RAOnline Nepal: News from Pokhara

Pokhara Area - Center of Tourism

Nepal Tourism - Pokhara

Poon Hill and Pokhara
Museums in Pokhara
Gorkha Memorial Museum
International Mountain Museum

Pokhara (Kaski district) - Sightseeings

Pokhara: Town of Museums

So the monsoon is here and you are stuck in Pokhara. The mountains are invisible, the flights are cancelled and the road is blocked by landslide.

Not to worry. There's more to do in Pokhara than just boating on Phewa, mountain viewing and muddying yourself in rice planting festivals. Pokhara has become a town of museums.

At last count there were five museums. Affordable, interesting and educational, you get to learn about the kingdom's ethnic diversity, history and adventure. Next time you are in Pokhara, stick around and check them out.

Myagdi district: Poon Hill in front of Dhaulagiri Mountain

As soon as golden rays of the rising sun blessed Dhaulagiri Mountain from behind the tail of Machhapuchre (fishtail); the scenery was spectacular.The trekkers forgot about the sweating, 45 minutes early morning hike uphill from Ghorepani.

Around a dozen people found themselves lost on the beautiful landscape of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Mountain range with cups of coffee.

Pun Hill (Poon Hill) of Myagdi is a popular destination for tourists interested in trekking. The forest in Pun Hill is the world's biggest forest of rhododendrons. The hill always gets a red, tarnished look during the months of March through June.

Pokhara, known to be a paradise for tourists to relax and while away the time in this scenic city, specially after trekking on the famous circuits of Ghandruk, Ghodepani, Annapurna and Machhapuchhre. Pokhara has the capacity to accommodate 8,000 tourists in its guest houses and hotels and most of them would be booked to the hilt in years gone. Around 6,000 tourism entrepreneurs are running their business in the Sub-metropolitan city on rented houses. Around 5,000 hotels in the city are operated in rented buildings. Statistical records at the Tourism Office, Pokhara, show that the city would draw as much as 1 million tourists annually.

Pokhara: Gorkha Memorial Museum

Formal inauguration of a new museum took place here on Monday. The partial opening of Gorkha Memorial Museum (GMM) reflects the glorious history of gallant Gorkha soldiers serving abroad. The GMM Museum provides information on the glorious war history of the brave Gorkha soldiers for Nepalis and foreigners alike, sources said. Located at the edge of Phewa lake, the museum commemorates Nepali soldiers who participated in the first and the second world wars. Divided into four phases, GMM Museum houses weapons and dresses used in the world wars as well as that of Anglo-Nepal war and also badges awarded to Nepali soldiers. In addition, various symbols identifying Nepali and Indian army as well as Singapore Police are on display.
The museum provides information on the 13 brave Gorkha soldiers who were honoured with Victoria Crosses by the British government during the world wars. Most of the items in the museum were collected from ex-armymen while some were bought.

Entry fees are Rs.10 for Nepali visitors and Rs.50 for foreigners. The museum is housed in a hotel building at ward-17 of the Pokhara Sub-metropolitan city .

Pokhara: International Mountain Museum IMM

The International Mountain Museum has added a new dimension to the aesthetic attributions of Pokhara. IMM is located at Ratopairo in the southern rampart of Pokhara Valley at the distance of two kilometres from the airport. The ranges of Mt. Dhaulagiri and Mt. Annapurna can be viewed from the museum premises that are spread over an area of approximately 560,000 sq ft. Apart from the main building, a restaurant and smaller buildings are built in rural hilly style in the premises. A nine-metre-high model of Mt. Manaslu stands along with ponds and bridges that give a natural outlook to the surroundings. The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) has taken the total responsibility of the mountain museum.

The International Mountain Museum consists of four galleries. The ground floor holds a gallery of mountain ethnography, a mountain exhibition gallery and a gallery of mountaineering activities.

The upper floor of the building consists of a temporary gallery of contemporary issues. The museum has included exclusive collections of the items relating to the different aspects of the lifestyles of ethnic communities such as Tamangs, Chhantyals, Puns, Gurungs, Thakalis and Sherpas. Traditional attires, ornaments and utensils of these communities are displayed in the galleries. The museum has a rich collection of rocks from the high altitudes of the Himalayan ranges. It also displays photographs of the mountains having the altitudes of more than 8,000 metres, glaciers and the changes on the earth surface that have occurred in the last 40 years. It also exhibits photographs of plants and animals of the Himalayan ranges.

The aquarium having fish species from the extreme cold waters of the Himalaya is another attraction of the museum. IMM has also assembled different aspects of mountaineering history. It displays the jacket and iceaxe used by Maurice Herzog, the leader of the French expedition that successfully scaled Mt. Annapurna on June 3, 1950 - the first successful ascent on an 8,000-metre mountain. A model of Mt. Everest is placed in the museum. IMM displays four items used by Junko Tabei, the Japanese alpinist, who is the first woman ever to scale Mount Everest. Likewise, the museum has a collection of the books written by the Japanese traveller Reverend Kawaguchi who first visited Nepal in 1866 AD. IMM possesses the cameras, goggles and survey equipment used by the late geologist Dr. Toni Hagen in its collection.