Pokhara, Australian Camp & Panshase area
Right after my quick but intense first stay in Katmandu, I connected with Manohar, owner of ‘Purna Yoga’, a Pokhara-based travel agency specialized in yoga-treks, the only one in Nepal at that time. We fixed an appointment together with his brother at my guest house early in the morning. They picked me up and drove to Pokhara stopping shortly in the way at a guest house in Katmandu to pick up Yvonne, another girl who booked this trek.
Pokhara is the entrance door of the most popular Himalaya trekkings of western Nepal. It’s a city located at around 200km away from Katmandu, built around the Phewa lake. It allows mountaneers from all over the world to visit Annapurna National Park, Panshase and many other amazing areas. My plan was first to go for a week trek, the culminant point being Panshase tower reaching 2517 meters height. This would help me to get used to high altitude. Then, right after that, I would trek to Annapurna Base Camp which reachs 4150 meters height. The whole trip would take almost three weeks.
After 6 hours driving through the rough and curvy roads out of Bagmati Zone and Kaski District, we finally arrived in Pokhara. I still remember the feeling of watching the Himalayan range appearing from far away for the first time when reaching Pokhara by car. The parking lot was crazy, people going and coming from everywhere so crowded and busy. Manohar drove us to Purna Yoga office by Phewa lake in order to leave our stuff there, have a welcome lunch meal and then meet the rest of the team that would take part of the adventure. Guests, instructors and porters, we were all sitting there in front of the lake, sharing this wonderful food. On the afternoon on this 30 november 2013, after lunch, we visited Shanti Stupa, also called World Peace Pagoda, in the heights of Pokhara. We had to cross the Phewa lake in small wooden boats (roaming by ourselves), and then trek for another 45mns to reach the magnificent stupa. Not bad for a start.
Then, on this first december 2013, we left the city and started our ascention to the Australian camp, 2050 meters height. It was so unexpected to find a place like this. The story says that Austrian people found it and used to camp there for several days. They ended up calling it Australian Camp because local people find the word “Austrian” too difficult to pronounce . It’s kind of a flat hill that offered this incredible mountain view on sunrises and sunsets. We stayed at the Angel’s Guest house, one of the only two guest houses available at that time. There are lots of constructions nowadays and the view is no longer like this. Anyway, that night, after dinner, I went to walk around and layed down the hill. I had never seen the stars from so close. The sky was super clear I felt I could stay there for hours staring at it. This moment will live in my memory for ever. The cold of the night pulled me out of my dreamy state as I walked back to my room. Very early the morning after we were awakened by the vibration of a singing blowl, played by our guide and yoga instructor Manohar. The meditation and yoga practice was about to begin. It’s hard to descirbe the mixed sensations felt at that moment. The peaceful atmosphere mixed with all the natural smells, the sounds of the small bells here and there, the sun rising on the mountains, the ginger honey lemon hot tea… that was very powerful on it’s simplicty.
After yoga came breakfast time. We needed energy, as we were going to start hiking. At this first step, so many connections were showing up. In a chat during the evening, Manohar told me that before opening ‘Purna Yoga’ he was a photographer and graphic designer, so he knew very well the right spots and lights to make the best photos along the way. He also knew how to use my camera very well. Besides, the symetric pictures of Himalayan range landscape and lake shown here has been taken by him.
I also had the pleasure to meet my dear friend Suzeeta ( the one jumping in the photos ) She was our yoga instructor assisting Manohar during the trek, working for ‘Purna Yoga’ at that time. Our love for music, questionning everything in life, talking a lot during walks, and finding funny but deep answers to our questions brought us together for ever.
The stop before reaching the Panshase tower was staying in the small mountain village called Bhanjyang. At this time, only two guest houses were buildt there : one called ‘Happy heart Hotel’ and the other owned by Ram and his wife. They were no much rooms and the place was super wild. I loved it immediately. Ram and his wife are totally beautiful people, they hosted us in the best possible way. After a night spent there, we woke up at around 4.30AM to start the ascention to Panshase tower. The view was incredible as the darkness of the night was letting place to the sunrise.
After a few hours of stair climbing, we finally reached the top of the Panshase tower. The view from up there was unveliveble as the sun was rising. When we arrived to the small temple at the top, we placed some prayer flags, as wanted by usual local custom. When we came back from there in the evening, we shared some time at Ram’s kitchen, learning how to make home made chapatis and grilled paneer. The day after we safely reached Gatichina, waiting for the bus together with the schoolgirls that day, to come back to Pokhara.