Row a doonga to Tal Barahi temple

The boats at Barahi Ghat are flat, painted wooden doongas, and you can take one with a boatman or row yourself. The island is about ten minutes out. Its temple is a small two-tiered pagoda dedicated to Barahi, a form of the mother goddess Ajima, protector of the lake. It is the most important religious monument in Pokhara, and the busiest days are Saturdays and the months of Baisakh and Kartik.

Devotees bring flowers, red powder, coconuts and sometimes pigeons or roosters to offer. The island is tiny, so you walk around the temple in a few minutes, feed the pigeons and sit on the steps watching boats come and go. Non-Hindus can visit the courtyard; respect queues at the shrine door and take shoes off where others do. Most visitors spend 20–30 minutes on the island before rowing on. Small stalls at Barahi Ghat sell flowers and offerings if you want to join in. In the monsoon the lake rises, and boats may stop when storms build in the afternoon.

Do not rush back. Ask your boatman to row north along the shore towards the paragliders landing at the north end, or south towards the dam, where the Peace Pagoda appears on its hill. On a clear October morning Machhapuchhre, Annapurna South and Annapurna I reflect in the water. Pack a light jacket: the lake is cold at dawn even when afternoons are warm. On the way back, look along the shore for fishermen casting nets from small dugouts.