Nepal: Pokhara - Noble Inn Review + Fewa Lake Boat Trip.

This will be a combine post for Pokhara accommodation review and Few Lake, the main attraction of Pokhara.

As Pokhara is one of the main travel destination of Nepal (because of its lake, a few leisure to medium level trek and extreme activity such as paragliding and etc), just don't worry bout accommodation, there are countless of inn, guesthouse, hotel even luxury resort available.

We did some research and found out some famous place such as Hotel Blue Heaven, Hotel Peace Plaza are overprice, probably because they're located in the nicest point where guest could see Himalayan from room. 

But well, we don't stay in the room all the time so doesn't really matter if we could see the mountains from room.

Again, my priority to choose a room were: 

1. Great sun light.

2. Clean and airy. 

3. Quiet environment yet handy to go everywhere. 

So our final decision is Noble Inn, which located in an alley off the main street. 

where noble inn located.

you can see the signboard on the entrance of alley from main street. Noble inn is not the only guesthouse in that alley so nothing to worry bout when walk back during night time. 

lovely and sunny building.

We waved a taxi in the bus station and its only cost us less than RM10 to the place, but yea the bus station isn't far from main street.

We love the place in our first sign, lovely big garden and stand alone building with not more than 15 rooms, big window in every room and guess what...

We only book a standard double room (USD 14/night) and got upgrade to suite room (USD 24/night). Ok because we told the manager that we were on honeymoon hahahahahhahahahahahahaah.

Suite room come with a small living room and big balcony, where you will see the following view right there. 

right from our balcony. 

A short clip that shown the mountain view and surrounding of the guesthouse. 

Of course not super full view of Himalaya but it was good enough for us!

Shame that i didn't take down any room picture (i never thought i will have to starting hotel review post that time). But Noble Inn do have an website, you can get all kind of information from there. 

Noble Inn, Pokhara. 

Add: Mansawar Rd, Pokhara, 33700, Nepal.
Tel: +977 61-464926
Website: http://nobleinn.com/

You will love Noble Inn if...

1. You're looking for fair deal more than great hotel facilities enjoyment.

2. Simple yet clean, bright and airy room. 

3. Love quiet environment yet not too far from the center. 

And something that you might should have to know before contact Noble Inn... 

1. No power supply 24h, just like most of the hotels in Pokhara / Nepal. 

2. No internet connection when current cut off. But when power is on the connection was fair and smooth. 

3. Simple breakfast (breads and egg) serves slow (but hey what are you rushing for?)

4. Furniture is wore and old, but functioning well though. 

5. Hate to walk back though dark and quite alley during night time (we brought torch light and feel safe)   

6. Hot shower but hot water come slow. 

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Pokhara got its name from Fewa Lake. 

Norbu told us, Pokhara in Nepal language mean "The Lake's City".

Fewa lake is the biggest lake in Nepal (or in the regional?), i love this place first saw from internet, because its very similar with Motueka, New Zealand, the small little town where i spent almost 4 months.

So the 2nd day in Pokhara, we took a walk in the lake side, like what the tourist usually did.

his collection, local door frame and his back. 

the lake is huge and hazy during early morning.

colourful boat everywhere. 

we decided to take boat to another side and hike up to Peace Pagoda. So we rent the boat with driver. 

our boat driver. 

very peaceful lake, but it is deep.

fats in the front.

and me.

the island in the middle is a temple, the Goddess of the lake.

lake and himalaya.

great weather

we come close to the lake and decided to stopped by and have a look.

small island and this is the only building 

the temple for the lake. 

people rushing in for praying.

this show you how big is the lake. 

bird on a bird.

the white peak is peace pagoda.

we love this small little town with calm lake. 

If you're confusing and wondering on the maps, let me do a little explanation. 

We took the boat from the boat place (refer maps below), and if you just want to visit temple, you can actually take boat from temple boat place, which is cheaper and nearer. 

So we took boat from boat place, stop by in temple and go to the starting point of world peace pagoda, and did 2 hours leisure hiking to the pagoda. 

Peach Pagoda post will be the next, and i'll continue with the surrounding of lake. 

So the day after we did hiking to pagoda, we went to temple boat place for walk after lunch. 

and we found lotsa colourful boats in the place and that was amazing. 

the best pix that i took in Pokhara

wider view of the lake from this point.

sharp color. 

sunken boat.

the lake bank. 

last but not least, us. =)

Alright will come back as soon as i can.

Next is Peace Pagoda.






20140501, 0420pm
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Rach in keep praying mood.

Nepal: Pokhara - How to go Pokhara from Kathmandu?

Pokhara mean city of lake in Nepal languange, which is one of the popular tourist destination in Nepal.

Most of the tourist went to Pokhara for trekking, but as John and I, we went for the lake and Peace Pagoda, we just want to find a place to rest ourselves after 5 days trek in EBC.

