Wednesday, May 30, Pokhara

Early morning boat ride in Pokhara

International Peace Pagoda, Pokhara

Terraced fields from the International Peace Pagoda

Devis Falls

Lake Phewa at dawn by rowboat was the first stop on today’s agenda. We were supposed to see the mountains as the sun rose. Unfortunately there was a heavy haze which restricted both views. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful and tranquil morning. A flock of egrets wheeled around a roosting spot on the far shore. Fish plopped onto the surface in search of flies. Increasingly paler ridges of foothills disappeared into the western sky. The sun finally made a tentative appearance behind heavy cloud. The expedition finished with a brief expedition to a Hindu temple on an island across from the boat moorings.

After breakfast, we drove up an incredibly windy, steep, precipitous and stony road to the International Peace Pagoda. As Sarah remarked, such is the path to peace.  The final few hundred feet were climbed up a series of steps. This is one of many such pagodas around the world. The stupa features four statues of the Sakyamuni Buddha: Birth, Enlightenment, Teaching at Sarnath, and Paranivana. 

We stopped briefly at a Tibetan Refugee Camp that was quite similar to the one we visited in Darjeeling. It featured beautiful hand-woven carpets. The last stop was the Devi’s Falls. Pokhara sits on soft cretaceous rock and is prone to sink-holes. A tributary of the Seti River has carved a dramatic gorge and waterfall through the rock in the southern part of town. The falls were named after a woman who died after falling into the torrent. 

In the evening, there was a dramatic thunderstorm which hopefully would clear the air so we could see the Himalaya high peaks tomorrow, our last day in Pokhara.