Mountain peak with small plane
Mountains,  Nepal,  Travel galleries

Gallery: sunrise over the Himalayas

December 22, 2022 / 62 Comments

We’d planned to spend our last day in Pokhara taking it easy. Swimming in the beautiful hotel pool, a walk by the lake, maybe a bit of shopping. But some things can’t be missed, and surely sunrise over the Himalayas is one of those things?!

So instead of a lazy morning lie-in, the alarm on my phone went off at 4.40. Dressing quickly, and warmly, by 5.00 we were in the lobby meeting our pre-booked driver. And he proved to be a real star, not only driving us up the hill to Sarangkot but also looking after us very well while there. While the road was in a much better condition than others we had been on in the area, the same couldn’t be said of the many steep stone steps leading up to the viewing platform. I would have struggled in the dark. But our driver walked with us using his phone as a torch so I could concentrate on minding my footing.

Eventually we reached the platform to find many people already there; you can see just a few of them in my Nepal on the Diagonal post. But we were able to secure a good spot to stand with a view of the mountains. They were already visible although more or less impossible to photograph in that light. And I needn’t have bothered trying, as the show hadn’t really started and was to get much better.

As the red disc of the sun started to appear over the valley in which Pokhara lies, behind as us we stood facing the mountains, I sacrificed my spot to go over to photograph it.

Sun rising over a misty valley
Pokhara Valley at sunrise

Luckily our driver alerted us to the moment when its light started to touch the mountains, or we might have missed it! That would have been a real shame, as this was the magic we had come to see. And it was so worth the early start and steep climb, as I hope you can see, although my photos don’t really do it justice.

The different hues in the following set of photos are due in part to the fact that I was experimenting with different camera settings. But I hope you are able to make out the gradual progress of the light down the mountains.

Snowy mountains with light just touching the peaks
6.22 AM
Snowy mountains with pink tinge on peaks
6.23 AM
Snowy mountains with pink tinge on peaks
6.23 AM
Snowy mountains with gold tinge on peaks
6.24 AM
Snowy mountains with gold tinge on peaks
6.25 AM
Snowy mountains with pink light just touching the peaks
6.26 AM
Snowy mountains with pink tinge on peaks
6.26 AM
Snowy mountains with pink tinge on peaks
6.27 AM
Snowy mountains with pink tinge on peaks and plane passing
6.31 AM
Snowy mountains with gold tinge on peaks
6.32 AM

When the light started to lose its pink glow we tore ourselves away and made our way down the steps. Then it was back down the winding road, the small villages just waking up, and into busy early morning Pokhara. By 7.15 we were back at the hotel and more than ready for breakfast and that leisurely day we had planned!

Happy Christmas

This will be my last post before the Christmas festivities. I hope all of you who celebrate have a wonderful time.

✨🎄✨🎄✨🎄✨🎄✨🎄✨🎄✨

I may post again before New year’s Eve, but in case I don’t, thank you for all the friendly interaction with my blog over the past year.

I visited Pokhara in November 2022

62 Comments

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