Saturday, 12th May 2018
The main building of the Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge is large, single-storey, stone built, with lots of glazed doors which give access to an open terrace with superb views over the valley below with snow-clad mountains in the background. At one end of the building, the kitchen is at a lower level, forming a basement area. There were lots of male staff in attendance, all English speakers.
"Your lunch is ready", they announced, setting a brass tray with lots of small dishes and rice at a table on the terrace. It was Nepali-style cooking. I enjoyed what I was able and then, no doubt to the disappointment of the Chef, arranged that I would stick to bland, European-style food for the rest of my stay.The sun was warm and visibility good that afternoon: thereafter it remained cool with moderate to poor visibility, for which they apologised. But I enjoyed the ever-changing, rather mysterious views of mist-shrouded mountains.
I believe they have 19 lodges for guests. Appropriately, I was given number 7, the nearest to the main lodge, which still involved a flight of stone steps and a steep path rough-hewn into the living rock. My lodge was well-appointed with a very large double bed and a single bed. I selected the double bed. A section at one end of the lodge had a shower, wash handbasin and W.C. A covered terrace outside the front door was furnished with a table, easy chair and staggering views across the valley. I knew I would enjoy my brief stay.
After my early start that day to take the Mountain Flight from Kathmandu, I was happy to spend the rest of the afternoon in my room backing up photographs and preparing text offline for the blog. I was told that dinner was 'seven for seven-thirty' and found, because it was near the end of the season, only two other guests, Hannah and Oliver Knight, a young couple from London. Our host was the English manager of the lodge, and we dined together very agreeably at a table for four set up in an annexe to the large dining room. I'd remembered to bring the wind-up torch from my room to light my unsteady way back to my room, but the path was also lit by a number of paraffin Hurricane lamps which produced a nostalgic aroma. Exhausted, I slept well.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my first visit to Nepal. Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Nepal reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Nepal reports.
My pictures
Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge
All my pictures on this trip to Nepal can be found in the collection Nepal.
[Pictures linked 8-Aug-2018]
Monday, 14 May 2018
On to Pokhara
Saturday, 12th May 2018
The late running of my early morning Mountain Flight meant that I had less time than planned for breakfast at Dwarika’s Hotel but I had an omelette, tomato juice and tea provided promptly by the attentive staff in the restaurant. I had decided to travel light for my trip to Pokhara so I crammed a few clothes in my rucksack with my computer and put two bags in the hotel’s luggage store until my return. At ten o’clock my guide, driver and the writer set off back to the airport I’d so recently left. The police presence was even more intense: police lined both sides of the main road every 50 yards and there were periodic groups of paramilitary ‘riot squads’, supported by lorries marked ‘Mobile Rest Room’.
At Tribhuvan Airport, I now knew the system for embarking on domestic flights. My booking to Polhara was on the noon flight. The pleasant young man who’d earlier issued my boarding pass for the Mountain Flight recognized me and explained that, because flights were disrupted by the VVIP visit, he was booking me on flight U4 609, due to leave at 10:35 but that this would leave late. I went through security and secondary security into the crowded, noisy Gate Area. On the Buddha Air Flight Information screen, many flights, including mine, had the note ‘DELAY DUE TO VVIP MOVEMENT’. Occasionally, painstaking amendments would be made to the display, or the Windows start-up screen would appear for a while or the public screen would shut down and require re-start by a member of staff with a hand-held remote control. Having found a seat with a view of the Flight Information screen, I stayed put. Thus, the morning slowly passed. Around 12:30, my flight was called and passengers filled up a couple of transfer buses. Then we waited. The Thai flight from Bangkok which I’d arrived on the previous day landed, an ATR-62 local flight took off, followed by a twin jet. Then a Malaysia Airlines 737-800 landed and taxied to the stand, followed by a Simrik Airlines local flight. Kathmandu is a very busy airport. After 20 minutes, the bus drove across the apron to the domestic flight line, where we stopped adjacent to a Buddha Air ATR-62 turbo-prop. Another wait followed. Then we boarded the aircraft and there was a further wait whilst the two stewardesses plied us with peanuts, a fruit drink and water. Suddenly, the engines were started, our snacks were hurriedly cleared away and we taxied to the runway.
