Sampling the Himalayas on a trek to Poon Hill, Nepal
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| Annapurna I |
Suddenly your companions are awake, too, and they're crashing around you, trying to get a view. The bearded one is on the balcony, breaking the still morning air with the harsh ker-chunk of his camera shutter. The curly haired one is shaking her limbs, shivering, and pulling on clothes to go outside.
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| Annapurna South |
You are on a three day teahouse trek to Poon Hill. From Poon Hill you have a panoramic view of a section of the Himalayas that includes the Annapurnas and Fish Tail (Machapuchare). This is your destination, and it means a climb from Naya Pul to Ghorepani up 3,000 steps, undulating woodland paths and several hanging bridges. An elevation of 3,210m. You are accompanied by a guide called Suk, two Nepali porters and two more companions from America and France. It's peak season but the Covid-19 virus has taken its toll on travel in Nepal. Your hotel has only two groups staying the night.
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| A Nepalese flag on the Poon Hill trek |
You take a meandering pathway through woodlands on Ghorepani Hill, it takes about four hours. Suk tells you that sometimes there will be 500 guests at Ghorepani, staying for the night to catch Poon Hill at sunrise.
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| Ghorepani |
"Because of The Virus there are not so many people," he says. At the tourist permit checkpoint Suk counted just 22 people who signed in by lunchtime. More arrive during the day, but there are not enough to fill New Ghorepani's many hotels built near the old Ghorepani farming village. It's nice having this dramatic natural wonderland to yourself, but you feel a pang of sadness for the guides, porters, hotel owners and shopkeepers that partly depend on tourism for income. It's like a crop has failed. The world economy might sustain itself overall, but the people nestled up on a Himalayan hillside will feel the sting.
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| View from a hotel on the Poon Hill trek |
At Ghorepani Mountain View Lodge you eat lunch on a rooftop surrounded by humongous snow topped mountains. These are some of the tallest peaks in the world sitting casually on your doorstep. Annapurna South to your right is the 101st highest, Annapurna I to your left is the 10th highest.
It's difficult to explain the grandeur of these things. You are relatively high-up already, you know this because your legs are lead-weight from the climb. But these mountains are higher, implausibly higher. So high it no longer makes sense to your addled brain. You decide to sit back and just let the view wash over you like sunlight.
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| View from Ghorepani |
In the evening you sit around a wood fire made in a big iron fireplace. It's hot, and your companions are drying their sweaty socks on fishing wire hung around it. They haven't showered in a few days.
"Dal bhat power, 24 hour. No toilet, no shower." Says one of the guides.
Dal Bhat is a meal made up of lentil dal, pickle, curried veg and rice. Some places give you a bowl of yoghurt too. You spoon the soupy dal over the mound of rice, making a sticky-delicious mixture, and maybe add some tangy yoghurt. Then you mix in the veg with every mouthful of rice. It's simple and delicious. And most Nepali people eat it twice a day for lunch and dinner.
When ordering a dal bhat, you might be disappointed by the serving size at first. Just wait. As soon as you are almost finished someone will come along and offer you more. Confused and suspicious, you agree. Will it cost more? No. The Nepali hate wasting food, and would rather top you up than give too much. It's a wonderful way to eat.
The bearded one gorges himself on rice. "I read that you need to eat a lot of calories when climbing to altitude,” he says.
"Where did you read that?" scoffs the curly haired one, "obvious-facts.com"
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| Machapuchare and Annapurna South |
The next morning you wake at 5.00am. You learn that India is denying visas to anyone who has travelled to Japan because of The Virus, which means that your trip will be cut short by two weeks. But you put it to one side, and start climbing Poon Hill for sunrise. It's an icy path up, and you are entertained endlessly by your companions slipping and sliding upwards.
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| Sun rising near Poon Hill |
Your guide, Suk, seems unfazed by the snow, climbing at leisure in ordinary trainers. The moon is out, and you see the white light reflecting dimly on the snowy mountains in the distance. From this height you can see every subtle change of light as the sun comes up. The horizon to the south is bluish purple, then red, then a dark-orange and slowly getting brighter.
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| View from Poon Hill |
You reach the top and it is beautiful. The first light hits Annapurna I in the distance, setting the ice steaming. Tibetan prayer flags border every viewpoint, adding splashes of humanity and colour. Your companions are quiet for once, awestruck, walking in a daze from one spectacular viewpoint to the next.
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| On Poon Hill |
You do the entire ascent back down, reaching your starting point after seven hours of knee shattering downhill. The walk includes a two-hour stopover at a hotel. You sit patiently in the sun while your dal bhat is made fresh. It fills you with energy for the walk back down.
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| Kitten |
It's Holi Festival today, and every village is celebrating along the way. You stop for a break where a bunch of kids are having a water fight. Two of the children are protecting their house like a fort. They splash buckets of water at the other team, who are throwing poorly aimed water balloons. You and your companions watch the game with invested interest, like a sporting event, commenting on each tactical move.
The porters are in a great mood, this being the end of their shift. In the jeep back to your hotel, they dance by loosening their limbs and letting the jaw shattering bumpiness of the vehicle move them like puppets. Their joy is infectious, and you laugh along with them.
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