Pokhara is the second largest city in Nepal after Kathmandu. The place is a lot cleaner and better managed than Kathmandu. The city is always associated with its famous lake and awesome mountainous backdrop.
Today when we made a walk along the main street, it was literally full of tourists. The place is a lot more relaxing, offering many good restaurants. Along that same street, I was told that there are around 58 shops selling outdoor cloth and gears like in Kathmandu but at slightly lower prices. Famous brands like Northface and Mammut dominate the market here. Much of these are made in Nepal apart from China and Bangladesh before being exported to Europe. They sell at a third to a tenth of the retail price in Europe.
The trekking and tour companies are also plenty in Nepal. Budi told us there are more than 600 companies and so competition is quite fierce. In fact one could literally walk in to arrange a trek more or less on the spot. Budi makes 2 or 3 treks per season – that’s the autumn and the spring trekking seasons. After our trip he will be making the Annapurna circuit trip with a group of Belgium and Dutch trekkers.
At Pokhara, we are staying at Hotel Stupa.
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