Trekking to Poon hill and Ghorepani

October 8, 2006

I left for the city of Pokhara from Chitwan on October 2nd, and arrived in the early afternoon. I managed to get to the tourist area where the hotels are, nested by Lake Fewa. Its natural beauty struck me as the surrounding area of the lake is completely natural and wild. I rented a kayak and roamed around, then took a dip in crystal clear waters. I thought I was dreaming and had returned to my Lake Achigan in Quebec.

I had arranged the trek with Kathmandu’s Unique Travels Tour Company, and at first I was supposed to be in a group of four, but the others who were from Europe postponed their trip to Nepal, so in the end I was alone with my guide, Khem. He is a young friendly guy who was able to be flexible with the itinerary and also acted as my porter carrying my larger packsack.

Trekking is a way of life for Nepal, a means to get from one village to another where there is no road but only mountain paths. For us, it is a sport and a way to discover a country. As I was walking through nature, mountains and all, I felt so blessed to walk these trails and be here in Nepal. I love nature and each moment of the trek, I was in love and moved to tears by the scenery. I saw deep valleys, jungle, various kinds of trees and climate, falls, rivers and of course, the stunning Himalayas as backdrop to all this beauty.

There were not so many foreigners trekking, tho at times we did all show up at the same spots. The guest houses reminded me of rustic camp facilities, a little like our maple houses. Also, I had not fully realized how expensive things would get once on the trail. All food and supplies have to be brought in either by porter or pony, so the further you go, the more expensive things are. It’s amazing even how much they can ask for a roll of toilet paper! Even more for beer or liquor!

I found that I was in much better shape than I had expected. I was able to go up and down 1000 m of mountain slopes in steady strides, while many trekkers had to stop regularly. I also felt so good doing exercise and realized how I need to make a conscious effort to have this be more a part of my life. Nature & exercise make good company on the road to discovery… And this is just the beginning as I am already planning a trek to none other than Mount Everest base camp for next May! Of course I will not climb it, but again I will get as close as I can and take a good look at the highest mountain on earth.

Day 1:

My guide and I left Hotel Panorama early at 7 am and took a taxi to the starting point of the trek – Naya Pul which lies in the mountains 1 hour 1/2 from Pokhara. It was cloudy when we left but it cleared enough for the Himalayas to peak through and tower the natural scenery. From Naya Pul, we began the trek walking on flat stones and following the Baraudi river. It was quite hot in the sun, but when we walked through trees in the shade it was nice and cool. There were many tiny shops, guest houses and restaurants along the way to cater to trekkers, though most were closed due to Dassain festival. The walk was easy and flat with occasional ups and downs. We stopped for dhal bhat (rice and lentil soup) at 11:30, then continued walking until 2 pm – We had already arrived at our Day 1 destination – Takhe Dhunga which sits at 1440 m, and stopped at Laxmi Guest House. This seemed early to quit but it is my first day, so I decided to take it easy. I walked down to the river and took a quick dip in the ice cold water, then laid on the rocks watching the waterfall nearby. Back at the guest house, I met a few people who said the trek up to now was difficult, but I did not think so at all.

Day 2:

I got up at 6:30 well rested and anxious to get going. I ate breakfast quickly with puffed corn bread and hard boiled eggs. I watched as each group left one after the other and got antsy to go as well. I knew that we had a big day ahead with lots of climbing to do, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be up to it. Still, I was ready to take on the challenge, but first took a quick shower, packed my things and in no time I was ready to roll by 7:00. Once we got going climbing the mountain, I found a nice and steady pace, my breathing also stabilized and I stopped panting. I passed each and every group that had left early, not because I wanted to compete but rather because I felt propelled to keep moving with a surge of adrenaline. I stopped once and actually found it hard to start again and get the beat and steady breathing back. Still, I made it to Ghorepani at 2880 m in a record time at 11:30, and my guide said he had never done it in one shot without stopping for lunch in between. It was sunny and hot on the way up but clouds were surrounding the Himalayas so we couldn’t see them. The trek was uphill for most of the way, sometimes on dry grounds, other times through humid jungle. We crossed again many villages that only added to the beauty of the scenery and repeated Namaste to almost each person I crossed along the way. Once in Ghorepani, it was nice a cool so I was glad to have warmer clothes with me.

