8th - 13th June 2012
After a 14hr land transfer to travel the 500km, we landed in Pokhara, Nepal - I know crazy length of time but it took so long as the roads were so bad - we couldn't read, sleep, write the blog, do anything except look out the window for the full journey!
The border crossing by land from India to Nepal was uneventful - it really seemed to be just a rubber stamping exercise to justify the $25 for the visa.
So first impressions of Pokhara were great, especially considering we were after such a long journey without food and hadn't taken the heads off one another!! Really loved the town and it's just a pity we didn't have more time here.
The next morning (Sat 9th June) we were heading off on our trek so met the guide early to find out what we needed and then went shopping to buy the necessities like shoes (not very prepared I know!)
We then went to the starting point,Nayapul by car. It was 36 degrees! All I had heard since arriving in India was about how much cooler Nepal was going to be so I was thinking it was gonna be around the twenties!!
So the trekking consisted of 52km, 3,250 steps in a row, 4 full days, 4 nights (half days on first and last days) and I hated every minute!!!! Trekking is not for me which is unfortunate considering we have the Inca Trail booked and paid for!
Generally we have been doing 6/7 hours walking up and down sides of mountains constantly - the main thing that got to me was that you could kill yourself on getting up a steep hill only to get to the top and have to go back down straight away!
Our highest point that we climbed to was 3,200m/10,499ft on Poon Hill (over 3 times the height of Carrauntoohil) - climbing a mountain at 4am to see the sun rise was not my highest point of the trip and I may have been in a teeny weeny bad mood but I admit it was worth it as it was an amazing viewpoint of the part of the Himalayans in this area.
For anyone who has done trekking here or is considering it our circuit was Tikhedhunga, Ghorepani, early morning trek to Poon Hill, Syauli and back to Nayapul.
For those doubting the integrity of the backpacking of this trip I would like to produce Exhibit A and Exhibit B, our accommodation on the trek!
The accommodation was so cheap it was ridiculous - the cheapest was 225 Nepal rupees which ends up being €1 per person per night.
It's really random aswell, all the owners of the guest houses sleep either on the floor of the dining room or have a bed set up in the corner! Really strange - we got an awful fright when we got up at 3.45 to go to Poon Hill and this aul lad let out a roar at us waking him!!
So its the final night of the trek and these are the little luxuries I am looking forward to tomorrow :
- washing my hands with soap and water
- using a non squatting toilet
- using a towel bigger than a postage stamp
- shaving my legs
- not having to use a torch to go to the toilet during the night
Ronan is loving the trekking, he would have kept going for longer but unfortunately our flight to China is booked for the weekend so we don't have the time (that is the real reason nothing to do with me at all!). He spent parts of the day walking 10mins ahead, not sure if that was because of my moaning or him going off taking photos!
All in all I am able to say at this stage that I am glad I did it but I didn't really enjoy it and would gladly never do it again!!
By the way it's the year 2069 here in Nepal at the moment so if anyone wants to know what the future holds we have the inside track - people eat with their hands rather than using cutlery, don't use toilet paper and have one word for all the pleasantries (hello, goodbye, thank you etc).
As I said earlier we are on the last night of our trek and staying in our last mountainside guest house which actually has electricity (whoop whoop)! Everywhere in Nepal advertises apple pie as their speciality so we just asked for some here. Now we have gotten used to being told they don't have certain things in stock as its tough getting supplies to most parts of this circuit as there are no roads and everything is transported by people or mule. The local people here carry about 110-120kg up the mountain for hours on end!! So when we asked for apple pie we were not surprised when they said they had no apples! Then our guide pops his head in and says he has apples in his pack so off they went and knocked up a pie from scratch for us! They are really a lovely race of people, very friendly, helpful and want to please.
Really looking forward to getting back to civilisation tomorrow (13th June) and spending our last few days in Nepal between Pokhara and Kathmandu (the capital city). Next blog entry will probably be from China, time is really flying!
