Ghandrung - Pokhara

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Sitting on the roof of my Guest House watching the sunrise paint the flanks of the mountains yellow, for the first time I don’t see them as awesome and terrifying but as peaceful and beautiful. You can watch the light changing on the mountains for hours. Annapurna South feels so close that you could reach out and touch her. Yet she’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen, half as big again as Mt Rainier near Seattle. Nepal has it’s own 9 to 5 - 9 pm to 5am is when you sleep; any later and you miss the sun climbing sleepily up the jungle coated valley and igniting the glorious ranges.

The village is already wide awake, farmers beating leaves with sticks in a scene straight out of Monty Python (yesterday I saw a woman hitting a chicken against a wall in an ineffectual attempt to kill it, or at least I thought it was a woman - it could have been Palin in drag).

Our usual brisk trot (we’re always at the next stop hours ahead of the crowd, thus purloining the room with the best view and the 1st hot shower) carries us from Ghandruk back to start/finish line Naya Pul.

My mission to re-unify with Rushstick teammates looked like ending in failure until Stace smacked me round the bonce as I logged on in the town’s only half decent Internet café - bring a book to fill the download pauses! We’re off on our separate ways again on Tuesday - Furlongs on the Jomson trek of which I’m greatly envious, myself back to Tibet. Oh, Manyoo won the title this evening, courtesy of the Gooners. Doesn’t seem to mean as much out here.

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