Trekking up to Dhampus

This is my first blog ever. I hope you enjoy reading my day to day trekking adventures up from pohkara to Dhampus.

Day 1

Woke up this morning at 6 am like clockwork and continue my last minute packing from the night before. I get showered and changed and proceed to put on my lap top on. I think to myself...how lucky I am to have electricity this morning and have internet access too. I tidy the apartment to the best of my ability before heading downstairs with my back pack in hand. As I sit and wait for my ride to arrive I could hear the exaggerated tick tock sound on my wrist watch. My ride to the airport is supposed to be here at 7.30 am and still no sign of him. My flight leaves at 9 am. As I sit and wait, I watch the cars and taxis and motorbikes go by, the vendors sweeping their premises, a few local men chatting and spitting in-between chats in the cool Saturday morning air, and I think to myself...this is Kathmandu.

Its 7.40 am, where is he, I say to myself? Panic starts to set in and I wonder if I will ever get on that plane. Finally my ride to the airport comes along at ten minutes to eight. Bloody hell…!!!,
He’s really cutting it fine. By this stage I didn’t have kittens but gave birth to 5 adults cats. Coughing out fur balls and all. I arrive at 8.15 am at the airport. With just my hand luggage, I go through security with a breeze and find the Buddha air counter for my boarding pass. I than was told I had to go to another counter to pay for my flight taxes. So once I got the boarding pass and paid for the taxes …off I went to find my gate departure. I was a little confused to see 3 different airlines leaving at the same gate. Than I realized, there’s only gate 1 and gate 2. The domestic airport is a lot smaller than I thought. Some time goes by and I hear on the speaker that the flight has been delayed by half hour. Ok…I tell myself…I can wait. I’m in no hurry. So I get myself a hot cha [hot tea]. I take myself to the smoking room and have a fag [British slag for cigarette] and my hot tea in a polystyrene cup. Half way thru my tea we are ready to be taken on the bus and on our way to the plane. Finally…I am In the 15 seater plane…and off we go. Oh what joy. The first 15 minutes into the journey I see hills and mountains filled with terraces after terraces. It isn’t the time for padi planting but some of it was rape as in mustard plants. As the journey continued, the view changed to a very picture rest snow covered mountain range. How wonderful I thought to myself. Before I knew it, the captain was saying that we were about to land in Pokhara. The journey from Kathmandu to pokhara only took about 25 minutes. I notice the airport here was even smaller than the one in Kathmandu and it didn’t take any time at all to just walk through and out at the other end. I look for my guide not knowing what he


looked like but I didn’t see anyone holding my name up on a card. So I waited and eventually saw a young man with a folded piece of paper with what did look like my name. So I go to him and asked if he was my guide from the company Zen. He said yes and I checked his paper to see if it was really my name on it and it was. He was expecting a male. Ok cool. I asked for his name and he told me it was Nima. Nima carried my back pack for me as we proceeded to walk outside the gates of the airport, which wasn’t far. We waited for about 3 minutes before a car picked us both up and we headed to the view point hotel pokhara. It took us about 12 minutes to get there. A four stories high building, with white and blue walls from the outside. As you walked into the compound, a ray of colours just hit you. Flowers in all shapes and sizes and colours surround the front of the property. How pretty it looked. As you enter the main entrance of the hotel, you see solid heavy carved doors. Nima my guide checks me in and hands me my room key. I am in room 204. Just one floor up. I check my room out. I have my own bathroom with hot water and I have a king size bed but its way to soft. I throw my stuff down and head towards the café area and order my lunch at the pretty courtyard. I order the Nepalese meat set lunch. It was like any other Nepalese meat set lunch I had. After lunch Nima took me walking around the city. It was mid day and hot. He hired a little boat for an hour on the lake and we stopped on the other side of the lake to rest and viewed the surroundings. I took a couple of pictures and off we went back boating and headed off the back where we original took the boat. There was nothing else to do and I notice cars and motorbikes for hire. So I hired a motorbike, for the day and Nima took me every where he could possible take me sight seeing. I told myself this is better than walking around as I was getting tired and suspected I was having a blister but never said a word or complained. The places he took me to were, Binabasini, the local market, the old Quarter, Dungasong, the power house, and the water fall. The traffic wasn’t horrid and easy to move around with a motorbike. We travelled and I saw a lot. A good way to see the city, and the out skirts of Pokhara city. The hired motorbike cost me 700 Nepalese for the day.

