Join Me On My Morning Walk from My House in Pokhara, Nepal, to Breakfast at Mike's

When I left Nepal in 2008, I thought it might be my last visit to my "home away from home" in Pokhara. I had visited Nepal a dozen or more times in the 2000s and spent weeks at a time living in the house in Pokhara. The shot above is one of many taken from the roof of the house. Ramesh, the head of the household, had finally gotten his green card when I was there in December, 2008 and was to start his new life in the US a month later, His wife Laxmi and son Rahel would follow later (we hope they'll be here within the next month). So, figuring "this is it," I was in tears as I left that roof to get into the car for the trip to the airport.

But now -- HURRAY! -- it looks like I'll be making another visit. My Nepali housemate Nimesh is virtually certain to get married in Kathmandu this year. I will certainly return for that! I hope I'll be joined by as many members of my family as can make the trip. I'd love to see them all in the Pokhara house.

When in Pokhara, I would head out every morning to walk down to Mike's restaurant for breakfast. I loved that walk! Join me in taking the walk and you'll see why.  Here's our starting point -- the Pokhara house:

It's a clear day, so let's go up on the roof first and check out the view:

The mountain is Fishtail, the nickname for the holy, unclimbed Mt. Macchapucchre, which looms over Pokhara.  Now let's head up the path from the house to the street in front of the house:

Here's the street in front of the house:

It's a short walk to the main road that leads down to Lakeside, which is the tourist section where Mike's is located. The views from the main road are pretty good:

What do you know! Here comes Mike being driven to work by Surya. Mike's innovative stone house that combines traditional Newari architecture with "green" features is just down the road fom our house.

And,  a few minutes later, here comes Ramesh with the love of my life, his son Rahel:

As we head down the main road, this spectacular tree marks the point where we leave the busy, noisy main road for a quieter alternate route:

 We get another peak at the mountains:

As we walk a bit farther, we get another look at Fishtail:

A few minutes later, we come to the main drag in Lakeside. Not hard to tell that it's the tourist section:

After passing lots of shops and restaurants, we see a sign directing us down a lane to the lake and Mike's. (At 10am, we usually see the the water buffalos coming down the lane -- after strolling down the main street -- to bath and swim in the lake.)

As we head down the lane to Mike's, we stop to say "Namaste" to Laxmi's wonderful mother. Ramesh got here before us. He's really not trying to ignore his mother-in-law.  (Just realized. I must have taken this shot since that my blue back pack on the ground.)

Getting hungry after our walk?  Well, here we are -- the entrance to Mike's:

Let's take this table with an unobstructed view of the  lake:

It's such a beautiful spot, you could often find me back here for supper at dusk:

I was nearly in tears again as I recreated and recalled this walk.