Well, we’re back. G. had the trots for almost half the time we were there, probably from inadvertently ingesting some river water when swimming with the elephants in Chitwan. I managed to get a nasty cold the last day before we left and now have an inner ear infection due to that and pressure changes on the airplane. Yay! Oh well, at least I avoided the chocolate rain problem G. had.
It was a great trip, even though we didn’t have time to visit any place long enough to get much depth. Both of us would like to do a proper long-term trip and have aspirations of doing the Annapurna trek sometime in the future, partly because actually seeing the Himalayas is really inspirational. Not inspirational enough to tempt me to do something stupid like take on Everest or K2, though 
In Chitwan we stayed at the Gaida Wildlife Camp, which was expensive at about US$115 a night for each us, but worth it. You stay in the park itself. In our case, we were on a river island. We had a great time. In our 3 days there, we got to see a few rhinos, a family of bears, monkeys, and saw signs (tracks and scat) of a local tiger. Another group actually saw the tiger, but we didn’t. We went on several hikes and had a boat tour. We also got to ride elephants a couple of times and swim with them during bath time after one of the afternoon rides.
On our first afternoon in Pokhara we went on a walk toward the north side of Phewa Lake. The wind picked up in gusts and it started splattering a bit of rain. We went off the main road and looked out over the lake from one of the fields. Some of the local kids came out with small tarps rigged up like miniature parachutes, using the wind to help them jump off the edge of the field to a lower embankment. I don’t know how much the “parachute” helped, but they had a lot of fun trying. Unlike most of the kids in Kathmandu, they didn’t try to scam us for sweets or anything, they just played and talked to us a bit.
We stayed at the Sacred Valley Lodge ($12 a night for one of the nicer rooms upstairs) right at Lakeside, practically across the street from the royal palace. Great service — they helped us out with chartering a taxi for the day when we wanted to visit some places that were farther than walking distance — and they serve tasty, reasonably priced breakfasts at the cafe they also run there. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to stay in Pokhara. Just don’t try to pay by credit card without prior notice; they don’t have an imprinter on the premises. I almost made us late for leaving for the airport by assuming that I’d just be able to whip out the plastic instead of getting cash at an ATM or money-changer the night before.
Best overall food in Pokhara was at the Moon Dance. The Caffe Concerto had kickass Italian-style pizzas; seriously yummy. La Bella Napoli was also pretty good overall, and one of the waiters enthusiastically chatted with me in Japanese when he found out I lived in Japan. Pretty darn fluent, especially given that he has only studied for about a year, and only gets to practice with Japanese tourists. Servings at all places are more than we’re used to in Japan, and prices were about 1/4 of what we’re used to paying. I’m sure that even the cheap places in Lakeside are a bit expensive by most Nepali standards, but we were pretty happy with them.
There was one exception. We visited the Hungry Eye for lunch and found it very overpriced and uncomfortably formal, with waiters who hover over you constantly. Maybe all the attention was because we were basically the only customers. The food was okay, but nothing all that special, especially not for the prices they charged. I mean, I’ve had cheaper lunches at decent restaurants in Japan. Food should never get more pricey than a Tokyo restaurant because then you’re heading into crazy Soylent Green-style ludicrously expensive territory. Dunno what the Lonely Planet guys were smoking when they last visited there, but they only rate it at moderately expensive even on their presumably more up to date website.
We hiked up to the Peace Pagoda (which was closed for repairs, as it has apparently been for the past year!) one day, and did a hike up to Sarangkot at dawn on our last day. The air was hazy pretty much our whole visit, and even at that hour we didn’t get many really spectacular views of the mountains. We were able to see enough to inspire, but we didn’t have a clear enough view for good pictures. We also visited the Gurkha Museum; Jangchup Choling Monastary, at a Tibetan settlement to the north; the International Mountain Museum; and a Buddhist temple east of Pokhara. All were worthwhile.
One of the Buddhist monks-in-training at the monastary, an 11 year old named Sonam, was really enthusiastic about talking to us. He proudly showed us around the monastery, including his classrooms and dorm, and did his best to explain things to us in English. He gave us his address and we’re planning to write to him sometime soon. Cool kid.
After Pokhara we headed back to Kathmandu. Our first night in Nepal, before we went to Chitwan or Pokhara, was at the Kathmandu Guest House and we had a nice, quiet, small room in the back on the second floor. When we came back to Kathmandu, we again stayed at the KGH. This time, we were put in a larger room toward the front of the complex on the third floor, overlooking the cafe on one side.
