7 days in Pokhara

Pokhara is a lovely place to stay for a while. There is a big lake, snowy mountain tops perfectly reflecting on the glimmering lake. Too bad it was always cloudy. But I looked at the postcards they are selling here and made some imagination exercises.
Nevertheless, both by Estonian and Belgium standards its summer here. The first two days I was together with the Estonian group still, staying in a good hotel. My room was like a little apartment. Perfect after trekking. Relaxing times on the boat on the lake, bar Bamboo, where food was ready in mere 90minutes after ordering, but absolutely worth it. Plus there is no hurry. Noone seems to be in a hurry here.
Luxury was over in two days though. Taking with me the leftover soap and toilet paper (ie profiting from the hotel to maximum) I headed out in search for a new cheap place to stay. Peak season turned out not to be complete myth so on the north lakeside the only really cheap (3eur a night) and available place I could find was quite a dump. But I was tired of looking and made the deal. Later at night when I returned to sleep there was soon a lot of yelling, screaming, car tires screeching, some bangs in the air and it all seemed to take place just outside my window. I saw that my door can be locked from three places from the inside. At that moment it even seemed suspicious, but I thought that out of all the choices this guesthouse should not be target for anybody sane.
Turmoil for that night was not over though. Suddenly I was hit with stomach cramps, pain and nausea and I could not sleep before early morning. Damn, I had picked up some nasty bacteria already. Luckily next morning I could switch over to another guesthouse that I had found later the previous day. Same money, but nice and neat and even slow wifi. Somehow I dragged myself there and spent the whole day in bed unable to move a muscle.
During the next recovery day I was hanging out at the lakeside. Its such a contrast compared to the busy main street where in every two meters at least you have another tourist shop selling trekking gear, jewelery, cashmere and pashmere. At the lakeside you have a few restaurants/bars, but at the same time locals go about their business washing clothes in the lake or fishing to probably sell it later to the restaurants. I one place I saw guys comfortably sitting on sewage pipes catching fish among the rubbish.
Anyone one of the bars also has nice sun decks where you can lie down on the long chairs. They also have a bamboo fence and I tell you, while locals where walking by, they really looked inside as if in the zoo. But they were the guests and I was the monkey. Even though I had already learned to wear only long pants. First day when I was walking around on my own outside of tourist areas in my short pants, I really felt uncomfortable. Bare legs just do not seem to be a custom. But you can show a belly. Go figure.
Soon I got acquainted with another exhibit of the zoo - a Dutch guy Fredi. He introduced me to his friends, ultra long travellers (18 months), Thomas and Angie. This was very fortunate as it was cool to spend the next two days together.
The cloudiness continued to get worse. It also meant no hot shower as everything is heated with solar panels. Additionally electricity cuts where common, so it happened twice that I had a cold shower in the candlelight. I found it funny. After all before my travels i had practiced cold showers for a few months.
Yesterday I said goodbye to my new found friends and started to move towards Kathmandu. Now Im in a village called Bandipur. Sharing a place with a German woman I met on the bus. I left her in the guesthouse sleeping, I hope my stuff will be there when I return. In the village here when walking around I got to a path that local schoolchildren take for their picnic/party place, quite many wanted to know whats my name, where Im from and save the moment in the photograph. With some of them I took the picture with my own camera as well to share the joy. Will add some pics on facebook (fyi where I put already the trekking pictures).