Hiking begins

2 Oct - Pokhara - Nayapul - Ghandruk

Dawn in Pokhara and the first glimpse of the mountains we are heading to

It was, yet again, an early start for us. But an omelette and a frankly delicious coffee or three at Rosemary cafe, my favourite breakfast place in all Pokhara, got me woken up and ready. In short order we were loaded onto yet another bus and on our way to our roadend.

The Pokhara-Nayapul road has been transformed in the last few years. There is a large section with six lanes and we hit a Nepali land speed record of 95km/h on my GPS. Still random Nepali road rules though, with cars lurching out in front of us, random orange fences blocking the left or right lane at random, weird pedestrian crossings that made no sense on such a high speed road, and of course various livestock and bicycles and three wheeled contraptions to contend with.

Even once we left the 'freeway', the road up the hill had been widened, fully sealed, and amazingly well maintained. No abrupt change into a 4WD track over a slip for us!

Still some interesting switchbacks though

We decanted from the bus at Nayapul and soon were walking to the Birethanti Truss Bridge. (Sorry, Tim - the Birethanti hydro project still is not finished, though it does seem to have progressed a little at least).

The "before" photo

I was wondering how many tourists like me had descended on Annapurna now the borders are open but the trail was pretty quiet. The Chinese can't travel still, of course, but there were few Europeans too. There were a lot of Nepali tourists. Which was great to see. A burgeoning middle class who also are exploring their own country.

Our day started off baking hot and walking along a shimmering sealed road. Whew. I drank a lot of water. The sealed road gave way to the familiar flagstone steps. HARD WORK. Bachan kept us nicely managed with frequent stops and regroups and cups of tea.

Off we set. The porters lead on.

Goats today, stew tomorrow

Sacchi and Atul

Tarmac gives way to ... steps. Lots of them.

Alex and I were both quite mystified with the route. It was nothing like the last time we'd (individually) been to Ghandruk, on our way to Poon Hill. Either the roads and trails are all changed completely, or we were going a completely different way.

Millet in terraces

Chenda and Georgina take in the view

We saw an amazing collection of animals. Mules with "cow" bells. (Are they still cowbells when they're on a mule?). Water buffalo. Dogs. Weird caterpillars. Completely black chickens! And many herds (flocks?) of goats, all the way from Tibet, USD500 each, all for slaughter in the next couple of days for Dashain. The track passed many beautiful waterfalls, above stream crossings bridged with tree trunks. 

Mule train

Bechan supervises us crossing this 'bridge'

Ghandruk is incredible - there is clearly a road here now. Our Breeze "Guest House" is a hotel with en suite and electricity. I eagerly took advantage of the hot shower in my room. 

I emerged to a dark evening and breathtaking views of Annapurna South and Himchule looming out at me, still gently lit by the setting sun. 

I at last feel like this trip is real - after the travel, migraine, Kathmandu culture shock... I'm probably a lot more emotionally drained after the previous week than I'm pretending to myself, too.

Lockdown seems to have made me more germophobic. I'll need to get over that. Certainly masks are abandoned now. There's a cold going through the group that I'll probably catch. [foreshadowing!]

Dal bat and chicken curry for dinner. (If Expansion says the chicken's okay, then it's okay.) 

Now I'm lying in bed listening to the 'melody' of a terrible band touring the guest houses for tips. They sound like Hare Krishnas but with no rhythm or tunefulness. But all the sounds of the village put together are a wonderful sonic backdrop for drifting off to sleep.