N
After a 14hr land transfer to travel the 500km, we landed in Pokhara, Nepal - I know crazy length of time but it took so long as the roads were so bad - we couldn't read, sleep, write the blog, do anything except look out the window for the full journey!
The border crossing by land from India to Nepal was uneventful - it really seemed to be just a rubber stamping exercise to justify the $25 for the visa.
So first impressions of Pokhara were great, especially considering we were after such a long journey without food and hadn't taken the heads off one another!! Really loved the town and it's just a pity we didn't have more time here.
The next morning (Sat 9th June) we were heading off on our trek so met the guide early to find out what we needed and then went shopping to buy the necessities like shoes (not very prepared I know!)
We then went to the starting point,Nayapul by car. It was 36 degrees! All I had heard since arriving in India was about how much cooler Nepal was going to be so I was thinking it was gonna be around the twenties!!
So the trekking consisted of 52km, 3,250 steps in a row, 4 full days, 4 nights (half days on first and last days) and I hated every minute!!!! Trekking is not for me which is unfortunate considering we have the Inca Trail booked and paid for!
Generally we have been doing 6/7 hours walking up and down sides of mountains constantly - the main thing that got to me was that you could kill yourself on getting up a steep hill only to get to the top and have to go back down straight away!
Our highest point that we climbed to was 3,200m/10,499ft on Poon Hill (over 3 times the height of Carrauntoohil) - climbing a mountain at 4am to see the sun rise was not my highest point of the trip and I may have been in a teeny weeny bad mood but I admit it was worth it as it was an amazing viewpoint of the part of the Himalayans in this area.
For those doubting the integrity of the backpacking of this trip I would like to produce Exhibit A and Exhibit B, our accommodation on the trek!
The accommodation was so cheap it was ridiculous - the cheapest was 225 Nepal rupees which ends up being €1 per person per night.
It's really random aswell, all the owners of the guest houses sleep either on the floor of the dining room or have a bed set up in the corner! Really strange - we got an awful fright when we got up at 3.45 to go to Poon Hill and this aul lad let out a roar at us waking him!!
So its the final night of the trek and these are the little luxuries I am looking forward to tomorrow :
- washing my hands with soap and water
- using a non squatting toilet
- using a towel bigger than a postage stamp
- shaving my legs
- not having to use a torch to go to the toilet during the night
Ronan is loving the trekking, he would have kept going for longer but unfortunately our flight to China is booked for the weekend so we don't have the time (that is the real reason nothing to do with me at all!). He spent parts of the day walking 10mins ahead, not sure if that was because of my moaning or him going off taking photos!
All in all I am able to say at this stage that I am glad I did it but I didn't really enjoy it and would gladly never do it again!!
By the way it's the year 2069 here in Nepal at the moment so if anyone wants to know what the future holds we have the inside track - people eat with their hands rather than using cutlery, don't use toilet paper and have one word for all the pleasantries (hello, goodbye, thank you etc).
As I said earlier we are on the last night of our trek and staying in our last mountainside guest house which actually has electricity (whoop whoop)! Everywhere in Nepal advertises apple pie as their speciality so we just asked for some here. Now we have gotten used to being told they don't have certain things in stock as its tough getting supplies to most parts of this circuit as there are no roads and everything is transported by people or mule. The local people here carry about 110-120kg up the mountain for hours on end!! So when we asked for apple pie we were not surprised when they said they had no apples! Then our guide pops his head in and says he has apples in his pack so off they went and knocked up a pie from scratch for us! They are really a lovely race of people, very friendly, helpful and want to please.
Really looking forward to getting back to civilisation tomorrow (13th June) and spending our last few days in Nepal between Pokhara and Kathmandu (the capital city). Next blog entry will probably be from China, time is really flying!
N
You can definitely tell who's writing which entry (in a good way)
ReplyDeleteHa ha I was slagging Ronan about his overuse of adjectives in his one - you would think he was writing a novel!! Cringing at the state of me in the purple jacket and orange pants, all I can say in my defence is that it was 3.45am when I got dressed so it didn't matter then!!
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