Bullys in Asia: Annapurna trek - is that a rat in the ceiling???!!!

We caught a 30 min flight from Kathmandu to the lakeside village of Pokhara on Yeti airways (yes that's right - YETI! - much like a small Aurigny). Pokhara was beautiful, warm and laid back. A welcome rest after the chaos of Kathmandu. We set off for our trek the next morning with our Nepalese guide and porter to carry our bag. The day began with stunning weather; clear and warm. After a 90 min drive to the base village we set off at a leisurely pace. Although we couldn't have done much else due to the heat and continuous uphill walking. Even after much preparation in Jersey, this didn't quite prepare us for trekking in this heat with a heavy rucksack on. (It probably wasn't that heavy to be honest - but seemed to get heavier with each step uphill!).

We trekked uphill for 3 hours with a stop for lunch. The weather was clear and hot for most of the way but the heavens opened for the last half an hour with a torrential downpour soaking us to the skin. To make matters worse it was all steps (for those of you who know it was like the climb out of Bonne Nuit for 3 hours!). Needless to say John had a head like a boiled turnip at the end of it :-)
The accommodation was a teahouse lodge in the hills and ours was a plush one by all accounts! Our room was one of the best and actually had a shower with lukewarm water and a toilet that flushed. We showered, put on dry clothes and rested but John's back was feeling the effects of the relentless steps.

After a simple but delicious dinner of Dal Bhat and a beer we went to bed early as the locals do to prepare for our early start the next morning. We spent the night mostly awake listening to scratching and scrabbling in the room above, then the rat trying to gnaw its way into our room through the ceiling which we both enjoyed!
The next morning John's back had not improved and we made the decision to shorten the track from 5 to 2 days by trekking back down the hill. We thought that this might happen but needed to try and it was an amazing experience anyway but not worth risking the enjoyment of the next few months to continue.
We spent the next couple of days admiring the views of the Annapurna mountain range, sightseeing around Pokhara and took some great photos which will follow as it's difficult to connect our camera to the PC at the moment. Unsurprisingly, during this time John was sick too!
Next installment - Varanasi
K & J