Trekking in Pokhara

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Pokhara –
It is Saturday morning and I am waiting for my taxi to bring me to the Rampur bus station for my 6 hour bus ride to Pokhara. Nepal, like India, has such awful roads that it takes about 3 times longer to travel anywhere in the country than it would to travel the same distance in any western nation. The buses, trucks, cars and motorbikes are bumper to bumper up and down steep inclines alongside the mountain roads which are gutted with potholes, bumps and large craters caused by the heavy monsoon rains each year.

It is best NOT to look out the window if you have a fear of heights as the busses pass quite close to the edge of the roads which often have a very sharp drop off. There are small concrete blocks that act as barriers, but often these are crumbling or are nubs of their former height. I wonder how often a vehicle (or person) has plummeted over the side, and suddenly see a truck embedded into the side of one of these barriers stopped just at the edge. It is a frightening sight and I can only imagine the driver will need therapy before being able to get behind the wheel again. But then again this is Nepal, and these people are used to some pretty incredible situations and circumstances. So maybe nearly careening over the side of a steep mountain is simply another day at the office…

As I’m waiting for my taxi, there is still a bit of tension among the family owing (I think) to the day before when the father seemed to have some harsh words for the daughter-in-law. Rhada tells me she will be visiting some family in the nearby town for a few days, and I think she is relieved to have a few days away from her in-laws. I think they get along for the most part, but I can’t imagine living shoulder to shoulder with my in-laws, day in and day out, while her husband (their son) is off working in a foreign country for 5 months at a time.

I say goodbye and the mother comes to me and blesses me with a tika before seeing me off. I really wish I could have gotten to know the family better. I exchange emails/phone numbers so hopefully I will talk with them again.

As I ride the bus, the mountains appear larger and larger as we pass through the countryside. It is absolutely beautiful country with so many rice and millet fields along the way, spattered with thatched huts where the rice is collected and dried. The fields are terraced on the steppes of the mountain, creating these light green swatches of land as you pass from town to town. It is Tihar celebration, so there are many people out and about, as well as travelers on the bus so we stop frequently to let people on and off. As we get closer to Pokhara, I can see a perfectly pyramid shaped mountain loom over the valley, together with a mountain peak near it that looks something like a peaking wave.

I get to Pokhara and call the number for the hotel. Kesu, one of the family members of the family-owned Kiwi Guest House, arrives to pick me up in his motorbike, while I stand there with a large suitcase and my overstuffed rucksack. He assures me he is a good driver and that we can get to the hotel with all my stuff and me on this bike. What the hell…I’m in Nepal and have traveled by truck, bus, raft, elephant, camel, so how bad could a motorbike ride be. Kesu is in fact a good driver and a few long minutes later, I’m at the guest house, where I can have my first hot shower in about 2 weeks. I meet another guest at the hotel, Nick, a Brit who is living in California. He is actually a trekking guide and come several times a year with Americans who want to trek the Himalayas. They are all preparing for their trek in two days and he give me plenty of details about the Poon Hill trek, a five day trek up the side of the mountain range getting beautiful views of Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Dhaulagiri, Machhapuchhre, Annapurna III, and Annapurna II (the peaking wave that I saw from the highway on my bus-ride into Pokhara). It is a long climb up almost 4000 steps (just the first day) and then again more climbing to get to Poon Hill where the views are said to be spectacular. I’m nervous about such a long trek, but I’m assured by several people that it is doable, including Deepak, a guide/porter trekking with Nick…HARD, but doable. So I have Kesu organize a guide for me to trek Annapurna and get the necessary trekking permit and TIMS cards.

