Fishtail lodge

The hotel taxi stopped on the lakeside and on the other side was this fantastic looking tropical paradise!! We couldnt believe what we were looking at. A raft was pulled on ropes across the lake on our side and a porter helped us load ourselves and our lugguage onto it, it was then pulled slowly towards this little patch of resort on some flattened land that looked right out of travel magazines in the Amazon! Amidst the vegetation we could see signs of round cottages with thatched roofs peaking out from infront of a tall hill with dense forests.
Once on the other side stone steps led into the main area, beautifully landscaped, you could see all colours you could possibly imagine as there were exotic flowers from all over the world, fit into this little piece of gardened land. I have to mention, i have never seen so many butterflies in natural conditions, all sizes, shapes and colours.
We were shown around the lush grounds and were asked to choose any room we liked. We chose the old styled cottages with gardens infront.
The room was beautifully furnished in dark teak with window seats and traditional carvings and Nepali accent pieces. The bathrooms were surprisingly modern in comparison with all the latest facilities. I must mention that the service here was astoundingly good. Smiling staff and managers at your service if you need them and invisible when you don't.
Being from Dubai, a city that is obsessed with 7 star resorts, this could match up any day with its natural paradise setting and lovely architecture. These lodges were introduced by the Royal family now long gone, Princess Jayanti, the ex-King Birendra's sister. Interestingly all profits from this hotel, go to Cardiac research fund to help operations for the poor who can not afford procedural expenses themselves.
The gardens are green and dotted with greenhouses and gazebos, very very romantic reminding one of the famous song and dance in the movie "Sound of Music" , "You are 15, going on 16..." We met an old gentleman bent over trying a flower ikebana, i commented on the beautiful work he was doing and he said that he was working there for the past 28 yrs. He was wistful about the past glory of the lodges. I cannot imagine, if this place was so impressive now, how good it might have been earlier!
These lodges had once housed digniteries like Prince Charles, the Indian president Sanjiva Reddy, Danish PM, a Danish Prince, etc, who had been guests of King Birendra at some point of time. Going through the grounds, one could not help but wonder if they too had enjoyed the reflection of the fishtail mountain in the Phewa lake from their rooms as we did.
 

Pokhara City

We were absolutely starved by this time and checked out the room service menu, we were shocked at the prices and decided to look for some places in the city. I had some recommendations on the web when i was looking for travel tips. We went across the lake [by this time i was completely taken in by the novel way of going to and fro on a raft] and met a person with a taxi, by the name of Lok Pal Gurung. Gurung as you will read later became our driver, guide and most importantly a friend in Pokhara.
He agreed to take us into the city and back at a ridiculously low price as compared to the hotel guide service, so we agreed on a price and off we went.(NR 600 for 5 hours)
I am a Momo fan... Momos are a Tibetan dish that basically consist of a dumpling with meat filling, served with soup and spicy chilli sauce. This is a staple snack in this region and we were thrilled to try some. We headed for the Mohendra Pull area in Pokhara which is the main market area and looked for this highly recommended local shack which makes them called Everest Momos! After much looking around we located it and had our fill. Sadly these weren't the kind of Momos i had had before and disappointed we moved on (though Pashu seemed to like them). I must mention, that in Nepal, if nothing else, you will find beer in all places.... even in Everest Momo, which is a total area of 4 X 5 feet!.
The city is a rural setting, with tourist friendly facilities, phone booths, internet cafes, restaurants, craft shops. The architecture here is nothing to write home about, but then one really does not think about it, because the setting is so astonishingly lush, the lake in the middle and stunning mountains as backdrop!
While walking on the lakeside area, we decided to stop for a snack in a local tea shop, it was on stilts and furnished with cane furniture with Phewa Lake in front and mountains to one side, simply beautiful. Not to mention excellent tea and omelletes!