Pokhara Update

 At the risk of boring you -- this is part of the view from our rooftop. We have three shots which we hope we can get printed as a full view of the Annapurnas, but this is the left most shot. The close hill to the left is the bottom of Sarangkot. Now the monsoon is over the mountains are often very clear like this.

 These are two shots of Fishtail Lodge on the night we went for dinner. The top is the view as we were being pulled over in the barge. You can just see the rope in the water. The boatman coils this ever so neatly at his feet. The second one is us at dinner. Sue is sitting beside me. Hard to see in the photo but we could see the lights of the "mainland" twinkling across the water.
The following pictures are all of the class trip, first to Fishtail Lodge and then later on  the main part of Phewa Tal.

 This barge is identical to ours without the canopy and is being used to ferry all the supplies over.

 The treasure hunt in progress. My TA keeping them occupied while I laid the trail and then the children gathering round to read the clue together.

 This is part of the path along the lakeside. These are not the boats we went out in.

 Elevenses at one of the pupil's places. What a special part of the day that was, to be able to be there rather than in an open public park.

 All views from the paddling trip around. The children all had their turn at pedaling the boat along, so I had to have a try to. Part way round we realised one of the smaller girls was terrified. There is a small pool of water underneath the pedals and she thought we were sinking. As soon as we had that sorted out and explained she was able to enjoy the trip.

These are all photos from our first day shopping in Pokhara. This is the main street, Chippledunga. It was our first experience of buying vege etc and haggling about the prices etc. Seems a long time ago now. (That is probably the worst lot of rubbish we have seen in our whole time here.)

Sarangkot

 These shots were taken as we went up the road to Sarangkot. The first one is  the north eastern corner of Pokhara. We should have had a view of all the mountains, but of course they were hidden by cloud. The bottom photo is a little more to the north and shows the Seti River. Somewhere down there too is the road we will take in two or three weeks when we set out on our trek to Poon Hill.

 The point at the top is the viewpoint from where the mountains are viewed, particularly at sunrise. The lodge where we stayed was just below this viewpoint but on the other side of the ridge, so although it was raining we thought we would walk up to it the next morning. We got fairly well towards it, up great big concrete steps when we were stopped and asked to pay a fee for the privilege. Seeing it was so foggy we declined and went back down. When we took this photo we had already been climbing about 20 mins from where the taxi dropped us off and you can see we still had a fair way to go.

 This is the dining room at Superview Lodge and we had just finessed a lovely meal. They were very busy renovating the dining room in preparation for the season. Had clearly finished the walls and the lighting, but had still to sort out the tables, chairs and do something about the floor.

These pictures were taken before breakfast on Sunday morning, before the rain set in for an hour or two. Those of you who know Pokhara may recognise the large building in the middle of the top picture. We understand it is a hospital that has been shut down because of staffing issues. The Sarangkot ridge runs along the left hand side of the picture.

We lingered over breakfast until the worst of the rain had stopped, however there was still a slight mist in the air as we started down the paved walkway to the bottom . Half an hour to Lakeside. Yeah Right!

 Beautiful green terraced rice paddies were all over the side of the hill as we descended.

 This is not a NZ shot- but it could be.

 More rice paddies, with Lakeside in the distance.  We finally (after about 2 1/2 hours) got to  the road  somewhere in the middle of the trees to the right of the picture.

One of the houses on the way down-- perhaps better looking than many.  Ken noticed a TV aerial stuck high on a bamboo pole above a house with one wall of blue tarpaulin.

Fellow travellers on the path.
Sorry, it has taken me all this time to realise I could have the pictures this size!

Lakeside

 
These are some more pictures of building work in our lane. The whole stack of bricks was moved from here on to site by two women with baskets on their backs. I think you can see in the bottom picture how her basket is filling up as she tosses the bricks over her head and into it- jerking as each one lands.

