Annapurna Area Escapades Day 5: "Cocktail"
(Disclaimer: It's a long ass article)
October 27th, 2018
October 27th, 2018
4:00 am - excitement
The morning was dark and freezing. And the six companions had decided, "we have seen the same mountains from much closer for far too long already" so there was just the two of us. I left my room with much apprehension and I was actually holding my breath when I made my way to the stairs. I took the first step down, only to find out - hey it isn't so hard after all. So with a pep on my steps, I made it downstairs and out the hotel. The time was 4:25 am.
The morning was dark and freezing. And the six companions had decided, "we have seen the same mountains from much closer for far too long already" so there was just the two of us. I left my room with much apprehension and I was actually holding my breath when I made my way to the stairs. I took the first step down, only to find out - hey it isn't so hard after all. So with a pep on my steps, I made it downstairs and out the hotel. The time was 4:25 am.
We had a torch with us but my friend is an owl - he doesn't need anything but the moon to light his way. We were told the Poon Hill tower was an hour long uphill climb and sunrise was forecasted (by me) to be at around 6:15, so it still doesn't make sense why we woke up so damn early. But turned out, there were people who must've gotten earlier than us since we passed so many of them on our way up. The trail is well organised and easy to walk on. You can also find toilets along the way. There is an entrance where you have to buy ticket to go in. It costs NRS 100 per person for foreigners and NRS 50 for Nepalese (but funnily enough, it is very easy to go unnoticed if mingled in a group because hey, the sun hasn't risen yet).
I did't have any problem going up despite my misgivings. We reached the top at 5:05 am to be greeted by an absolute silence and also darkness. We climbed the tower and found a photographer taking pictures of (God knows what), the mountains were barely visible at the time of the morning, if it can be called that. As soon as we got there, the tea shop opened and it wasn't so dark anymore.
We tried to position ourselves at the best place in all of Poon hill since early bird gets the worm and all that. It was obviously very cold so I went down to the teashop to get ourselves tea. The seller poured hot milk into two mugs and gestured towards this container of tea bags and sugar and charged me NRS 320. Outrageous. But not really. The tea was actually very good. And I did some maths and it only cost about 2 bucks each, that too when we needed it the most. So no complains. Moreover, it must've taken so much work to get all the ingredients up there.
5:45 am - restlessless
While we were busy warming ourselves, people were continuing to arrive at the place. We could see beams upon beams of torchlights coming in a procession and piling up, all trying to get the best waiting spot. During the wait for the sun to rise, we did the following things:
The horizon had started to lighten up and yet it felt like the sun was taking forever to surface. I've been up for countless sunrises in my life and I'm yet to learn patience, yet to accept that good things take time.
If the sun looked glorious, the moon on the other side looked equally majestic. The mountains, as always, were looking magnificent. The place had become very crowded and yet the flow didn't look like it would end anytime soon. Obviously there were people who couldn't be bothered to wake up early but that didn't mean they would miss the opportunity to see the panoramic view of the himalayas (especially if this was their final destination).
6:32 am - frustration
We started off back towards our hotel thinking it would take us no time at all. How wrong we were. We simply managed to get ourselves lost and before we realised it, we had reached another village. And my stomach had started to make some nervous sounds, meaning I needed a toilet soon. We asked our way and ran back to our hotel, despite the screaming pain in our legs.
The rest of the team had still not been up from their beauty sleep. We had to wait for a couple of hours before anyone joined us in the dining hall. I also had started to feel hungry by then but turns out they had only ordered tea. The plan was to try and finish whatever snacks we had been carrying throughout the journey, and it was economical as well. Tea, biscuits it was then.
9:41 am - more frustration
Our next stop for the day was Hile. We left Ghorepani in groups. Four boys left first. And then me and my friend left second and then the married couple left after us. The rest knew the way, we didn't. But we didn't know it then. And the phone reception was dodgy as heck. I had given up on Ncell entirely. And since my friend was carrying an antique phone, he didn't think to check his reception for NTC. Without knowing that we had strayed off the trail, we walked on and on. After walking for about half an hour and not being caught on by the two, neither seeing any sign of the boys ahead, I started suspecting if we had lost our way. I asked my friend to call one of the others. And that was when we found out that we hadn't really lost our way but only taken the long way. It was an hour before we reunited with our much worried friends.
11:30 am - jubilance
From there on, it was all fun (if you don't count the creaking joints every time there were steps). The boys had speakers and they played nepali songs to which they dance-walked. We broke for lunch at this chautari which (I was so happy to find) had a set of swings. We ate the rest of our snacks, made jokes, talked, swung and rested. I'd like to believe we had become good friends by then.
2:00 pm - relief
From there on, we reached Ulleri, still some hours away from Hile, our supposed destination for the day. Every one was starting to feel the weariness and hence it was decided we would ditch the Hile plan and ride to Pokhara right away instead. And what a ride it was. We had 3 and a half hours of jolting about in the seats. Thankfully it was house full in the jeep.
5:30 pm - exasperation
Finding a good hotel at a reasonable price in Pokhara proved to be a daunting task. And by Pokhara, I mean Lakeside. We walked around hungry, exhausted and grumpy (in my case, also in desperate need for bathroom) for more than two hours. The group was divided again, between comfort and economy. Finally, as was bound to happen, we had to use external force to get discount on a good hotel and book us in.