Before i start Pokhara, let me answer some questions before you ask. 

1. Where is Pokhara?

Western region of Nepal, a city by lake and surrounding by mountain, one of the most popular destination for tourist.

2. What can you do in Pokhara?

a. Trekking - more than 10 treks of different level of difficulties available in Pokhara, from 2d1n to more than 10 days for you to choose.

b. Extreme activiti - say like sky diving or paragliding.

c. Relax - One of our favorite activity in our 4d3n in Pokhara was sitting in the cafe and look out the lake.

3. How to go Pokhara from Kathmandu. 

a. Airplane - a few local airlines operates flight to Pokhara from Kathmandu everyday, if not mistaken, its cost USD100 to 200 for return ticket. Each way cost you an hour +.

b. Local bus - which was our choice to Pokhara because the fares is lots cheaper than tourist bus. 500rs / person / way. One way is 7 hours.

c. Tourist bus - which was our choice from Pokhara to Kathmandu, because we wanted to see what is the different between local one and what caused the fares so huge different. USD20 / person / way. Buffet lunch in resort is included (but nothing impress though hahahah).

4. Accommodation choice?      

Hotel, resort, inn, guesthouse, backpacker, B&B, you name it, Pokhara have it all.  

5. What are the must-visit?

a. Peace Pagoda - well the pagoda itself is nothing special but i love the scenery view on the top of the mountain.

b. Temple in the middle of the lake - small island in the middle of the lake.

c. Lake tour - rent a boat and take all the time you want to enjoy, or rent a boatman so you can free your hand for some great photograph.

d. Extreme activity - sky diving or paragliding were something i wanted to do but we skip it coz John was fallen sick.

Alright, if you want to take bus but you don't know which you should go for (either local or tourist), i list out some pro and con for both. 

Local (we choose the most popular, Blue Sky): 

Pro: cheaper fare (rs 500 = RM 15) for 7 hours ride.

Con: lunch is not including, bus condition is bit scary too.

              

              

Tourist (We choose the best name, Greenline):

Pro: lunch is included, bus conditions is great.

Con: expensive fare (USD20 = RM 70) for 7 hours ride.

                   

              

If you thought tourist bus driver has better driving skill, you are wrong. 

Its ain't bout driving skill from Kathmandu to Pokhara, its all about destiny.

The road condition from Kathmandu to Pokhara is SCARY, almost the worst condition road that i had ever come across.

I didn't take down any video clip, because from the minutes that the bus entered to "highway" (which is only 2 lanes), i decided put my life to God, i closed my eye and sleep.

BECAUSE IT WAS FREAKING SCARY!

I found a video from youtube, its not exactly like this, but similar, i should feel lucky because the road is just enough for 2 cars passing by. But hell, on that 7 hours ride, the bus driver was speeding on the cliff almost all the time. 

                                           

Photos below are from John, he took it when our bus driver is flying on the road, and i fallen asleep. 

He show me afterward and he said this is not the only 2 accidents he saw along the bus ride... 

Ok, perhaps you think its better to take flight. 

But that was an unforgettable experience though. hahahahha. 

and yea, of course, despite the scary road condition, you will see amazing glacier and river along the ride, which you could never seen from the plane. 

Alright next post will be Pokhara city (i rather called it a small town).

Hope i will get back soon la kbyethanks!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20140405, 0323pm
Rach in hungry mood.

Nepal: Kathmandu - Restaurants Review in Thamel.

No, not yet Pokhara. 

I found this "random food" pix folder and i decided to blog the foods we ate and restaurant we dined in Kathmandu.

Most of the people ask bout food safety issue before travelling to Nepal. So let me answer those questions that you might be concern. 

1. Does food in Nepal generally clean?

I cant give a very clear answer though hahahahahaah.

Ok, 8 out of 10 restaurants we dined in were generally clean in term of environment, foods were nice and sizzling hot, service were good.

We didn't eat any street foods (okay maybe once or twice) nor drink tap water (which is not drinkable), we only drank mineral bottle water or can / bottle beverage sold in restaurant, and yea we were fine until we dined in one so called famous restaurant that probability caused us food poisoning.  

2. What's the price range of food?

Good questions and i didn't joint down our daily food cost in my travel log....

If my memory serves me right, we spent less than USD 10 in restaurant that sells local food like momos (dumpling) and noodle soups, while in western food restaurant (we dined a few time because John is yellow outside but white in the inside) we average spent double. 

3. Food choices?

You name it, Kathmandu has it. We ate Korean, Japanese, Chinese, India, Malaysia, Western foods in Kathmandu and Pokhara in the last few days because we cant take momos anymore. 

4. What is my recommend local food?

Momos aka dumpling. We mad for momos in the first few days, either its fried or soup or steam, chicken or beef or pork or vege, we loved momos and had it almost every meal. 

The consequence is we don't feel like eating dumpling since that until now.   

