight to watch mountains of eight thousand meters rise before you.

Friday, February 6th, was my first day at Aamaghar Pathshala. But I will tell more about that next time.