The brilliant white monument shimmered in the sunlight, its gilded tip blazing like a beacon. Built in 1999, this Buddhist stupa is 115 feet tall and is split into two tiers. Apparently, its building caused quite a stir and was an uphill battle too. Today, complete and standing proud, it is an enigmatic structure that hosts statues of Buddha from Nepal, Thailand, Japan, and Sri Lanka. There is a photography point at a resto near the Pagoda complex where the crew and I also found that elusive different angle to the Phewa Lake and the Annapurna massif surrounding it. Pokhara is a contemporary tourist town, seeing as it is the base for the famous Annapurna trek, so we had plenty of food and shopping options to explore while there as well.
We couldn’t dwell long, though; the call of adventure was too strong. So, we set off into the mountains again, this time for the national capital of Nepal. The road from Pokhara to Kathmandu was quite smooth to begin with, so the going was quick. The Brezza has such poise when you take it through a fast corner, belying its SUV leanings and feeling like a hatchback when you dab on the brakes and give the steering a hefty yank. Time flies by when you’re having fun and soon enough, we were nearly at Kathmandu. I spotted a very curious thing as I made my way close to the city, though.
The road was being encroached on by haphazardly parked vehicles and throngs of people watching something unfold below. As I got closer, I realized it was a football match. Didn’t look like a national league affair or anything like that either, but the punters were queueing up inside and outside the field to catch the action. I so wanted to join them, but, sadly, reaching our hotel was the priority. The haphazardly parked vehicles, by the way, no problem for me. The Brezza took care of that too. It has proximity sensors, nice, big, electronically adjustable wing mirrors and a reverse camera for those tight-squeeze situations. Having made it to the hotel, it was time to get some grub and then grab a fistful of shuteye. There were more adventures around the corner.
The first leg of the journey ends here. But stay tuned because, in the following issue, we pick up from where we left off and set off to explore Kathmandu, get back to India, and then cross over to Bhutan before coming home again.
