Shangrila Village Hotel, Pokhara, Nepal

Modest but beautiful, wide and spacious, tranquil and relaxing, nice view of Mt. Annapurna and the Himalayas. That is Shangrila Village Hotel in Pokhara. I enjoyed my stay there last January 11-12, 2015. Below, a view of the Himalayas from my room, noon time of January 11.

Same view, same day, around 5:30pm.

Before the Sun set in, it sparkles dimming light on the ice in the mountains, while slowly depriving the lowlands of sunlight. Simply beautiful.

The swimming pool and the mountains.

The hotel's main entrance. Very modest and simple.

The lobby. Only one efficient staff attends to incoming and outgoing guests.

We went to Pokhara sponsored by Media 9 and Business 360, Nepal's brave and hot publications speaking about fair entrepreneurship and economic freedom. From left: David Shakya and Razan Bhattarai of Media 9, me and Prof. Cris Lingle. I and Cris would give a short lecture to some university students the next day in Pokhara city proper.

Cool walkway to the guest rooms.

Nice and tranquil garden.

Yes, just short trees. Tall trees will block the guests' view of the Himalayas.

The main restaurant, ground floor. The second floor is a function room with balcony.

Kathmandu to Pokhara by Plane

After the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum, Media 9 and Business 360 sponsored me and Prof. Cris Lingle for a trip to Pokhara, Nepal's 2nd or 3rd biggest city known mainly for tourism. So last January 11, Media 9's David Shakya picked me and Cris from our respective hotels and we headed to Kathmandu Tribhuvan domestic airport. Another Media 9 staff, Razan Bhattarai followed us. We boarded this Yeti Airlines, 30-seater plane.

Pokhara is about 30 minutes by plane from Kathmandu, it's on the north-west of KTM while Mt. Everest is on  the north-east of KTM.

At the Kathmandu domestic airport departure lounge. From left: Cris Lingle, Razan Bhattarai, me and David Shakya.

This is our plane. Small but fast enough. They serve candies then  a cup of coffee to passengers. I was seated on  the right, where the Himalayas are visible.

At first, the ice-covered mountains are far from  the plane's path. Maybe on the 4th or 5th row of mountains. The mountain below near the plane showed forest clearing, meaning  there are human settlements already there, so the forest cover is removed and replaced by agricultural crops and houses.

Then "white mountains" become clearer and nearer. A carpet of clouds are resting on a plateau.

A wider, bigger carpet of clouds in  another plateau.