19/4/22
I arrived in Pohkara around 4pm and walked the twenty minutes to the hostel. I checked in and headed out to n the pouring rain for a mooch – no good stating inside after a long journey even in the rain! I strode out enjoying the weather, before finding a nice cafe to sit in and eat. I read and blogged before heading back to the hostel.
In the evening, I went to sit on the roof with quite an international crowd – the were Brits, Dutch and Germans (obvs), but also an Indian, Canadian and South African. The South African girl had never tried a Snickers, and I always fancy one, so we went out on a Snickers hunt. After that, I retreated to my bed to Netflix. (The Snickers was shockingly not a hit!).
20/4/22
The hostel did great breakfast so pretty much everyone gathered to eat it together. There was a tentative plan to get a boat as a group to the opposite side of the lake to hike up to the Peace Pagoda on top. I had morning shit to do, including getting my third rabies shot and sorting my hiking permits so I said I would try to be done in time to go on the group boat trip.
I walked through narrow lanes, alleys and past farmland to get to the first ‘hospital’. As is always the way here, the first hospital was not a hospital, but a small un-manned pharmacy! I continued on, with the thoughts of wild dogs to the next hospital. The hospital was very organised and I went straight to pharmacy, collected my shit before being jabbed in ED and leaving within ten minutes. Then I headed to the tourist office for the permits. They needed loads of information (and money), but I managed to fill it all in and get my permits. Afterwards, I got momos at a local caf before trying to walk back along the river. I bumped into four girls from Sheffield Uni who had turned back from the river path, saying that it eventually stopped. We chatted awhile before they bundled into a taxi – one of them was sick. I took the walk home.
We were due to meet at 14.00 so I managed to sneak in a cheeky coffee before that. Then we gathered at the hostel and headed for the lake. We got a massive pedalo, which would fit at least twelve people – we had eight! I started pedalling with another guy and we switched out half way. When we reached the other side, many knots were tied to secure our boat, before a local guy decided (I think unfairly), that they were not good enough and he re-did them himself. We hiked up a lot of steep steps, though a couple of rural villages, past many a barking pooch and some very cute goats to the pagoda. As I reached the top, who was standing there, but Alex from Sri Lanka!! We got chatting, along with her boyfriend Tom and they came around the temple with us. The pagoda had a chilled vibe with beautiful views over the lake and hill villages. You could see rice paddies at the far end of the lake too.
We headed down the mountain two more, since Alex and Tom had hiked the whole way round instead of boating, I said they may as well come down and get the boat with us. Everyone who had not pedalled already did so, and we arrived back before the storm did! We wandered towards the hostel before realising that pretty much everyone wanted food, so we hlturned around and went to a local restaurant, Nepali Kitchen. It was tasty!! I collected my rented hiking equipment on the way back from the restaurant and packed afterwards with advice from two Swedish guys that had just got back from trekking. They even gave me altitude sickness tablets. I felt prepared and much reassured. I slept early.
21/4/22
Today was the day! It was both pancake day at the hostel, and the day I would leave for hiking. I had pre-packed my hired small rucksack for trekking and my normal travel rucksack for storing, and then called a taxi to take me to the bus station. Ben rushed to pack as he wanted to share the taxi with me. From there we found the correct bus to the start of the trek, bagsied our seats and went off in search of snacks (and suncream). I bought plenty of biscuits for the trek and we had a milk while we waited for our bus to be ready to leave.
We set off up the mountains, through gorgeous rural villages. Maybe an hour after the bus left, we realised that we had gone past Phedi, where we were meant to start out teek luckily, we could start from another point, Kande, and also luckily, this was slightly shorter, which was just as well since we were starting at 10.30, which is very late when compared to a typical trekker. The bus broke down a few kilometres from where we needed to be but after waiting twenty minutes, we were committed. We waited another ten and it was fixed – on we went.
We headed off the main road following signs to Australian Base Camp. I’ve no idea why it’s Australian, but it wasn’t big or impressive at the top, but was a lot of steps and a lot of effort to get up to! Ben and I rewarded ourselves at the top with momos and veg pakora – mmm! Then we continued on another hour or two until the parting of the ways at Pittam Deurali – Ben planned to do Annapurna Base Camp, which took around eight days while Mardi Himal, which I planned to do, took around five.
Ben headed off left and I right. I passed many a donkey before reaching a crossroads. Both ways were signposted as the Mardi Himal trek so I picked the left one with buffalo blocking the path, as supposed to the right one with a lot of steps 🤣. Although they were both signed originally, my path quickly stopped with its reassuring signs and it wasn’t marked on the map. The arrow was not pointing to where I wanted to be. Despite being a little stressed, I continued on. I do not like turning around, and normally things work themselves out. After another twenty minutes I still wasn’t convinced. I took a breather in the woods, with many a mosquito and had biscuits and water and gave myself a pep talk. Then I carried on. Shortly after the pep talk, I arrived at an abandoned village which I walked though and after another fifteen or twenty minutes I reached a small shack with a man and a boy. It was a cafe and I was very excited to be in civilisation (of sorts) with fellow people! I enjoyed a sweet milk tea and more biscuits before continuing on. I still had an hour or so to go and while I had enough time, there wouldn’t be loads of daylight to spare.
On my way, I past a very friendly family of goats, one of which came very close to me and nuzzled my leg – cuteeeee! Just before 5pm, when I was arriving to the edge of Forest Camp, the place I would stay overnight, the rain started in a dramatic crescendo. Soon the rain had become hail and while I thought I had packed my coat in an accessible pocket, it turns out it was not accessible and was in fact at the very bottom of my bag! I emptied everything put as quick as I could and shoved it all back in again. Then I half ran the last two hundred metres or so to the camp. I stood in the doorway of a guest house while the rain poured, chatting and enquiring, before deciding that the guest house was a little quiet. The owner assured me that there were two other people staying, two Israelis, but there were not out and about in the living area so I walked to the next guest house for a nose.
The living area of the next guest house seemed cosy and warm. The fire was burning and it was toasty inside. There were three Nepali friends there, one with their husband as well as another solo traveller from Singapore, who I think was as happy as me to see a fellow soloer. I ditched my bag and laid out my wet thing on front of the fire and we got chatting immediately. I ordered a masala chai and dried off before having a hot bucket shower with a teapot or two of boiling water – it was surprisingly glorious! I changed into my warm pj’s and waited for my Dahl bhat. Joshua and I ate together and the dog Luna went between her family, the Nepali friends and is. Afterwards, I had another tea, before heading to bed.
wanderingwelshie travels 