With the elections and Nepali new year (13th April) there were national holidays all over the place so Saskia and I decided to make the most of it and go trekking. We did a 4-day trek to Poon Hill and back, without a guide as basic tea-house treks like that one are easy to do alone. We were advised to set off early the first day so left lakeside at 6.30am. The taxi only took one hour (we'd expected an hour and a half). We found some breakfast at Nayapul. It was much less touristy than we'd expected, seeing as it's the starting point of a lot of treks. It turned out that Birethanti (about half an hour further along) is the touristy place. Birethanti is where the Annapurna Conservation Area starts and you have to show your trekking permits. After that the walk was fairly gentle up and down. It was very hot but luckily a lot of the pathg was in the shade. We were suprised to find ourselves at Tikedhunga (our place to stop for the night) at 11.30am! The afternoon went very slowly as there wasn't really much to do! We played a lot of games of dominoes and cards. The teahouse was basic but comfortable. The shower was outside but luckily we showered before the afternoon rainstorm. When we asked for blankets we got what appeared to be thin mattresses! The food available was the average Lakeside menu of western (slightly strangely cooked) and Nepali dishes at similar prices.

The second day of trekking was very different. There were a lot more people on the path, which became endless steps. A guide we talked to early on said he expected it to take his trekkers 7 hours to get to Ghorepani (the destination that day) and people coming the other way told us it was basically steps all the way! Ghorepani is 1200m higher than Tikedhunga. After about 3 hours there were fewer steps and more gentle slopes. The path wandered through forest (lovely to be in the shade) and as we climbed higher there were rhodedendrums everywhere. The path to Ghorepani seems to be on a lot of trekking routes, including the big, organised camping ones. We saw a lot of porters carrying unbelievable loads. In Nepal a lot of things are carried by a strap around the forehead, although some porters had straps over their shoulders too. We saw a female porter carrying just as much as the me. Just as we were getting to Ghorepani it rained. We got a little wet but luckily found a guesthouse before the really terrential rain. Ghorepani is at about 2700m I think and it was quite cold. Luckily the lodge had a wood burning stove which kept us all warm and dried our clothes. at the lodge that evening there was an english woman called Kate who was trekking completely alone planning to go to Annapurna base camp and a French coupleeith their guide (there seem to be a disproportionate number of French trekkers, Lakeside appears to have more German and Dutch people). Saskia and I started off a trend for having spaghetti but the poor staff were very baffled when hardly any of us could finish our meals. Apparently loss of appetite is a symptom of altitude sickness. I also had a tummy bug the whole time I was trekking so found it hard to eat.

My tummy kept me awake most of that night. It was Nepali new year so it meant I heard them counting in 2065 (and my birthday). We got up at 5am to climb Poon Hill and watch the sunrise. Hundreds of people went and when we set off there was a little trail of lights climbing the hill in the darkness. By the time I reached the top it was almost light. Poon Hill is about 3300m high so that's a long way up from Ghorepani at 5am! The sunrise itself wasn't as spectacular as at Sarangkot but the mountain views were much better. They were so close. We later found out that Dhaulagiri, the main mountain in view is the 7th highest in the world at 8167m. We saw an avalanche on it.

That day the walking started off very difficult. It was all uphill again (even though the next place to stay was a lot lower). We climbed at least as high as Poon Hill again. We did get lovely views from the top and then an amazing walk along a pass with mountains on both sides. After that the waslk was mostly downhill. It was quite pleasant, often along a river, but going down steps hursts. Going up is harder but going down is more painful. The jolting also made our stomachs feel funny. It was a very long day. Towards the end we got caught in two vicious hail storms and got completely soaked. We managed to shelter in a lodge cafe just for the time the rain lessened and stopped and as soon as we sety off it started again! Ghandruk (our destination) seemed to be non-existant! We did eventually arrive and it was like a ghost town. there was nobody around. At all the other towns the lodge owners all try to get you to use thier lodge. Ghandruk seemed to be a farming town with very few lodges. We finally found one and another guest told us we were in 'old' ghandruk rather than 'new' ghandruk. The lodge was very basic with no hot water and the toilet at the bottom of the garden (not good with a tummy upset!). Luckily I was so cold and wet that a luck warm shower was fine! Overall it was probably not the best birthday I've ever had but watching the sunrise from Poon Hill was quite special.

The last day was luckily quite a short day of walking. Coming out of Ghandruk we met another couple of trekkers and walked with them fro a while. It was nice talking to some other people. He was British and had worked with Gurkhas in the army. She was American. After we split from them it got hotter and harder work. A lot of the walk was along a valley and it was very hot with no shade. I found it quite difficult.

We finally arrived back at Birethanti, showed out passes and walked the last stretch back to Nayapul. After all the climbing we'd done the last hill ip to the road seemed nothing! Then we were in a taxi back to Pokhara. On the way we got delayed by a big march. The taxi driver said it was Moaist and they were celebrating because they'd won the elections. We found out later that actually not all the votes had been counted (there have now been re-elections in over 100 stations) but the Moaists were winning.