We arrived back from our Poon Hill trek yesterday. It was a walk in the park after our last trek. The tea houses provided showers (although cold), extra blankets and fresh buffalo milk at breakfast. The towns along the way were quaint and quiet, aside from the crow of roosters, the milking of buffalos and the occasional clip clopping of hooves and ringing of bells accompanying a procession of decorated mules crossing through town on their way to a festival. On our first night we stayed in Ulleri and by the afternoon of day 2 we had ascended to Poon Hill to watch the sun set behind the mountains. Even our photos don't look realistic. The mountains were so close and majestic, propped before the coloured sky, it was like watching a Ghibli animation in slow motion. All the beauty must have sent me crazy because i asked my guide to accompany me back up the 1 1/2 hr ascent from Gorepani again at 5am the next morning to do it all over again for sunrise. I left Matt sleeping soundly in bed and commenced the freezing cold, dark climb with many other freaks of nature and my guide Bijay. Bijay brought me coffee and chocolate while I filmed and sniffled. He says sunrise and sunset at Poon Hill is (like your children) impossible to choose which one you like more. I would have to agree with him. On day 3 we trecked to Tadepani (long water). It was my dads birthday so we drank whiskey and ate daal bhat and momos to celebrate. Bijay and Prem carved Matt a good stick for descending and on day 4 we reached Gandruk. We spent the afternoon lazing around the garden in the sun, and walking through old Ghandruk, visiting a Garung monastry along the way. Today we are back in Pokhara, ready to leave for Kathmandu tomorrow. We will sped a few days visiting Nagarkot, Changu Narayan and Bhaktapur then are flying back to Delhi on the 20 Dec (yikes), then London on the 21st. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Or as Bijay would say 'Merry Kissmas'. Love and Peace. xo
