I awoke to find Landruk was right next to Annapurna South, which was obscured by the previous evening's rain clouds. My day was short, so I left late. The first half was a hard climb up to Pitham. The steep trail caused a bottleneck of middle aged French tourists., resting every twenty meters.
By the time I reached Pothana, I need food, even though the taste of breakfast was still in my mouth. I sat with a man guiding a large group of teenage girls fro five days. I didn't envy his job. The guide was quite educated and spoke fluent English. We swapped favorite movies and writers. He was a cool guy.
The mysteriously named Australian Camp was a very short walk and was very pleasant seeming, with great views of Pokhara and the mountains just to the north, or at least that's what the postcards I bought showed. My personal view was of clouds and the bitumen just an hour away. I didn't stay long enough to find out why it was called the Australian Camp.
The hard surface road came quickly after a steep decline. I had to touch it with my hand just to see if it was real. To get away from traffic, I took every side trail I could find; I still walked on the road most of the way to Naudanda.
My map showed no more guest houses between Naudanda and Pokhara, which I seriously doubted was true, but I figured I should bank on the sure thing, so I stopped. The guest house was dingy, which I found odd since the road was sure to bring the resources to build a better hotel. I had an afternoon snack (I loved my new financial security) of banana fritters, which were simply tempura banana slices. I decline the offer for some ketchup. For dinner I ate more dal bhat with some curd. The lure of dairy was nice, but I wasn't ready for meat yet. That would be saved for the next day in Pokhara as a celebratory meal. My room was full of mildew and mold, but I slept fine.
1 comment:
Nice post , Naudanda, Pokhara City
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