Nepal, the trekking part

Namaste! Welcome to Nepal (Never Ending Peace and Love). We arrived Kathmandu on Thu, 17 Sep at 12:45pm, its 1hr 15min behind Jakarta time, yup 15 minutes!!

Prakash from Great Adventure (www.greatadventuretreks.com) greeted us at the airport as promised. He drived us to Norling Guest House where we stayed for one night before heading to Pokhara the next morning. Norling is located in Thamel area, next to book stores, in front of souvenir shops, close to outdoor stores in the day light, but at night we only saw neon signs of 'Shower Dance' or 'Pussy Cat'. Totally different scene! Absolutely no silent night or good sleep for us. The musics, the noisy conversations, the busy road with cars and the honks ofcourse, I will not back to Norling! Kathmandu to Pokhara

It took about 8 hours from Kathmandu to Pokhara by bus, 2 hours behind the schedule because of the traffic. No complaint from me, I slept most of the journey and when I wake up I really enjoy the view from my window's seat. It was so beautiful! Greenline was very confy bus and we paid $18 per person including lunch at Spring Water Resort. We arrived Pokhara around 4pm and Surya, our guide already stand by at the bus station, an open space no bigger than a soccer field. He, then escorted us to Fewa Lakeside hotel. Fewa is a very basic hotel, 2 storeys building with 10 rooms only. This hotel is famous for their breakfast, where you can sit by the lake or in their beautiful garden. We paid $20 for one night per room, same as we spent at Norling, but Fewa was much much nicer!! And the staffs were very friendly with us.

That evening, we had nepali tea by the lake with World Peace Pagoda from a distance. And so the next morning, we sat by the lake again at the same table, watched local people back and forth in front of us while we enjoyed our yummy breakfast (later we found there are temple in the middle of the lake and most of Nepali start their days by praying at the temple). At 9am Surya picked us up, we went to Nayapul, about 1.5 hours driving from Pokhara. That was 19 Sep.

Sunny morning at Fewa Lake, in fron of our hostel



Full breakfast before start the trekking



The baby trek

We took 6 days trek to Ghorepani/Poon Hill trek. The baby trek! Most of trekkers in this route will go to Annapurna Base Camp for 10 - 14 days. After the trek, we met 2 Spanish guys who finished the trek in 6 days! Poor their porter :-)

Day 01: Trek from Pokhara (915 m.) to Nayapul (1050m.) by car which takes 1 and half hours drive. Now you begin your trek from Nayapul (1050m.) to Tikhedhunga (1577 m.) via Birethanti (1065m.) which takes about 4 hours. We walked from one villages to anothers, along the river and paddy fields until we found Laxmi Lodge at Thikedhunga at 4pm where we spent the night. It was beautiful day!

walk along the river

The women work very hard

Day 02: Trek from Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani (2675 m.) and it takes about 6 hours. This was the hardest trek. So many steps and very steep, gosh!! Traffic jam because of the goats. Hundreds of maybe thousands ( too tired to count) of goats sent down to all over Pokhara for the big festival. Plus heavy rain followed us after the lunch time, made this trek even more challenging.

Dewi and the goats ^^

Day 03: Trek from Ghorepani to Poon Hill (3180m.) Early morning trip to Poon Hill (3232m.) to enjoy the sunrise view over Mt. Dhaulagiri (8167m.), Tukuche Peak (6920m.), Nilgiri (6940m.), Varaha Shikhar (7847m.), Mt. Annapurna I (8091m.), Annapurna South (7219m.), Annapurna III (7855m.), Machhapuchhre (6993m.), Annapurna IV (7525m.), Annapurna II (7937m.), Lamjung Himal (6931m.) and other numerous snowcapped. The guide gave us morning call at 4am. We started walking at 4:30am to see the sunrise at Poon Hill. We ararived Poon Hill 1 hour later,15 min behind the schedule, not bad hu? Its a bit cloudy, but well we managed to see some peaks; Fish Tail, Annapurna South, Dhaulgiri. Its not perfect day, but it kept us to stay at Poon Hill for more than 2 hours! Its soooo beautiful!! We're almost the last group who left Poon Hill.



Poon HIll, 3210m



Annapurna South & Fish Tail from Poon Hill

After breakfast trek from Ghorepani to Tadapani (2675m.) which takes about 5 and half hours. Everyone about to leave to Tadapani, when we're back to our lodge. This was a nice trek, we walked in the misty jungle, then walked along the river. We met Suzane, Paula & Claire (the Holland girls) and we had lunch together at Hungry Eyes. Again, heavy rain followed us. I was bitten by the leeches!! We stayed at the same lodge again with the Canadian family and Swiss couple. Suzane and the Holland girls stay in next door.

Day 04: Trek from Tadapani (2675m.) to Ghandruk (1950m.) and it takes about 3 hours.Had breakfast outside with a magnificent view, Fish Tails, Annapurna South and Daulgiri!! Left Tadapani at 10am. We always the latest group who left the lodge. Suzane and the Swiss couple continue the trek to ABC.

Day 05: Trek from Ghandruk (1950m.) to Pothana (1990m.) which takes about 6 hours. It was a long day, walked for 9 hours! We went down and went up the hills, crossed the river, walked along the villages (Gandruk - Landruk - Tolka then Pothana). Was bitten by the leech again!! Had instant noodles as our lunch, it was so nice!!

Day 06: Trek from Pothana to Dhampus Phedi (1113m.) which takes about 4 hours and drive back to Pokhara. We made it shorter, only walked for 1 hour since our porters need to be at home soon, its a big festival in Nepal. Its beautiful still, walked along the villages and seen morning activities in the villages. Took taxi to Pokhara and arrived there about lunch time.

Enjoy SMILES from Never Ending Peace And Love ^__^

For more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43264157@N06/