We rapidly climbed away from Kathmandu, and emerged above the clouds with views of snow-clad peaks brightly lit by the sun on our right. Before long, we descended through the clouds to a plain well covered with buildings – Pokhara is, I think, the second largest city in Nepal after Kathmandu. The approach to Pokhata is interesting. When approach flap was selected, I knew we were getting close to landing, but I couldn’t spot the runway ahead. Then we commenced a steep right bank, turned right and kept turning. As we continued to turn, I saw what appeared to be a new runway under construction further out on the plain. Just before the runway threshold, the pilot levelled out and we made a fairly fast landing. Landing at Pokhara can be quite a challenge for pilots, so I could see why a new airport is being built, presumably with easier approach from the air. We walked from the aircraft to a small baggage hall but with hand baggage only, I was quickly in the small car park looking for the representative from Tiger Mountain Lodge. I located him and we set off in a black Land Rover through the centre of Pokhara, larger than I expected. A straight main road led us through ribbon development for a few kilometres then the scenery became more rural and we turned off the main road onto a steeply-inclined road ascending Tiger Mountain. It soon became clear why we were using a Land Rover as the narrow road twisted and turned up the mountain through a series of tight hairpin bends. An unsurfaced lane led us to a small car park from where we walked up a path cut into the rock and climbed stone steps to enter the main building of Tiger Mountain Lodge, my home for two nights.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my first visit to Nepal. Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Nepal reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Nepal reports.
My pictures
Nepal from above
Kathmandu Airport
Kathmandu
Dwarika's Hotel, Kathmandu
Pokhara, Nepal
Tiger Mountain, Pokhara, Nepal
Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge
All my pictures on this trip to Nepal can be found in the collection Nepal.
[Pictures linked 8-Aug-2018]
The late running of my early morning Mountain Flight meant that I had less time than planned for breakfast at Dwarika’s Hotel but I had an omelette, tomato juice and tea provided promptly by the attentive staff in the restaurant. I had decided to travel light for my trip to Pokhara so I crammed a few clothes in my rucksack with my computer and put two bags in the hotel’s luggage store until my return. At ten o’clock my guide, driver and the writer set off back to the airport I’d so recently left. The police presence was even more intense: police lined both sides of the main road every 50 yards and there were periodic groups of paramilitary ‘riot squads’, supported by lorries marked ‘Mobile Rest Room’.
At Tribhuvan Airport, I now knew the system for embarking on domestic flights. My booking to Polhara was on the noon flight. The pleasant young man who’d earlier issued my boarding pass for the Mountain Flight recognized me and explained that, because flights were disrupted by the VVIP visit, he was booking me on flight U4 609, due to leave at 10:35 but that this would leave late. I went through security and secondary security into the crowded, noisy Gate Area. On the Buddha Air Flight Information screen, many flights, including mine, had the note ‘DELAY DUE TO VVIP MOVEMENT’. Occasionally, painstaking amendments would be made to the display, or the Windows start-up screen would appear for a while or the public screen would shut down and require re-start by a member of staff with a hand-held remote control. Having found a seat with a view of the Flight Information screen, I stayed put. Thus, the morning slowly passed. Around 12:30, my flight was called and passengers filled up a couple of transfer buses. Then we waited. The Thai flight from Bangkok which I’d arrived on the previous day landed, an ATR-62 local flight took off, followed by a twin jet. Then a Malaysia Airlines 737-800 landed and taxied to the stand, followed by a Simrik Airlines local flight. Kathmandu is a very busy airport. After 20 minutes, the bus drove across the apron to the domestic flight line, where we stopped adjacent to a Buddha Air ATR-62 turbo-prop. Another wait followed. Then we boarded the aircraft and there was a further wait whilst the two stewardesses plied us with peanuts, a fruit drink and water. Suddenly, the engines were started, our snacks were hurriedly cleared away and we taxied to the runway.
