Describe a landscape view

The Sunrise View from Sarangkot, Pokhara

The most enchanting place I have ever visited is Sarangkot, a hill above the lake city of Pokhara. We climbed to the viewpoint before dawn, when the air was cold and still, and waited in the dim light.

Slowly the eastern sky turned from grey to pink and then to gold. As the sun rose, the great white wall of the Himalayas appeared in front of us: the Annapurna range, Dhaulagiri and the sharp pyramid of Machhapuchhre, called the Fishtail. Their snowy peaks shone like melting gold, and the colour changed from orange to silver as the light grew.

Below the hill, a sea of white mist filled the valley, with a few green hilltops rising from it like islands. Gradually the mist thinned, and Phewa Lake appeared, a blue-green mirror among forested slopes. Tiny boats moved on the water, and the reflection of the mountains lay on its surface. Terraced fields of rice and millet climbed the hillsides, and small red-roofed houses dotted the green slopes.

The air smelt of pine and wet grass, and the only sounds were birds and the distant ringing of temple bells. I stood silent, feeling very small and very peaceful before the grandeur of nature. It was a scene I shall never forget.