Back to Reality in Pokhara, Nepal

Hardly the kind of reality that we were used to in the US, but it's a nice city and very tourist oriented. The people here are not quite as pushy as those in Kathmandu, but neither is apparently close to the level to come in India (or so everyone keeps telling me).

The trek was quite amazing, everything I dreamed of really. We tend to separate it into the two sides of the pass... The first side, the good side, consisted mainly of small stone villages in precarious positions on mountains as we ascended to the top. The people were friendly and somewhat unbelievable in the things that they could carry on their backs up steep, steep hills. Once I have the pictures uploaded, you'll see exactly what I mean (example: metal telephone poles). Oh, and they do this in flip-flops... Views were quite amazing in the morning but it was a bit hazy in the afternoon and some of the most spectacular mountains were a little obscured. Every town from Chamje or so on is stunning, medieval, but with plenty of decent lodges.

The pass itself was an extremely trying day but certainly not impossible. I highly recommend the experience, though I do wish we had spent more time on the first side. For the pass... We woke around 4 AM after sleeping very, very little due to the altitude (about 4500 meters). It was probably around 20 to 30 degrees F outside at the time. Our plan was to stay even higher the next night but we decided at the last minute to do it all in one day. It ended up being a good choice as the people we met from the high camp (about 5000 meters) all got sick from the food. After about 4 or 5 hours of walking through mud and snow, we made it to the pass (5416 meters) and crossed over after a few cold cups of tea at the tiny tea house. The scenery, being eye-level with mountain peaks, along the way was amazing.

The descent is an even harder 1500 meters roughly to Muktinath. There are not really any options to stay higher, so everything must be done in a day. We arrived in the town around 3 PM if I recall correctly and stayed at the properly named Bob Marley Hotel. It was a sign of things to come on the way down as it had great food, great sleeping, and a hot shower. From there things were slightly less fun as the valley on the second side is extremely windy and the dust really kicks up this time of year obscuring the view. Furthermore, the road extends all the way to Muktinath, so you can simply take a Jeep from there (with a few changes) if you wish or fly out of Jomsom. I would definitely not say that the second side was boring, just not quite the same as staying in small villages accessible only by walking for several days! I did get to ride through the mountains on the roof of a Jeep despite Emilie's wishes. And we passed an overturned bus on the way...

We head back to Kathmandu in the morning and then on to Darjeeling, India as soon as possible!