Blessed in a Cave

okay so Pokhara plans didnt quite happen in the order i predicted, but this is for the ABSOLUTE best

Friday: got up decently early and started my hike to the world peace pagoda. As i was walking i was tapped on the shoulder by a girl named Carolyn, a PHD student from toronto studying women and religion (specifically buddhism) in India. Needless to say we had a lot to talk about. Devi's falls is obviously a sight to see in the MONSOON season . . . it was a decently cool waterfall that plunged into a cave-ish looking cavern, but the pictures of the falls during the wet season were tumultuous and 500 times better than what it looked like now, but it was still cool. Across the street was pokhara cave # 1. 100 rupees (mahango chha) got me a look at a flourescently lighted cave with a few stalagmites that the locals worship as the god Shiva's Penis. The hike up to the world peace pagoda was hot, with no shade, but only took about an hour, and the top was very nice. I dont know how a large white stupa with a few statues of different buddhas is going to bring about world peace, but its a nice thought. As i got back and tried to nap there was a knock on my door and some guys i had e mailed that i went canyoning with had actually found me and invited me to go out with them. These were very high class nepalis who had major connections and had a private car that i was shauffered around in. Very nice. After about 2 hours of snacking and drinking one of the guys recieved a call and they said they needed to leave because they were going to pick up two girls and bring them back to their apartments to "have a good time." keep in mind two of these three guys were brothers. they told me to knock on their hotel room door in just an hour. . . needless to say i did not.

Day 2: 4 45 AM wakeup to see the sun rise at sarangkot, a mountain that looks over the lake on one side and to the mountains on the other. Sunrise was exciting, the sun peeked out from the corner of one of the mountains and made a pretty dramatic entrance. the mountain view was hazy at best. After breakfast a little bit down from the top we decided to take a look back at the viewpoint. THANK GOD WE DID. the clouds cleared, the gods bellowed "tada" and the moutanins came into clear view, one of the most spectacular things i have seen in my life. And then they disappeared again. Carolyn and I walked down from the peak, through peoples properties, on a path that definately was sometimes a dried river, sometimes a path, and sometimes nothing really at all. Afternoon was spent at a tibetan refugee camp

Day 3: Morning, rented a boat and paddled across the lake, by myself. Reached enlightenment. Saw the reflection of the hills (not the mountains like all the tourist photos show) in the water, which was really nice. Afternoon i went on a cycling/caving tour. cycled up to an area about 45 minutes uphill away where there were three nearby caves. The first one, Kumari cave, was guided by about 5 small boys who showed me everything there was to see. They were actually very concerned guides, CONSTANTLY telling me to walk slow, watch my head, and crawl when it was totally not necessary. They were pretty cute, and i saw a few cool structures in the cave that resembles things like the buddha and crap like that. After the cave i went swimming in a nearby river with one of the kids who i thought was only being nice to me because he wanted money, but actually ended up being a really good kid who was just looking to hang out with someone. Second cave was the Mahendra cave. Here is where i was blessed. There was a huge Shiva penis (I mean stalagmite) that was decorated with red tikka powder, money, and necklaces. 20 rupees bought me a tiny sweet, a rockin tikka (third eye, hindu dot), and a blessing in english which went something like this "good mind, intellectual, good luck, safe travels" . . . it was a good attempt. Third cave was the bat cave, hundreds of bats clinging to the ceiling of a gigantic room. . . pretty cool, denied the guide that they reccomended so im pretty sure i saw some parts of the cave that not many other tourists see. Alone all of these caves were not as awesome as our JHOC cave . . . but it was cool to see three different ones in one day.

Heading back to Kathmandu tomorrow!