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TREKKING DAY 1
Nayapaul to Tikhedhunga 1,577m
5/8/2014
I met my guide downstairs in the Himalayan Inn Hotel in Pokara. He looks fifteen, but he is twenty-two and has a wonderful wide grin…all the time. On the way to dinner we stopped at an outfitter store and I bought a beautiful turquoise rain jacket, North Face, for $19. I hope it doesn’t rain, though, because I am wearing my Keane sandals.
The next morning we caught the 6:30 a.m. bus to Nayapaul. We got off on the side of the road. I had a cup of sweet tea at a little restaurant there and then we went down some stone steps behind the restaurant and walked through little settlements for hours. My guide had told me it would be flat. It was almost entirely uphill. He laughingly said, “Nepal flat.” It was so hot and I was so slow I didn’t think I would ever get where we were going. We started out about 8 a.m. and stopped for lunch at 11:30. I was embarrassed to stop so early. We ate Dal Bhat with fry bread that
was huge and the best I’ve ever had, and black tea. Dal Bhat is lentils and rice according to the internet, but that doesn’t really say it all, since the lentils are like a tasty soup that you mix into the rice. It is served with little side dishes, usually one of steamed greens and one of a potato and something mix, with a small dab of hot, spicy sauce on the side. You can add chicken or mutton if you wish. The Nepalese mix it all together and eat it with their fingers. I use a spoon. Oh, yes; you are always offered additional helpings of everything.
Anyway I really over ate, even without seconds. Then we were on are way again The people are always nice and the terrain is astounding; high-mountain houses, some primitive and some with lawns and day lilies. The road finally changed to paving stone paths and even some stone steps, but they were actually easier than the interminable up. At least at first I appreciated the change. There are little clusters of houses on the hillside and every so often there are metal or wooden hanging bridges. For a really
long way this morning we saw school children walking to school. They look so cute in their uniforms but they sure have a long way to go each day. Finally we reached a place where the local people, with help from tourists, had built a school for their children in their own village. Then we walked through more small villages and gained even more elevation. Finally the path levelled off. And then we arrived! What a relief. It was about 1:30. I changed into dry clothes, I was wet from perspiration, and hung my socks and shirt to dry. I thought I would read a while but instead I went in my room and fell asleep almost immediately. I woke up at 6 p.m.
I took my computer and Kindle down to the restaurant where my long suffering guide was playing solitaire. I showed him our mountains on my computer and a few pictures of my family. I didn’t think I was hungry, but I ate a wonderful Dal Bhat and had thinly sliced apple for dessert, with my tea.
Tomorrow Ashok says we will start up. I shudder to think what that means. It was all up today. Undoubtedly it will be a hard day for me. At least in the morning it should be a little cooler, I hope. There was a brief rain today while I was sleeping which cooled us off.
Even after all that rest I was tired. I got a nice heavy blanket for the night because the rooms are just uninsulated plywood and I had heard some other trekkers complaining about how cold they got. Now I am thinking maybe they went to base camp; that is a whole different thing. We were at Tikhedhunga where I spent a very comfortable night.
So far, except for Richard from Holland at Chitwan, I have been quite alone. The tourists are not as friendly as in the Philippines. It looks easier and easier to do the ten day retreat with no speaking, an option in Nepal and Myanmar I have considered.
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