Leaving Kathmandu

And now... hello from Pokhara!

We arrived after a somewhat delayed exit from Kathmandu. Our airline (Simrik) seemed to be last in the queue and I don't think we quite realised how small the plane was. It only took 15 people. The flight itself only takes about 25 minutes to get here though, so once we were up and out of Kathmandu it wasn't long before we were coming back down and landing in Pokhara.

We were met by our dear friend Sonam, who used to be the manager at the Meditation Centre we've stayed at for the last 8 years and who now has a guest house of his own, which is currently called the New Marco Polo Family Guest House, but I think a name change is in the offing at some point as the current name is left over from the previous owner.

We have a lovely large room, with the only bit that made us laugh is that we're in Room 101! We were originally going to sleep here and then go to the centre to join in the meditation course, but actually Sonam has a meditation room set up and room to do Qiqong, so we've decided not to trek the 40 minutes down to the centre, but stay here and do our own thing. But, after a delicious lunch of dal baht made by Sonam, we did pay the centre and it's new teacher a visit. It was lovely to be there, but it's so built up around the centre now it's not nearly as peaceful and quiet as it was when we first used to go.

On the way back we both said how pleased we were with our decision to do our own thing and we trekked the 40 minutes from one end of town to the other, stopping on the way for a quick cuppa and came back to the lovely peace here at Sonam's place. I could do with a day of just being instead of all this rushing around and tomorrow is it, before we take the 7-8 hour bus ride (one of our favourites) back to Kathmandu on Sunday.

Tonight is momo lessons. We've had 2 lessons before, but we still haven't quite got it so Sonam is going to give us another lesson. Third time lucky? I doubt it very much! Sonam makes quite the very best momos I've ever eaten and I'm sure we'll enjoy our cooking experience just like before, but once we get home, I'm sure that our momos will be no better than usual.