Day 50 - Ghudrung, Landruk, Tolka (Annapurna Range, Nepal)

Day 50 – Hers.

I have a new hero – Tek Bir Tamang, Gecko guide extraordinaire.  I awoke 3 times in the night with severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea.  Not good. I took Immodium for the first time in my life and asked my roommate Tien to give my excuses for the 5:30 sunrise over the mountains call.  Tek then came in to see me.  He took my temperature, checked I didn’t have appendicitis, gave me ibuprofen and antibiotics and sent me back to bed.  I missed the morning visit to the Gurkha village and finally found out what food poisoning is.

Now for the problem.  Our next stop at Tolka was down one mountain and up another – and we were well beyond any sort of transport access.  Not a problem for Tek – the others went ahead and he supported me all the way down every step of that wretched mountain - I was leaning on him so heavily, he might as well have carried me – and meanwhile phoning ahead to a village to arrange a horse to get me up the other side.

As we caught up with the rest of the group at the bottom, poor Tek was confronted with yet another challenge.  Cindy, who had also been suffering – first with a chesty cold and then with a slightly milder case of food poisoning to mine (We had both had cheese sandwiches that seem to have been the problem – wise Tien had had boiled eggs and popcorn...) – had developed heat stroke on the descent and also couldn’t make the climb.  Tek to the rescue again – the horse took me up to our lunch stop at Landruk where a bed had been arranged and then went back for Cindy. That poor horse - - it was struggling on its first journey with me.... and it still had 3 more to do: Cindy to the lunch stop, me to the overnight stop at Tolka, Cindy to the overnight stop.  If I hadn’t been so sick as to be oblivious, I would have insisted on walking.  As it was, all I could do was remember to hold on and lean forward going up and backward going down..... Cindy had never ridden a horse before – I’m not sure she really enjoyed the ride.  I did, actually.  In fact, I think Gecko might consider offering it as an ‘optional extra’....  To add to the fun, a heavy downpour began at lunchtime, so the second part of the ride was through teeming rain – thank goodness for my new blue poncho....  The little local lad who was leading the horse kept having to remove leeches from his ankles.  Barry and Tien claimed that walking through the rain was one of the highlights of the trek for them.  I think I was actually happier on the horse!

I had plain boiled rice for dinner, followed by another antibiotic tablet and went to bed – promising myself that I would remember to take a few photos of the amazingly picturesque scenery in the morning.