To The Bat Cave!
I was up on the roof of the hotel watching the sunset when Sina came up to join me. We were sitting for a few moments when she pointed out a little dried blood spot on my foot, "Looks like you had a leech too". I discounted the small spot of dried blood as just an unnoticed cut from walking around barefoot at the hotel. It was a short while later when I was getting ready to go out for dinner that I discovered the huge spot of wet blood in my sock.
Earlier in the day Sina, Irena, Yvette and I went on a long walk out of town and up a ridge to the "World Peace Pagoda". You start off on city streets and then cross a dam at the base of the largest lake in Nepal before entering the woods and ascending to the pagoda. We crossed paths with a herd (?) of monkeys but thankfully they were more concerned with frenziedly chasing each other rather than frenziedly chasing us. We pushed on and arrived at the gleaming white and quite monstrous pagoda about 30 minutes later. We took off our shoes and headed up to the white steps when Sina realized she was leaving bloody footprints on the massive shrine. She was wearing teva sandals for the walk and had picked up a few little leeches on way up. Three to be exact. The rest of us did a quick leech check but didn't spot anything. I was wearing shoes and socks so I just checked my calves and all was clear. I must have missed the little bugger who comitted the atrocities in my sock. We rested and took in the views from the pagoda before descending a different route to the lake where we negotiated a reasonable price for passage back across the lake on a small flat bottom canoe style boat.
That was two days ago and we travelled on foot. Yesterday our goal was a bit further away so we opted to rent bicycles. We were headed out to the Bat Cave. It's a medium to smallish cave that houses a medium to small amount of bats as far as gatherings of bats goes. The ride was sketchy at times in hectic city streets. I believe it was Sina who admitted a little trepidation since she was unfamilliar with the rules of the road to which I helpfully responded, "There are rules?". The cave had a modest 10 rupee entrance fee and it seemed to support a local school which was good. We picked up a local kid to guide us through the maze and it was quick but well worth it. The cave entrance was a large opening and you climb down a flight of stairs to get in however the exit was like being reborn and not in a religious sense. You climb vertically up a few gaps in the rock then slide on your belly through an area not much wider than your shoulders (or your hips for the ladies). We had a nice break before hand and a nice long break afterwards. I have discovered that Pokara is all about taking breaks. I've been making the most of this bit of enlightenment.
Earlier in the day Sina, Irena, Yvette and I went on a long walk out of town and up a ridge to the "World Peace Pagoda". You start off on city streets and then cross a dam at the base of the largest lake in Nepal before entering the woods and ascending to the pagoda. We crossed paths with a herd (?) of monkeys but thankfully they were more concerned with frenziedly chasing each other rather than frenziedly chasing us. We pushed on and arrived at the gleaming white and quite monstrous pagoda about 30 minutes later. We took off our shoes and headed up to the white steps when Sina realized she was leaving bloody footprints on the massive shrine. She was wearing teva sandals for the walk and had picked up a few little leeches on way up. Three to be exact. The rest of us did a quick leech check but didn't spot anything. I was wearing shoes and socks so I just checked my calves and all was clear. I must have missed the little bugger who comitted the atrocities in my sock. We rested and took in the views from the pagoda before descending a different route to the lake where we negotiated a reasonable price for passage back across the lake on a small flat bottom canoe style boat.
That was two days ago and we travelled on foot. Yesterday our goal was a bit further away so we opted to rent bicycles. We were headed out to the Bat Cave. It's a medium to smallish cave that houses a medium to small amount of bats as far as gatherings of bats goes. The ride was sketchy at times in hectic city streets. I believe it was Sina who admitted a little trepidation since she was unfamilliar with the rules of the road to which I helpfully responded, "There are rules?". The cave had a modest 10 rupee entrance fee and it seemed to support a local school which was good. We picked up a local kid to guide us through the maze and it was quick but well worth it. The cave entrance was a large opening and you climb down a flight of stairs to get in however the exit was like being reborn and not in a religious sense. You climb vertically up a few gaps in the rock then slide on your belly through an area not much wider than your shoulders (or your hips for the ladies). We had a nice break before hand and a nice long break afterwards. I have discovered that Pokara is all about taking breaks. I've been making the most of this bit of enlightenment.
1 Comments:
frenziedly? hurts my ears. glad you are entertaining yourself though.
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