visit to pokhara city

Pokhara is situated in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley The Seti River and its tributaries have dug impressive canyons into the valley floor, which are only visible from higher viewpoints or from the air. To the east of Pokhara is the municipality of Lekhnath, another town in the valley.

In no other place the mountains rise so quickly, within 30 km, from 1000 m to over 8000 m. The Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu ranges, each with peaks over 8000 m, can be seen from Pokhara and there is a lake named Phewa Lake, two caves (Mahendra and Gupteswar) and an impressive falls(Patale Chhango or Devi /David's Falls) where the water from the Phewa Lake thunders into a hole and disappears. Due to this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates of the country (over 4000 mm/year). Even within the city there is a noticeable difference in the amount of rain between the south of the city by the lake and the north at the foot of the mountains.

The climate is sub-tropical but due to the elevation the temperatures are moderate: the summers usually have a bearable 30 - 35°C; the winters average around 15°C and have no frost.

In the south the city borders on Phewa Tal (a lake, 4.4 km², about 800 m above sea level), in the north at around 1000 m it touches the base of the Annapurna mountain range. From the southern fringes of the city one has an exceptional view of the Himalaya with 3 eight-thousanders (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) and, in the middle of the Annapurna range the wonderful Machapuchare ('Fishtail') with close to 7000 m. This beautiful mountain dominates the northern horizon of the city and its name derives from its twin peaks, not visible from the south.


[edit] Demographics
Its 190,000 inhabitants (2005) make Pokhara the third largest city in Nepal.

Ethnic groups native to the region include Newar, Magar and Gurung. Smaller groups of Chettri and Thakali also live in the area. Natives in Pokhara are adherents of Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism.

There are many Tibetan refugees already living in their third generation in Pokhara. The initial tent encampments of the 1950s have long made way to orderly planned quarters with schools and monasteries. In Pokhara there are three such quarters: Tashiling in the south, Tashipalkhel in the north and Paljorling in the centre.


[edit] History
Prior to the Chinese invasion of Tibet, Pokhara was an important trading post on the route between Tibet and India. Until the end of the 1960s the little town could only be reached by foot and it was even more a mystical place than Kathmandu. The first road was finished in 1968 after which tourism boomed and the city grew rapidly. A tourist area developed along the lake and the area between the old city and the lake filled up. Men are recruited at the British Gurkha camp in Pokhara. About 370 are selected annually in December out of a pool of over 20,000 applications, with about 140 eventually joining the Gurkha Contingent while the rest will go to the British Army