Day 32 - 3rd March - Pokhara

We packed up and moved to other side of lake to Fewa corner. We were starving by the time we got there and so confused the smiley boy by ordering a motley assortment of food. When it arrived, we understood why he'd been a bit bemused because there was loads of it. Since they had clearly spent the last hour or more painstakingly making it all, we had to trough the lot.

Matt had spotted a bookshop which bought books and so we took the India travel guide along. They gave us quite a lot of credit for it so we came away with 'The Snow Leapord' (recommended by Lonely Planet but not by Matt it would transpire) for Matt and the mini idiot's guide to yoga for me. Unfortunately I wasn't idiotic enough to appreciate it fully so Matt is currently carrying that around too.

We wanted to go to the World Peace Pagoda that we could see nestling at the top of the peak at the other side of the lake and so walked round to the damside. The river in front of the dam was packed full of people washing themselves and their clothes. It was a riot of colour and activity and we sat by the ropebridge for a while to watch.

We were soon joined by some kids who were trying to exchange Matt's carabenas for a tour up to the Peace Pagoda. It's probably the ethics of working in a school that are ingrained in us but we didn't much fancy enticing children into a forest with us to lead us up a deserted hill path in exchange for shiny things so we politely declined and said we'd find the way ourselves.

The World Peace Pagoda ia a Buddhist Monument to promote world peace and the movement is in the process of building 100 of them in significant sites around the world. The first attempt was initially knocked down by the Nepali government who cited petty reasons but it was built again later after political change. It was a pretty steep climb and we were glad that we did not have any chattery children in tow to witness us sweating and heaving ourselves up the hill. There were loads of people  there who had caught the bus up , lazy buggers, and of course there were the obligatory mobile phones blaring out tinny music but it was still worth it. It was a really striking monument and had fabulous views over Pokhura, the lake and the old town.