2012_11_06 Trekking Day 6 Sanctuary Lodge to Pokhara

Connie sitting at a slate table and seat where we would have our tea or coffee in the morning.

Getting ready to head out for the easy walk to the road where we'll be drive to Pokhara.

Here are our porters and group leaders this morning before our last hike.

Rested in a bit this morning as we ONLY had a planned 1 1/2 hour hike back to a main road.  Of course it took much longer than that, some of the group went for a look at a village along the way.  That took an extra hour and we really walked slow.

Stopped at a town where a new bridge allows the cars and trucks to go along the Modi River.  This road has fundamentally changed the lives of all that are near it.   These guys were hard at a gambling game that I have no idea about what's going on.

Here is that bridge.  Now people can be driven in minutes where they had to walk for hours before the bridge.  The last time Rich and Gayle were here (2 years ago) there was only a walking trail where now it has been widened for cars and trucks.

Shyam Gurung and I sat around for a while in the town
while the others went for the sights.

Nice Buddhist temple along the river

Shrine along the way.  Raju gives us the story.

A little more shopping?

So, we reached the main road in about 2 1/2 hours, where a bus was waiting to drive us back to Pohkara.  All the luggage we had left behind to start the trek at the Ker and Downey office was already loaded o to the top of the bus.  The porters lugged our two duffel bags to the bus this morning and everyone crammed on to the bus.

Packed into the bus

Raju and the Rediker's at Shangri-La Village.  Good bye until next time?

We arrived in Pokhara around 4:00 in the afternoon and were taken directly to The Shangri-La Village Hotel.  After the rather spartan cabins we have been sleeping in the last 5 days this looks and feels like the Ritz!  A really nice hotel!  All of our bags were delivered to our room after we said our goodbyes to the team from Ker and Downey.  We made sure to tip our porter Bharat as well as the two group leaders for their exemplary assistance on the trek.

Here is the swimming pool at The Shangri-La Village Hotel

Lunch!

While we waited for lunch Rich tried to explain the rafting that begins tomorrow.  We go on one road (knife) and camp at the napkin (in the middle) for a night.  Then raft some more until we reach the other road (knife) where we will be transported to Pohkara once more.  Assisted by Gayle "Vanna" Rediker.

We were given wet bags in which we are to load and little personal belongings (wallet, passports, camera).  These wet bags are going along with us on the white water rafting portion of the trip that begins tomorrow.  Another group from Ker and Downey will be picking us tomorrow morning to drive us 1 1/2 hours to the Seti River.  There we will start rafting after a briefing.  We are to return the duffels we used on the trekking portion of the trip and have repacked our suit cases.  The suit cases are going to stay on the bus while we head down the river.

Tomorrow we will raft for some time before we reach the camp where we will spend tomorrow night.  The camp has permanent structures that have slate roofs but are considered tents.  Each tent has two beds, a hot water shower and electricity.

After we unpacked we had a lunch at the Shangri-La outside along side the swimming pool.  This evening we went to downtown Pokhara where we spent almost 3 hours shopping at the many handicraft shops.  Lots of them!  After we returned to the hotel we had dinner outside again.  The back to the room where I was able to update all these posts to the blog.  I paid for 2 hours of internet time (about $3) and am happy as a clam to "be in touch with the world again"!

Lake Pokhara - these boaters will take you out for a ride to a temple a short ays out in the lake if you wished to do so.  

Anxiously awaiting the result of the election.  It's just around noon back home.  I hope everyone is getting out to vote and re-elect President Obama.  We should have a pretty good feel for what has happened when we depart tomorrow morning at 9:00.

I lifted this from the internet.  By the time we had reached Pokhara it was too dark to see the mountains in any detail.  This shows the reflection of the peaks in Pokhara Lake AND also identifies the major peaks.