A short trek to Poonhill - DAY THREE

Saturday, August 22, 2015 by Aastha Shrestha 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

Our routine was fixed right from dawn to dark. We were so over and done with snow when we had to find our way up to Poonhill even before day-break. Above the thick dollops of snow, searching for the walking trail which once existed, we traced our way to our final destination of the trip to eyewitness the much-heard-about Sunrise. People from around the world assemble here for this spectacular view. But, Google misguided me as much as others did. I’ll explain.

Do not, I repeat, do not ask the guides or villagers how far a certain place is. If you do, multiply it by at least 2, their one hour equals our two. After three times the fifteen minutes, we reach the top and yet after playing peek-a-boo for anther 25 minutes, the spectacular range comes in view from the hilltop. Perfectly lined up, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Macchapuchre and Nilgiri accompanied by a veil of the fogs were not as clear as I expected them on the basis of Google's Image search but it could not have been any better. The intensifying sunlight added an attractive golden gleam on the absolute silver linings. One hand with a cup full of hot tea that could freeze any moment in that given condition, I called home. Though telephone network teases your cell-phone antenna quite a lot all the way, the signal at Ghorepani-Poonhill is durable. Thanks to the Nepal Telecom tower which we kind of mistook for Poonhill tower. Gprs and Wi-Fi works there too. Facebook Check-ins? Anyone?

Best for breakfast is the Tibetan bread, Once we had it, we bid farewell to the friendly owners and set off for our return. Though we could have taken the same route back, we chose a different one instead. Either way it would take 2 days, why not explore? The all-snow covered trail was named by us - the never ending kingdom of our very own personal Narnia.

Excited with all that snowfall, we let an important fact slip out of our heads. It rains partly before snowing and snow melts on our body because of our body temperature. Thus we purchased some warm mittens and wrapped big sheets of green plastics like raincoat preventing ourselves from getting wet. Looking like massive balloons in the snow covered woods we made our way to Ghandruk.

The path challenged us but we carried on with a big fat smile plus greetings to and from every individual we came across. There was concern followed by laughter when anyone of us skidded. It was easy to lose a whole day enjoying the picturesque path that was similar to the posters of Switzerland we had seen that reminded us of the purity of paradise and it was easier to lose one because the way was quite tough to get through.