Go Tell It On the Mountain 9

April 17 - 18, 2017

With a late morning flight back to Kathmandu, we embraced a more leisurely pace; had a nice breakfast, then sat by the lake and enjoyed the beautiful morning.  We saw what looked like small white flowers on the stalks in front of us, then realized those "flowers" were moving.  Turned out to be some strange spider-like insects.  We also finally saw the snow-capped peaks of Annapurna, but just barely.  Tim didn't realize there was another magnitude of mountains beyond what we'd seen the last two days.  One of the attractions of Pokhara is the beautiful reflection of the snow-capped mountains on the lake, but, alas, we were not privileged to see it.

Magical moving "flower" lower right

Mountain tops not visible to the camera, just barely perceptible to the eye above the clouds

How the mountains would appear on a clear day

More photos of the beautiful grounds of Fish Tail Lodge
(named for one of the Annapurna mountains)

Hari met us near the lobby for the short drive to the airport.  Another wait for check in, then through more security; this time "ladies" and "gents" had to queue separately for frisking.  It was a very long wait for our flight.  A guy told Hari we could get on an earlier flight, and transferred our luggage, but he only switched one ticket.  When Hari realized the error, it took him a long time to find someone to straighten it out, switching the one ticket back on to the original delayed flight.  Apparently, the president of Nepal was flying out of Kathmandu to Delhi, so no flights were allowed in or out of Kathmandu.  Our little plane was coming from Kathmandu - it seems Yeti Air makes several trips to Pokhara and back each day.

killing time while we wait for our flight

Our wait dragged on for three hours, with not a single plane landing at the little Pokhara airport.  Then suddenly several planes arrived at once.  We were finally on our quick little flight back to Kathmandu, with the same lone flight attendant and her basket of candy and cotton balls.  It was a crazy, chaotic scene once again at Kathmandu airport, where our suitcase had been waiting for us for hours!

Our poor driver had been waiting for us for hours, too, and brought us to our hotel, Baber Mahal Vilas, for our last night in Nepal,.  We could have flown out of Nepal that same afternoon, but with no direct flights, we would have had layovers of twelve hours or more in some places.  So we decided to stay one more night in Nepal and take the early flight with just a short layover in New Delhi.  The tour company had booked all our hotels in Nepal thus far, but this last night we were on our own.  I booked Baber Mahal Vilas through booking.com, and it turned out to be a wonderful place.

Kathmandu has many different ethnic sections of the city, and Baber Mahal was one of the Rana palaces that dominated this is part of the city.  The Ranas ruled Nepal from 1846 to 1951, and were responsible for introducing a blend of European, Indian and local architecture.  Until 1996, this property housed a cowshed and a guardhouse.  The owner decided to transform it into a tribute to his Rana ancestors, and the results are quite stunning.   The five courtyards are all designed to resemble attributes of other palaces in the valley.  None of the buildings are the same height, and the antique windows were salvaged from existing properties slated for demolition.  The simple, unassuming entrance belies the beauty within.  Just opened in October of 2016, it is truly a feast for the eyes.

Our room was huge and colorful.  I was charmed before we even entered by the quaint, gilded padlock on the bolted door.  A nice plate of fruit and cups of lassi were brought to the room upon our arrival.  The manager showed us around the extensive grounds, including the beautiful library, pillared walkways and a charming little rooftop pool with decorative bridges across.  Tim went back out afterward and took lots of pictures.  We were sorry our stay here was so short.

At 6:30 p.m., Ram and Shikhar picked us up from our hotel for our official farewell dinner, driving us to a restored 150-year-old mansion.  It originally belonged to the royal priest of the king of Nepal, and we were shown the inner courtyard where he used to meditate.  Now it is the home of Bhojan Griha, or House of Food, and it offers the opportunity for visitors to experience an authentic Nepali meal and cultural show.

Walking into the building, we saw another group of Westerners.  A young man in the group was wearing a University of Michigan t-shirt!  We asked him if he was a Wolverine, and he answered in a very heavy Irish accent, "Aw, no, I just worked there one summer!"