We returned the motorbike in one piece and we survived the sightseeing trip. I asked my Guide Nima, where would be a good local place to go out for dinner later and he had a place in mind for me. It’s a Japanese/Korean restaurant. I thought to myself, why not. He said he will pick me up at 7 pm and go to this place. So I went back to the hotel and showered and rested for a wee bit. I went down stairs to the courtyard to have my tea and reflected on the days adventures. Then headed back to my room until it was five minutes to seven and came down stairs to meet Nima my guide.
So Nima and I took a little walk and around the corner and wahlah..!! the D.B. Momo Restaurant. It’s more like a shack. It’s very dim and narrow but filled with people. We sit way inside at the first table. It’s very casual. If you don’t mind sitting in a very dim lit stall like place, than this is the place for you. Nima knows the owners well and chats to them while I decide what I’m going to order. About 10 minutes later the electricity goes off. So Nima goes and lights candles on all the tables. I did bring along a torch light and I switched it on and hung it up. Even when I took out my reading glasses to read, it was difficult to choose what I wanted for my dinner but finally came to a decision and that was batted piece of pork with bread crumbs. It came with rice, miso soup and coleslaw. It did take awhile to arrive as it was so busy but worth the wait. Nima orders Dalbat again. Didn’t he have that for lunch? But I didn’t say anything to him. We chatted and ate our meal and arranged for the following days hiking trip. After our meal Nima walks me back to the hotel. I am feeling fat and full. I bid him good night and return to my room and read for a little while and eventually I went to sleep.

Day 2.

Next morning at about ten minutes to six am, I am awake and I get ready for my hiking adventure. But first I have my breakfast and later pack my bag pack and at 7.30 am, I meet Nima my guide. We hop into a cab and the drive takes about 20 minutes to our destination.

From there my guide come porter hike up this steep hill. I had warned my guide I am not good at hiking let alone up a steep hill or mountain. And he was caring my back pack. It is so steep and I have to stop several times for a breather. My guide is very patient with me. We carry on the steep winding road up. I stopped every so often to take a break and to view the surroundings. Just simply beautiful. I had spoken to my travel agent prior to going on this hiking trip, to let them know I wanted about a three to four hour hike a day. I would have probably been able to do up to six hours a day hike, had it been fairly flat. But this was killing me. I was at this stage hobbling as my blister got more painful. My new Timberland hiking boots, that I purchased in the states, shouldn’t be doing this to me. Boo hoo..!!, I cursed and swore under my breath as I carried on this steep hill. But every so often I stop and look at the little villages as we pass by. I notice women caring large vases on their heads and washing their clothes by a lake. Old men sitting down and talking , children playing with each other. Smaller kids running around with barely anything on. How free they seem to be and the simple life they lead here. Do they realize how wonderful and uncomplicated life is? Do they notice the gorgeous view?

I stop and sit on a rock again. Phew…I tell myself how much further is it? Will the agony end? My guide Nima, asked how I was, and I told him I had a blister and I apologies to him for taking so slow. I asked him about the villages and plantation in the area. But for most part, I am silent as I am forever catching my breath. We hiked and hiked and eventually I had to ask my guide, how much further and he points up to a dome like building. Oh my god…!!!, so near yet so far. It probably takes another hour before I see some flat lines and another village. The view is just spectacular. It reminds me of when I went to visit friends in Switzerland. The beautiful snow range covered top mountains just look gorgeous. I was in awe. I stop and take pictures. I asked my guide to take pictures of me too. I wanted to camp out there and then.

But we advance ahead hiking in between wooden houses and I became aware of the temperature drop. It wasn’t that cold as I had been hiking. Walking through the narrow dirt lanes, I found myself smiling and wanting to sing one of the many songs from the film, “ The sound of music”. Another ten or 15 minutes into the journey, my guide stops and we go into a café or restaurant. We take a toilet break and have a cup of hot tea. Oh bliss. If my feet could talk, they would bicker no end. While I was having my tea and resting, it came to my attention that there were some hikers passing by the café. Quite a few passed by. Some actually stopped to take a rest but never coming in to have a drink. But another group came by and stopped and some ladies came in to use the toilet. It was my first time seeing other hikers with their guides and porters. I didn’t feel so alone then.

