Annapurna - Here I come!

Finally! Tomorrow I'll be waking up too early and I'll take a bus to Basisahar (or something), the beginning of the around Annapurna trek. It is supposed to take 16-20 days. There are four of us: Ayelet, Shimrit, me and Chandra, a really nice porter.

Ken

Yesterday night I've met Ken. A Canadian who lived in Munich for the last ten years and left to see the world. He has done more than a few things in his life, like owning a dive shop/school, managing an art gallery and more. He already been to some of the places I intend to visit.
We spent the whole day together. I liked his opinions on various topics we've discussed, such as the political status in Nepal and the holocaust.

Nehba

Avi and Nehba

At the hotel I was staying I've met an Israeli guy who was staying there for over a month. Part of his personal intentions of going on a trip was to get away from his guitar. But fortunately, he couldn't and got one when he was in India. I watched him play, and he is very good.

He adopted a local Nepali band and he works with during the day and plays with them during their shows. The band is made of three lead singers, each with his own style , a drummer and three guitarists. They perform at G's Terrace and at the Lhasa in Kathmandu.

I've followed them during one day as they rehearsed and played at the Lhasa. They are quite good and very nice people. Their name is Nehba.

A hard day in Pokhara
Originally uploaded by 202.

I've moved to Pokhara three days ago, as some famous world traveller suggested, and he was not mistaken.
Snowy peaks (when not hidden by clouds), a huge lake surrounded by mountains and places to sit and eat and do nothing.

It has been almost a week I'm abroad and in Kathmandu.

Travelling here was daunting, a three flights day, which went surprisingly well, considering the second flight was delayed. Both foreign flights were quite nice, and allowed me to experiment with some local food, even in "airplane" servings. I especially like the Gulab Jamun, which is an Indian sweet pastry.

I've arrived after 22:00 local time (3:45 hours difference from Israel time, quite weird). I went for the "shuttle" arranged by the hotel I've reserved from Israel. It was quite a scary ride, at the middle of the night, on the "roads" (more like alleys) of Kathmandu, where mostly packs of dogs roam the streets.

The original reserved hotel was full, so they arranged me an alternative hotel, "Madhuban hotel". I've arrived there shaken and went to a jet-lagged sleep, as this is the first time I've been traveling East-ward.