Day 1- Pokara to Hille

We started the day with meeting out two guides, Saru and Aman, and our porters, beautiful young girls about Kates age who will carry our packs and help us on the walk.  We had a 45 bus ride through Pokhara to our start point, very winding road with view of Annapurna South, our destination 8 days from now.



Our walking time was about 4 hours of gentle incline, through villages where women washed babies in plastic tubs and their hair from running streams, past fields of rice and millet.

Heard for the first time what would become a very familiar warning, the tinkle of mule bells. This means get to the high side of the track asap!!

The mules carry big loads, including what I guess are 45 kg propane bottles on each side ( the next size up from a bbq bottle). The trails are not wide enough to walk 2 abreast, so the donkeys can easily push you off, and it is a long long way down. They are usually about 8 to a team with the drivers at the rear, so its just you and the mule. The porters jump in between us and the low side, and we were briefed to always move to the high side when passing.

Of course Moosie is along for the trip

The tea house was the typical two story building with steep stairs, ply wood walks and lots of gaps around windows and doors, 

Squat toilet at the end of the veranda  ( more about toilets latter!) and 2 to a room ( it would latter be five). We had dinner together in the mess room, rice or potato dishes with yak cheese.



This sign started to put into my mind how important elevation would become. We had started at 827 m and ended at 1500m, final destination 4200m above sea level.