trekking/kathmandu.

we now have a 50km trek under out belts.. what a breathtaking experience (both literally and figuratively..) going up and down those mountains could be pretty killer, but the scenery was always such a treat that one couldn't help but be entranced..

we left pokhara early and took a bus a few hours out to start off the journey. we were told it was 4 hours to lunch, but we hiked 3 at a good pace and made it to the quaint little mountainside village where we stopped to eat. warmed up with some tea and loaded up on carbs (guilt-free.. [the joys of physical activity..]) then feeling both intimidated and challenged, set out for the 3,200 stairs that awaited us.. our guide, bharat, was amazing. he was a very warm, helpful character with tons of information about the area.. we crossed over freezing cold clear rivers (not safe to drink because of minerals and chemicals washed in from the rocks..) tons of green trees, huts, and small fields cut into the mountainside.. another few hours after lunch brought us to olleri which is where we stopped for the night, about 2040m. we ate supper and sat around a cozy fire before heading to bed.

the second day we woke early to watch the sun rise over the annapurna mountain range.. the clouds rolled in soon after, but we were able to catch the snow capped peaks light up under the sun.. seemed so surreal, they looked like paintings.. i constantly had to remind myself that this was really happening. after breakfast we hiked about 4 hours to lunch.. it was another 2-3 hours after to our destination, ghorepani, about 2860m. stacy, christine and i were all feeling extremely empowered. the whole day was basically up, but it had been so long since we'd done something this physical that our bodies were probably thanking us.. mike wasn't feeling so great, bit of a headache, so when we reached camp he went for a nap. the three of us and bharat decided to hike up to poon hill that afternoon.. great lookout spot at 3210m. it was almost an hour straight up from there, and the clouds were rolling in.. by the time we reached the top it was completely gray, we couldn't see a thing. climbed up the tower regardless, and waited it out for a bit to see if the sky would clear.. no dice. so we headed back down (which took about 10 minutes..) had some supper, and sat around a fire with some fellow trekkers visiting and sharing travel stories before bed.

day 3 was somewhat more relaxed because we had done poon hill the evening before (which meant we didn't wake up at 4am to do it for sunrise).. we had breakfast and continued the journey uphill to our highest peak at 3380m. the sky was perfectly clear and the view was phenomenal.. a little bit of frost on the ground that morning, but once we got walking we were all stripping off layers.. after that we worked our way down to 2500m, then back up to 2800, and then continued all the way down to 2000m, stopping to lunch on yak cheese pizza.. (an acquired taste, but not bad..) our last night was spent in a cute little hostel surrounded by bright orange flowers and overlooking the village below.

the last day was about 3 hours of trekking before dining on special nepali food (some sort of holiday, bharat didn't really explain..) then a half hour hike back to our bus, pokhara bound..

in those 4 days, we experienced rivers.. grassy plains.. jungle.. forest.. we saw monkeys.. barking deer.. a parrot.. mountain pigeons.. donkeys.. goats.. quite the eclectic landscape. i would love to go back and do some trekking in february.. it would be bitter cold, but that is when all of the trees are in bloom.. huge red, yellow, orange, blue flowers cover the trees, and i just think the contrast of that to the icy snow covered ground when be amazing.. but alas, i make too many plans.. maybe some day..

we've since left pokhara for a few days in kathmandu.. i miss the quiet simplicity of pokhara, this is city-paced and not as relaxing.. however, still nice to venture through the streets and have a look around.. yesterday morning we woke at 5am and headed to the airport. after a 3 hour delay because of clouds, we took off for an hour flight through the himalayans and saw an epic view of mount everest.. wow. 8848m of glory.. i also found out that there are only 14 mountains in the world that are over 8000m, and 8 of those are found in nepal.. pretty cool. (i think we saw 4 of them?)

this afternoon we begin the 24 hour journey to darjeeling.. india awaits us once again..