Annapurna Round
in
Fifteen Days

Day Fifteen, 10th October - Hile to Nayapul then Pokhara by Bus

10/10/10 17:00 Dazed and confused in Pokhara 620 metres

Jessie's guide had mentioned that the walk today was on the flat, so I was surprised by the copious amounts of steps we encountered not long after setting off. Dhan and I left first, around 07:30, but we got stuck behind a woman driving mules, and beating them harshly. After we'd got most of the steps out of the way, and were walking on stone slabs, the mechanism inside one of my sticks came loose just as I slipped and leant on it, snapping the metal inside. I'd been showing off the sticks to Jeremy that morning, and can't have done them back up properly. It was unfortunate - but also incredibly good timing, with just around ninety minutes left to walk. We left the broken stick with some children; somebody might be able to fashion a fix, and get some use out of it.

We stopped for chiya a short while later, and I took pictures of the multitude of cute kids at the teahouse, then continued on our way. After climbing a steep section, we walked along a high path, which looked down upon the seductively clear waters of the river tumbling over large rocks below. There were landslides to be crossed too, which slowed me down. Dhan was almost out of sight as I gingerly negotiated them with my one remaining stick; down to three legs now from four. Before too long we walked through the bustling town of Birethanti, waiting while a large group of goats in front of us were coerced into crossing a suspension bridge, then walked to the outskirts of town where we stopped for tea and rice bread. We turned down offers of taxi rides back to Pokhara, from men driving old-style Toyata Corolas - which I'd already spotted are popular motors out here.

There was just a kilometre to go before the trek was officially over, along a busy path lined with stalls, and passed lots of tourists heading the other way, their adventures ahead of them, lucky things. The sound of car horns grew louder, drowning out the cicadas, and we emerged onto the main road to wait for a bus. It wasn't too crowded when it turned up, and I grabbed a window seat. We pulled off, driving for two minutes . . . then stopping for fifteen, with no obvious reason behind it - good old local buses! Then we were off again, diesel fumes blasting in through the open window. We passed a lot of goats, and I shed a tear thinking of how their journey would end. I might be sad that my days of walking are over, but at least I'm not going to have my throat slit and be eaten.

I listened to daft songs on my ipod, and the journey passed quickly, with Dhan prompting me when it was time to get off. We got a taxi to Hotel Image, where I got a rather shabby room on the roof, and emptied the contents of my pack onto the floor. Dhan gave me a bus ticket back to Kathmandu, and my TIMMS card as a souvenir, and I tipped him $50. We'd had our issues throughout the trek, but I guess he wasn't a bad sort really.

Click here for more pictures from Day Fifteen