Overseas with the Nepalese: Leaving Tukuche

We took a bus from Tukuche to Ghasa, then walked from Ghasa to Tatopani. We spent another evening in the hot springs because we knew the next day was:

ALL UP HILL.

We climbed all day to Ghorepani, somewhere between 2700 to 2900 meters. estimates vary. somehow there were hot showers there. I passed on the shower because it sounded like a lot of work (take my clothes off? in the cold? no thanks)

Rhododendron forest. These trees were so cool and gnarled. In the spring they all bloom pink.

The next day, we woke up around 5 am, climbed up a hill for about an hour and reached:

POON HILL (yes, that’s really its name)

But it was worth it. The view and the sunrise was incredible. We could see so many many ~~mountains~~ HIMALS (I have a picture with labeled peaks somewhere) and when the sun came up, they turned orange. There were SO many people there. I didn't realize there were so many tourists on the trail! While hiking, we're not all clumped together, but I was still surprised at the crowd.

One of the Annapurnas

Cool clouds

All the girls at Poon Hill (except Ajita who was unfortunately extremely sick).

That morning was Ghorepani to Poon hill. After we saw the sunrise, we trekked to our next guesthouse.

Me and a buffalo - not a yak :( but it was still a giant animal, just chillin on the trail.

Some friends I ended up hiking with: Luna, Adarsha, Ajita, Mitu, moi

I believe it was the next night that was really fun. It was basically our last day of trekking and everyone broke out the apple brandy their host families gave them (and had been trekking with this whole time). Somehow we ended up with a dance party: my class, our teachers, the porters*, and some of the guest house staff. It was great.

*We had about 4 porters carrying our textbooks. We could give them 1 kg of stuff, otherwise we had to carry everything else.