Sunrise in Sarangkot

The alarm went off at 5.45 this morning and we stumbled out of bed and up to the view point for 6am as this is when we'd been told sunrise would begin. It is a clear day so we're hoping for a good one. The French girls arrive shortly after us and there are lots of other people up there from a bus load of loud Australian teenagers to Japanese, Nepali and European tourists of all ages.

We are not disappointed. The sun rises to the right of where we're sitting and, as it does so, casts beautiful colours and shadows on the mountains. When it finally rises it is a big circle of red. Unfortunately, our photos don't do it justice but you still get an idea.

We head back for breakfast but the boys in our guest house aren't up yet so we go elsewhere. We chat to the cafe owner who says we are lucky - its been cloudy for the last two weeks for sunrise. We have a second breakfast back at our guest house and then check out later that morning - we are hungry today. We head back up to the view point to enjoy the sunshine. Andy has a snooze and Freddie reads and then we decide to head back down the long stone staircase to Pokhara before lunch. Its really warm again today but it doesn't take us too long to get down. On the way, an old boy, who stopped us on the way up, invites us to sit in his garden and rest. He seems educated and has travelled to England and India before but now lives a poor lifestyle with his young daughter on the hillside with a lovely view of the lake. Its difficult to tell his age as he has long grey hair tied back with a long grey beard ... we guess he's in his late fifties and his daughter is probably 9 or 10. He says the daughter's mother is no longer with us. He is a really nice interesting guy who offers us some chicken curry for lunch before we head off. We decline and he also tries to sell us some homegrown weed (which we also decline). He says if we're passing again, to bring some food and we can cook with him.

We head back to Pokhara for lunch, however, and sit by the lake for a few hours before heading back to Shanti guest house. We are both tired after a late night and early morning and get to bed early after dinner in one place and pudding in another ... today has been a day of eating lots! Either all the exercise, or all the alcohol yesterday but probably a bit of both.

Haiku
Sat with smiling baba
Hot sun, life talk, rest
High in the mountain garden