In the meantime, I celebrate Tihar with the owners of the Kiwi guesthouse who graciously include me in the festivities. Later, I see the sites of Pokhara. It is a beautiful little town, subsisting mostly on the trekking tourism that has exploded in just the last 10 years (and particularly in the last 2 years since the royalty was reduced to a figurehead and the Maoists were elected into the government, essentially ending the “People’s War” that had been initiated by the Maoists some 10 years ago. With some relative political stability, tourists have ventured to Nepal more and more to get a glimpse of the amazing beauty of Nepal at very inexpensive costs for traveling, from the cheap cost of hotels, goods and services. But Nepal is rife with corruption and, unlike India, there are no “rules” for the corrupt by which businesses can be assured to achieve their business goals. While not apparent to the wayward traveler, business is Nepal is dependent on bribes and “taxes” from lawyers, to government officials to accountants auditing the records to determine the “tax” payable by a business.

I am driven Davi’s Fall where a man allegedly fell to his death but not before pulling his wife down whit him! Then we go to the Bindhya Basini Temple , take a drive around Phewa Lake, venture into the "Bat Cave" (Yes those are bats in the picture), see the Seti River Gorge where I meet a man who lives in the hills directly behind the gorge, and am brought back to the hotel for a break. I walk around the many shops around Lakeside Pokhara and find some lovely gifts (My Christmas shopping is nearly complete now!!). The following morning I wake at 4:30 for a drive up to Sarangkot, a mountain with a fantastic view of the Annapurna Mountain range at sunrise. Later a spend the afternoon preparing for my trek, packing and buying various items that I will need. If anyone is looking for cheap “North Face” paraphernalia..from backpacks, rucksacks, coats, hats etc…Pokhara has all your NorthFace gear, at a fraction of the price. It all appears to be decent quality as well, but don’t go looking for any exchanges or rebates from NorthFace as I seriously doubt any of the items was actually made or marketed at any NorthFace factory.

I have my small NorthFace backpack and my rucksack packed (my guide will also serve as my porter), a Nepali wool hat and the two walking sticks I’ve rented. The walking sticks will prove to me indispensible to me as I climb up and then down, and then up again. I have run out of clean clothes, so some of the t-shirts that I am giving away for Christmas will have to accompany me up the mountain…I figure it will have extra value to my dad and boyfriend to know that their Annapurna Range t-shirts have actually been worn in the Annapurna range!!

I start off my trek a little late. My guide, Nakkal Gurung, was hired at the last minute since I hadn’t made up my mind until the day before. He had guests over with whom he had been “rock honey hunting” a few days before. Apparently, from what I could gather, this is honey where the bees collect in the rocks of the Himalayas. Once found, someone has to climb the rock to the retrieve the honey, which is somehow fermented like a strong liquor. They had been enjoying their honey and he was a bit hung-over I think when he came to the guest house an hour later than we had planned (8:00 instead of 7:00). We have an hour drive to Nayarpul where we will start our trek.

We had wanted to get an earlier start because I anticipate needing quite a few rests and stops along the steep 6 hour hike up the 3,860 steps to our first tea house in Ulleri. So we start our trek at 9:30 which means I will need to keep up a steady pace if I want to avoid walking in the dark at 5:30. It is hard, hard work to climb the many steep steps but I manage, taking advantage of the many rest stops to take pictures.

As they say in Nepal, “a little bit up, a little bit down”. Actually, it is more like a lot up, and a lot down, as we climb then descend the hills then climb them again hopefully gaining more altitude than we lose with each up/down sequence. The hills around us are beautiful with many villages along the way to keep me somewhat diverted as we make our way. All along there are trains of pack horses (Mustangs, from the Mustang valley along the way to Tibet) carrying loads of goods for the villages and trekking gear for the hikers. It amazes (and horrifies) me that the horses are trekking along the same route I am, which is quite steep. As I watch them, I am in constant fear that one will trip over a rock and careen down the steps or over the side of the mountain. As they walk, their hoofs seem to drag along the rocks which makes it appear they are constantly stumbling, though I suspect it is how they gauge where the rocks are for their footing. Even still, my guide confirms that there are some who fall off the mountain, probably more than I care to know.

