After getting our mugshots taken, our permits processed, we shopped for supplies (mainly peanut butter, bread and biscuits) and packed our bags we were ready!
Poon Hill is a viewpoint 3,210 metres above sea level and has been described as one of the 'best' and most 'soul stirring' views there is!
Day 1, A day of extremes!!
We left for the bus station around 5:30am, we had to take a two hour bus up to the starting point in a town called Naya Pul. Halfway whilst walking there, the heavens opened! This was demotivating as we were soaked to the bone and wondered if everyday would be this bad! We also had a dog following us, he even jumped on our bus and the conductor (we've grown to hate most conductors, they're all extremely unhelpful, impatient and animated!) tried to charge us for the dog! The poor wet dog was thrown off. We were at the back of the busy early morning local bus, sitting in soaking wet clothes throughout the journey, the window had a leak so getting dry wasn't ever going to happen! As the downpour was unexpected and torrential some of our stuff got wet, including Kirsty's camera (it still works but the rain may have sealed its fate, now it's very temperamental) and our trekking permits. After nothing but speeding up steep hills and sharp twists and turns, and with about three seconds notice that we'd reached our destination, we were bundled off! We had some breakfast and dried out a little. Thankfully the rain seemed to be easing off, after a short walk through a bogged village we reached the check in office and starting point, luckily enough our soggy permits weren't a problem. We got our stamps and the 4 day trek to Poon Hill officially commenced! After a couple of hours of walking through the hilly countryside, the squelching sound from our shoes slowly fading, the clouds cleared and the late morning sun was fierce but welcomed.
We stopped for lunch (Kirsty had enough hair in her rice to form a small wig, we didn't pay!) and pretty soon we were at the very bottom looking up at the beginning of some 3000 stoney, large, steep and uneven stairs! Going up was hard on the heart and lungs but we made good steady progress. The day now was scorching and plodding up in the heat we were sweating buckets! We passed through a few small, picturesque and traditional mountain villages with guest houses and restaurants (they get more and more expensive the further up you go as everything has to be carried up on people backs or by mule!), it was tempting to stop however we carried on and made it to our target village of Ulleri at the top of the steps. We were greeted by chunky mountain mutt (we nearly always had a mascot, there were dogs everywhere which kept Kirsty's morale up!). We had walked around eight hours, all either uphill or ascending stairs and after the early morning and eventful start to the day, it was safe to say we'd had a long day! It was almost 4pm, so we retired for the day having made good progress.
Day 2, The long wait!
We left early and continued the uphill battle with the mountains, fighting through the lactic acid in our thighs we'd earned the day before! We stopped after a little while for food (Omelettes, peanut butter sandwiches, biscuits and hot water with sugar along with regular water was the staple of our diets on this trek!), the terrain was a lot less hostile, with only a few stretches of steep inclines. Also there was a lot more to see, we past several small streams and a few waterfalls, we had to stop a number times to let laden, shore footed mules pass!
The rain held off long enough for us to reach the large village of Ghorapani, this was the village that was only a short walk from the viewpoint of Poon Hill. We chose a guesthouse (the deal is, the room is free if you eat in their restaurant), all the rooms are small but extremely comforting and cosy, perfect after hiking in the mountains, most of them give a good view of the mountain as well! It was a 4 hour walk to the village, we arrived around 11am, and pretty much as soon as we checked in the rain once again fell! With not much to do, and low clouds causing fog (we couldn't see the building next to us, let alone the mountains!), we just relaxed and waited, with fingers, toes and hearts crossed hoping the clouds would clear! Most people get here and wait until the the next morning to head up for sunrise! However we were blessed with a stroke of luck, after waiting around all day, we saw a break on the clouds! After debating it, we decided to steam up the stairs and try our luck with the Poon Hill viewpoint! It took around half an hour to reach the summit of 3210 metres, (with the fast moving clouds and looming trees, it made us feel like characters in a horror film). There wasn't a soul in sight when we reached the top, however our decision to go for it paid off, we didn't see the whole mountain range, but we saw a few snow capped peaks poking through the clouds, which satisfied our mountainous needs!
Day 3, Redemption
We were awoken around 4am by the sound of heavy rain thumping on the rooftops, we got dressed and the waiting game resumed!
We were feeling a little demoralised, the weather was starting to get to us, most of our clothes were wet, we'd only seen a glimpse of what the Himalayas had to offer and we'd walked the best part of two days to get to Poon Hill! The rain eased a little and in a moment of optimism we headed up to the viewpoint for the last time, along the way we stumbled across a lost English couple (typical English braving the weather), we both paced up through blustery showers hoping that the viewpoint would be above the bad, wet and damn right miserable weather, once again we saw nothing but the greyness of the elements, once again we were soaking wet and let down (it's what happens when you trek in the off season!) we waited around for a while but the persistent downpours defeated us again and back down the mountain we all went!
We left Ghorepani and started the journey down the mountain, we decided to go down a different route, hoping to see more than cloud, the rain repented leaving a misty morning. We seemed like the only people in the world walking through the tough terrain the ups and downs and bogged ground, this made day 3 the hardest day, going down hill is a lot harder or the knees! The countryside was beautiful and we stopped several time to admire it, there were so many streams and waterfalls it was almost magical!
After a solid 9 hours we made it, by now our feet were blistered, our food was running low, just before we entered the large (and final) village of Ghandruk we saw them, almost in all their glory, the majestic mountains finally made an appearance! The view made the whole experience (trekking through the mountains was cool but we were relieved we saw the peaks!) worth while, it's safe to say we were over the moon!We celebrated by having a large meal with the perfect scenery! We also had breakfast sitting in awe of the Annapurna part of the Himalayan mountain range!
Day 4, Back to Pokhara
We'd covered the better part of 40 kilometres in 3 days and climbed up 2km and back down 2km throughout the journey.It was a short walk down to the bus station, and sitting on the rickety old bus we felt accomplished, but left wondering how incredible that hike would've been if we did it in season! The horrendously dangerous, uncomfortable and bumpy bus took us all the way back to Pokhara! We had a few drinks by the lake that night but the evening out was a bit of a struggle as we were both knackered! The next morning we hopped on a bus back to Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, the journey is supposed to take 6/7 hours however due to bad weather and landslides the (plus our bus smashed into and completely wrote off one side of a car!) journey took over 15 hours!
We spent our final days in Nepal pretty much just sorting out our things, catching up with family and preparing for ourselves for Vietnam, we had one last meal in Kathmandu, we treated ourselves to a Mexican!
Next stop Vietnam!!
