Team WCA Nepal does Poon Hill

Hi, Thought is was about time to update you all on our trekking. Our 'boss' Jason exercised his superior negotiation skills and managed to bargain our trek down to US$22 per day. This included a guide, 3 porters, all meals and accommodation. An absolute bargain.
Day 1 - We met our organiser -Dhaka, guide - Indra and porters-Krishna, Ram and Bhagunta. Loaded all our gear into the van and set off for the 1.5 hour drive to Naya Pul. We had a quick stop on the side of the hill to get a good view of the mountains we had come to see - breathtaking but we had hopes of better views to come. At Naya Pul we started our ascent with a 'gentle' 2 hour walk till lunch - after that it got interesting. Our stop for the night was Ulleri. To get there you must first walk /climb for 1 hour then scale 3400 steps. We had never needed a Tuborg so much in all our lives. We got our first taste of Guest House living - Interesting. Imagine a few rickety planks of wood nailed to the side of a very steep hill - yep.. that's what it looks like, but we had a great nights sleep.
Day 2 - a 5 hour walk, mostly uphill slopes and steps to reach Ghorepani but what a sight, the mountains are spectacular. We had the rest of the afternoon off rather than climb to Poon Hill for sunset. Instead we found a prime spot in Ghorepani to watch the sun set on Annapurna South.
Day 3 - Only Matt, Dean and Jason braved the predawn climb to Poon Hill for sunrise. The sleepyheads went to yesterdays viewing spot after an extra hours sleep, again a spectacular sight. After breakfast we set off for Tadapani our first quick stop was to a point the same height as Poon Hill (3200m) so the boys had climbed to that height twice in the space of 5 hours. By the time we had stopped for lunch we were down at 2650m at Ban Thanti. As we arrived at Tadapani we were swamped by Tibetans selling all kinds of jewellery and trinkets and some really great Yak wool blankets. We saw Monkeys (Langurs) while having an after trek Tuborg and during the night Kylie managed to all out of bed and wake the entire village.
Day 4 - Our goal, the hot springs at Jhinudanda via Chomrong. Mainly downhill now but every bit as challenging and even harder on the legs. Chomrong is the base of the Annapurnas and we expected magnificent views. Unfortunately it was a little too misty and we didn't get the best views available but what we got was pretty good. By the time we arrived in Jhinudanda only Jason, Dean and John had any puff left for the 20min downhill walk to the hot springs but they said they were brilliant.
Day 5- Our last down hill run to Naya Pul via Syauli Bazar. Indra promised 'little down then flat then little up'. Should have known better. The first 4.5 hours lots of down and only some flat and some up. After lunch about 10 mins of straight down then a blissful 2 hour stroll on what you could almost call a road. And then we had done it !!!! An unbelievably amazing 5 days followed by a death defying roller coaster ride back to Pokhara
I'll do pics later
Missing you all, Dot :-)