Pokhara Update

 I have had some queries about what the towns are like so have added some pictures to explain. These two pictures are from Kathmandu in the suburb where the guest house was. We took them when we walked away from the town, just to stretch our legs- hence the lack of traffic and cars. The bottom picture gives you some idea of the power wires that are fairly typical of everywhere.  Once in Kathmandu we stepped off the footpath onto the road and nearly hung ourselves on the power wires. There are a couple of places on our road here in Pokhara where we have to watch the same kind of thing. The other day from our vantage point we watched a couple of young lads use a coil in the power wires as a basketball hoop, and shuddered every time the wires swung too and fro as they were hit.

 This is Chippledunga, the main street in Pokhara.  (It is about 20-30 mins by bus from Naya Gaun or 250NPR taxi fare.)The photos are taken from almost the same spot, but one shows the power wires better than the other. This is fairly typical amount of traffic for this street. In Pokhara you don't take your life into your own hands when you cross the street as much as you do in Kathmandu. However the main rule for the road seems to be that might is right. Traffic just pushes in everywhere. When we first were driven in from the airport at Kathmandu I couldn't believe the pushing and shoving into the narrowest of spaces that happened and nothing has improved in that regard in Pokhara. The other day when we went by taxi to Lakeside there was a bit of congestion on a roundabout but our driver was determined to get through. We got stuck right alongside a huge truck soooo close. Yesterday the joiner down our lane was getting an order out on a little trailer attached to one of these small tractors they drive. A truck with cement etc on came down the lane and forced himself right alongside the tractor, although with a badly placed power pole, it was quite clear he couldn't have got past. There was a bit of jostling and finally the tractor had to unload and then back back right down just in front of our place while the truck went on through. And I haven't even mentioned the horns. The more they toot the better they seem to think they can push through. We went for a meal on Friday night to another teacher's home. She lives above the shop where Ken was talking to the shopkeeper (below). We simply could not hear ourselves talk with the windows open above the traffic and the horns, and it was not much better when they were closed- just hotter!

This power pole is immediately opposite us. Not sure whether you can see all the wires coiled up. The light on it operates from a switch on our deck that the landlord turns on every night.