Nima my guide and I took off after our tea break. I wondered how much further. It was no more than fifteen minutes later we had finally arrived at our destination. I wanted to scream aloud and say hellaluha. We arrived at DHAMPUS. Stayed at the Hotel Greenland restaurant and bar. I am guessing it’s about an eight bedroom hotel. As I was the first to arrive, I had the choice of which room I wanted up stairs. All the rooms had a fantastic outlook on the Annapurna Himalayan range from Dhampus. Woh….how cool was the scenery. Just simply breath taking.
I decide to take the room on the extreme right. All the rooms apart from one, had three beds in them. My room had the three beds and two large windows. The rooms were very clean and basic. No tables or chairs, just beds. The bed was firm yet soft to sleep in. The toilets were downstairs. Just two separate toilets and a sink outside. If you wanted to shower, you had to walk to the back of the hotel, pass the kitchen and a few more steps down to the shower room. Just one shower room shared by all the hotel guest. It does have solar and so one can have a hot shower at any given time. It’s good enough for me. After all I am staying one night here and every day it’s a new place to stay. But I really like this place. It’s quite and so peaceful. And the view is just to die for.
I unpack my backpack and admire my view from my room. I felt so blessed to be here. I caught myself saying in my head…I am closer to God. Silly that might seem to some but that’s what I said to myself. To have such a captivating view of Annapurna Himalayan range.

I take a little rest, than off I go wondering around the premises. Its mid day but you don’t feel the cold. It’s a pleasant temperature. I see a seating area outside the right side of the hotel. We have a new pair of hikers. I am judging that they are from Germany as I listen to them chat to each other. I proceed to go down the hotel’s restaurant to have lunch. My guide Nima asks me what I want and he goes into the kitchen and tells them my lunch order. As I gaze the stunning view, while waiting for my lunch.

Lunch arrives and I hear more voices coming towards the restaurant. More hikers had arrived. Four trekkers speaking in French. Ahh frenchies..!! I immediately think of when I lived in Paris and frogs legs and rabbit stew. Their ages were between late forties to late fifties. For some reason or other, I was trying to remember the little French and German words I picked up in the past. I remember thinking how happy I was to have more people staying here instead of me being alone.

After lunch I went back to my room and decide to take off my timberland hiking boots. I was a little scared of what I might find. Oh dear…the blister never popped but was huge now. It looked so gross. I decided to wear my sandals but still kept rubbing on that same spot. I didn’t care and wore them any way to give my feet some fresh air. I go in search for my guide Nima.

I see him sitting in a small flat field with his shoes off but socks intact and enjoying the sun rays. I sit with him on the grass and have a chat with him. We talked about food and films and a number of things. He noticed I had changed into my sandals and I told him the reason why. I showed him my huge blister. I was rather proud of how huge it was and it’s the biggest one I’ve ever had. I asked my guide Nima what I should do. He just said leave it be. A thing that big, I wanted to pop that sucker out but I listened to him. I left him to go back to my room and read for a bit. But after awhile I got restless and came out and walked around some more. I was enjoying the view and looking at what people planted on their property. I went up the stairs near the kitchen and sat down on a little bench. Out came the owners wife and we have a chat. She makes me a cup of tea and she tells me the old man planting vegetables was her father in law. He is over eighty years of age and was sick for the longest time and now is better enough to do what he enjoys doing and that is gardening. He was digging and planting, I’m not sure what. Her father in law was a solider for the British army all those many years ago. I enjoyed spending time and conversing with the owners’ wife.

About a half hour later I was back in my room. I so like this place and its people. And not to mention, the glorious spectacular view. Later on at about 6.45 pm, I gather myself and change of clothes in hand, and head for the shower room. But it is occupied. I sit and wait with my little plastic bag with my toiletries. Than out comes one of the female French ladies and she tells me how good it is to have a hot shower. I smile at her and took my turn. I felt so good after the hot shower. I was happy to be rid of all the sweat and dust off me. I felt I had put new energizer batteries in me. I returned to my room putting away my towel and toiletries away and returned to sit outside the kitchen. One by one the remaining hikers took their turn to use the shower room. My guide asked me what I wanted for dinner and at what time. Meanwhile I was chatting to all the frenchies that gathered near me. Only one spoke better English than the other three. I had a very pleasant conversation with him and I found out they were headed up to the base camp. That journey would take them another four more days to get there. I thought to myself, what a handsome looking man. If only he was single. Yummy is all I can say. Ok...behave Jill. I hope he never sees this site.