8:30 pm - ecstasy
Bathed and in a clean set of clothes, we left in search of dinner. We had very fancy food in a long time, walked around the lakeside in search of a local tea shop, (I met some old friends), had really good tea in a cute cafe and after all those emotions, went to bed content.
11:52 pm - panic
We had booked Paragliding for the next morning at 10:30 am. I hadn't thought anything about it until I had gone to bed and fallen asleep. Perhaps my unconscious mind had been storing the dread all along. I woke up with a start suddenly realising the gravity of the situation I had put myself into. As far as I remembered, I was terrified of falling.
5:45 am - restlessless
While we were busy warming ourselves, people were continuing to arrive at the place. We could see beams upon beams of torchlights coming in a procession and piling up, all trying to get the best waiting spot. During the wait for the sun to rise, we did the following things:
- Checked the time ten thousand times
- Complained why it's taking so long
- Whinged about how cold it was
- Marvelled at the never ending flow of people
- Took numerous pictures of the "same mountains"
- "Tracked" the sun continuously via StarTracker
- Shook our head at how loud people could be
- Debated on how risky it would be to leave our spot to get another mug of hot tea
- Eavesdropped in many talks around us since the place was starting to get jam-packed
- Gossiped on what some people were wearing as we began to be able to 'see'
The horizon had started to lighten up and yet it felt like the sun was taking forever to surface. I've been up for countless sunrises in my life and I'm yet to learn patience, yet to accept that good things take time.
6:24 am - happiness
The sun with all its glory finally decided to make its grand entrance into the sky. The morning was very clear and to their credit, people didn't cheer. There seemed to be some ruckus around us because suddenly everyone had to take selfies. We tried to do the same, of course, but we just weren't on our best appearances. And as long as it had taken, the whole event just came to its close. We stayed for some bit to judge more people on their choice of clothing (which were questionable). We then so generously gave away our beloved spot to anyone who was lucky.
If the sun looked glorious, the moon on the other side looked equally majestic. The mountains, as always, were looking magnificent. The place had become very crowded and yet the flow didn't look like it would end anytime soon. Obviously there were people who couldn't be bothered to wake up early but that didn't mean they would miss the opportunity to see the panoramic view of the himalayas (especially if this was their final destination).
6:32 am - frustration
We started off back towards our hotel thinking it would take us no time at all. How wrong we were. We simply managed to get ourselves lost and before we realised it, we had reached another village. And my stomach had started to make some nervous sounds, meaning I needed a toilet soon. We asked our way and ran back to our hotel, despite the screaming pain in our legs.
The rest of the team had still not been up from their beauty sleep. We had to wait for a couple of hours before anyone joined us in the dining hall. I also had started to feel hungry by then but turns out they had only ordered tea. The plan was to try and finish whatever snacks we had been carrying throughout the journey, and it was economical as well. Tea, biscuits it was then.
9:41 am - more frustration
Our next stop for the day was Hile. We left Ghorepani in groups. Four boys left first. And then me and my friend left second and then the married couple left after us. The rest knew the way, we didn't. But we didn't know it then. And the phone reception was dodgy as heck. I had given up on Ncell entirely. And since my friend was carrying an antique phone, he didn't think to check his reception for NTC. Without knowing that we had strayed off the trail, we walked on and on. After walking for about half an hour and not being caught on by the two, neither seeing any sign of the boys ahead, I started suspecting if we had lost our way. I asked my friend to call one of the others. And that was when we found out that we hadn't really lost our way but only taken the long way. It was an hour before we reunited with our much worried friends.
11:30 am - jubilance
From there on, it was all fun (if you don't count the creaking joints every time there were steps). The boys had speakers and they played nepali songs to which they dance-walked. We broke for lunch at this chautari which (I was so happy to find) had a set of swings. We ate the rest of our snacks, made jokes, talked, swung and rested. I'd like to believe we had become good friends by then.
2:00 pm - relief
From there on, we reached Ulleri, still some hours away from Hile, our supposed destination for the day. Every one was starting to feel the weariness and hence it was decided we would ditch the Hile plan and ride to Pokhara right away instead. And what a ride it was. We had 3 and a half hours of jolting about in the seats. Thankfully it was house full in the jeep.
5:30 pm - exasperation
Finding a good hotel at a reasonable price in Pokhara proved to be a daunting task. And by Pokhara, I mean Lakeside. We walked around hungry, exhausted and grumpy (in my case, also in desperate need for bathroom) for more than two hours. The group was divided again, between comfort and economy. Finally, as was bound to happen, we had to use external force to get discount on a good hotel and book us in.
8:30 pm - ecstasy
Bathed and in a clean set of clothes, we left in search of dinner. We had very fancy food in a long time, walked around the lakeside in search of a local tea shop, (I met some old friends), had really good tea in a cute cafe and after all those emotions, went to bed content.
11:52 pm - panic
We had booked Paragliding for the next morning at 10:30 am. I hadn't thought anything about it until I had gone to bed and fallen asleep. Perhaps my unconscious mind had been storing the dread all along. I woke up with a start suddenly realising the gravity of the situation I had put myself into. As far as I remembered, I was terrified of falling.
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