Apparently, one of the best views in Nepal is from Tansen, where we were staying with a local family.
The reason why this view is amazing is because from here, you can see the stretch of the Himalayan mountain ranges right in front of you… and if you arrive here for sunrise, said view is even more spectacular.
For this view, of course, it needs to not be a cloudy day.
We woke up at 5am in Tansen, ready to head out to see this amazing view but alas, woke up to heavy rain – which meant that the view we’d be looking for would be non-existent as it would all be covered with clouds.
With that in mind, I messaged our guide who reassured us that we wouldn’t get to see the view (and we probably wouldn’t wanna be out in the rain anyway) so with that in mind, I went back to sleep for the next couple of hours, before heading upstairs for breakfast (which I actually mentioned in the previous post) and heading back on the road again.
Back on the road, we could absolutely appreciate why it would have been a ridiculous idea for us to try to see the Himalayans that morning. It was dark and cloudy; which wasn’t so bad as it actually made the nearby mountains looks more dramatic but it did mean that visibility was a lot more limited than it would have been on a sunny day.
Soon enough though, as we edge closer and closer to Pokhara, the sun came out to play and by the time we stopped for lunch, the clouds had parted and the blue skies were out again.
We picked an unexpectedly ample place to stop, which we set off to explore while everyone else was having lunch.
Those dramatic Nepali mountains never fail to impress!
The drive from that point onwards to Pokhara didn’t take too long and before you knew it, we could see the city of Pokhara, sprawling in the valley before us.
One of the most famous sites in Pokhara is Fewa Lake, which is a central hub of activity here. It’s also one of the first places you’ll see when you arrive here – lined with colourful boats, ready to take you out to explore more of this part of Nepal.
Pokhara looks and feels very much like a city but is a lot more chilled than Kathmandu is. It also feels a lot more Western and apparently is home to lots of hippies who left the West in search of themselves and perhaps, in search of huge mountains to conquer. It’s not the capital city but it is definitely the tourism capital – which is also reflected in the fact that this is the most expensive city in Nepal.
Pokhara is also the gateway to the Himalayas as it is where you can access the Annapurna mountain ranges of which, the Annapurna range is home to 3 of the tallest mountains in the world.
This, of course, makes Pokhara the perfect place to base yourself if you’re looking to do a proper hiking expedition in Nepal (if you’re looking to do Everest though, you’d need to head elsewhere).
We checked into the Dahlia Boutique Hotel, which was perfectly located within walking distance of the lake and the main street.
After a very lazy lunch, we headed out into the city, slowly ambling through its streets before making our down to the lake just as the sun was about to set.
Seeing the sunset by the lake is absolutely spectacular!
The silhouettes between the Himalayan mountains is quite unlike anything anywhere else and is some which will have you constantly reaching for your camera – especially as you can see the peak of one of the Annapurna Mountains, rising above the clouds and start to get a sense of how spectacular the Himalayas really are.
Just when you think it’s done, the sunset goes into deeper orange hues, eventually to be replaced by cooler tones… It’s quite the show!
Eventually, it does set and with that, we headed off in search of dinner and drinks with friends.
Pokhara definitely promises to be a fun place to relax in, something we hadn’t really done since we arrived and so I was very looking forward to doing this the next day!
Catch you in the next post! 🙂
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