We rapidly climbed away from Kathmandu, and emerged above the clouds with views of snow-clad peaks brightly lit by the sun on our right. Before long, we descended through the clouds to a plain well covered with buildings – Pokhara is, I think, the second largest city in Nepal after Kathmandu. The approach to Pokhata is interesting. When approach flap was selected, I knew we were getting close to landing, but I couldn’t spot the runway ahead. Then we commenced a steep right bank, turned right and kept turning. As we continued to turn, I saw what appeared to be a new runway under construction further out on the plain. Just before the runway threshold, the pilot levelled out and we made a fairly fast landing. Landing at Pokhara can be quite a challenge for pilots, so I could see why a new airport is being built, presumably with easier approach from the air. We walked from the aircraft to a small baggage hall but with hand baggage only, I was quickly in the small car park looking for the representative from Tiger Mountain Lodge. I located him and we set off in a black Land Rover through the centre of Pokhara, larger than I expected. A straight main road led us through ribbon development for a few kilometres then the scenery became more rural and we turned off the main road onto a steeply-inclined road ascending Tiger Mountain. It soon became clear why we were using a Land Rover as the narrow road twisted and turned up the mountain through a series of tight hairpin bends. An unsurfaced lane led us to a small car park from where we walked up a path cut into the rock and climbed stone steps to enter the main building of Tiger Mountain Lodge, my home for two nights.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my first visit to Nepal. Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Nepal reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Nepal reports.
My pictures
Nepal from above
Kathmandu Airport
Kathmandu
Dwarika's Hotel, Kathmandu
Pokhara, Nepal
Tiger Mountain, Pokhara, Nepal
Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge
All my pictures on this trip to Nepal can be found in the collection Nepal.
[Pictures linked 8-Aug-2018]
Mountain Flight
Saturday, 12th May 2018
To cater for the interest of tourists in the Himalayan mountains and, of course, Mount Everest there are daily flights from Kathmandu airport to view the peaks. The weather can be very changeable so good views and the flights themselves are not guaranteed. There are a number of similar flights each day, all operating early morning to secure the best views.
I was booked with Buddha Air, due to leave at 06:15 but I was warned that flight times are notoriously variable, according to weather conditions. In addition, we had the movements of Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi to contend with, hence I was picked up by my guide at 4.30 a.m. The guide said the flight would be affected by Mr. Modi’s planned visit to a temple. The flights leave from Tribhuvan Airport where I’d arrived the previous day but there’s a separate Domestic Terminal for internal and ‘Mountain’ flights. The guide wasn’t allowed into the terminal building so he described the arrangements I’d find. First, there was a ticket and passport check, then hand baggage was X-rayed and, after passing through a detector arch, there was a body search (separate for men and women). I was then in a noisy, barn-like Ticket Hall where I found a group of Buddha Air check-in counters, most with a destination board hung up. I queued at the one with the sign ‘MOUNTAIN’ and was issued with a boarding card by a friendly young man who, like a lot of the people I met, spoke good English. I then passed into a crowded waiting area but noticed that many people were passing through a secondary security to what appeared to be the Gate Area. Since there was no passenger information screen in the waiting area, I went through security to an even more crowded, even noisier gate area. There were a couple of fairly standard display screens but the Buddha Air flights weren’t shown.
But near one of the two gates, there was a single counter with a display screen above in a frame marked Buddha Air Flight Information. There were six ‘Mountain’ flights shown, all departing at 06:15. As I watched, the screen started to change, but slowly, one character at a time. To confirm my suspicions, I walked to the side of the counter and there was a screen and keyboard with a girl typing in the day’s schedule from a printed list originated by another system. It rather looked as if she was using Word, Excel or Access to create the schedule and that the public display was simply a second screen on her computer. New entries appeared in a very small font, so each field was laboriously resized individually, with all the option menus appearing on the public display as well. Occasionally, an existing field would be copied to save retyping. I was fascinated watching this lengthy process and realized that all changes throughout the day were going to be made by this labour intensive process. There was a permanent crush of people around the desk, bombarding the girl with questions but I decided that I could probably use the screen as a source of information. Northing else happened for a while, except that more people arrived in the Gate Area. Then all the ‘Mountain’ flights were bracketing together on the display with the ominous message ‘AIRPORT CLOSED DUE TO VVIP MOVEMENT’. Initially, the girl had type ‘VIP’ but one of her colleagues suggested that she amend it to read ‘VVIP’. To get the remark in red characters, she had to use another sub menu to select colour. A few minutes later the message was amended to ‘AIRPORT CLOSED FOR SOMETIME DUE TO VVIP MOVEMENT’.
