The morning greeted me with clouds. After eating my egg with toast and free jam, I asked the innkeeper. "Hey man, you think it's gonna clear up today?"
"Yep! I think so."
That set it. I climbed an hour and a half to Machhapuchhre Base Camp in hope that when I reached higher up, the late morning sun would break up the clouds. When I reached the top, the clouds were even thicker. I decided to wait a bit before hiking higher up to Annapurna Base Camp.
I shared a pot of tea and some biscuits with a Dutch woman. By 11:30, it was clear that the weather wouldn't improve. I therefore went back down to Deurali where my bag was waiting and read Dickens all day. This ruined my plans of hiking up, then going down a village or two, then stop the next day at the Jhinu hot springs. Since my cash was low, I could only add one extra day instead of two. I chose to give the extra day to the scenery instead of the springs.
There were some neat people at the lodge, which was full the second night, so I actually didn't read too much of my Dickens. I also got to have more of that great dal bhat. I had to share a room that night with six others, which was fine, but a bit noisy. The sunset was lovely, bursting with purples and oranges coming up through the small V of the gorge below.
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