Krishna House was abuzz with the sound of our boys rushing to go out and breathe "smoke" very early that morning. Our Buddha Air flight to Pokhara was scheduled to depart at 9am, which meant that we'd need to leave in Uncle Hari's van at 7.30am as we needed to be at the airport by 8am.
So by 4am I was already up to grab the shower first, and then made sure that our luggage was all in order. By 6.30am I rushed the boys to breakfast so that they'll have enough time to entertain any calls of nature before leaving Krishna House. I wasn't going to rely on any public toilets for anyone's #2.
I had booked Krishna House via Agoda, so checking out that morning was easy breezy. We were excited to see Pokhara coz we'd heard some cool stuff about it from our friend Priscilla, but still we felt a bit sad to leave Krishna House, although we knew we'd be returning here on the third leg of our trip. That's Krishna House for you :)
So we got to the airport and headed straight to the domestic wing. Uncle Hari parked the van, and we were like, this is it? He turned to us and said, "Wait here, I get trolley." Ah-so, this IS it! So, we unloaded our bags onto the cart and Hari bade us farewell.
So Hari left and we started walking, pushing our cart, not really knowing which way to go, we looked for a signboard but didn't really see one. Fortunately some locals were passing by and they must have noticed our puzzled look, coz they casually said, "This way, this way," indicating left. Er, okay, so and yes! The domestic departure entrance we finally reached, phewh!
It was a completely new experience for us. It was like something I'd seen at Puduraya when I used to take the bus from KL to Jitra, back when I was doing matriculation! No, I'm not trying to belittle anything or anyone, but it's just a new experience. Oh, but we had experienced something similar, it was at the airport in Padang, Sumatera, when we went there in 2004. But nobody was rude or obtrusive here in Nepal, everyone was actually as pleasant as they could be, it's just that the vibrant ambience and the colourful manner in which they did things really intrigued us.
At the check in counter, we were told that there were seats available on the 8.40am flight, so they could actually board us on that earlier one. So, we thought, er, okay, so, yes! ...(many things happened this way for us in Nepal coz almost everything was new to us!)... Well, there wasn't really much else to see or do at the domestic wing, and it was really very cold (no indoor heating). So we paid the 200Rupees domestic levy each for myself, darling husband and Esfahan (kids below 10 gratis), and proceeded to the boarding gate.
Another unique thing about Nepal is, at the airport, passengers are segregated into "Ladies" and "Men" lines, children can follow either their mommies or ayahs; this was mainly for body checks. I'm just guessing that it is a cultural norm.
Esfahan's own words ~
Day 3 - Woke up and had breakfast, Oh how I love their orange juice! We packed up and headed for the airport, checked our bags and waited. We got on a Buddha Air plane to Pokhara. The flight took only 25 minutes! Arrived at Pokhara Airport and Uncle Purna was already waiting to take us to The Mountain House lodge. We met Uncle Stan and his family. We unpacked and walked about Pokhara Lakeside. We had lunch at the Fewa Paradise Restaurant. Best ever lunch! We also saw a snake charmer with his black cobra! After that we went around the lakeside. Then we went back to the lodge, hung out at the rooftop and waited for sunset, then had a good rest. Uncle Stan told us we had an early start tomorrow, at 5am to see the sunrise. It was warmer here than Bhaktapur.
Stay tuned for the awesome Himalayan views we caught during our flight to Pokhara!
Till then, take care, dream happy dreams and think happy thoughts :)
To be continued...
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