After 3 hours of trucking it up the mountain on the first day, I begin to wonder if I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew! There are no end to the steps and I’m still a half hour away from our first rest stop at Hile. We finally make it there and the lunch of chowmein gives me much needed energy to tackle the next half of the trail to Ulleri. I ask my guide every hour or so for a breakdown of the trail ahead which helps me to compartmentalize the trek and deal with the climbs in stages. By 4:30, I still have an hour to go to get to Ulleri and I again start to wonder at what I have gotten myself into as I think about the next four days of similar trekking. When we arrive at Ulleri, we get to the Meera Guest House for our first night in Annapurna. I look at the steep steps up to my room and cringe as my legs are burning from the last 8 hours of steep steps. A hot shower and a hot meal, and some good conversation with Marry, Alexi, Innis, and a German couple who are going in the opposite direction from us, and I’m feeling a bit rejuvenated but ready for a good night’s sleep.

In the morning, we get an early start for Gorepani. We will have an easier day than yesterday, but I try to keep moving, a little bit up, a little bit down. When we arrive at Gorepani, we stay at the Daurighauli Guest House. Here, we have a hot fireplace where we can dry our clothes…after two days of trekking most of my stuff is wet from sweat and/or the moist air. It is so nice to warm up by the fire while we dry our clothes and rest up. There are two doors for the toilets, one labeled “Ladies” and the other labeled “Gents”. I begrudgingly use the squatter toilet in the ladies toilet, but I will NEVER get used to having to squat to do my ‘bizness. Only the following day do I realize that the “Gents” toilet is a western style toilet! Totally irrational, but so it is. I make use of the Gents side and vow to always check all stalls before settling on a squatter toilet again…

The tea houses we stay at are all pretty clean and very comfortable, to my surprise. After sleeping on a paper think bed for a week and a half, I’m so thrilled to be sleeping on the thick mattresses that we’ve found at these guesthouses in the mountains. And the food is likewise delicious and satisfying after a long day’s trek. I tend to go with the egg chow mein or potato roastie or the veg pastry with some sort of soup. As soon as I stop trekking, I get a chill to the bone which subsides after a hot meal and tea.

The following day we wake up at 5:00 am to trek up to Poon Hill which will take us to 3210 meters (about 10,500 ft). There is a line of trekkers that are just forming a single line up the hill. It is a steep hike and I try not to think about the two similar climbs I will have to do later today. It is possible to forego the hike up Poon Hill because similar views will be seen as we hike the Daulghiri pass. But I was worried that the clouds would cover the views before I got there, which is in fact what happened. So as I climbed up the hill, the trees break and I breath a sigh of relief only to learn this is just the first lookout. I look out and can see the beginning outline of the mountain range as the sun begins to rise and I tell my guide I’m perfectly happy with this view! So I didn’t quite make it all the way up but it was close enough for me and I still got some fabulous views with pictures to prove such an achievement for a novice hiker like myself. So while I cursed and cursed as I climbed Poon Hill, I got the views that everyone hopes for when they hike up here.

We hike back down for breakfast where the views are still breathtaking though we can see clouds are starting to cover the mountains. We head out around 8:00 for what I expect will be another hard day. In fact, it proves to be just as challenging for me as the Day 1 trek up to Ulleri and I again have those self-doubts about the wisdom of this trek, but I find that keeping my eyes on the next steps and avoiding looking up help me to deal with the steady climbs. At times like these, it really is mostly a matter of mental stamina as much, if not more than, physical stamina. It becomes very tempting to let yourself believe the next five hours are impossible, let alone the next five days. But just focusing on the next hour makes all the difference for me to manage the trek and having a guide who honestly lays out the lay of the land coming up makes all the difference for someone like me. And also, simply stopping every ten to fifteen minutes to simply take in the beauty of the mountain forests allows you to enjoy the fruits of your labor and to remind yourself this is why you endure it!

We hike through what is now mostly forest full of rhododendron trees, gnarly roots forming makeshift steps, and moss –covered trees and stumps. At this altitude, the air is still as there are not many birds, and the clouds have graciously appeared so that we do not bake in the sun. As we climb the steepest part to Tadapani, I feel a bit lighter knowing that more than half my trek is complete and I’m still doing well. The following days will be mostly downhill which feels like a weight lifted, even though I’m told that down is harder than up. I will not fully appreciate this until I begin my steep descent.

