Exploration: Weekend in Pokhara

December 20, 2008

This weekend is exactly why I love to travel alone.

I arrived in Pokhara, the second largest tourist trap in Nepal, in time to walk through the souvenir corridors and catch an extraordinary sunset over Lake Phewa Tal. The next morning, I made my way to Sarangkot at 5am to watch the sun rise over the Annapurna Himalayan peaks. Despite the cloudy skies, the panoramic effect was breathtaking. Wanting a shot of myself in front of the mountains, I asked the man beside me to take my picture and was pleasantly surprised to hear him respond in English. After chatting for a few minutes, we discovered that we were not just fellow Americans, but practically neighbors back in Los Angeles. He, Gabriel Diamond, was a 37-year old independent/documentary filmmaker commissioned by the Pearson Group and the Jane Goodall Institute to travel, film, and work with NGO’s. He had just finished a stint in China and Thailand and had come to Nepal to record a short film on environmental conservation efforts in Kathmandu. Upon realizing that our hotels were in the same alley in East Lakeside, we made our way back and, over breakfast, decided to go sightseeing together and continue our engaging discussion on working abroad.

We wandered over to the Phewa Tal and rented a canoe for the day. After paddling around for a bit, we crossed the lake, parked the boat, and began the hour-long hike up to the World Peace Pagoda. With hardly a lull in the conversation, we covered everything from working in developing nations, documentary filmmaking, NGO strategies, Buddhism, the raw food movement, to Barack Obama as we made our way up the steep path. Upon reaching the top of the ridge, we took in the view and snapped a few shots of the gorgeous white and gold structure. Then, sitting atop the steps of the World Peace Pagoda, Gabriel coached me through my very first meditation. Half an hour later, we bowed and opened our eyes to gaze across at the Himalayas.
Simply Surreal.

After lunch, we checked out a snake charmer who proceeded to wrap a long yellow specimen around Gabriel’s neck, then rented a motorcycle and took a harrowing excursion to the Tashi Ling Tibetan Settlement and Devi’s Falls (unfortunately closed). Finally, we returned to the hotel to meet Gabriel’s friend Peter Dalglish, an incredibly inspiring and well-connected philanthropist and NGO-founder who had worked with the U.N. in Sudan, founded Street Kids International, and was appointed as Executive Secretary of Youth Service Canada. He spends a lot of his time now in Nepal, Tanzania, Kenya, and Thailand, and has close connections with organizations like Roots and Shoots, MSF and MDM, as well as people like Jane Goodall, Kuki Gallman (author of I Dreamed of Africa), and even Joan Baez. He came across as a quirky fellow, a man dedicated to helping in third-world countries while always managing to keep his French press and a fine Italian vintage at hand; his somewhat abrasive demeanor was offset by an indisputable passion and profound confidence in his ability to help change the world.

Peter was currently helping talented Nepalese high school students apply and pay for an American college education. In fact, Gabriel and I had found him in the middle of helping one of the top twenty students in all of Nepal fill out the Common Application. Also, just that morning, he had organized a children's march against the destruction of a park in Bandipur. About 20 kids (only in elementary school) had built a small stone barricade in the road in an effort to deter buses and their load of tourists who would inevitably leave behind heaps of trash and even human excrement in the only safe place to play in the neighborhood. Needless to say, the success of this effort was important in fostering a sense of empowerment in these underprivileged children.

After a few glasses of wine, an amazing dinner of thin-crust pizzas at Caffe Concerto, crème brulée (luxury of luxuries!) at Bistro Caroline, and a prolonged discussion about the future of Nepalese elementary education and wildlife conservation efforts, Peter, Gabriel, and I exchanged contact information and parted ways. I don't know if I'll ever see them again, but the memory will be enough to keep me satisfied. The chance of meeting people like Peter and Gabriel is why I travel alone, for had I been with a friend/group, I would never have had to ask a stranger to take my picture. All in all, I consider myself pretty damn lucky.