This is the blog entry I am most excited to write about Nepal, because the trek has been a life changing experience for me:

1)     All through my life, when things get difficult, I sometimes give myself excuses to stop going. But on this trek, no excuses are allowed and I cannot give up because if I stop, I will have no tea-house to stay at for the night and I will be stranded in the mountains, so the only option is to keep going no matter how exhausted I was or how much my leg muscles were crying. Despite having mild food poisoning and a cold at some point on the trek, God helped me to keep going, one step at the time, to complete the step.

2)     I tend to limit myself in my thinking especially in relation to physical fitness, for example, I can never do a marathon or a vertical marathon (~climb 90 stories in Singapore Raffles City). But without realizing it, on day 2 of the trek, we had to ascend at least 3000 steps in the morning, which is like at least 150 floors climb!! And this was only for the trek before lunch, and I still had 3 hours to go AFTER lunch. Again, without knowing that the trek on day 3 would be so long, we ended up trekking for 9 hours and 15 minutes starting at 5am. Even if I did a stroll at 5km/hour for 9 hours, we would have more than finished a marathon. Without even realizing it, I had finished 2 physical tasks I always thought was impossible for myself in 2 days back to back (with screaming muscles of course :P)

Because 1) I had no choice but to climb, 2) I didn’t know there were SO many steps, I didn’t even have a chance to form a limit on my thinking, and I managed to achieve so much more without having to deal with a negative inner voice telling me I couldn’t do it . I did not how what I was physically and mentally capable of but this trip proved to myself how much I could stretch myself.

3)     Finally, this trip is life-changing because it opened my mind how resilient God created humans to be, and how much tougher I can become. It was so humbling that there are so many insanely fit and health people, who may be twice my age, but physically more able than me. But instead of mocking us, all the guides, porters from our group and others were encouraging and helpful, with one 57 year old porter dropping us load to come help us get through the snow and ice safely. It reminded me to stop occasionally in the busyness of the city to look at others who may not be able to move as quickly up this meritocracy society.

Enough of the self-improving yogi talk. There are at least some 600 treks in Nepal, and here is the Poon Hill trek journey.

Day 1: Nayapul to Tikhedhunga

This is probably the easiest climb of the trek. As our amazing guide, Puskar, puts it, the first day is a warmup only. Our 20 year old young porter, Ganesh, strapped with our 35kg of luggage, walks ahead of us the entire time!

The trek starts relatively flat, with stunningly beautiful views, with some scenes reminding us of Norway and Japan.

By lunch, we had completed 5km, and we stopped for good mountain chicken Dal Bhat! Dal bhat (Nepali: दालभात) is a traditional meal they have for all 2-3 meals, comprising steamed rice, cooked lentil soup called dal, fresh vegetables and I love my dal bhat with chicken though there are other meats. 

More climb continues after lunch!

We finally end at Tikhedhunga Teahouse, clocking total of 10km for the day. Love the rustic local village, fresh mountain air, and endless vastness that never seems to end.

The trek continues to Ghorepani the next day!

For the entire Nepal Travel Review series by EatPrayFlying, please refer to the list below:

• Nepal– Kathmandu City Tour
• Nepal – Kathmandu Hotel – Dwarika Hotel
• Nepal – Kathmandu Hotel – Shanker Hotel

• Nepal – Pokhara City Tour
• Nepal – Pokhara Hotel – Templetree Resort & Spa
• Nepal – Pokhara Hotel – Waterfront Resort

• Nepal – Poon Hill Trek 1 (Thikedunga)
• Nepal – Poon Hill Trek 2 (Ghorepani, Poon Hill)
• Nepal – Poon Hill Trek 3 (Tadapani, Grandruk)