A loud roar announced the manoeuvring of a large Indian Air Force helicopter, which was presumably about to fly Mr. Modi on his temple visit. Everybody became very excited and rushed towards the windows to watch. Presumably Mr. Modi had left, because they started to board Mountain flights.
Eventually, my flight was called and a small group of passengers were ushered onto a transfer bus. Three or four other Indian Air Force helicopters started manoeuvring – presumably a backup, the Prime Minister’s entourage and perhaps the Press Corps. The transfer bus drove across the apron and stopped adjacent to a Buddha Air twin-engined Beechcraft. Then we waited. One or two aircraft took off and a fuel bowser replenished the aircraft next to us and then both wing tanks of the Buddha Air Beechcraft. A stewardess looked out of the cabin door, then retreated inside. The pilot was clearly on board, as I watched him exercise ailerons and rudder for “full and free movement”. At last, we boarded the aircraft and took off about 75 minutes late.
We climbed rapidly above the clouds and then the ragged, snow-covered outline of the Himalayas appeared on our left. The seating was 1+1 with a window by every seat but visibility was not too good and as the flight proceeded, the cabin windows started to ice-up. I presume that’s why the stewardess started to call passengers, one by one, to the front of the aircraft where the flight deck windows were all heated. It was all a bit confusing, with passengers moving forwards and backwards in the narrow aisle and crossing a slight ‘hump’ halfway down the cabin where the main wing spar passed under the floor. I didn’t positively identify any mountains at the time, but perhaps I’ll be able to later. We turned to make our return to Kathmandu with the mountains now on our right (the side I was sitting). The icing grew worse as we dropped below the clouds. I heard the rumble from the actuators as the co-pilot selected approach flaps. As we neared the airport, full flaps were selected to reduce the stall speed for landing and after touch-down we taxied to the domestic apron. A transfer bus returned us to the Domestic Terminal and, just outside, my guide was waiting. The same people carrier and driver returned me to Dwarika’s for breakfast but, this time, we were able to use the ‘posh’ front entrance.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my first visit to Nepal. Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Nepal reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Nepal reports.
My pictures
Nepal from above
Kathmandu Airport
Mountain flight, 12th May 2018
Kathmandu
Dwarika's Hotel, Kathmandu
All my pictures on this trip to Nepal can be found in the collection Nepal.
[Pictures linked 8-Aug-2018]
To cater for the interest of tourists in the Himalayan mountains and, of course, Mount Everest there are daily flights from Kathmandu airport to view the peaks. The weather can be very changeable so good views and the flights themselves are not guaranteed. There are a number of similar flights each day, all operating early morning to secure the best views.
I was booked with Buddha Air, due to leave at 06:15 but I was warned that flight times are notoriously variable, according to weather conditions. In addition, we had the movements of Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi to contend with, hence I was picked up by my guide at 4.30 a.m. The guide said the flight would be affected by Mr. Modi’s planned visit to a temple. The flights leave from Tribhuvan Airport where I’d arrived the previous day but there’s a separate Domestic Terminal for internal and ‘Mountain’ flights. The guide wasn’t allowed into the terminal building so he described the arrangements I’d find. First, there was a ticket and passport check, then hand baggage was X-rayed and, after passing through a detector arch, there was a body search (separate for men and women). I was then in a noisy, barn-like Ticket Hall where I found a group of Buddha Air check-in counters, most with a destination board hung up. I queued at the one with the sign ‘MOUNTAIN’ and was issued with a boarding card by a friendly young man who, like a lot of the people I met, spoke good English. I then passed into a crowded waiting area but noticed that many people were passing through a secondary security to what appeared to be the Gate Area. Since there was no passenger information screen in the waiting area, I went through security to an even more crowded, even noisier gate area. There were a couple of fairly standard display screens but the Buddha Air flights weren’t shown.