We were met at the door by a woman with a small dish of red powder, and she gave each of us a tika:

the Hindu ritual of marking someone's forehead with a fragrant paste, such as of sandalwood or vermilion, as a welcome and expression of honor when they arrive.  Wikipedia

 We climbed up many old, wooden stairs (we've come to expect this), to one of many dining rooms with low tables.  We managed to get down on the floor and tried to find a comfortable position.

We had been trying to eat vegetarian for the entirety of our trip, but our trip adviser worried we would not experience the traditional Nepali meal if we skipped the meat, so we went along. The meal started with a strong rice wine and popcorn (!), both served in small brass dishes.  After this, the dishes just kept coming: potatoes, bean soup, chard, basmati rice, a mushroom stew of some kind, green beans, chicken curry and fried fish.  We'd heard wild boar would be part of the meal, but it never came.  We thought they might have adjusted the menu slightly to satisfy their mostly-Western customers.  We felt bad eating such a feast in front of Shikhar, who only had a fruit plate - don't know if he was on a diet, or it was some other kind of restriction.  The meal was finished with a sweet curd and fruit for dessert, and everything was quite tasty.

While we ate, entertainers went from room to room.  First, a group of musicians came in and sat on the ground, playing Nepali music on drums, a harmonium, a flute, and some small hand instruments.  Two couples came in several times, each time wearing different costumes, and demonstrated the traditional dances of the different regions of Nepal:  the Midwest, the East, Newari and Sherpa are the ones I could remember.  Some of the dances seemed quite similar to traditional Thai dances.

While we ate, we learned about Ram's adventurous life.  He has been leading mostly Japanese tourists on mountain treks for many years, and is fluent in Japanese.  He said the Japanese truly love the mountains, especially the elders.  He told us the story of how he led a group of elderly Japanese on a mountain trek just one month after the quake in 2015.  It was still quite dangerous to go up into the mountains, but this group was determined to go to celebrate one gentleman's 80th birthday!  So Ram agreed, and the group was very thankful.  Ram has also dabbled in film making, acting and even released a singing record.  Quite the Renaissance man!

Our hosts seemed ready to go, but reluctant to say.  We made the decision easy for them by letting them know we were ready to call it a night.  They drove us back to our hotel, and got out of the car to put Marron Trek scarves around our necks in farewell.  Dhanyabad! (Thank-you!)

Baber Mahal at night

We had a most delightful early breakfast served to us in one of the courtyards - it was a beautiful, sunny and cool morning and the food was perfect!  The hotel arranged a car to take us to the airport, and we arrived once more at the crazy Kathmandu airport for our flight back to Thailand via Jet Airways.  I stopped in the small shop to spend the last of our Nepali money.  We waited in a huge room with rows and rows of chairs, and chatted with a Norwegian woman who had been in Nepal to help open a new school there.

At last our flight appeared on the sign at the front of the room, and we lined up, only to be passed through a security check and made to wait in another smaller room.  After some time, we went through yet another security check, ladies to the left, then out to a waiting bus for a crowded ride out to the plane.  Here on the tarmac, we waited in yet another line to go through yet another security check and pat-down, ladies stepping behind a curtain at the bottom of the stairs!

little girl taking big bites in the huge waiting room

We were finally on our way.  We had a short layover in New Delhi, and saw a big "United States of America" jet parked near the terminal.  We thought perhaps an American diplomat was in New Delhi for the same reason the Nepali president was there.  Found this news article afterwards - it was General H.R. McMaster.  We went to a McDonalds in the airport.  Beef is not eaten in India, so no hamburgers on the menu.  Let me say that again - it was a McDonalds with no hamburgers!  We tried a spicy chicken wrap which was very tasty and filling.

We arrived back in Thailand early evening.  It was strange to be at Suvarnabhumi Airport without having our driver, Mick, waiting for us.  (He really has us spoiled.)  We were staying two nights in Bangkok before heading home, so we had our first experience with taking a taxi from the airport.  The taxi stand issues each fare a number, then you walk to that parking spot number to find your assigned taxi.  Our assigned spot had no taxi.  I was almost giddy being able to summon my Thai language and ask the other drivers about it, after being in countries where I didn't know the language.  They said to wait, that he would be there shortly; he appeared soon after.  Good to be "home."