Off the Couch and On the Road

We head of with our daypacks and walking poles early the next morning after beakfast, (Pease note the very casual mention of walking poles. This is intended to add professionalism, authenticity, and a general perception that I actually know anything about trekking. Take it or leave it.) and spent the morning descending 200m on a rocky, sandy trail with fantastic views.

The weather was really warm, sometimes with a chilly breeze, but overall an enjoyable walk. We ate lunch ate a tea house - soup and nam bread - and then had to ascend 600m in the afternoon, to the same altitude we climbed the day prior, though at a more gradual rate. It was still tough though, and I have decided there are a few rules about trekking:

1) Don’t look up. Looking up is kind of like seeing how they make sausages. You don’t want to know, you just want to enjoy the end result. Just look at your feet and keep going.

2) Once you have looked at nothing but your feet for half an hour, and then look up to realise your group is walking 10m above you on a completely different path, make sure you take your camera out and take some photos of ‘the view’ from ‘that great spot down there’.

3) If your breathless, slow, trip on rocks or anything else that would otherwise class you as ‘unfit’ or ‘completely uncoordinated’, blame the altitude. It’s all about blaming the altitude. Why not.

We arrived at our tea house at about 2.30pm and sat by the fire playing cards with another amazing view in the background. I was hanging out to wear my super hot down jacket and gloves, but it wasn’t quite cold enough, especially inside, so I had to settle for a beanie and scarf. Maybe tomorrow.

-Sarah

Today was a rest day. A day of rest, of acclimatisation, where we could look out over the snow-capped mountains and sing edleweiss, if we so chose.

So what did we do but climb another mountain for 4 hours, only to come back down again. I understand the reasoning, I do, but to climb down knowing you have to just climb back up tomorrow is a bit daunting.

It was a tough but great trek though, and there were a few who mentioned that they didn’t feel like taking photos because they felt you should have to put the effort in to deserve that view. Except I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I didn’t have proof, so I took photos.

After lunch back at the tea house, we wandered the street stalls and found an internet cafe, which was a great idea. We also ate chocolate doughnuts, which wasn’t a great idea. If it’s not packaged by Coke or Mars my friends, it’s not 100% safe.

But my stomach didn’t let me down, which was a good thing, because there is really nothing between breakfast, lunch and dinner and with my appetite I resigned myself to the fact that this would be a self-imposed diet.

Until I found enough snacks to keep me going for the next few days. Two words - Coke and Mars. Coke and Mars.

-Sarah

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