That was not as good of an experience, overall. There was very little natural light in the main room, since the only windows were in the little sitting-room area. It was noisy until pretty late since there are a couple of competing places that feature (extremely loud) live bands — apparently every night of the week, including Sunday and weeknights — right next to the KGH. To get cross ventilation there was a screened-in vent/window above the door, so there was no real way to shut out the noise.
We also got rooked into paying for a ridiculously expensive breakfast. On our first morning, we headed out to get something to eat. On our way out the front door one of the staff asked us what our room number was, and directed us to a table. Another guy let us know that breakfast was buffet style, so we grabbed some plates and loaded them up. It was typical buffet fare, so nothing all that great, though it was edible; the sausages were dried out, but still kind of tasty, for example.
Afterward, we headed inside to get our stuff together and head out. We were stopped by one of the waiters and were told that we had to pay for breakfast. We’d assumed — since the first guy asked us for our room number — that either breakfast was included and we just missed a mention of that fact, or that it would be charged to our room. Usually, buffets are cheaper than the equivalent food served a la carte, but we were told that it was going to cost us Rs435. Apiece!
To put this in perspective, we’d paid about Rs1400 the day before at the exact same place for two LARGE pizzas and beer for three people, which we considered pretty expensive but about worth it for what we got. Even worse, at the Sacred Valley’s attached Monsoon Cafe, we’d been paying about Rs100–180 for big breakfasts with juice and coffee, or Rs80 for “side” dishes like two decent-sized fruit pancakes and Rs40 for several pieces of bacon.
We both felt like we’d been cheated, not only by the price, but also by the misleading behavior of the staff. The unapologetic manner of the guy who hit us up for the money didn’t help. “Well, that’s the cost of a dinner, you know.” Yes, exactly; Rs435 is the price of a decent dinner, with beer and maybe dessert too, not a shitty breakfast buffet. I told him that I was a bit upset that no one let us know how much the cost was, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have eaten there. “Well, there’s nothing I can do about that now.” Asshole.
They also charged us Rs100 to see a movie in their theater room, with no indication on the poster in the lobby that the screening wasn’t free. In this case, the cost was paltry, but it sucked that we were again not informed that there would be a charge. Both of us expected to have to negotiate with everyone in public places, and to watch out for being hit up for money for “free” information like directions or comments on the sights, but we expected a hotel to disclose costs for services up front, not stick us for them after we were already committed.
Given our experience, I wouldn’t really recommend the Kathmandu Guest House to others without some warnings about room choice and asking for costs before you use any ostensibly free services there. I can’t imagine why the ultra-cheap backpacker types didn’t raise bloody murder about the cost of the breakfast buffet. I mean, these are people who whinge that $20 a night for a room for two people is on the expensive side.
The stay in Kathmandu was pretty nice, but I totally agree with G. that we’d made the right choice by spending more time in Pokhara than in Kathmandu. There are more things to see, and more places to visit in Kathmandu, but Pokhara was a lot more laid-back and a lot more fun overall. The people were much more friendly and seemed a lot happier about life than those in Kathmandu. I guess it’s pretty much the same anywhere when it comes to life in a big city vs. a smaller one.
On our last full day we took a trip to nearby Bhaktapur. We visited the main square and a Hindu temple. While non-Hindu’s are not allowed in the main area, you can wander around outside. In a bit of culture shock, we found cremation platforms along the river beside the inner court. It’s more than a bit morbid that some people treat a funeral as a spectator event. I would criticize it as something only #^¢*ing tourists do, but it seems that the locals also watch funerals, though not as commonly as Westerners. We happened to be there when a funeral was going on, but didn’t take a seat and watch like many of the other people there. We also went to Swayambhunath, of course.
We discovered momo when we were in Pokhara. They’re Tibetan-style dumplings that are a bit like Japanese gyoza (like momo, also adapted from Chinese food) but much better. In Kathmandu, we went to a rooftop cafe that had a few different kinds, and made our lunch a plate each of vegetable, chicken, and mutton momo. Damn tasty.
Over all, I had a great time. I’d love to go back to Nepal for a proper trek, but even this touristy whirlwind tour was worth it.
The prices in Nepal are shockingly low.