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J: We had a day around Pokhara, rented another scooter and went to Devi Waterfalls, which weren't huge but it had a cave, which was still warm inside. We also took another ride on the scooter to another lake and went for a spontaneous underwear swim; it was beautiful in the clear water with all the mountains around us.
S: So up at 6.30am, ready for our three day trek to Poon Hill, at 3200 meters high. (Bearing in mind Ben Nevis is only 1300m - help maybe?). Our guide called Kaji was lovely. We started the climb in the sun, and oh wow the views were amazing. To be hiking in the Himalayas (Ok so it's not Everest - yet) is an amazing feeling and we hadn't even reached the top. About an hour from the end of the first day trek the heavens open. I swear that the BBC was filming, James was in his element. He's grinning from ear to ear. We finally arrived at our lodge in the mountains, ready for food and a shower.
J: Once we got to the lodge (We're in Nepal and nearly 2000 meters up) we met a group of girls. We got speaking to them and all 10 are student nurses from England, I can't escape the NHS conversations anywhere lol. We found out about a local full moon festival so we decided to crash it and it was brilliant, the locals got us benches and they sat us at the front and our guide explained they were doing a dance to welcome us all. It was great to see the local villagers party.
S: I did feel slightly sorry for James being surrounded by nurses again lol. But it was fascinating listening to how the hospitals work in Nepal; the family buys one pair of gloves for the entire hospital stay. Not sure that would be acceptable in England? Second day, up again at 6.30am (all the rest of the lodge had a lay in!) and off we set, it was straight up the 6,000 steps and James found it quite hard going, but we took our time and went through the 'jungle' is one way to describe it, although always climbing. I was very impressed with myself, I felt something wet on my foot and when I took my shoe off, I had a leech waiting to attach itself to me. No screaming but a very quick 'James can you get it off!!'
J: At least Sam's leech didn't bite. I got one on my big toe and it bled for hours! Day 3 started at 4am so we could make it the last 400 meters to the top and watch the sunrise over the mountain range. It was bloody cold but a nice Nepalese tea made it magical, whilst sitting on a bench looking at the Annapurna mountain range. It was so beautiful and peaceful, I could have stayed there all day; but instead we trekked down in what should have taken 2 days and we managed to reach the bottom by 2:30pm which was fastest the guide had ever descended, even though we were both a little worst for wear. It was a great challenge though and I'm really pleased we did it.... later the first beer tasted like the best in the world!
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