I was sad to leave such a gorgeous town with a hot spring, but I had to more on; my budget did not allow me to linger. My destination though was Ghorepani, a trekking destination itself. It was also a 1100m climb.
It was one hell of a day. For the whole time, the trail went up, without any of the flat ground's reprieve. For the first time in my trip, I was tempted to stop early, but the day was too young. The part of me that feared a lack of challenges after the pass was proved wrong. I just too the stairs one step at a time and eventually reached the top.
The trail passed through countless hill villages, towns stretched across vertical distances of sometimes 400m. Just when I would think a town was finished, there'd be another cluster of buildings higher up. The day twisted along the Ghar Kholo always in the shadow of Annapurna South's pyramid. The valley was quite pretty.
This was a good altitude for oranges and every hotel and child was selling them. They would walk to school with piles in their backpacks. One child approached me. "Nameste! You want orange?"
"No thank you."
"Chocolate?" The child then showed me a chunk of hash the size of this index finger.
"No chocolate!" I said, wondering where a child of eight had gotten hashish and also how a child of eight started dealing drugs in the first place. The orange peddlers ended by Chitre. The kid was the only who offered me hash that day.
Ghorepani was gorgeous and well worth the hard walk. I ditched my bag at the hotel and used the last of my energy to make the 45 minute climb to Poon Hill, one of the best Himalayan lookouts in Nepal. From its 3200m, there are clear views of 14 peaks taller than 6500m, including Annapurna I, Dhaulagiri, and Gangapurna among others. It was fantastic!
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