POKHARA
This time I got myself a ticket to a luxurious bus. The seats were far more comfortable, the number of passengers allowed in the bus equaled the number of seats, and there was even an AC inside. Given the mountainous terrain of the whole country, every time I looked out the window, I was left speechless. The music in my headphones made the experience even more powerful, so I arrived at Pokhara in a really good mood. Five minutes later I was riding on a motorcycle in the city. “Where did it come from?”, you’d ask. Well, a man and this motorcycle were waiting at the bus station when I got off the bus so he called me over to talk. He explained that he owned a family hotel. The price he offered was good so why go through the burden of looking for a hotel, I thought to myself.
The hotel was truly very pleasant, they even had a dog that liked to be petted, which was the first one to meet upon my arrival. The remainder of the day I spent getting to know the city, wandering the streets. I wasn’t planning to go far but still managed to get back very late.
The Earthquake
The next day, April 25th, 2015, I will probably remember all my life. Not only I but also everyone who was in Nepal at the time, will never forget this day. All of us have a story of this day and sadly for more than ten thousand people, it will be remembered as their last day on Earth. Here is mine.
As soon as I woke up it was clear that it wasn’t going to be a pleasant day. I decided that this was a great opportunity to give rest to my injured leg for the first time so the clouds in the sky weren’t bothering me at all. I made a quick run to the shop, one block down the street, to grab me some breakfast and returned to my room immediately. A little bit before noon I was sitting on the bed when I heard a loud rumbling and only two seconds later the whole room and all the furniture in it along with me were shaking. It was an earthquake. Yes, an earthquake, kept shaking everything continuously for ten seconds.
I looked out the window and saw the tree crowns bend left and right as if they were pushed by a powerful giant. With loud noises all birds flew off to the only safe place at the moment – high up in the sky. There were a lot of other noises too which were far more spooky; screams that made me freeze in fear because I had heard such before.
Those were the screams of frightened people.
Thirty seconds had gone by and the shaking wasn’t stopping; in fact, it wasn’t even fading. The hotel walls were bending and cracking which made me realize that the building could collapse collapse. I still had faith within and believed this wasn’t going to happen though. I started to pray for this horror to end. My entire being was focused on this prayer, I could hear my voice, “Please stop, please stop…”
The earthquake stopped after fifty-eight seconds and that is when the thought of leaving the building occurred to me. The hotel had a yard with a few tables and that was where I found most of its guests. We were sitting down, with thoughts racing through our heads, but the only thought we could voice was, “This was a really powerful earthquake.” We were still able to connect to the internet so I was trying to find out where the epicenter was and its level. I logged into Facebook and managed to write a post for all my friends and family that I was OK.
A second earthquake followed, again very powerful but not as lengthy as the first one. The power and the internet got cut out. I decided that the safest place to be was any location far from buildings so I headed for the lake. I saw many people standing in front of their homes, being afraid to go back into their houses. There was one collapsed building, but fortunately, I didn’t see any more. Luckily, for Pokhara, the earthquake wasn’t too destructive and I was hoping that was the situation everywhere else. Sadly though the truth was very different. The epicenter was somewhere between Kathmandu and Pokhara, at 7.8 on the Richter scale. I guess the tectonic plates were arranged in such a way that Pokara didn’t suffer much damage, unlike Kathmandu. Death had taken a big toll there, many buildings had collapsed including many cultural monuments. The city was destructed, weeping in sorrow.
I was able to escape only by the skin of my teeth. If I had stayed one more day in Kathmandu, everything was going to be different. My leg however made me leave Kathmandu the day before because it simply wasn’t getting any better. That damn leg of mine, it had maybe saved my life. I returned to the hotel in the evening and joined the crowd in the yard.
The ground didn’t stop shaking during the whole day, sometimes more powerful than others so some of the guests were certain to spend the night outside. I went back to my room, however, and went to bed. There was still no electricity, it was dark and spooky and I flipped a few times in bed before I was able to fall asleep. I kept getting woken up by my own pulse which made my body shake a little and tricked my mind into thinking it was an earthquake.
On the next day, I went to the local museum. As I was walking through the halls, with headphones on my head, a boy approached me from behind and started pulling me by the shoulder. As I read the word “earthquake’ on his lips I felt the ground moving under my feet. As I looked up I saw all the wires were swinging above me so I moved to a safer place. Eventually, the earthquake stopped and I continued with my museum exploration. It was very impressive. There was a variety of national costumes from the past from different regions in the area, displaying their history, customs, and culture. There were also many clay and metal vessels as well as labor tools. Later I saw a model of the snowman Yeti and of course, I had to take a selfie with it.
I found a board with all the Everest expeditions listed. I quickly found the one from 31st May 1984, the expedition with the Bulgarian Prodanov.
What really grabbed my attention though was a warning sign of an upcoming earthquake. It was clearly stated that an earthquake occurred on the territory of Nepal every 70 years and that now was the time for the next one to happen… Well, it did. Yesterday.
From the lakeshore, I could see a stupa on the hill in the far distance. I asked the locals what it was and they described it as a Shandi pagoda or a Peace Temple and one could easily reach it after a two-three-hour hike. It sounded like a good plan for the next day.
The hike wasn’t short and the temperature was getting higher and higher each day, so it was quite the challenge to get there. Shortly before noon, I arrived. Upon entering, I found out that there were eight Buddhist Peace temples in the world and two of them were in Nepal, this one and another in Lumbini. This temple was built at the top of Ananda and the view from it was impressive. At the stupa, the visitors had to be silent and there was even a woman in charge who scolded those who weren’t. The scolding was basically the index finger over the lips sign and the sound “Shhhh”. It’s really funny indeed. I wonder how the woman described her profession if ever asked.
A week in Pokhara had breezed by, and my leg was quickly getting better after the earthquake (how random) so I felt it was time to leave this city and even the country. There was one more place in Nepal I cared about visiting before heading to India. It was a very special place because it was the place where 2600 years ago Buddha was born. Its name is Lumbini and it is located at the border between Nepal and India; to reach there I had to go on a full-day bus ride.