Trekking in the Hills

 Our transport and our local guide, Michel, on the right.

 Scenes from the hike.

 Planting and tending mandarin trees.

 Traditional women from the local tribe.

 Our excellent local lunch...

 and where it was prepared.

 Local farmer.

 Picking tea leaves.

A beautiful lush area to walk.

Thursday, May 31^st.

This hotel did not have a buffet or a la carte breakfast, but instead set the table with a set breakfast. Orange juice, large papaya, melon, mango and watermelon slices, a crepe pancake, whole wheat toast and two eggs of your choice, excellent (and I get to have it again tomorrow!).

We were picked up by a driver and local guide and a little truck for our trekking trip. They drove us about twenty minutes out of town to a little village where we started our hike. We walked through the hills past little farms growing all manner of fruits and vegetables. The weather was mostly cloudy which was good as it made it cooler. We saw many people working preparing the fields for the upcoming monsoon and the start of the growing season for rice and other crops. We saw a small tea plantation and many fruit trees.

Most of the morning was up hill, as we crossed through the fields and then onto a road that ran up into the hills. I was upfront for a bit and stopped to talk to a family that were tending young orange or mandarin trees. There were four adults and a young girl holding a baby. The girl spoke a bit if English, so we were able to converse a bit. We stopped a little further at a small village where we had lunch. As soon as we went into the family home, it started to rain. We were talking amongst ourselves when two young Danish girls came in with their guide and they were soaked through. They were traveling independently and were interested in our trip, so we talked to them about it and GAdventures and Intrepid. Our guide, Michel, had disappeared but came back a while later with our food. Turns out he was in the kitchen preparing our food with the family. They served us a chicken stock soup, rice, a chicken and potato dish and three other cooked vegetable dishes. For dessert there was banana and mango. It was a delicious meal. It rained for the whole time we were in that house having lunch, but when Pu Pu asked if we wanted to walk back down (about two hours) or take the truck, the weather seemed to brighten, and we opted to walk, and we are glad we did because it stayed dry the whole way. The road however, was a muddy and the red soil clung to our boots. However, we enjoyed the hike as we went down a different road and partly through a pine forest. We met our truck when we got back to the bottom and he drove us for a half hour back to our hotel. We had hiked about 15 kilometres total through some beautiful rural surroundings, great day. The rest of the afternoon was ours to do what we wanted. I relaxed and showered and then asked the guy in the lobby where I might find a barber. He gave me directions and I went and got my face and head shaved for two dollars. As soon as I walked out of the barber shop it started to rain and I went back to the hotel and it came down. Timing is everything today.

We met up for dinner and went to a local Nepali restaurant called Everest for dinner and then back for bed.