42. Pokhara

We stayed at by far the most luxurious hotel in Pokhara, the Fulbari Lodge, which was a really odd place. Pokhara is Nepal's second tourist city, a short flight west of Nepal. Since the country is in the Himalayas, most of it is not connected to anywhere by road, and most of the part that is is controlled by the rebels. Pokhara has morphed into a tourist center by virtue of it being connected by Nepal's only main road to Kathmandu, and remaining an island of government control. But the overwhelming reason people come here is to begin treks of the Annapurna range. So before or after treks, people are stocking up on provisions or relaxing after a tough slog, and the town is basically a mountain version of Kathmandu's packpacker haven of Thamel. Since we had no intention of climbing mountains, we figured we'd hang at a nice hotel. And it is admittedly a nice hotel, superficially resembling any number of mid-range resort hotels. It had a pool, great mountain views, a dozen restaurants, huge marble lobbies and even a little golf course. What is lacked, most, however, was guests, as we were the only ones for the couple of days we stayed there. But every day all the restaurants would fire up and a full contingent of waiters would staff each one, hoping that maybe this would be the day they'd finally have a customer. The extensive marbling helped to echo our loneliness everytime we walked down around the white elephant. I'm glad we stayed there since everywhere else was a backpacker hotel and I couldn't really handle that, but the hotel's target niche of luxury seeking travelers in Pokhara is extremely narrow. Fulbari Lodge (5): Room-5, Facilities-5, Service-6, Wow-3 (great views and location next to a scenic gorge)