i'm insane

but you knew that already.
I just returned from my trek this evening and i'm already packed and ready to go on another adventure tomorrow morning at 7am. The trek was in short incredible, in more detail the most awe-inspiring, excruciating, sweat fest i've ever taken part in.
We took the bus on the first day to Nayapul, and I'm proud to say I did it the Nepali way, hanging onto metal bars for my dear life on the roof of the bus. I loved every second of it, not only was it a beautiful morning, but the mountain views were unbelievable. The road snaked through the hills past valleys with beautiful little villages dotted along with expanses of bright yellow mustard fields in between. The first day's hike was relatively painless, about four hours of slightly upward incline leading us to Tika Dhunga, a tiny settlement of guest houses where we stayed the night. I guess it is low season and the village was small, but Cris and I turned out to be the only guests in the entire lodge that night, and after dinner we found ourselves in an empty dining room with a stereo that only played tibetan prayer chants, a slightly out of tune guitar, and the tumbling roar of a waterfall outside. It was like camp except minus the fire, s'mores, and add extra bad singing. Cris has a respectable and eclectic taste in music that is rare in Nepal, where everyone only hums hindi movie tunes, so the night passed much quicker as a result.

The next morning we embarked upon a 6 hour trek to Ghorepani, through a village called Ulleri, which can only be reached after 3421 steps up the steepest hill of my worst nightmares. However I displayed the resilience of the classic tortoise/hare fable and slowly but consistently made it to Ghorepani and ended up being the first trekker to reach the destination out of the pack. A good pat on me own back for that. That night turned out quite entertaining as we had a great mixture of trekkers at the lodge. There was a huge wood burning stove type contraption in the middle of the dining room that heated the showers, and while huddled around it for warmth I met two girls from Minnesota who are also doing volunteer work in Nepal, a couple of ladies from Vienna who I practiced my faltering Deutsch with, two investment banking chicas from Singapore one of whom, get this, came to Ivey two years ago for a business competition, and all of their guides and porters. The night was full of laughs and great stories. But it was early to bed for the next morning's dawn assault of Poon Hill to catch the sunrise! Yes, ha ha, I'll give you a minute to get over the name, and no I don't think it's located in the proximity of Kohk Mountain, but wouldn't that be nice.

We got up at 4. It was so cold and miserable under the blankets that I couldn't even bear the thought of heading into the mountain air, but I knew I had to do it. I had never seen that many stars in the sky before. Forget pitch black nights at the beach, at 3200 meters high the sheer magnificence of the stars was blinding. We slowly made our way up the hill and waited impatiently for the sky to turn a gorgeous shade of pink. Shortly after we ascended, two porters carrying massive baskets came up behind us and set up a gas stove for making tea. They were carrying 20 litres of water and juice! no wonder the prices were marked up 300% from below the hill. One by one, other trekkers came up the hill until it was almost 6am, when floods and literally torrents of people carrying flashlights came into view. We all went up to a tower where we got 360 degree views of the Annapurna massif and watched the sun slowly come up. The photos from that morning are incredible and I apologize for not putting them up but I can't do it until next week so check back!

Later that same day we made the long trek to Tatopani. And that's where Cris lost me. Yes he lost me. There was a fork in the road, both of which led to Tatopani, but as he was way up ahead of me, we took different roads and separated for the rest of the day. I was like uhhh. when my path led literally to a farmers front door. Then I asked the old man in front of me where Tatopani was, and he jabbed agressively in some obscure direction. I did not see anyone around for miles and was leery of walking into what looked like a dense forest where the man was pointing, and was going to retrace my path when he ran out and continued steering me. Now he was cutting hay at the time and had an ominous shrapnel looking device in his hands that he was waving vigorously in the air. I've never been more afraid of a 70 year old man holding a 10 inch knife in my life and didn't know what was stupider, to follow him or run away. But thankfully Nepal is a land of good souls and he pointed me to a shortcut and I ended up at Tatopani half an hour earlier than Cris. Along the way I latched onto a group of young Nepali girls who were also walking there to visit their friends. I didn't want to lose them as they seemed to know where they were going, but paid dearly for that when I realized they were really machines, built for maneuvering steep stairs up and down at literally inhuman speed. I don't think I've ever pushed myself to that physical level before. It was like do or die. So i did. but died also.

Tatopani turned out to be my favorite village of all. there was a hot spring. HALLELUIAH. you dont know how much my legs rejoiced that night. It was so beautiful, hidden deep in a valley between massive hills revealing Mount Daulaghiri in the distance, and literally in the backyard of our guest house. It was so great that this morning at 6 I got up to go again before the crowds could pollute the water. Best. feeling. ever. so. awesome. I was sad to leave Tatopani, with its beautiful tangerine trees, tropical flowers, and mountain views, but this morning we took a couple busses back to Pokhara to save two days of walking, conserve a day in Nepal for me, and give my knees a rest. I don't want to talk about the bus rides. I crapped my pants 50 times just looking out the window. The bus was wider than the road. swear to god. The river below was literally roaring our names. and Cris kept reminding me that if we flipped I would be "flat as a chapatti". If that wasn't bad enough, the road wasn't even a road, it was mounds of rock, pushed together, so that every minute we'd go over a bump and I'd smash my head on the roof. The worst was when another bus would be coming from the opposite direction and the two cars would cock fight eachother, daring the other to drive another inch forward, and suffer the consequences. No that wasn't the worst, the worst was when we stopped for five minutes waiting for a herd of 600 rams to clear the road because the driver was afraid of paying for damage should one of them tumble off the cliff. In conclusion, best journey of life.

So now I'm back, and going back to my first statement, I'm getting up at 6 tomorrow to go to Chitwan, another part of the country, in the Terai region where the land is quite flat and tropical, unlike Pokhara's mountainous terrain. I thought I should take advantage of my short time remaining in Nepal, because who knows when I'll be back again. I booked a ticket going there tomorrow, and will likely take an elephant safari Thursday morning and stay in the middle of the jungle that night on a stilted lodge on a tree. sickkk. i'll be on the lookout for tigers.

Oh yea saturday I'm going canyoning and bungee jumping off the world's third highest drop. I don't even know what canyoning is, even after i read the complete description in Lonely planet. I just know its crazy and I will be shook for life afterwards. wooord.

so here's hoping I'll be alive to catch my plane on Sunday to Singapore. Lol, my parents are reading this. sorry mom.

xo