At some point the German couple had come out and they were sitting not too far away from us. All seven of us staying at the hotel, were out there looking at the stunning view. Each of us having similar thoughts, I’m sure. Before I knew it, I was called in the restaurant as my dinner was ready. I ate my dinner in silence all the time looking out of the window, viewing the sun set. Nima my guide had warned me that the electricity was going off at eight pm. He was very thoughtful to let me know. So after dinner I order my tea and sat outside the kitchen bench and view the beautiful horizon.

At eight pm the power went off and no lights. One by one the hotel guest came out and sat near me to look at the view. The hotel owners gathered some candles and lit them, after awhile, I moved away from all of them and headed with my handy little clip torch light, which I had on, and took a few steps down into the small open field that my guide Nima was earlier on in the day. I was alone in the dark gathering my thoughts and just looking into the sky to see so many stars. I don’t think I have ever seen so many stars. How wonderful. The cold night air and just the sparkling stars that lit the night. I was hoping to see a few shooting stars but never did. After awhile, I headed back to the bench near the kitchen. The two French couples left and only the German couple were there. I must say I was a little envious that everyone had a partner but me. I quickly pushed that thought out of my head and stopped feeling sorry for myself. I got to talking to the German couple. Mike and Mariam were their names. We asked the usual questions but my answers were not the usual holiday answers. I told them I was in Nepal, Kathmandu as a volunteer teacher. I had taken the last week off to do this trek before heading back to Kathmandu and hence the reason why I was in Dhampus right now. They thought I was very brave doing this on my own with just a guide.

The three of us walked up the steps to the side and front of the hotel to have a better view. Still looking good. After awhile I decide to leave the couple and go to my room, get my toiletries and head back down stairs to wash my face and brush my teeth. I go back to my room but I am unable to sleep but view the still darkness from my bedroom window. I gave up and put my head torch light on and read a few pages of my book before falling into a deep, slumbering peaceful sleep.

Day 3

Although there wasn’t any electricity, I was nice and cozy from the quilt cover I had over me. I had a good sleep and was well rested. I reach for my torch light and checked the time. Bloody hell, it was five thirty am. I decided to get up all the same. I got dressed and took my stuff and headed downstairs to brush my teeth and wash my face in the cold Monday morning fresh air. I was the first up. So silent and peaceful it was. I was waiting for the kitchen to open but no one was in site. At about 10 minutes pass six, I head back to the kitchen and it’s open. I ask for a cup of coffee and told them what I wanted for breakfast and that I would have breakfast at seven am.

I see the German couple out and about. Slowly as the minutes went by the French folk were up too. At some point we were all, at the front of the hotel with our cameras hoping to take pictures of the sun rise. I say in German and in French good morning to my fellow hikers and how are they. They take a double look at me, and if to say, where is Jill, and what have you done with her? Little do they know I was rehearing’s those French and German phrases in my head in the last ten minutes. I tell myself….please please don’t let them ask me anything in their language.

The sun begins to rise and we all start snapping pictures or videoing it. The air is fresh clean and crisp. I tell myself to enjoy this moment and savoir it.

I head back down to the hotel restaurant and have my breakfast. Still no sign of Nima. I finish my breakfast and on my way up I see him. I told him I was going back to my room to pack and once he was ready, we would leave. Shortly after that I was down stairs and Nima and I headed off and leaving the rest of the hikers behind me. We took a different route back down. It was a lot faster going down than up the way. We stopped every so often to look at the view and see the white face monkeys that you find up here. Oh my goodness, so many steps down and through some more villages. Nima my guide told me one could tell if the house was very old by looking at the slates on the roof. We continued our hike down, than through a small path way into the jungle and my guide suddenly asked me to stop. He points out to a deer down below about twenty to thirty yards away from us. The deer is enjoying eating grass and basking in the sun. We continue our journey down and the deer takes off.

Finally I recognize some areas and we head downwards. We end up at the bottom where we were dropped off on our first day. I was thrill. I must admit to cheating at this point. I asked my guide if it was ok taking the local bus up to our next destination. So we waited for about ten minutes before the bus arrived and we were on it. A winding road up and the bus was crowed. I had to stand. People practically hanging out of the bus. About ten to fifteen minutes into the journey, Nima and I got off the bus. From there we headed off to sarangkot. We walked for miles and miles. We passed by many little villages on the way. The heat was getting to me. I didn’t have a hat on and my foot started to hurt again. It was that blister that was rubbing on to my hiking boots. At some point we stopped and had a cup of tea. I excused myself and in search of a toilet. I was told to go through the shop and out the back. I found the toilet but it didn’t have a door. And not far from the toilet there were stables. I didn’t care if there was a door or not. No one could see me. I looked into the stable to see a couple of nice looking cows. So I took a couple of pictures. You would think, I have never seen a cow before. Trust me I have.

