DAY 83 OF OUR WORLD TRIP!

DAY 1 OF OUR 4 DAY TEA HOUSE TREK!

Pokhara to Diamir, Ghandruk at 1940 metres!

On awaking after praying all night, we looked outside to see a lovely cloud filled sky and not a mountain in sight….boo! Sitting round the reception area with all our trek bags piled in the middle we were finally off, excited but also nervous as to what was ahead and I for one was pretty worried if I would make it as I was still weak.

On leaving the village, luck was on our side and suddenly we saw a small bit of blue sky and right ahead the stunning top of Fish Tail Peak finally staring right back at us, wahhoo!!! The praying was worth it! There was a huge cheer as the white jagged edge came stunningly through the break in the sky, we were all SO relieved! Desperately trying to get photos from the bus just in case this was the only time we saw the peak I must have taken about 20 photos totally rubbish, wonky, with cars, electricity pylons in it you name it but I was determined to go home with one mountain photo… What was funny also was that the peak was in the totally opposite direction to when we had originally sat in the tea house working it out!

A few of us then decided that it would be fun to try first class and ride on the roof, or should I say the iron roof rack, so madly we climbed on top to get a better view. The next 45 minutes was pretty hell, every bump was felt as we held on tightly to the cold iron rack, half frozen as we headed up the windy and windy road up the mountain valley. The pain was worth it though, it was so beautiful to see all the green mountains and snow capped panorama ahead as we swung just missing every local bus and lorry that tried to share the road with us! Needless to say a few screams were definitely heard from me as I was unfortunately sitting on the rear axel bad decision! Kids waved and locals stared at us all as if we were mad but it all just added to the fun and the further we drove the more the Annapurna range started to appear through the cloud until we had almost a clear sky! At this point I must have taken about fifty photos of mountain peaks half missed, upside down, wonky, you name it, photography and holding on for dear life at the same time on the roof of a bumpy and windy carriage beneath is not good! The valley was so green though, the air was starting to feel so much fresher and dotted amongst the valley side were wooden shacks and small areas of farmland for the locals.

On arrival at our trek base, we peeled our bottoms and clenched fingers off the iron rack and sorely dismounted back to dry land. Then after kitting ourselves out with bamboo walking poles from the locals (for those of us disorganised with no gear, i.e. me and Adam!) our trek started, 4 days of yet another dream of ours to hike in the beautiful Himalayan mountains and Annapurna Range. Next time it would be Everest…..uuuummm! The start of the trek saw us doing the easiest part, walking through the small lanes of the village at the bottom of the valley trying our best to avoid all the cow dung, donkey dung and any other dung that seemed to fill the streets!! The smell was just lurrrvely and it was amazing to see these heavily laden animals following one another religiously with no guidance on their route up the mountain…. Any chance of a lift please??!! I felt quite sorry for them, some looked so skinny, what an amazing job they do though enabling locals to survive amongst the mountains with food and goods brought by these fellow's. Kids were playing in the streets, bare foot amongst all the dung and dirt but as yet the valley villages were not as poverty stricken as we both expected. Perhaps tourism in some way was helping them, I very much hope so.

After about ten minutes of hiking we followed the train of donkeys across the bridge over the valley river and stopped for breakfast. Result, I hope the rest of today is like this….little did we know they were breaking us in gently to actually the worst day of hiking, after this it was all UP and UP and UP………After a muddy water tasting porridge we were off up the bottom of the valley, fish tail peak clearly ahead of us and green rice paddies either side of us, it reminded me so much of my first trip to New Zealand, it was absolutely stunning! Then the relaxing beautiful easy flat valley changed and the up started. By now it was midday and as we climbed upwards step by step in the soaring heat that was now beating down, it was pretty tough and still rough from my hospital experience, I stayed at the back, a first for me eh! Ads as always strode out ahead, feeling a lot fitter that he thought he would be which was good.

As we hiked, still up, we passed through small villages of a few concrete huts and watched men, women and young children working ******* the land using the old arable farming methods; it was like stepping back into a school history lesson, unbelievable to see. The terracing of the steep valley sides was just breath-taking, quite amazing to see how they could have done it and the sheer hard work and determination to farm such steep valleys, I have so much respect for the Nepalese society, they are truly incredible people. Carrying on now up some larger steep steps which kept going and going, mum from the heat passed out unfortunately. Determined though, she got back up and carried on, which for a 60 year old is pretty good going and not what a lot of people would be able to do. Despite one of the team members at the front having no respect for this whatsoever seeming to think that team was spelt with an 'I’, we arrived for our break whilst the front lot re-started and by now the group was pretty spread out. I was happy to be at the back and perhaps would walk even slower now just to make a point to a certain (British of all people) person…

Lunch stop was at a mere 1600 metres and in true style the prices were considerably dearer (so Ads and I knew we were going to go abit hungry for the next few days, a 2 egg omelette shared it was and that was it!) and it took forever to serve people but when you imagine that a donkey or guy has carried this food all the way up on his back and is then cooking for 13 of us on one stove you really do appreciate what they do and if you don’t then well you shouldn’t be here!

Carrying on seeing Ads far in the distance, we passed many children holding their hands out for sweets but we couldn’t oblige as we were told its not good practice. One group of children aged from one to five years had managed to make a see saw out of 2 pieces of wood and were gleefully playing on it. The strength of the local people really hit home even more in the mountains; young children heavily laden with firewood on their backs tied by a thin band round their heads and with no shoes, walked past us on the long hike home a daily ritual for them I am sure; women were weaving using 3 pieces of wood taking hours to make just one small piece of material; children and their mothers were washing in the local well and heavily laden donkeys walked in file completely oblivious to anyone in their path!! We had been warned that you always stay to the mountain side or they will easily just walk through you and knock you over the edge and they weren’t joking!! We never expected so many small villages to be in the Himalayas though so this part really surprised us, I thought we would walk for hours not seeing anyone, but I suppose this is why it is renown for being the ‘tea house trail’ as you pass tiny tea houses in villages on route. The locals smiled as you walked past, so far we had found the Nepalese people so so friendly with a real calm and beautiful culture; I think turning to Buddhism might be my way to chill!! Ha!Ha!

6 hours of up later and as we were nearing our destination we passed over a huge landslide in the mountain face which had occurred in October, fortunately it had just missed many villages but it did make you wonder how much the deforestation (which locals needed to do to survive) had attributed to this slide…. Nearing the top now it was starting to get dark but to look back down the valley and see how far we had come was just fantastic, as long as you didn’t look across at how far you had to go for the next 3 days of course!. Finally all of us reached our first destination and home for the evening, a tiny village called Ghandruk at 1940 metres! The Himalayas were now peaking through the mist as we got closer to them, it was just beautiful and a magical feeling to be here. Our white tea house was basic but way better than we had imagined. I thought we would be in some small hut but this was beautiful white washed stone wall 2 storey building with a shower and flower bed spreads, I didn’t even think we would get a bed, result! The food and the hot chocolate (Everest beer for some) was fab too and helped to keep us warm as the night sky slowly drew in and the lightening and thunder started!! It was quite a spectacle to be high up in the hills surrounded by the mountains as the lightening lit up the entire panorama and cracked through the night sky. Having heard though that a couple of porters had actually been struck and died on this trek just a few weeks ago during the day light made me feel a tad more scared than usual at the storm…. That night with not much insulation between the rooms, the white tea house rumbled with male snoring…. Bevan was that you?!! Ha!Ha!