Ghandruk (not Gandalf) bound!
Off to Ghandruk! We’re leaving Pokhara this morning for the Himalayan mountains, beautiful Ghandruk village (also known as “Stone Village”) located about 3 hours from Pokhara. We had the usual breakfast, packed the last of our things we will need for the 4 day stay, and checked out of the hotel. We’re coming back here on the 14th so we left one suitcase and a backpack with things we won’t need in Ghandruk.
Jeep and driver were ready to go right at 10:30am as scheduled. The Jeep was a bit “rougher” than anticipated. Seat belts didn’t work at first so we had to stop and make a couple of adjustments, then continued on with the drive. It seems that pretty much every road in Nepal is under construction. Lots of roads have been readied for paving but few have more than a potion completed. Makes for a rough ride!
Passing other vehicles takes a bit of adjustment. Generally, one will pull up to with 2-3 feet of the rear of the other vehicle, honk your horn, then pull out into the oncoming traffic lane. If there is traffic coming towards you, they just move over, flash their lights, and honk at you. No big deal. Seems to work, haven’t seen a single accident since we’ve arrived.
We arrive just outside of Ghandruk where there is a small parking area with about a dozen vehicles dropping off or picking up people. We tip our driver, 1,000 rupees ($7.50USD), find our sherpa and load up the suitcase, then off to Hill Top Lodge. Even though they said it was about 45 minutes up the hill, it turns out to be every bit of 1hr., straight up the mountainside. There are stairs but they aren’t consistent, some higher than others, some lower. And then there is the occasional mule train coming up or going down loaded with everything from cement to food products. We could have ridden a mule up the hill but what’s the fun in that! A good hike up several thousand feet in 75% humidity will do us good.
Hauling scaffolding
Mule train
They stopped again!!!
Valley view
By the time we make Hill Top Lodge, I’m down to a tee shirt that will never dry and legs that feel so numb I can’t tell their still there. And the views to die for…must have died. There seems to be an inversion layer hanging over Nepal all the way from Kathmandu to Mustang, several thousand miles. Visibility is about 1 mile and the air quality index says, “everyone may begin to experience health effects”. Lots of wood fire smoke and vehicle pollution that just sits in the valley.
Hill Top Lodge
The view
Checked in to Hill Top Lodge, got our room, and parked our carcass on the patio to relax and try to dry out. Not much of a view but the owner says we might possibly see Annapurna tomorrow morning if it rains tonight. Sundis, the owner, inherited this hotel from his grandfather who built it. He and his wife and little boy of 19 months, live at the lodge full time. The peak season for tourists is September thru December when the trekking season is in full swing. Snow doesn’t fall here until January or February.
Our room
We arranged for dinner around 5:30pm, I’ll have chicken curry & rice, Collette with have mixed curry and rice. Sundis has talked us into a traditional drink of Khurit rum, honey and hot water. Everyone drinks it. Well, they can have mine. Not a drink I think I will be sharing once we’re back in the States.
Done for the day. Time to go back to our room and call it a night. But there’s something missing??? Oh yeah, where is the heater? Looked everywhere in the room, no heater. I asked Sundis where the heater is and he said, “no heater, use blankets”. $30 per night including breakfast…but no heater. Didn’t see that in the brochure!