Leeches and dust - our trek ends

Day 10 - Dhampus-Naudanda-Sarankot

Up early again and watched sunrise over the ranges from the hotel's rooftop. Played with the tripod and telephoto lense. My myself except for Kirsty who ran up in her PJs, snapped off some shots and went back to bed.

After breakfast we cat-herded ourselves into a group photo with Muchupulchre in the background before setting off on our final trekking day.

First part of the day was "little bit up, little bit down" to a river crossing. The main bridge was out so we had to go via a secret old bridge. Passed through a village with a name that translates to 'Leech Village' - Hazel found this out, walking in sandals, and ended up with lots of bites and lots of blood.

Up from bridge a short way to an old 4WD track - not well built so landslips all over it and no longer passable in a jeep. Could see and hear more and more signs of civilisation - glimpses of roads, sounds of tooting horns and struggling diesel engines. Suddenly we emerged onto the main road and into the town of Naudanda, with shops and buses and all the unfamiliarity of the modern world. Chai stop turned into fruit juice cans out of the fridge, with little bananas. Bliss.

The walk from Naudanda to Sarankot consisted of a hot, dusty gravel road in the full sun. With lots of houses, kids looking out for chocolate, women drying corn and washing, men sitting about and supervising. I talked to two interesting people as I walked - a chef, visiting family for festival, who had trained in Brisbane and was waiting for peak tourist season in Pokhara; and a Social Sciences teacher at a private school in Kathmandu. His wife is studying for two years in Japan so he goes walking in the holidays. He told me lots about the politics, the development and the general outlook of the Nepalese.

Passed a large pond on the way with swimming buffalo.

It was a real relief to see our hotel appear and others drinking beer in the shade. Another cultural lurch, as guesthouse gives way to hotel. Settled in, rehydrated, then set off for the top of the hill for the view while Paragliders wheeled around.

We'd had views of Pokhara's lake, but the 360° view from the hilltop showed how huge Pokhara was. 2 million people*, with built up area running from the waterfront all the way up a broad valley. Huge! Jimmy pointed out a hospital that had been on the outskirts of town 10 years ago and was now swallowed completely by the expanding city. Mountains dominated the view behind, the usual suspects of Annapurna South and Muchupulchre (without its fishtail now, as we were looking at it end on) And Dhaulagiri, larger still than the Annapurna mountains, visible in the distance.

After dinner, Pete and I headed down the road to our hotel (we were split between two hotels) and to our dungeon room in the basement.


* Wikipedia says 402,000. But who really knows.