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After a breakfast of potatoes, omlette, chappati and tea, Kamala Ghale bids us farewell with a flower garland and tikka blessing. The garland is beautiful- each flower has been individually knotted on a red string. Reluctantly, Santos also accepts his garland. Dhana informs us that today we will be on a punishing down hill schedule (down sounds good to me) but we will only be walking for 4-5 hours or so.
We set off down the first few steps, basically they are uneven stone and dirt steps- pretty much like the ones that we are used to on the Kokoda track in Kings Park in Perth. They are then not like the Kokoda ones-they get steeper and more uneven and steeper. But so far, so good. Ultimately it's not as difficult as I thought it might be - we have several rest stops and enjoy the views. It is lightly forested and terraced, there are some beautiful magnolia trees and the weather is great- down to tshirts pretty quickly.
The approach to Khudi (1100m) is not inspiring, we reach the town and stop for some tea in a small shop. It is the first place on the trek that
Ghalegaun
Kamala Ghale and Mary has looked dirty; lots of trash lying around, lots of dogs and lots of flies. The tea shop also looks flyblown, I wish now that we had kept going that 10 extra minutes over the bridge to our lodge. We now refer to Khudi as, "that place with the evil teashop". More on that later...
We arrive at Maya Hotel, it is a bit of a shock after the tranquility and greeness of the village stays. We meet Maya, her husband- Bikram, 3 kids- David, Dennis and Rada, and the rabbit (never got to know his name). Vege noodle soup and tea for lunch (with the rabbit) under a thatched umbrella in the front garden . The Marsyangdi River is rushing by in the background and the crows are making a racket. I love the colour of that river. There are a few porters at Mayas but no other guests, we later find out that the other guests are all actually really sick in bed and have been so for a couple of days. Here we have our first shower of the trek- it costs NPR 100 and the water is hot. The sun is still out so we
Ghalegaun
A reluctant Santos head back to the garden umbrellas for the first game of Yahtzee. We introduce Dhana to it but can't convince Santos. The rabbit seems to be enjoying watching us.
It is at this point the rain begins as does my nausea. Damn that evil teashop and its flies! The wind and rain get stronger and the power disappears. I head off to bed, plastic bag insitu. That's the end of my day. Mary is a trooper, our relationship reaches a whole new level- she is the emptier of the plastic bag! Thank you Mary. Our room is located behind the kitchen, the vent leads directly into our room, every single meal that is cooked makes my stomach turn.
I declare it my worst day.
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