Pokhara is a town in the north west part of Nepal. It is 125 miles from Kathmandu to Pokhara but because the entire drive is through the hills of the Himalayas, on less than perfect roads, with lots of other trucks, buses, motorcycles and cars the drive takes at least 5 hours to complete. The drive is definitely not for those who suffer from car sickness at all. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the ride but some of my friends did so I will post those pics as I get them. Anyway, Ryan and I have been to Pokhara 3 times before but this was Keane and Gracie's first time. There is a family from our team that has recently moved out there so we were going to visit them. Pokhara is often described as the "resort town" of Nepal because it is slower paced than Kathmandu, has a better view of the Himalayan mountains (when it is clear) and has a beautiful lake. We asked our other teammates if they wanted to join us and everyone did so we decided to make a team retreat/meeting out of it. We had a great time together. Pokhara is definitely still Nepal but it was nice to get away from the very noisy, polluted, crowded streets of Kathmandu. My favorite part was being near the lake. We were able to eat good meals at some of the different restaurants there, worship, pray and do ministry with our teammates, play games and visit with some of our friends that live in Pokhara. We had a great time. I could definitely do without the LONG bus ride, especially with Keane and Gracie, but they did wonderfully and were so patient and adjusted well to all of the new travel, surroundings and food. We sure did have a fun time!
Gracie playing with some rocks at a restaurant we stopped at along the way.
Our team (minus the family that lives in Pokhara) when we stopped for lunch on the way.
A big bug that Ryan found. Keane and Gracie thought he was really cool.
A Himalayan changing table. Changing tables don't exist in restaurants or "rest stops" in Nepal so we often have to change our children's diapers wherever it is possible. At this one place we stopped at there was a homemade bench made out of logs near where our bus was parked so I changed Keane there.
Changing Keane's diaper.
The view out of our guest house on the first morning when we woke up. Unfortunately it was too cloudy all weekend to see the many mountains any other time but every once in a while the clouds would part and we would get a little glimpse of them. They are so beautiful.
The first night we stayed we kept hearing this cow mooing very loudly throughout the night. It woke me up a few times and Keane and Gracie woke up a few times too. Gracie was so funny and would mimic the cow and say "moo" after it mooed. At first we couldn't figure out exactly where the cow was but when we woke up in the morning we looked out our window and saw this baby cow and his owner getting his morning milk ready. Needless to say we asked to be moved and thankfully they moved us to a nicer room in the adjacent building. We slept a lot better the next 2 nights.
Here the owner of the cow is feeding him his morning milk from a reused Sprite bottle.
Breakfast at 'Mike's Restaurant' on the lake. They have great filtered coffee and American style breakfast. It was great and so relaxing to be on the water!
Ladies come to the lake to wash their clothes each morning.
The entrance to 'Mike's Restaurant'
A BEAUTIFUL view of the lake
There are many water buffalo down by the lake. You can see Gracie running toward them in the bottom left hand corner of this photo. She loved seeing them. Like all of Nepal, the buffalo just run wild around wherever they desire.
Keane liked the buffalo too.
Gracie found a flower by the lake
Ryan and Gracie at our teammates house
Daddy with his 2
One afternoon we visited a refugee camp with some of our teammates and friends. There was this huge ram sitting by a shop when we arrived at the camp. Above you can see our friends daughter, Sophia, petting the ram. The kids loved him!
Ryan liked him too!
A little boy at the refugee camp we visited.
A home at the refugee camp. It started to pour while we were there. Thankfully, the taxi was able to come and pick us up near the house so we didn't get wet.
The path we walked to get to our friends house at the camp.
Bo (our teammate) showing Keane how to ride the motorcycle!
Bo trying on the guards hat outside of our guest house. Behind Bo are our booster seats for Keane and Gracie. Restaurants don't have highchairs here so we had to carry these seats everywhere we went so Keane and Gracie would have a place to sit while we ate. I do this in Kathmandu too. It always makes me so thankful that all of the restaurants in America have them available.
A restaurant on wheels. This is a little street vendor that sells different kinds of Nepali food. There are many of these little shops all along the roads throughout Kathmandu and Pokhara.
Gracie in her rain jacket one morning by the lake.
So sweet. She didn't want to take the hood off...even when it stopped raining.
Keane with his rain jacket.
One of my favorite pictures of Keane ever. I just love the sweet smile on his face.
There are two other families on our team with kids. It is such a blessing for Keane and Gracie to have other kids to play with.
All of the ladies on our team. We have been blessed with such an amazing team!
Looking (but not touching) at a black dog that was at the restaurant.
My Girl!
Amber, Me and Kati
Some of our team by the lake
Our family by the lake...it was hard to get Keane and Gracie to both look at the camera.
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