Welcome to the Hotel Cali-Pokhara: You Can Check Out, But You Can Never Leeeeeeave

Ah, Pokhara.  The traveler’s hub nestled between beautiful Lake Pewa and the Annapurna mountains.  Look one way and you see people paddling about serenely on the water, turn around and Fishtail Mountain’s snowy shard towers above you.
Look straight up and you’ll find dozens of paragliders floating down from the sky; down the street lie dozens of bakeries, pizza restaurants, and coffee shops.  I went there intending to stay just a few short days and ended up there for a total of almost three weeks.  What did I do?  Almost nothing, save for float around on the lake a bit, eat a LOT of food and drink a LOT of coffee, and hang out with some totally crazy shakies, including those pictured below. 



Mr. Krazy himself, yours truly.  This is my resting bitch face.


Krazy Korean lady named Full Moon Party.  She rode here on a bicycle just like me, so she must be extra crazy.  That’s her resting bitch face.



Some of the local children have developed mutant superpowers, including this youngster, who can fly inches above the ground, scaring off the pigeons.


The earth in Pokhara reconfigures itself into geometric shapes, as seen above in this photo of our boat docked by the shore.



And they serve coffee in a beer glass! How crazy!





Then, on the goddess Shiva’s birthday, Shiva Ratri, everyone makes giant vats of cream of marijuana soup, and the entire town gets totally high (except for me, of course).



THEN, they build giant bonfires in the middle of the road, heat sticks of sugarcane in them, and whip the sticks into the ground to make a loud firecracker-esque popping sound.






Full Moon Party freaks herself out slamming her sugarcane into the ground.



The whole town is out and about.


New and old friends.  Dikla, from Israel, Hyangju, who I met traveling with Mingyu back in Cambodia, the infamous Vagabonder and Atom, a cycling couple from Korea who are on a world trip, and Rick, from the Netherlands.


Rick maniacally shuffles the cards for our game of Kabu.  If you don’t know how to play this game, ask me to teach you.



Pokhara is so romantic, even the boats kiss.




Then there was one more new friend, Suhyeon, a solo female Korean traveler meandering around Asia.


She’s cute. 

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Also in Pokhara: Pugs

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Paragliders EVERYWHERE


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This goat screams for its dear life as Full Moon Party whispers sweet nothings in its ear about how she is going to roast it alive and devour its barbequed intestines, smothered in Korean red pepper sauce.

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Duck faces with Dikla

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Warby Parker glasses to try on


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And custom made cycling caps. 

Also, pizza, steak, cannelloni, and this yogurt, butter, and chickpea Syrian stuff.  All awesome. 
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And more friends to hang out with! What a great place, Pokhara.  But I’m glad I finally got out.  Even too much fun can be a bad thing some times.  No more fun! Until the next time I have fun with food and friends.  (Above: Dolma, my Nepali buddy! And below:  Rick and Leah from Maya Universe Academy)

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