Day 124 Pokhara

Sadly the monsoon weather does not want to depart this year, I am reading of early mountaineering expeditions being thwarted by persistent snow. So another rainy day for us and no mountain vistas. 

We had a bit if a sleep in, 

Robyn has been downloading books all of this trip which has meant she has had her head down reading at times, those of you who know me will know I need constant conversation to keep me going haha. 

I have been content with news channels and Trademe but the news is always dominated by two idiots on either side of the Atlantic so now I’m also downloading books. This has the potential to become a major expense of the trip!

I don’t think either of us realised how tired we have become, the constant battle with the roads, heat and pollution has taken its toll so it is good to have a recharge. 

We haven’t been completely idle though, we visited the excellent mountain museum which has a wonderful display of mountaineering pictures and memorabilia, not only from this region but all of the Nepal Himalaya. Wonderful memories flooded back for us.

 It was nice to see the Sherpas and porters getting their share of the limelight, whilst the climbers value them and realise without them things would be very different, they are often overlooked when notable achievements are reported. 

There was a section on efforts to clear away trash from the mountains and a sobering section on the effects of climate change. I hope these mountains and glaciers can still be enjoyed by my grandchildren. 

We then set off to the Ghurka museum. Another really well set out exhibition tracing the history of the Ghurkha regiments. They have a fearsome repuation and have been involved in virtually all major conflicts in the past 200 years either fighting for India or Great Britain. These brave boys were denied many priveleges afforded to other British war vets and it took quite a battle to achieve them, in no small part helped by the gutsy and persistent efforts of Joanna Lumley. 

We then retreated to our hotel to read and watch movies, it has rained all day but it has finally stopped, no prospect of clear skies though. 

We also Skyped the kids and caught up with their news so that was very nice.