Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Despite our inexperience (and very short legs) we have returned from a successful five day trek in the Annapurna region! It was an amazing introduction to trekking and the Himalayas. But we are definitely glad to have finished walking, and to be back on lower ground!
We had a very early start on the first day as we had arranged to meet two friends we had made in Kathmandu, Simon and Meetal. Together we got a taxi to Nayapul, the starting point of the Ghorepani- Poon Hill Trek. The first day was probably the hardest of the whole trip. It was mostly uphill and the sun was unbearable. I think we all had a few wobbly moments, wondering what we had got ourselves into. It was a huge relief to reach Ulleri, our first night stop. We spent the evening chatting, making friends with two swiss girls, and one of the Nepali guides, Arjun, even taught us a card game.
The next day was another early start and we were soon walking up thousands and thousands of steps built into the mountain. Luckily the sun was hidden for most of the day and we reached Ghorepani, our next destination, by lunch time. Waiting at our hostel were two of Meetal's friends, Kat and Toby, meaning our group had swelled to 8! That evening we ate Dahl Baht and played lots of mind games, which both Kat and I frustratingly failed to understand.
The third day was probably the highlight of the trek as we woke up at 4.30 to walk up Poon Hill and watch the sun rise over the Annapurna mountain. It was beautiful and well worth the VERY hard early morning walk and spinning heads from the altitude. We had reached 3200m, the highest either of us have ever been. That afternoon, it started pouring with rain and we all had to rush to put on rain coats. It was quite fun walking in the rain at the beginning but we were soon soaked and had to stop and take cover. Everyone was very hungry, but food was getting more and more expensive the higher up you went. There was a hilarious moment when our whole group literally jumped over tables to finish off a Polish women's meal.
On the fourth day we started our descent, and sadly had to say goodbye to the rest of our group! It was the first time we had walked just as a two. Luckily it was mostly downhill and we had the knowledge that there was a hot spring waiting for us at the bottom. We reached Janu at around three and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the amazing natural hot springs. It was only slighly spoilt when I realized I had been attacked by four leaches and my foot was covered in blood! In the evening we bumped into four Nepali girls we had met earlier, also doing our trek. They are all lovely and Mala in particular was hilarious. She had decided to trek "'in style'", which included wearing dresses, velvet jumpsuits and carrying five shades of lipstick with her. We hadn't even brought shampoo with us...
The next day was our last day of trekking. We walked for around 3 hours before getting a Jeep back down to Pokhara, just as it started pouring down with rain. It was an exciting if slightly bumpy journey, made even funnier by the completely out of place soundtrack, including Eric Clapton, playing in the Jeep. That evening we collapsed into bed completely exhausted from our first experience of trekking.
We have enjoyed relaxing and doing nothing by the Lakeside at Pokhara, but tomorrow we are off again fro some white water rafting.
Love
Sofia xxx
- comments