On a recent visit early this month, the Lakeside strip was teeming with tourists; shops, bars and restaurants all seemed busy. For someone who spends a significant chunk of time in Thamel -- Kathmandu’s tourist and restaurant and cafe hub -- the Lakeside seemed refreshingly calm despite everything.
On The Lake
Phewa is the overwhelmingly popular choice and has a lot more to do around its docks. Which is why you should consider heading out to Begnas, for a more undisturbed experience. The dock is just a small opening of the lake and there are no fancy restaurants or bars around. During this writer’s boat ride (about Rs 350/hour), as the elderly boatman talked about politics, several playful monkeys swung off the trees from the hills that sink into the lake. In the warm late afternoon sun, community fishermen cast their nets while others made their way home. Here, it seemed, boating was still an integral form of local commute. Recreational boaters were entirely locals except a couple being ferried to The Begnas Lake Resort & Villa, which overlooks the lake and offers unobstructed view of the hills and the mountains beyond.
Above The Lake
Once you have jumped off a bridge into a gorge with a thick bunch of elastic tied to your feet for a 530ft plunge, somehow running off a cliff hoping your glider held together by nylon strings picks up enough steam to lift you into the sky did not seem that insane. You can’t help feeling giddy anyway. “I mean, breaking arms and legs isn’t that uncommon, but that’s mostly in the landing,” Narayan Parajuli, the proprietor of our paragliding service provider, Blue Sky Paragliding, had said on the way up to the takeoff point in Sarangkot. It is absolutely ridiculous to want to run off a downward-sloping cliff. But if you do it with one of the several paragliding services in Pokhara, it is absolutely worth trying at least once. As you make slow turns and soar higher, the panoramic views of the mountains and Phewa Lake and the Lakeside are awesome.
For a photographer who has always wanted to shoot life on earth from sky, this is a great budget-friendly opportunity (Rs 5,000 for half an hour, Rs 7,000 for an hour). However, if you get motion sick easily, then those turns could make your stomach squirm. Just as you descend to land, your pilot (if you aren’t doing it solo) takes you above the lake for a few minutes and then makes the touchdown along the Lakeside.
Lakeside: Like Thamel, But Better
Sitting on the second floor of the newish chic Olive Café, sipping cool milkshake and forking olives (mix of green and black) with mozzarella, one’s eardrums do take some beating with the occasional speeding motorcycles, busloads of locals, and the unnerving honking of vehicles. A few minutes down the strip is the swankier Thik Thak Restaurant, also newish. There, you can choose the fish you want for dinner from their well-stocked aquarium. Thik Thak is larger than Olive Café: like Olive, there is cozy open-air seating on the ground floor. But its first floor opens to a very big and spacious lounge with a bar and extends to a slightly tight seating area with several tables for four on the balcony that looks down at the strip. The ambient sound there is identical to that of Olive’s.
Compared to the streets of Thamel, this truly is a vacation from traffic mayhem. But why not ban private vehicles at Lakeside altogether? This single street at Lakeside could make its counterpart in the capital blush. While Thamel behaves superficial by building a very expensive and unnecessary gate that welcomes tourists to sidewalks crowded with stray dogs, homeless children and garbage, and streets with no sense of respect to pedestrians (local or the foreigners, who pay a lot of money to come to Kathmandu), Pokhara could do exactly the opposite. After all, there are enough streets one block from the Lakeside that cut through the growing urban jungle to re-route traffic. And the strip itself isn’t an overwhelming mess of residents and business like Thamel is.
The wide street along the side of the lake is, indeed, quite ideal for conversion into blocks of public gardens and parks with only limited types of vehicles allowed in. It would also create better spaces for year-round activities and give the area the much-needed revamping. Plus, ‘green’ is the mantra for many tourists of this day and age. What could possibly be wrong with making the hub of an area famous for its lakes and mountains greener with public gardens!
Businesses should also probably be discouraged from taking over some of the prime spots at Lakeside. Mike’s Breakfast, toward the strip’s northern edge, apparently offers great rooms. But it has extended its eating area to a beautiful spot on the edge of the lake, right above the docking area for many boats. Shouldn’t such spots be grassy patches for people to relax on without having to order poorly prepared
Mexican food? On the other hand, Monsoon Bar & Grill, on the southern end of the strip, offers good meal and view of the lake from their second floor dining area.
Oh, and if your camera runs out of battery midday or you forgot to pack the charger altogether, don’t worry: most Lakeside photo shops will charge it for you for a tiny fee.
The Other Lakeside
Lakeside Pokhara is distinctly divided into two blocks by the old vacation home of the former Nepali royal family: the northern block is the old popular and more developed strip with a wide access to the lake. The southern block is home to the modish Trek-O-Tel hotel, amongst others. The first restaurant and bar on this side is a large Chinese restaurant, followed by the Italian Caffé Concerto with its vast open-air seating. A ‘Jazz’ spot, here one can have deep fried tortillas with homemade salsa, followed by a good pizza washed down with iced tea as jazz greats play softly on the music system. However, it was quicker to check this writer’s Gmail on his cell phone using the Mero Mobile service than the café’s WiFi. Concerto is followed by a series of restaurants and cafes and guesthouses that seem very well put together.
For those looking to eat traditional Nepali food, there is no shortage of such joints. Price range for food and drinks is generally the same as that in Thamel. However, some hotels, such as the grand Fulbari Resort (10km away from Lakeside), offers breakfast, lunch and dinner as part of the package,
and shuttle services to the Lakeside too (20-25 minutes). It is probably also worth trying one of the many popular ‘hole in the wall’ eateries at Lakeside that seem to be quite popular with budget travelers.
Around the lake
Pokhara, of course, offers many hiking and biking trails. In fact, during this trip many tourists were seen heading toward the small village of Pame (pronounced ‘palm-ey’) known for its local fish. The World Peace Stupa is worth visiting to, and vans or jeeps take you there comfortably if you are not in the mood for a hike. The cool air coupled with breathtaking panoramic views of the Phewa and the Lakeside are never tiring and there is a garden to relax on.
For a quick getaway from Kathmandu with family, or a friend or a book, a weekend break with the lake isn’t a bad idea at all.
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