Next morning, actually another Sunday, not just a day that felt like one, was not a day for lounging around. I don't know how this had been arranged but Bim turned up and we went for a bike ride, a very long bike ride. I suppose it is possible but it seems incredible that my notes say "40km Bike ride with Bim from lakeside to Begnas Tal".
Looking at the Google Map scale it could easily have been that kind of distance. The Lonely Planet Guide says Begnas Tal is 15km east of the town and that not many travelers visit. This wasn't simply a bike ride. It was a triathlon because the notes go on "boat to hill - Rupa Tal & back in rain".
That must be 40km return. The roads might have been reasonably flat but there must have been a hill or two. The bikes were not fancy mountain bikes. They were ordinary sit up and beg honest to goodness solid bicycles. If there were gears they couldn't have been much more sophisticated than Sturmey-Archer style 3 gears.
There are a couple of very poor slides of Bim rowing the boat across Begnas Tal. The weather really didn't look very good at all. A bit like a shit day round here. It's a pity because the countryside would have been great to photograph if the sun had been shining. Some really good pictures can be found here. Looking at those pictures it seems a terrible shame that the weather was dreich.
So the photos shown here were taken at Phewa Tal the day before. The Temple pictured is on a small island and is dedicated to Varaha an incarnation of Vishnu the Preserver. The Barahi Temple is the most important monument in Pokhara. "Built almost in the center of Pehwa Lake, this two-storied pagoda is dedicated to the boar manifestation of Ajima, the protector’s [Vishnu's] deity representing the female force Shakti" See NepalTourism.net. I suppose you have to be on your best behaviour all of the time if there is a chance that almost any living creature could be an avatar of your God. That small mammal over there could be ....
After standing at the top of a ridge the other side of Begnas Tal to look down on Rupa Tal it was clear we had to go home. It was raining.
When we got back it seems all I did, probably all I could do, was eat and sleep.