Day 3:

Got up before the crack of dawn at 5 am to go even higher to 3210 m at Poon Hill to see the sunrise over the Himalayas. All the tourists in Ghorepani had the same plan and I found myself in a single file caravan going up the hill, not what I had in mind. Once up, there were so many people taking photos that it felt like a circus taking away from the beauty which needed to be contemplated in silence, I thought. We were lucky to have a perfect clear sky and the Himalayas in the horizon were glorious. I have never seen anything so breathtaking and beautiful in my life. I breathed it in and stayed way after all the one-shot picture people had left. I could have stayed on for much longer, but breakfast was waiting for me at the guest house.

We left Ghorepani late that morning at 9 am and headed for Tadapani. At the very beginning, we had the Himalayas on the left and it was just breathtaking. We climbed to a nice view point where again, we were treated to a lovely view of the giants. Then we went into the jungle up and down mountains, though this time there were not always nice flat rocks to make the trek easy. Got to destination early at 11:30, relaxed and had great dhal bhat at a guest house. We were supposed to stay overnight, but I suggested that we continue on to the next destination – Ghandruk. I had heard so many great things about the architecture of this village, that I wanted to see it for myself. The walk from Tadapani was mostly down, though again in the jungle and not always with flat rocks. Plus we got a good one-hour rain, so I took out my umbrella like a good city boy whereas my guide had no rain gear with him. I noticed other trekkers along the way who were not prepared either. We wanted to stop somewhere and wait the rain out, but just like there had been places along the way up to now, at that point there was nothing but trees. So we continued walking and made it to Ghandruk by 3:30. I was exhausted, my legs were killing me and I realized that I had overdone it this time. We found a nice Gurung style guest house called Milan and stayed there. The rooms’ walls were in dry mud and all the construction was traditional Gurung. Nice.

Day 4:

Woke up this morning with very stiff legs and could hardly walk, much less go up or down stairs. I had decided not to trek in the morning, so this gave me a chance to relax. After breakfast, I did decide to go discover the small town that I had heard so much about and walked down the narrow stone streets with Khem. By then, the sun had come out and clouds were slowly revealing bits of the Himalayas which gave the whole traditional village a superb backdrop. I enjoyed this so much and took many pictures. Had chow mein for lunch then was anxious to get going again, even though my legs did not agree with me. The trek was all the way down on nice flat stone, but going down on stiff legs is no easy task. We saw beautiful/amazing terraced rice fields on mountain sides and the view was breathtaking even though by then we could no longer see the Himalayas. Still, I figured we would only walk a couple of hours to Syauli bazaar but again, there were no phone there either and after 2 days of not being able to check home on my son, I wanted a phone. So I decided to proceed until the finish line, or at least close to it – Birathanti. I was in pain and really should not have pushed myself like this, but now that the Himalayas were behind us, it was time for me to go home. We stayed at the Evergreen Guest House where I had a nice cold affordable beer and pizza!

Day 5:

We got up fairly early and knew that we had little trekking to do, only about 30 min to get to Naya Pul. The way is not pretty, with the garbage and wonders of returned civilisation along the path. But I was happy to be back, and quickly hailed a microbus to return to Pokhara. Once there, I got on a bus back to Chitwan, home. On the way, we hit an old man on a bicycle and tho he was fine, the driver disappeared and there was no way of knowing when he would return. So I hailed a passing bus that was packed, made it in and got on our way. But we hit a flat tire, and this delayed the return as I rekindled my contact with extreme heat of the Terai region. The cool weather and the striking beauty of the Himalayas were now already just a memory…