[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 3 February 2013. Minor edits have since been made from the original post to update some links and info.]
22 March 2012, Thursday
Poon Hill Trek:
Day 2 route: Ulleri (1,960m) – Banthanti (2,250m) – Nangathanti (2,460m) – Ghorepani (2,750m)
Elevation gain: 790m
Trekking time: 5 hours
Morning Call: 6:30am
It’s day 2 of our short trek to Poon Hill in the Annapurna range, and I couldn’t be happier to wake up this morning. After washing up and packing our bags, XY and I went downstairs for breakfast. As the sun was rising quickly, we chose a table in the outdoor seating area to bask in the warmth and get some fresh air.
The view that greeted us here at Ulleri was simply amazing – clear blue sky with a glorious morning sun, the beautiful snow-capped top of Machapuchere in the near distance, hills with terraced farmland in front of us, topped by a chilly breeze and unpolluted air. I wouldn’t mind waking up to this view every day.
Our guide, Manish, was of course, up already and he came over to take our orders for breakfast. For this morning, I fancied some pancakes with honey, and a cup of masala tea to go with it. While waiting for the food to arrive, we checked out some handmade jewellery from a young lady who had set up a makeshift stall in the compound of our guest house.
She must have been there quite early, as all her items were already neatly arranged and placed upon a piece of white cloth she laid on the ground. Everything looked very attractive. Maybe it was the morning sun that gave the items a nice glow. I spied a pair of finger cymbals that were engraved with Sanskrit symbols. I asked the lady what they meant, and she said “Love” and “Compassion”, one word on each cymbal. I thought it was a beautiful message, so I bought it for Rs 600 (S$9.40).
XY simply loves ornaments and handcrafted jewellery, so she had a great time picking her favourite pieces. By this time, many of the other travellers had risen and joined us at the stall. The young lady was doing a roaring trade that morning.
At 7:30am, our food arrived. It was nice to have pancakes for a change. We had an enjoyable breakfast and at 8:12am, we bade Super View Guest House goodbye and set off on the next part of our journey to Ghorepani.
The initial leg after Ulleri was very pleasant, with stretches of flat ground in between the steps, so it was comfortable and easy to walk. We could see the Annapurna South and Machapuchere peaks too, and it was beautiful. Further along, the scenery changed as we entered the forest. We walked among lush, green vegetation amid blooming Rhododendrons, Nepal’s national flower. They came mostly in red and pink, we didn’t see much white ones. They will be in full bloom in April, so we were seeing just the beginning of the bloom then. According to Manish, when that happens, the whole mountainside will be bathed in a sea of red, pink and white flowers, and it will be a sight to behold. I’m sure it will be.
At 11:30am, we were feeling quite tired, so we took a tea break at Nangethanti. After ordering mint tea, we were pleasantly surprised to find the innkeeper going round the back of her garden to pluck some fresh mint leaves for our tea. It can’t get any fresher than that!
At 11:48am, we dusted ourselves and upped a gear for the final stretch to Ghorepani. It was quite tough as the steps were closer together without much breaks. Maybe it was also because we were running low on fuel as we hadn’t had lunch yet. Or maybe it’s because the air was getting thinner the higher we climbed. But it was definitely getting colder.
At 1:25pm, we finally arrived at Ghorepani. Even though we trekked for only five hours today, compared to seven hours yesterday, it felt tougher today. We were super hungry and it was apt that our accommodation was named Hungry Eye Guest House & Restaurant. We quickly placed our orders for drinks and food. I decided to switch up my routine a little, and ordered a glass of warm milk, instead of the usual Coke, as it was quite cold outside.
Lunch, as always, was good, with fried potato, onion soup and curry chicken rice. Once we were well fed and contented, we went up to our room. Manish had gotten us a room furthest away from the toilet (it was a shared bathroom among all the rooms). As it was a corner unit, two sides of the room had windows, compared to the other rooms along the corridor, with only one panel of windows. So we got double the views of the mountainside! That’s one of the perks of having a guide, and I think Manish did a good job.
As usual, we quickly took our showers before night fell, and also before the rest of the travellers arrived, since it was a shared bathroom. We didn’t want to have to compete with them to use the bathroom. Fresh and clean, we then headed out to see what Ghorepani had to offer.
Ghorepani is quite a small little village and there is just a cluster of shops around the town square. There was an interestingly named-shop called Yeti Book Shop, selling secondhand books and some groceries and snacks. There were also a few jewellery stalls selling stuff similar to those we saw in the morning. I bought a silver pendant with an Om symbol, set inside a sun, which I like very much (Rs 600). With the luxury of time here, XY was able to pick out several more pieces to add to her collection. There wasn’t much to see, and the winds made me shiver, so we elected to head back to the guest house to chill and to write our journals before dinnertime.
From our room, we had a great view of the mountains. Nearby below, there was a school where some kids were playing basketball and volleyball. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. It reminded me of my primary school days when I would play basketball, one-legged catching (where you hop on one leg within a marked area and attempt to “catch” a player from the opposing team), and ping pong (where two teams face off and attempt to gun down the opposing team using a ping pong ball, something like Dodgeball, but with “prisoners-of-war” who could be rescued) during recess time.
Back then, we had no iPhones or computer games, only good old schoolyard games involving real physical activity. Those were such carefree and fun days. Sometimes, I really yearn to go back into the past, when we derived pleasure from simple things like playing with a basketball or ping pong ball. But I’m glad I at least got to experience that during my childhood, unlike the children of today.
From our window, we could also look out to the other guest houses in Ghorepani. Like all the others we had seen so far, they were all painted with the same colour scheme of blue, brown and white. It was a pretty sight.
At about 6:30pm, we went downstairs to have dinner. The common area was packed with other travellers, many of whom were gathered around a cylindrical heater for warmth. It was nice and cosy. After having our fried rice and fried momo, we went to bed early at 8:30pm, as we would be waking up at 4:30am the following morning for an early assault up to Poon Hill to see the sunrise. After two days of trekking, it was not hard to fall asleep.
