Mountains and marajuana

Last week we went to Pokhara which is 7 hours bus ride, or 20 mins flight to the west of Kathmandu.  Apart from being hot (33 degrees and getting humid) it was so much nicer than Kathmandu - clean streets, clean air, no dogs barking all night, a clean lake with boats for hire...

We spent a couple of days in Pokhara then went on our first trek in Nepal. We weren't sure what to expect so started with a short circuit. In Nepal lots of people hire a guide and a porter with them on treks (especially if they are going for a couple of weeks). A porter does carry your bags for you, but they speed ahead and wait for you at your arranged stopping place - we wanted more flexibility to change our route and where we were planning to stay so decided to go by ourselves (lucky we did too as we changed our mind about where to stop every day!).  The route we were taking is really well used so we were pretty sure we didn't need a guide...however in the first town we couldn't find the route! 5 mins in to the trek and we had the route guide book out trying to find the way! The guide book said useful things like 'go past the tea shops playing Bollywood music...'. Eventually we saw faded paint on the side of a building and we were on our way!  Still a bit unorganised - I've got the guide book under one arm and an unfinished bottle of coke in my hand!

Here is how to slow your husband down so he doesn't walk too fast...

1. Get him to carry everything
2. Get him to trek in his jandals...

Along the trail were lots of ponies carrying various things up and down between the villages.  The second day of the trek we had an ascent of about 1400 m including around 3000 steps!  The steps are made of rocks and are uneven heights so it actually not too bad. The other tricks were starting at 6 am, choosing a cloudy day, and taking it really slowly with lots of rests!

It did look tempting to jump on a horse though - although only on  the uphill - they are a bit quick on the downhill, it would probably be nearly as scary as taking a Nepalese bus!

We made it to Poon Hill (3210 m) and having been hot all day, all of a sudden it was rainy and cold mountains. We got up at 4 am the next morning to climb to the top of Poon Hill to see the sunrise over the mountains. Luckily for us the clouds cleared and the views were fantastic...

After a 10 hour uphill walk the previous day, and getting up at 4 am we decided to change our route to one that was all downhill, instead of having to climb any more.  And took lots more rests. There are lots of these stone benches along the trail. They are just the right height for the porters to rest their huge loads on. Speaking of huge, the trees towering above Marc are Rhododendrons - much more impressive than those you see in gardens!

And it rained on and off for the next couple of days, so we got to wear our stupid looking ponchos...

It was pretty funny though as when kids saw us from the front they didn't react much, but as we passed they all started giggling at us.

On the way down we started seeing marajuana growing here and there in the villages, by the time we got down to the road it was everywhere! Fields and fields of it, just growing wild (even in the middle of the road with the other weeds). No one seemed bothered that you were passing through their cash crop - it's not like they have a shortage.

Unfortunately they have bulldozed a road straight through the end of the trail so we cut the trek short by a couple of days as it wasn't very nice walking down the road. Instead of putting the road near the trail, they just follow it, ruining the trek and putting all the lodges and tea houses out of business as every one takes the bus now.  Still we got to see the river at high speed as we took the bus back to the main road...luckily we didn't get a close view, although it was an adrenaline rush at times!