T

 This is when they poured the roof/ceiling. They have braced the timber lining with lengths of bamboo poles. Some of these are a bit short, so they prop them up with a few bricks here and there to bring them in to line. The concrete mixer virtually takes up the width of the lane. (There was just room for me to squeeze past when I walked home from school.) The women and men are loading the bags of shingle to make the concrete. You might be able to make out the rope that is attached to the shovel so that as she swings back then forward with her shovel her co worker pulls the rope to assist her. The concrete is rhythmically passed up to the second floor in wide flat basin/plates and then passed hand to hand by the women to where it is needed.

 These are pictures from our weekend at the Peace Plaza at Lakeside. This was the Phewa Tal in the early evening after our arrival. As you can see the green between the hotel and the lake was being put to good use.

 The next morning the mountains were clear. You can just make out the tip of Maccapucchre to the right, with a wisp of cloud over it. The peak to the left is Sarangkot and it was in one of those reddish buildings at the top that we stayed the following weekend and then walked down to Lakeside on the Sunday. (Picture next blog)

 We went for a walk around the lake's edge the next morning. We enjoyed the sights we saw, including the buffalo in for their morning dip. Pond weed is a real problem around the edge of the lake. The young lads older mates were busy clearing it while he fished.  Not sure whether you can make out the net that the fisherman is using in the boat. Ken got a string of action shots as he threw,

 This is the hotel we stayed in as seen from the lakes edge. We were on the first floor, with a large balcony with table and chairs. Only thing is we had to watch out as the drips from the hoses draining the upper decks were out to catch us.

 The following morning these men played a complete game of volleyball below us.  Can you see the buffalo in the shade of the tree - she decided to join in too at one stage.

 So you shopaholics think Onehunga has it all?

 Main street of Lakeside - quite deserted. Interestingly there were many more tourists around even the following week. Clearly the season is starting.

Pokhara 6

 This is "Mr Whippy" Nepali style. As you can see he came right down our lane. He cooks snacks on the spot. He had several customers while we watched. This was late Sunday afternoon, but we have noticed quite a few of them are out and about on the roads when students are coming home from school and they seem to do quite a trade.

 We have included some pictures to show housing construction in Nepal. There are three being built in our lane at present. The first two you can locate by the concrete-making pile of sand in the street. They seem to form a mound of cement and sand with a hollow in the centre and then add the water to it, in much the same way as my mother used to mix her pikelets.

 On the building site closest to us (where the red bucket is in previous photo), they have partly knocked down a lean-to kind of construction next to their house and are upgrading it. They have left some of the original walls at the front, although roughly kind of leveled them off, presumably so they can add some height with new bricks. The steel was dropped off beside our house and the chap in the photo is cutting it and starting to bend it. It was a very hot day and Ken was amused to see him use both the umbrella and a towel down the back of his neck to try to keep cool. Every now and then he had to readjust as the sun moved.

The owner of the property, in the darker hat, is helping to bend the steel and tie it up so it  will form a columnar shaped reinforcing which they will form the boxing around and then pour concrete down.

The pile of bricks is now starting to disappear- brick by brick. We have been watching two women trudge in and out, load up their baskets by throwing the bricks back over their own heads and then trudge back to the building site. While we were taking these photos the owner came out, took a brick in each hand and walked back! The women seem to do most of this carrying work. On the site below we saw one woman shoveling metal chip into the other's basket and the head jerked with each shovel full. When they were on site they somehow pulled a string, the basket lurched sideways and emptied. Must be a huge strain on their body.

These three picture are from the site right at the corner of our lane and the road. The young chap (red shorts) has got quite friendly with Ken and likes to try out his English. He seems to be living on site in a rough shed made from piled up concrete blocks (not concreted together). On Saturdays when we go out to church we see his trousers and two shirts hanging up to dry on a pole at the front of the hut. You can see the columns and reinforcing as we described for the previous house. The bricks are quite roughly mortared in ( more mortar than bricks in some places). Ken also noticed that on some walls they are in a line with the outer edge of the columns and in other places with the inside edge. Today it is raining, and as we walked past we noticed they had spread tarps out so they could keep on working.