Today we extended our circle of experience in this region. Ang and I arose at 5:30 to see sunrise at the top of the local high point. There was a crowd there at 6, but most of the haze had not yet come in. Other than the 8000m peaks famous around the world, Fishtail is probably the Pokhara signature mountain and reminded me of the Matterhorn. Low clouds filled the drainages, looking like a white inland sea. We walked back to town, a 2000’ descent on thankfully dry rock and no slippery clay. On the way back to town, our path along the lake took us past the “fish market”, a group of ladies with small baskets of local fish, called silver carp. They appear to be more like perch than carp. Tasty – I had some for dinner.
Later in the day, Josh, Dan, and Tom went up the same hill to paraglide (buckled in with instructors) for an hour. They raved about it, and the scene from the valley floor was spectacular. The 30-40 multicolored parasails against blue sky and snow-capped mountains was fantastic! According to the flyers, it was even better in the air. They quickly rose several hundred meters above the top of Sarangkot on the constant the ridge wave. Josh and Dan took off about the same time and wheeled and soared around each other. It was the closest thing any of them had ever been to flying like a bird despite the fact that all three have pilots’ licenses. In fact there were several eagles soaring with them between the low laying clouds atop the ridges. Dan and Tom were so fired up they were talking about getting certified when they get back to Colorado.
Meanwhile, I went for a walk in the local neighborhoods. Kids are out of school, milking Dashain for yet another day off! Several groups of them wanted to talk to me, something we hadn’t seen much of before. Maybe they are more comfortable on their own turf. High fives all around and a walk through the nearby rice field finished that excursion. I did notice lots of language misspellings and malapropisms on storefront signs outside the main tourist area. I guess English is an approximation here, like so many other places.
Dinner precipitated a raging geopolitical discussion of the mid-east, with much gesturing and emphatic point-making. We had avoided politics for the trip until now, but when the dam broke it flooded. Good time had by all.
