Day 49 - Pokhara, Naya Puhl and Ghandruk (Annapurna Region, Nepal)

Day 49 – Hers.

We packed up our bags – leaving what we didn’t need for the trek in storage... I now have things in storage in three places; I have very little idea what’s where and only hope the right things are with me.  It is HOT and steamy.  This is not at all what I expected from a hike in the Himalayan foothills.  A minibus drove us the 45 minutes from Pokhara to Naya Puhl where we met our porters and Sherpa guide, Dennis (Is that a Sherpa name???).  We walked along a gravel and dirt road and then deeply rutted mud track following the Modi Khola River upstream.  We passed a beautiful waterfall,  crossed a small wooden suspension bridge – nothing like what Rob had to negotiate – and tested out the beginnings of a rocky ford several locals were building across a flooded area.  (I’m not certain how long it was going to take them to finish, but a local ‘bus’ – more a sort of jeep -  filled with people was waiting to cross it when they did!)

We climbed a very steep rock staircase to a ‘restaurant’ hut for lunch in Kimche. My stomach was a bit off so I just had some noodles with vegetables and lots of water.  I am drinking over 3 litres a day here – the heat and humidity are draining.  Rob says that horses sweat, men perspire and women glow.  I am glowing very profusely.....

With such a small group, we tend to stay together –with Dennis at the front and Tek encouraging anyone who falls a little behind. We are all finding the steep stone steps tricky in the heat - still well under 2000 metres here, so at least altitude isn’t yet playing its part.

After lunch, we continued climbing, occasionally crossing streams using whatever makeshift bridge or stepping stones were available.   A welcome little break was wading across a larger stream – it came up to my thighs, so even shorts would have got wet, so my quick-dry trousers had been a good choice for today – and the cool water felt so good....we rested a while there, sprinkling water over our heads and necks.  The parts of the trail that weren’t steep steps were more muddy ruts with amazing reflective silver and gold stones and rocks, almost like stepping stones.  I think perhaps the rocks were mica and pyrite.  I asked Tek – but he just assured me that they weren’t worth a fortune....

All along the path, children came out of their homes to greet us ‘Namaste. Sweets?’  We would say ‘Namaste’ back but then just smile and move on.  It is frowned upon to give the children anything.  As in other places we have been, children do not need encouragement not to go to school.  If they can get treats from tourists, why bother studying?   There were very few other people on the trail – the peak season begins in a couple of weeks when the rainy season has definitely finished.  We had to step aside for several local goatherds, though, moving their herds  - one talking on his mobile phone as he used his stick to move them along.  Other locals carried large baskets of grasses to feed animals, building materials and who knows what else – on their backs with straps that went around their foreheads.

We had another break at the ‘Don’t Pass Me’ lodge.  They had a sideline selling books made from paper handmade locally.  We each bought a small book – it is important to support these tiny traditional communities – and nice to see an enterprise other than pure tourism.

After one last killer set of steps, we reached Ghandruk and our lodge for the night – we watched the sunset over the mountains, had a very welcome shower, dinner and went to bed.