The trails are crowded as we approach Tadapani, but Nakkal has booked us a room at the same place Marry is staying, but he worries that if we are very late, they will give up our room to someone else. When we arrive, I find out that I’m staying in the same room with Marry, thankfully! Also staying there are Innis and Alexi who were with us at the first Tea House we stayed at. The lodges are all booked and everyone is warming up in the dining hall chatting with one another and having good fun after a long day. This is also another great joy of trekking, the many wonderful people you meet, from so many backgrounds, countries, ages, and trekking abilities. Again, I’m chilled to the bone but a nice hot meal is what is needed to warm up a bit before I go to bed at 8:00 (I’ve never been to bed so early as I have on this trek).

We wake up to another beautiful sunrise which glows against the Dhaulgiri Mountain and Annapurna South, with a quick view of Macchupuchare before it is hidden by clouds. Now we have a long descent down. The morning moisture makes the rocks a little slippery as we head down, but I’m fine for the most part as I make my way. Nakkal and I chat, we spy some black faced monkeys and the sounds of birds are increasing as we make our way down. Nakkel is constantly singing bird songs or some Buddhist songs (he is a Buddhist). He does worry about my footing as we make our way. And I am fine until I stumble head first on some jagged rocks, nearly planting my face on a rock sticking straight up before I extend my arms to stop it from hitting my face!! I’m unhurt, but shaken, and so is Nakkel. We take it a bit slower as we trek down, and my thighs begin to burn from tensing as I brace myself with each steep step down. By the time we reach Ghandruck, my thighs are throbbing, which is odd since my legs have been fine throughout this trek. But now I understand why so many find this part harder than even the steepest climbs.

We arrive in Ghandruck under threatening clouds. I make my way around the town for less than 30 minutes before it begins to rain slightly making the rocks rather slippery. I cross some small children asking for candy. When I do not have any for them, the younger one begins to beat my backpack with a switch and grabs for my poles. The older child is egging the younger one on while laughing and I can’t help but laugh at the scene. The younger one continues to swat at my backpack while smiling and I use my sticks to hold him back until finally I grab the switch and throw it away…the older one finds this particularly funny as I make my getaway.

The next morning, it is cloudy and wet and I begin to really worry about the steep descent as my legs are still rather sore. Nakkal and I take it slow but within 15 minutes I fall on my ass on the steps leading away from Ghandruk. But I’m fine and we continue without any major events for the next 6 hour trek to Nayapul. The views are still amazing as the forest opens up to the terraced landscapes as we pass from village to village of farmers. We pass a group of entrepreneurial children who have set up an ad-hoc toll road, interlocking their arms unless the toll of 10 rupees is paid. One couple break through the line, but I can’t help but want to pay these enterprising kids purely for the entertainment value!

When we reach the main road following the river, we pass landslide after landslide where large rocks have take out sections of the road which have been rebuilt with sticks and mud. Finally we come upon Nayarpul and take a taxi back to Pokhara for some much needed rest. I’m tired, relieved and feeling quite pleased that I indeed completed the trek in decent time (meaning I didn’t have to trek in the dark or change our trekking plans).

When I arrive at the hotel, Nick, the British guide, and Kesu are there. Nick is relaxing with his two trekkers and the porters/guides Deepak and Raju. We talk about the trek and I thank him for convincing me to go as I know I would have regretted not trying to trek the Himalayas. The following day, I have all my clothes laundered. As a reward for my hard work, I get a much needed massage from “Seeing Hands” massage clinic which is a non-profit set up for the blind trained as masseurs. My masseuse, Amnol, is fabulous and takes extra care to work out the kinks that have developed in my I-T band from all the walking these past 2 months. Later I get a much needed manicure and pedicure to round out my day of pampering. When I get back to the hotel, my clothes are cleaner than they have been in two months! So nice to have clothes laundered by a machine!

The following morning I leave for Kathmandu, a little sorry to be leaving this stunning, peaceful area of the country.

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