Day 2 of our Trek,
After falling asleep the next thing we heard was the rooster's crowing outside the window, it was about 5:30am and the sun was just shining above the top of the mountains. We both had a quick look out the window and lay back down, trying to get a few more minutes of sleep in before the 6am alarm sounded.
Its Tom's birthday! He is 29 today! For obvious reasons I'm unable to trek with a cake or a present, I give him a head massage instead, a rather dismal present in comparison to previous years.
After breakfast we set off before 8am & continue to climb up the stairs. We pass some Nepalese kids on their to school, they all give us a high 5! Our guide explains that kids in Nepal will go to school 5.5 days of the week out of 7 & that those particular kids will walk 1.5 hours to the closest school & 1.5 hours back again. They seem happy enough & will grow up strong & fit.
Unfortunately today would be a lot of stairs. The temperature is dramatically different & is less hot and less humid. After lunch the stairs give way to a dirt track winding through the cool rain forest. The open fields of crops & irrigated fields have been replaced by dense trees & rocks covered in moss & ferns. The air is cool & wet, we walk over many bridges, admire many streams & sit next to many waterfalls. The prayer flags maintain a constant presence throughout Nepal, even up here on the mountains you find them fluttering in the breeze, embraced between tree trunks. In addition to the butterflies we start to see worms, beetles, moths & lots of lady bugs.
The road's for vehicles were left behind yesterday & now the only competition for the trekking path is animals & Nepalise people carrying baskets on their backs, straps around their arms & foreheads. Today is less challenging & enduring than the previous day, it's also easier when not climbing thousands of steps. We get to the town of Ghorepani just before 3pm, replicating a similar routine as the night before. The only difference is it's now quite cold, after cooling down from the days walking & showering, we need to wear thermals & there is a fire in the common area of the hotel. We order a few beers for Tom's birthday & sit near a window watching the clouds which at 2874 meters above sea level, now drift below us & in between the buildings. A storm soon blows in, as is typical this time of year in Nepal.
We have a super early start tomorrow, the soft bed & exhaustion calls us well before 8pm.
- Alli
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