Introduction

Before there was a motor able road to Pokhara. When Baidam (now Lakeside) was just a farming village, Hotel Fewa was built among some ancient trees on the shore of Lake Fewa. The year was 1972. Stone and timber were ferried across the lake. Other materials such as cement, steel and glass came to Pokhara on porters' backs.

The hotel was built by Min Bahadur Gurung who has been minister of Forests in Nepal's first democratic government. He later expanded the hotel, attached bathrooms and put in a water pipe from a spring in the forest across the Lake. (This remains an excellent source of clean water.)

Hotel Fewa has attracted a wide range of travelers over the years. It's location has allowed it to avoid much of the development that has changed Pokhara. It remains a quite place with the best view of Lake Fewa although it is just a few minutes' walk from a busy shopping area.

In 1997, Mike's Breakfast took over the management of Hotel Fewa. It has been refurbished with new bathrooms, a wide veranda, a new kitchen, inside and outside dinning areas and redecorated rooms. The location remains the same- right at the edge of the lake and the food is the best- Mike's Restaurant.

After getting the main building refurbished and the restaurant up and running, there were still nine little rooms that were barely habitable (with a very common bath) on the south side of the property next to the lake. These were torn down to the foundations with the stone saved for rebuilding. We decided to build Nepali style rooms that would be beautiful and comfortable.

There are certain aspects of living in a Nepali house that a foreigner comes to dislike although the experience on the whole is one of beauty, simplicity and spiritual comfort. Among these are Smokey harts, doors that are too low, small windows, and a lack of toilet and bathing facilities.