Three hours and ten minutes later, we finally arrived at sarangkot. That’s how slow I walked in the heat and my damn blister. The trip on the way to sarangkot wasn’t as steep, but mind you I did cheat and took the bus up before hiking the rest of the way. We arrived at the tip of sleepy little village called sarangot. It looked like there were only two places to stay the night in. One was a rest house which looked rather quaint and the other was sitting higher up and bigger. It looked rather cold and concrete to me. My guide Nima speaks to the proprietors and negotiates the price. While he is doing this, I sit and look into the menu to order lunch. Nima returns and asks me to check out the room. I get Room number three and It’s very basic. Two beds in this room and I test out the bed. It feels very hard and uncomfortable. The room is warm enough but again I have to go outside my room and walk about 10 feet or more to the shared shower room. I believe there’s about six or seven rooms on this floor. I don’t care much for this concrete building they call the Sarangot Lake View Hotel.

I returned back to the hotel restaurant and have my lunch. The view over looks Pokhara city and you can see many folk paragliding above and beyond us. It is a little chilly temperature wise and the weather is overcast. After lunch I head back to my room and take a little rest before hitting the shower room. Back in my room I sit and read. But I feel the need to get out and so I do. I sit at the open air restaurant and read my book in peace.

Next thing I hear somebody talking to me and it takes me a few seconds to recognize the German couples guide. The time was four in the afternoon and they had not long ago arrived. But they were sitting in the courtyard of the rest house below us. Their guide ran down to tell them I was staying up at the sarangot lake view hotel. From above I waved to them. Mike and Mariam waved back and came by my direction. They told me they were going to be staying at the same place. I was very pleased indeed to have company. We chatted and had some tea and before you knew it, it was almost seven pm. Mike and Mariam went to check their room and took a shower before meeting up with me at the open air restaurant. We ordered our dinner and chatted the night away. It was my first alcoholic beverage since my hiking trip. It was getting too windy and cold that we had to remove our selves indoors just before dinner. We chatted some more and exchanged e mail address. I am unsure of the time, but at some point the electricity went off and so I bid them good night and off I went to meet my zzzzzzz




Day 4.

This morning I was up bright and early as per normal. I get changed and walked out my room and it’s still dark. I have my handy torch light and I head to the basin and brush my teeth and wash my face. I return to my room and drop off my toiletries and head for the open air restaurant. Someone is awake to take down my breakfast order. Like yesterday, it looked over cast. I couldn’t see much of the city. My breakfast arrives and I sit and enjoy my food slowly as I gather my thoughts.


Very slowly one by one, the hotel guest wake up and head to the restaurant to have their breakfast. Thank god I was up first and didn’t have to wait for the bathroom. I didn’t see Nima my guide until much later. By the time we left the hotel, the restaurant was empty. I took my time to pack and headed out in search of Nima. When I found him, he was packed himself and ready to take me hiking. The German couple had left before us and we could see them ahead of us. But very quickly we caught up with them. Eventually we parted ways as they were getting a taxi back to their location. Where else, Nima and I carried on hiking down the way. Again we passed by some villages and my knees felt very wobbly. My poor blister now was twice the size and I ached.


After what seemed like a million years we finally reach the bottom of Pokhara. My guide hailed down a cab and the cab took us to the Ristika guest house. As you walked into the compound, bright colored flowers were every where. I see an old man sitting alone and as I head for the entrance. Nima knows the proprietors well and he goes to look for them. Meanwhile I am sitting outside admiring the lovely colorful plants and suddenly I notices a little dog chained up and was near me. So as an animal lover, I stroked the dogs head and it turned around and bit me to my dismay. It didn’t draw blood, thank goodness. But I did get a bit of a fright.

Next thing, Nima comes over and I told him what happen. The whole reason in coming to stay here was because he’d told me that he knew the people here and that there’s a cat and dog living here. The dog wasn’t friendly and the cat didn’t exist anymore. He gave me my room key. I was in room 202. Just one floor up. It was a nice big room with three beds. And I had my own bathroom. I didn’t care much for the wall color but that didn’t matter as I had two large windows looking out back. The room was clean and the bed comfortable. I was happy.