But near one of the two gates, there was a single counter with a display screen above in a frame marked Buddha Air Flight Information. There were six ‘Mountain’ flights shown, all departing at 06:15. As I watched, the screen started to change, but slowly, one character at a time. To confirm my suspicions, I walked to the side of the counter and there was a screen and keyboard with a girl typing in the day’s schedule from a printed list originated by another system. It rather looked as if she was using Word, Excel or Access to create the schedule and that the public display was simply a second screen on her computer. New entries appeared in a very small font, so each field was laboriously resized individually, with all the option menus appearing on the public display as well. Occasionally, an existing field would be copied to save retyping. I was fascinated watching this lengthy process and realized that all changes throughout the day were going to be made by this labour intensive process. There was a permanent crush of people around the desk, bombarding the girl with questions but I decided that I could probably use the screen as a source of information. Northing else happened for a while, except that more people arrived in the Gate Area. Then all the ‘Mountain’ flights were bracketing together on the display with the ominous message ‘AIRPORT CLOSED DUE TO VVIP MOVEMENT’. Initially, the girl had type ‘VIP’ but one of her colleagues suggested that she amend it to read ‘VVIP’. To get the remark in red characters, she had to use another sub menu to select colour. A few minutes later the message was amended to ‘AIRPORT CLOSED FOR SOMETIME DUE TO VVIP MOVEMENT’.
A loud roar announced the manoeuvring of a large Indian Air Force helicopter, which was presumably about to fly Mr. Modi on his temple visit. Everybody became very excited and rushed towards the windows to watch. Presumably Mr. Modi had left, because they started to board Mountain flights.
Eventually, my flight was called and a small group of passengers were ushered onto a transfer bus. Three or four other Indian Air Force helicopters started manoeuvring – presumably a backup, the Prime Minister’s entourage and perhaps the Press Corps. The transfer bus drove across the apron and stopped adjacent to a Buddha Air twin-engined Beechcraft. Then we waited. One or two aircraft took off and a fuel bowser replenished the aircraft next to us and then both wing tanks of the Buddha Air Beechcraft. A stewardess looked out of the cabin door, then retreated inside. The pilot was clearly on board, as I watched him exercise ailerons and rudder for “full and free movement”. At last, we boarded the aircraft and took off about 75 minutes late.
We climbed rapidly above the clouds and then the ragged, snow-covered outline of the Himalayas appeared on our left. The seating was 1+1 with a window by every seat but visibility was not too good and as the flight proceeded, the cabin windows started to ice-up. I presume that’s why the stewardess started to call passengers, one by one, to the front of the aircraft where the flight deck windows were all heated. It was all a bit confusing, with passengers moving forwards and backwards in the narrow aisle and crossing a slight ‘hump’ halfway down the cabin where the main wing spar passed under the floor. I didn’t positively identify any mountains at the time, but perhaps I’ll be able to later. We turned to make our return to Kathmandu with the mountains now on our right (the side I was sitting). The icing grew worse as we dropped below the clouds. I heard the rumble from the actuators as the co-pilot selected approach flaps. As we neared the airport, full flaps were selected to reduce the stall speed for landing and after touch-down we taxied to the domestic apron. A transfer bus returned us to the Domestic Terminal and, just outside, my guide was waiting. The same people carrier and driver returned me to Dwarika’s for breakfast but, this time, we were able to use the ‘posh’ front entrance.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my first visit to Nepal. Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Nepal reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Nepal reports.
My pictures
Nepal from above
Kathmandu Airport
Mountain flight, 12th May 2018
Kathmandu
Dwarika's Hotel, Kathmandu
All my pictures on this trip to Nepal can be found in the collection Nepal.
[Pictures linked 8-Aug-2018]
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