The steps pass as the ticks from a clock, distinct and endless. As steps become the seconds, dung becomes the mark of minutes, and villages the marks of hours.
Treks were unplotted territory in my mind. Someone would say "trek," and I think "cool" and it generally stopped there.
Even on this relatively sedate trek, I begin to see the attraction. Exhausting, yes. But much more as well.
I've found, for the most part, an inverse proportion between steps taken and amount of conversation, which I take to be largely positive. Even in a group, it becomes all too easy to fall into your own thoughts and leave your body on its anti-dung autopilot.
I might also expound upon the difficulty of observing your surroundings for photographic qualities when your primary concerns require extreme attention to that which is under your feet. In addition to dung, there are roots, rocks, loose gravel to slip on, and water.
Growing accustomed to a consistent state of fatigue is easily done as well. You get used to pushing yourself over this short time, as it becomes more mechanical and less mental. Each time I felt tired, I would realize that this was still nothing in comparison to my Black Belt Test, which will probably always be the most trying physical experience I've ever gone through.
The hotels within villages are often referred to colloquially as 'tea houses.' Quick comparison:
Tea House: plenty of water, hot shower, 24 hours electricity, expensive internet, plenty of beer.
Kathmandu: Little water, bucket baths, 4-8 hours electricity, 4-8 hours internet, plenty of beer.
At least we're even on the beer front.
It seemed to me as we first started the trek that all the glory, glamor and 'extreme-ness' of trekking seemed absent. You merely walk along a well-traveled path past village after village where you might purchase all you might need.
Then you hit the forests. And the stairs. Thousands of them. Suddenly, while it's no walk into Mordor, it's certainly no walk in the park either. All told, the trip is around 50 km round trip, with 3-6 hours of walking per day.
And when I ascended the steps to Poon Hill for sunrise over the Annapurna range after two and a half days walk, I was not prepared for how breathtakingly beautiful it was, and suddenly, it all makes sense - I understand now why people go on treks and climb mountains. RR said "the journey is the destination," and I think to a degree that's true. But my destination atop Poon Hill was more awe-inspiring than I could have imagined.
Tid bits:
-One of the tea houses we stayed in actually had showers and bathrooms attached to our rooms instead of a community-toilet setup. However, the whole room is the shower, so no curtain was present to protect everything from inevitable wetness. This wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't made a grave miscalculation and taken a shower prior to relieving myself on the much-needed Western-style toilet. The wetness was quite unpleasant.
-In the same bathroom, the tank for the toilet hangs at a slant off the wall, but I couldly have noticed this as I stumbled into the bathroom with a flashlight and a need to pee in the middle of the night. I set the flashlight atop the toilet tank. Before I could reach for the waistband on my sweats, the flashlight toppled end over end and landed light-down into the toilet. Mercifully, I had flushed the toilet earlier, but I couldn't help but stare at the ethereal glow emanating from the bowl as though it were a little ray of sunshine coming up from the depths of God-knows-what. Then I came to my senses, swore, and fished out the flashlight and sanitized it.
-The internet in Ghorepani (a village 45-minutes walk from Poon Hill) cost 8 rupees a minute. This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't take at least two minutes to load a single email. It also wouldn't be so bad if they had posted the price in more than one place, instead of just writing it in sharpie on the corner of a monitor two computers down from me. So, in five minutes, I'd read two emails and lost 40 rupees.
-I was introduced on this trip to the deep-fried Mars bar, which the Nepali tea houses slyly call a 'chocolate roll.' It is awesome beyond description.
-One of our guest houses seemed to have walls made of aluminum foil covered with a thin layer of washable paint for good measure. My neighbors tried to whisper so I wouldn't be disturbed by their conversation. Even though the aluminum foil on the walls was, I'm sure, of the highest quality, I still heard their whispering and whispered back that they shouldn't worry about it and then promptly put in my headphones.
-A lot of guides seem afflicted with the infamous dal-baht belly, despite their job, which is, you know, walking miles upon miles through mountain wilderness.
-While walking silently during the trek, I was grateful no one asked me what I was thinking, because I was actually thinking quite often about how nice it is to get lost in one's own thoughts, but when you say that to someone when they ask you what you're thinking, I'd wager it sounds pretty stupid.
-One brand of bottled water you can buy is called 'Today's.' However, most of the bottles you'll find are usually bottled about 9 months ago.
I'm sure I've typed enough. Go look at the photos, they're absolutely breathtaking.
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| Poon Hill 5 day Trek |
-Carey
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