I decided to take a shower and change. I looked at my poor foot. I decided to change into my sandals, but it still kept rubbing against my blister. However, my feet needed some fresh air and so I wore them. I felt so refreshed and I went downstairs to look for Nima. Nima and I headed for town. We walked around for a bit and I asked him about finding out about paragliding and having a massage in town. We walked about 15 to 20 minutes and he guided me to the tour shop and showed me where to have a massage. Than Nima was off and I was on my own. I inquired how much it was and if they could take me in this morning. They said they do it at 2pm. I didn’t bother with that. So instead I went to get myself oiled up and have a massage. Silly me asked for the “after hiking massage”. Damn, the massage hurt. Especially my calves. But I endured the pain. After my massage I hobbled around town to buy gifts to take back to friends in Malaysia. After awhile I felt hungry. I walked around until I came across a narrow lane and decide to walk through it. At the end of it, there was a restaurant overlooking the lake. I was told to head up stairs for a better view. I sat down and a lady hands me the menu. I decide on a hamburger. I didn’t care too much for it. After lunch I took a slow walk back at the Ristika guest house.

When I returned back to the guest house, I took the stairs two at a time and was in my room. About ten minutes later Nima knocked on my door and asked me if I would like a cup of tea and I said yes without thinking about it. He then asked about my blister. I showed it to him and he said he’ll be back shortly. Fifteen minutes later, Nima was back with my tea and he had a bucket of boiling water and salt in it. He told me to wait for the water to cool down a bit before putting my foot in it. I thought my guide Nima, was very sweet to think of me in this way. How considerate of him. I tried several times to put my foot in the hot water, but it was still way too hot. But eventually it was bearable to soak my foot in.

I stayed the rest of the day in my room reading and every so often I would look outside my bedroom window to see cats lazing about on the roofs or chasing each other. I watched the neighbor chopping food and clothes line hanging with dripping wet clothes. I am alone and at peace with myself.

At about five pm I decide to leave my room and head to the nearby shops. I was looking for an internet café and found several. I picked one and spent about an hour on it. Later I went for a walk about. Nima and I had arranged to meet up at the Momo restaurant on my first day here. At six forty five Nima walks in and we order our dinner. The place begins to get packed and so he gives up his chair and I now have a Japanese and two Chinese men sitting with me. One of them is very friendly and we all get to talking. Poor Nima takes himself back to the kitchen to have his dinner.

After dinner Nima and I take a slow walk back to the guest house. I return to my room and read a bit before switching off my torch light.

Day 5.

This morning I didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t have to jump out and get dressed or do anything. I was so looking forward to going back to Kathmandu today. I believe my flight was around one pm. I remain in bed just thinking of being back in Kathmandu with my sister for my last evening as my flight to Malaysia was the following day.

At some point I did drag myself out of bed and took a nice hot shower and got dressed. I packed and unpacked my back pack several times. It was much heavier now with the items I bought for my friends. However, I did manage to squeeze everything in it. After that I strolled down stairs and had my breakfast. I decide to take a last walk around town before heading back to the hotel. I had time on my hands, so I just sat in my room and read some more until it was time for me to leave. Nima got us a taxi and we went to the airport. I gave him a tip for his troubles and I hugged him. He was rather surprised at that. But after all he did take care of me and I went hiking and back in one piece.

So now I wait for the flight and finally it arrives an hour later. We get on board and I am all excited to return to Kathmandu and tell my sister my hiking journey in Pokhara. The flight back to Kathmandu was scary. I usually like turbulence. Like being in a roller coaster, but my word, this even for me was frightening. I was so happy when we finally landed. The bus at the airport drove us straight to the exit and I got off. I walked straight out and in my head I told myself just to get a cab quick and head back to the apartment. I totally forgot about the driver that was picking me up. But he chased after me and told me, he was there to take me back. Woo hoo, I didn’t have to barter with the taxi driver.

About fifteen minutes later I was back outside my apartment. I was thrilled to be back. It was a good experience travelling and going hiking to Pokhara. Even if you’re on your own, you can still have fun. I am uncertain if I’ll do the hiking again. Certainly not on a steep hill all the way. I believe I walked up one thousand seven hundred meters.

And finally lived to tell my story

By Jill Freeman.