Alright i will go through some restaurants and food we had in Kathmandu (Pokhara's will be blog soon) and it all good, except the last one, which is the one that probably caused us food poisoning. 

Here we go!

Notes: All of the following restaurants are located in Thamel, i was trying to print screen the location from google map but i failed due to some are unsearchable. Anyway Thamel district is small which consist of few interconnected streets, i guess you guys will find these restaurants like us did anyway.  

1. Momotarou Restaurant 

This is a Japanese restaurant and was the first restaurant we dined in right after we came back from EBC trek. We were dying to have some sizzling hot and salty foods after that whole 5 days of eating tasteless simple food. 

Momotarou is few shops away from Kathmandu Eco Hotel, selling Japanese and selective Chinese foods.  

Infor on the menu

My order: Ramen with pork.

Fats' order: Beef don or something like that hahahahahahah

side order: fried chicken.

This is not the only Japanese restaurant that we visited but a few others, but we came back for 2nd times because they serve great foods and we loved it. 

The restaurant is small and if you really want some oriental foods here, i'd advice you to avoid going at peak hours.

2.  Forever Cafe

The first attempt to this restaurant cafe was free wifi, simply because John couldn't live without internet. But turned out to be one of our fave restaurant in Kathmandu.

Cafe restaurant, serve most western foods and some local food like momos.

Everest beer.

John's burger, portion is big enough.

Pork chop with mashes potatoes for me. 

I like John's burger more compare to my unpleasant look's pork chop (it doesn't taste impressive too).

I had spaghetti in the second visit and it was good.

Reasonable price, good service, free wifi and standard foods, so yea if you want some western food, why not give a try?

3. Bhungro Restro & Bar

Visit to this restaurant was not in our plan, we don't even noticed this hidden restaurant when we were on our walking tour from Thamel to Durbar Square, until John was putting up his long face because of hungry.

I was searching for place to eat and saw the below board on the roadside.  

what catch his eye is free wifi. 

what catch my eyes is the menu and brunch / lunch discount.

We walked into an old building which directed by the board. This little restaurant is on the 2nd floor of the old building, very charm deco and atmosphere. We picked the window seat and looked over the street view, we spent more than a lunch time there just because we were so comfortable sitting in the restaurant.

steam chicken momos with special chili paste.

John's Nepali set lunch, 6 dishes with rice and huge portion

my fried rice. A little spicy but nice. 

Unexpected visit turned out to be our favorite restaurant in Nepal. Love their Nepali set's curry and lassi (something like yogurt), it was the best we had in whole Nepal trip.

4. YangLing Restaurant  

YangLing Restaurant is tibetan restaurant, selling tibetan food and chinese foods. It is also one of the Lonely Planet's recommend restaurant.

We dined once here and both of us agree that they served the best momos we had in the entire trip.

the menu

I had Thukpa, the home made noodle soup. Small portion but very rice favor. If you're wondering what is the topping, it is smoked pig skin. 

We only ordered momos and noodle soup because this is our second dinner hahahahahahaha.

We wanted some tibetan foods but John cant stop himself to had burger again in Forever restaurant, so that's why.

It was shame to not try their fried momos though. =(

5. Chicken Falafel Store.

This is our supper in one cold night.

We walked by and saw lots of people q-ing up for this chicken wrap and we wanted something hot to warm ourselves so decided to ignore it is street food and get one to share.

looks clean although the cook uses his bare hand to pick up salad.. 

its not cheap compare to local food but good portion size. 

we had chicken wrap.

6. Thamel House (not recommended)

Alright this is the suspended restaurant that caused us food poisoning which i had mentioned earlier.

Thamel House served Nepali tranditional foods, free dancing show every nights and its recommended by Lonely Planet.

It wasn't cheap at all to dined in this restaurant, although you can refill all the dishes in only one cost, but the price is more than double than the other restaurant.

Nice environment, nice setting in an old building. We picked the seat on the second floor which could glance the stage in first floor. But dancing show stopped whenever the current cut off, dancers weren't professional, they talked and laugh to each other while performing.

the restaurant.

i had non-refill set, mutton curry. And yes, that small scopes of rice is my main course and that's all i have. 

John's refillable Nepali sets. 2 or 3 kinds of meat curry and some cold and hot vege dished. 

The very next day we dined in this restaurant, both John and I had diarrhea, we were forced to cancel the whole day plan and stay in hotel.

John recovered quicker than me because i have weak stomach, i took about a week time to fully recover.

I wouldn't our sickness were caused by this restaurant (another provability was the milk tea we had in the same day noon time), but i will not recommend anyone to go to this restaurant due to its overcharge foods, unprofessional dancing show and poor food portion and quality.  

Alright that's all i have and last but not least...

My kelisa in Nepal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahah. 

Next will be Porkhara, hope i will come back quick *run away*

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

20140306, 0932pm

Rach in goin to shower mood.