Pokhara II
Kommentare (0) Namaste.
Do you long for a peaceful setting with good weather in the morning and views of three 8.000m peaks? Then get up early in Pokhara!
I usually miss the great view of those snow capped mountains though. Not because we would get up too late but rather because of bustling Lakeside (the tourist ghetto), where, on my way to breakfast at the other end of tow, I am frequently offered various things such as:
“Wanna smoke?” – teens offering dope
“Sir, snake?” – ‘Fake-Sadhus’ offering to play his flute to bring up a snake
“Sir, small buy? Just looking! Look, look, …” – Nice Tibetan refugee women selling their crafts
Usually one will then find us at the “Laughing Budha”, a restaurant without style, in fact without anything nice to it except price and food. Both get us there around 10 in the morning and we know the whole family by now! It [u]will[/u] be one of the things that I miss. Those greasy but just so well done potatoes, the great bread with jam, the omlette, the big mug of coffee and the banana-topped muesli – all for less than 60cent. Your really feel bad when taking them up on that offer. On the other hand: it’s just so good 
The careful reader knows already what life is suddenly all about: food. We pretty much move down the street to grab some tea, a cake, a good dinner. In between we get busy though! Not only with our books that we tend to read at a spot of our pleasure (mine is by the lake) but with some more walking, too.
Yesterday we went to the World Peace Pagoda, a shrine on a hill above the lake and then made our way down again to check out other districts of the city. While Pokhara is big in number of people, it is small in things to do; it is even small in things to look at (except the lake maybe). That way we ended up browsing some shops again and I treated myself with some new things and therefore need to find a bank pretty soon…
All I really want to say through this is that we are doing very well and enjoy life! 
On other news: Election day is coming closer and we are greeted by loud advertisements of the communist party / Maoists throughout the day. There are flyers on every door that explain on how to vote but still in mock elections people tend to not knowing how it works. Further, 300(!) candidates failed to register properly and one can see from that alone that the first election in Nepal will be everything but easy and rewarding.
The country is a little bit scared on how things might develop right now which is why the current government called for a three-day public holiday and closed down all schools for two weeks straight. The border with India will be sealed for at least three days as well. Those news develop over hours and I kind of hope that they won’t shut down transportation altogether! So far we are told that tourists will be taken care of and for once I am glad to be white and German.
The UN is always present and we can spot more and more vehicles with election observers. More on that in the news (nepalnews.com) and on Matze’s website.
We will continue to Chitwan tomorrow morning at 7am and I pray for temperatures to stay below 30 degree but who knows….
Wish me well on my travels back to Kathmandu!!
I guess I will see you in Germany soon.
Love -me
Themocracy