So I skipped yesterdays blog as I was in foul humour after an 8 hour bus ride with no aircon in sweltering heat. And for someone who has kidneys that work like a charm, 2 bathroom stops did not quite hack it! That being said I had my first out house squatting exercise (working those thighs) on the way from kathmandu to pokhara. There is a knack to it ladies, thankfully, I cracked it! Ha, no pun intended. Will enlighten you later on.
So today September 6th, a Tuesday I believe. It is amazing how quickly days are of no consequence when on tour. As everything is organised we just have to know what time to show up in the lobby. Not exactly well rested, we are up at 4am to venture up the mountain to see the sunrise over the Annapurna range. Just before we board the bus the sky is fabulously clear and we start to name off constellations. Then we are on the move, slowly up the mountain, up and up and the town becomes a glimmer of winking lights behind us. We all hop out of the bus and have to do the last of the hill on foot with our hand held torches. As we are not yet awake, there is very little chat going on. Up we go to the viewing point and we can no longer see the stars, nor the lake below which is covered by a sheet of clouds, which starts to creep along towards the hills below us. No range to be seen, then bit by bit, like a child playing peekaboo, each of the 5 peaks appears and then disappears behind this veil of cloud. Then the sun starts to kiss the Dawn with rays of gold and orange and pink. This seems to chase the clouds away slowly revealing the beautiful snowcapped jagged mountains in all their glory. It was worth the early morning start and the long bus ride.
A sight to behold, yes, yet I am cranky, my belly is rumbling and I am tired. I need to eat and sleep some more. I cannot function without food, I am an absolute disaster. I should have been born a marsupial so I can store food in my pouch for such occasions.
I had yummy crepes and lemon tea. Off to bed for a few hours. Ahhh, I felt like a new woman. Showered and ready for the days activities. Off to Davies waterfall first, where we learned about Vishnu and his son Ganesh. Ric and I blessed each other with the third eye from this shrine. The red was such a deep Colour on our foreheads, it looked like we met with a terrible fall somewhere during the day. From here we headed to the Tibetan refugee camp. The elderly ladies were making spools of yarn outside, while the ladies Inside were weaving carpets by hand. One lady kindly invited me to try my hand at the loom. Lets just say I would have been the first refugee sent back to Tibet. Then the rains started and it poured and poured and thundered and lighteninged. Which I love though it meant the rest of the day's activities of going to the peace pagoda and hiking down to the lake were no longer an option.
So we ate, and one by one the rest of the group joined us. Then the skies let up just enough to let us take a quick boat trip to the temple in the middle of the lake. We made a few wishes and sent them up to the gods by ringing the bells at the shrine. Then we had a precarious but funny trip back with a boatload of Indians (Bengalis I believe).
"back at the ranch..." I charged all the phones and cameras, Ric had passed out, so i met the others for a quick bite down the road for chicken momos (steamed dumplings). Tummy ache from eating too much food!!!!
I think I have over done the food and the blog today!
Until tomorrow and another supposedly 5 hour long bus ride.
Ais
If we get a strong enough connection, we will load pics with this blog.
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