Sounds of singing bowls

28/4/22

I was officially getting into the feel of Pohkara with its relaxation. It’s a place to enjoy doing nothing – dolce can niente (the sweetness of doing nothing) – you can have a slowwwww morning drinking coffee, go for a stroll along the lake and then pick a bar to sip a drink in. That was my plan for the next few days more-or-less aside from going paragliding and maybe fitting in another kayak. Gil and I had agreed we would go paragliding together and I asked Maya, the lovely receptionist at the hostel how it works. She organised our trip for 11am and we chilled on the roof until then chatting with other hostel folk. At 11am,we went to wait in reception, but frustratingly, our pickup didn’t arrive til nearly 12 noon! By this point we were both hot and bothered and I was hungry!

We set off with a full minivan only to be picking up multiple extra people on route. I was too hungry so while they were waiting (in the wrong place) to pick up more tourists, I ran to a snack shop! I bought a biiig bag of Cheetos and ate the lot! Then with sixteen people, in our nine person minivan, we headed up the hill. It was a cramped and bumpy ride and I was happy to unfold myself when we arrived at the top of the hill.

We walked down to a flatter area where there were some parachute laid out. I was feeling a little nervous and yet there was no safety briefing, only the phrase, ‘look at the horizon, not the edge and keep running’ – how reassuring!! We watched a few people take off, and one guy sit down, probably because he was look at the cliff he was about to plunge off and not the horizon as instructed!! Then it was Gil’s turn, where he flew with no issue, followed by me. As we started walking down the hill (before switching to a run), we took off so my running legs were peddling air!! We were flying, and it was oh so gentle! I climbed back in my seat and relaxed enjoyed the freedom and the view of the hills, the lake, Pohkara, and its surrounding villages. It was beautiful! Towards the end, I asked for tricks, which was an extra option and we swung back and four and spun in a circle and I laughed and laughed!! I was surprised that I managed to land on my feet – I started the peddling the air early and somehow I landed well! I ordered a fresh mint and lemon at the cafe before we all piled into the minivan and went back to the hostel via many a drop-off!

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and blogging in a coffee shop, before heading over to cheese and wine night at Stephen’s. On route, I decided thay I should probably eat something since I had skipped lunch. I followed a sign to ‘THE BEST TIBETAN MOMOS IN TOWN’ down a side street. I ordered my kothy (half steamed, half fried) momos and devoured them thirty minutes later when they arrived. Then I headed on my way, down the lake towards Stephen’s. I didn’t even get out the alley, before I was distracted by vibrant blue and turquoise beaded necklaces. They were much like Rhimani necklaces that I would spend £20 on at home, but they had Buddhist prayer signs on them. After some consideration, I asked the jewellery maker to remove the Om sign from the necklace and bought it for £2.50 – what a bargain!! Then I headed along the road with no more messing about!

I arrived when Stephen was just finishing a game of chess but the cheese and wine were at the ready. The views from the road of top terrace were very pretty, with Disneyland reflecting in the black lake. We chatted about all sorts before calling it a night around 11pm. Stephen walked me down the lane in case there were any wild dogs hanging on the shadows, and then I headed home.

29/4/22

After another pancake breakfast (win!), two girls from the hostel were going to a singing bowl session in the town. I decided to go with them and quickly got ready while they waited for me. It was an interactive singing session with a singing bowls for the first half and we all had to sit like Buddha and sing om, ah and ooh in rotation. For a girl that had never done meditation or singing bowl therapy before, but had been in Cardiff and the Vale’s County Choir for a number of years, the singing was rather stressful for me. The lead was initiating each note with a noisy nasal breath in, and then everyone else joined in after (late). You basically sang each note until you’d ran out of puff, but instead of voices united as one, each person was being their inner Beyonce styling each note, either gliding up or sliding down as they ran out of breath. It was quite the experience!! I can say though, that the singing bowls themselves make a beautiful sound, very relaxing. The second half of the class was much better. We were invited to leave our Buddha poses and lie down to meditate to an array of singing bowls being played to make a beautiful and unique tune. It sounded wonderful and I enjoyed lying their in a daze (or meditative trance, who knows?!).

After class I walked along the lake and went to The Juicery, a much recommended cafe bar for a drink. I read and blogged until it was a respectable lunch time and then ordered food. By coincidence, Stephen was sitting behind me and once his friend left, he came to join me briefly. Afterwards, I headed back along the lake to the hostel. Someone had told me there was a working guitar in the hostel and I was keen to play it on the roof, while most people were still out for the day. It took me awhile to set up my phone with scrolling chords but then I played a good few songs, before the barman put music on, blaring through the speakers. Guess he’d had enough!! A nice lady, along with a couple of my friends told me it sounded nice so hopefully I hadn’t been torturing him too much!!

More people came to the roof and we all sat round, chatting as the sunset over the mountains. You could even see some of the Annapurna range at times! Gil offered to make shashuka for a few of us, to which me, a German girl, Lena, and her French holiday romance said yes. Lena, Gil and I went out to get ingredients before we started chopping in the kitchen. It took quite awhile to chop everything and Gil was quite the chief in the kitchen – everything had to be just so – but it was worth it in the end when we ate delicious shashuka! Afterwards, Gil and I did a Snickers run and then I went to bed to watch Netflix.

30/4/22

Today I wanted to kayak again for sunset, but it clashed with another ‘shakra alignation’ class that I wanted to try out, so I went kayaking in the morning. The plan was to go early enough that the sun would not be too hot but obviously that didn’t happen because I’m too slovenly! I went around 11am, passing a sleeping stray dog, who someone had left a pile of dog food next to, on the way. I did a two hour circuit of the bottom half of the lake, past Disneyland, down to the landing strip for the paragliders and then back across the lake towards the Peace Pagoda. I stopped halfway for an iced coffee. It’s always glorious to arrive somewhere by boat, to clamber out and ‘dock it’ (drag it out of the water in this case), knowing that you’ve got to a destination off your own back! On the way back, I realised I was against the current so had to paddle harder!

After returning the boat, I wandered along the Riverside and picked a nice spot to chill. I ordered a margarita (or two!), listened to the music, people watched and read. After a few hours, I went in search of food before my singing bowl class. I got another puri tarkari, but sadly it wasn’t as good as the first one. By then, it had started absolutely hammering down with rain, the sort where it bounces back up to your knees after hitting the floor. I ran the two hundred metres to the meditation place and arrived absolutely soaked. A towel was passed around all the cold sopping folk before the class began!! The class was more relaxing than the first one – you could lie down straight away and they had singing bowls for each note: do re mi fa so la ti do! It was very relaxing and sounded beautiful. Sometimes they held the bowl they were playing over your chest and you could feel the note vibrating through your rib cage – it was bizarre but made me feel alive I guess! Afterwards, I headed back to the hostel, via a cafe for coffee and cake, before going to sort my stuff ready to get my night bus!