The next morning in Varanasi, we woke up before the sunrise and arranged a boat ride down to the Main Ghat and back. We definitely had visions of our boat spilling us into the polluted Ganges when we were planning on doing this. Luckily, no such thing happened. In fact, the boat ride was very nice. We witnessed a ton of Indian people bathing and swimming in the Ganges. The early morning is the most popular time for this.

After a nap to refuel, we headed to the elusive Iba Cafe, which was now open after being closed for our first attempt. It was certainly one of the nicest restaurants we had eaten at yet. I wanted to get the Udon Curry, a combination of Japanese and Indian foods, but it was not possible. I had to settle on a really good Japanese rice dish instead.

The next morning, we wake up and manage to catch our train this time. It is a shorter ride, around 4 hours, and actually one of our most pleasant yet. We catch a 2 hour bus from near the train station to the India/Nepal border. This bus ride almost rivals our overnight bus in terms of unbearability. The bus is incredibly crowded, with barely room for me and Davy to sit down. Whenever people do get off, more just seem to get on the next time the bus slows down. The bus is also extremely hot, and we are up front right next to the scaldingly hot engine. After a very long 2 or so hours, we arrive at the border. We cross over and after being stopped by no one to get a visa, realize we have to find the Immigration Office on our own. Equipped with visas, we arrange an overnight bus, since the taxi turned out to be much more expensive than the guide books suggested.

This bus ride definitely rivaled our overnight bus episode. It wasn’t a sleeper bus, but just a normal bus with seats. Not too long in, I move to the very back row of seats so that I can lie down. For some reason, the bus stops for a few hours for dinner, and then for even longer during the middle of the night. Already haven eaten dinner, I would have much preferred if the bus drove all night and got us to Pokhara, Nepal sooner. The roads on the way to Pokhara are filled with potholes and the bus is constantly bouncing up and down into the morning. I am almost thrown from my seat in the back onto the floor several times. Amazingly, I manage some sleep during the ride.

Once we get to Pokhara, I immediately like Nepal better than India. Pokhara is so much quieter and cleaner than anywhere we have been in India. There is a nice lake, and the city is surrounded by mountains. I’m glad we plan to trek in Nepal for around 3 weeks.

We walk around a bit before getting a taxi to Sarangkot, a nearby village on a mountain peak overlooking Pokhara. We catch a brief glimpse of snow-covered peaks, Annapurna South apparently, before the clouds completely obscure the mountain tops. When we finish the short hike to the peak, we are greeted with really good views of the surrounding landscape.

We plan to stay in Pokhara one more full day before heading off to start the Annapurna Circuit trek. Some recent pictures can be seen below, with the whole set on my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/38888549@N00/

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