Text 19368, 77 rader
Skriven 2014-11-14 10:10:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Asia 283
================
U4 605 KTM PKR 0920 0955 ATR 7CD

A bigger aircraft, smoother flight, and wonderful views that
we agreed to be superior than on the flightseeing. Of course
we were going in the other direction, so no Everest, but the
scenery all the way to Pokhara was at least as spectacular,
with Fishtail (Machhapuchhre, I had to look up the spelling)
and Dhaulagiri and the Annapurna massif within eyeshot.

We had arranged for a car to our lodging, the Sacred Valley
Inn; it was right on time. Not a big town, and we were there
in five minutes, where jovial Bishnu got us set up in a
spacious corner room and showed us up to the roof garden for
snacks, it having warmed up to a tolerable level by now.

I ordered dal bhat tarkari, which was as expected but very
mild; Lilli's ham and cheese club might have been tastier.
Our beverages were Nepali Ice, a grainy-alcoholly-tasting
brew, and Coke. The food took a while to come - I thought
they might have had the fixings knocking about downstairs,
but in fact clearly a runner had to be sent out to one of
the local eateries for it.

I'm not so sure about the city, which is dusty and somewhat
unpleasant, especially considering it was whispered about as
a paradise on earth during my earlier adult lifetime. Of
course, the record cold and consequent augmentation of the
industrial pollution by the burning of all available
burnables (from scavenged wood to cow dung) didn't help.

The Lakeside part of town is said to be very beautiful, with
a vista across the water to Annapurna on a clear day and
Fishtail to the north. We didn't get any clarity during our
stay. And it's been built up with enterprises geared to
harvesting tourist dollars, so you can buy all the trekking
gear, beefsteaks (normally not eaten in this most Hindu of
all countries), and booze aplenty.

Tastes. Descriptions from the labels followed by my tastes.

Royal Stag by Seagram's A blend of imported Scotch malts
and select domestic grain spirits blended and bottled by
Himalayan Distillery Ltd. Nepal under trade mark license
from Austin, Nichols & Co. Inc and Pernod Ricard USA LLC.

This was sort of like 7-Crown watered down with a lot of
neutral spirit, a tiny hit of Scotchish smokiness after -
distinctly underwhelming;

Bagpiper deluxe whisky blended with Scotch and premium
Indian malt whiskies, distilled, blended and bottled
by United Spirits Nepal Limited, Morang, Nepal -
supposedly the best-selling whisky in India, one can only
conclude that Indian alcoholics are most desperate indeed.
All the nasty things that one reads about Mekhong whisky,
gasoline, rotten plant matter, and so on, well, it's true
of Bagpiper. Do not buy.

Moondance was the restaurant recommended by Bishnu, who
sized us up and sent us to probably the fanciest place in
town (and probably owned by his friends, and probably the
source of our food this morning). Everest beer, a fizzy
and inoffensive beverage that gave me a headache, cost more
than normal beer does in the US.

Lilli had a pizza that seemed to be a reasonable facsimile
of the real thing; I got the Nepali style duck extra spicy,
which though chewier than a domestic Pekin duck was very
nice but cost twice what a whole meal would cost at some
less tony place.

Oh, well. She promised to join me in a slightly more
adventurous meal next day.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail  Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org  (1:123/140)