Day 1 Ghorepani Poon Hill Trek

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Time for some trekking! Well, after some breakfast and some driving. Woke up at 6AM after a terrible night's sleep. Dog barking. Super hard bed. Hard pillow. Had a nice breakfast of hard boiled eggs and muesli and yogurt (called curd in Nepal). Perfect breakfast before a 4 hour trek on the Annapurna Circuit. A short circuit. There is a big circuit that takes over 2 weeks to complete. We were doing a short one that takes just 4-5 days to complete. We piled in the tiny taxi, the five of us, and first went to the village of Naya Pul where our trek would begin. After a trip to the toilet, we were on our way.

We were trekking as far as Tikhedhunga today, just a 4 hour walk. In Naya Pul we got our first glimpse of the porters who carry tremendous loads for big groups. They have a very unconventional way of carrying it. They tie the load together, sometimes two backpacks, sometimes two huge duffel bags, and then put a strap around it and the strap goes around their head. All the weight is on their head and neck. Nothing supports the bottom of the load and nothing goes around their hips or shoulders. I was astounded at how much these men could carry.

Our porter, however, just had one backpack to carry and he carried his own daypack in front. It didn't seem to slow him down at all and this was his first gig as a porter. His name was Madhur and he never complained about going up, going down, taking a break, not taking a break. I think he's about 17 years old. Nabin was our guide and he was also excellent. And they were both funny. Added bonus.

After about 2 hours, we had talked a lot, taken a lot of pictures, added a cute dog to our group of four, and then we stopped for some lunch at a tea house. We had dal baht. I'd already had this at Rabi's house, but didn't know what it was called. Now I know. It is probably the most common dish in Nepal. Nabin even has a slogan to go along with his favorite dish. Dal Baht power - 24 hour.

Today's walk wasn't too difficult. Four hours, no really steep climbs, and just a bit of rain when we stopped for coffee. We saw beautiful green scenery, waterfalls, many donkeys, water buffalo, flowers. Perfect temperature. Just a great day for trekking.

We arrived at Tikhedhunga around 1PM and stayed at the Chandra Tea House. Our room was really nice, everything was clean. Megan got a hot shower, but rather than wait, I used the one that wasn't hot. It wasn't freezing either. I had a view of a waterfall from my shower though.

We stayed in our room and relaxed a bit, did our push ups and then went down to dinner. After dinner we played cards with Nabin and Madhur and they taught us how to play a couple of Nepalese card games. Pretty soon it was time for bed. More trekking tomorrow. Off to Ghorepani. The pictures on this page are actually from day 2 of our trek to Ghorepani. I'll post pictures from Day 1 in the next entry. I got my dates mixed up!

Here's some information about the tour company I used to book my trek. Rabi (Rabindra Adhikari) is the co-owner with his brother. They are great guys and provide great service. They offer a lot of different treks for a lot of different budgets.

Nepal offers breathtaking trekking destination such as like Everest Base Camp Trek http://www.adventurediscoverytreks.com/everest-base-camp-trek.php

And the same Everest Base Camp trek can be done using luxury accommodation throughout toohttp://www.adventurediscoverytreks.com/everest-base-camp-luxury-lodge-tea-house-trek.php

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