That bus ride was followed by one long, sweaty, squashed hour in a bus from Besisahar to Bhule Bhule, this time made even worse by being weighed down by Ram, who had fallen asleep on my shoulder (quite how he managed to sleep under such bumpy circumstances is beyond me). For the first time since I'd decided to trek, I began to worry about what I'd got myself into. I suppose it was because of the combination of discomfort, tiredness and realising that there was no turning back now. It was the one and only time that I succumbed to doubts. The moment I stepped off the bus I was fine, positively raring to go, in fact, but it was already 3pm and too late to start any serious trekking. So we checked into our lodge, pleasantly clean and comfortable with good views over the river. I had a solar powered shower that was distinctly lacking in both solar and power (it was to be a week before I had an even vaguely warm shower and a full ten days until a hot one).
The next day (day 2), the trek started off easily enough, a flat trail along the banks of the Marsyangdi River (the trail follows the valley for the first week), with snow-capped mountain peaks in the distance ahead of us. It wasn't long before we were terribly how and sweaty. After lunch the trail got pretty steep. It was much harder work but I was feeling fit and enjoyed the challenge, which is more than can be said for one girl we passed on the trail, in tears, with a very patient boyfriend. (We saw them again a few days later and they were both doing fine - the first couple of days can be a real shock if you don't know what you're getting into, or even if you do!) The further up we went, the better the views became:
It was Henry's birthday. Shortly after arriving at our lodge for the evening, Vivek, Ram and Dil dissapeared into the kitchen, the result of which, a cake, appeared after dinner. Henry said that he couldn't imagine a better way to spend a birthday and I agreed. After dinner, I taught Rummy to the gang. Thereonin, most evenings were spent playing cards, with Dil soon becoming the undisputed Rummy-master. It was here that we met a group of four Israeli hippies whom we were to come across time and again over the next few days. Eyal was the I became friendly with, though Maria took a great interest in another of them, whom she considered ridiculously good-looking, mostly because of his resemblance, in her mind, to Jesus.
I was pleased when, on day 3, I woke up feeling fine. I had expected to be sore after our first full day of walking and was delighted when I wasn't. That good feeling got me through most of the morning. I was just about ready for lunch, which I knew we were having at a village called Tal, when we arrived at Tal Phedi (literally, Lower Tal). Unfortunately, Lower Tal is quite a bit lower than Tal proper and the climb up was an absolute killer for me - it was the first of only four times over the 17 days that I didn't enjoy. The weather was drizzly and chilly (the only bad weather we had all trip) and by the time I eventually reached Tal I was tired, cold and very hungry - not a good combination. A fresh, hot, tasty and plentiful dal bhat soon had me back on track. It was here that we met another of our favourite characters also on the trail, Korean Guy (for some reason, despite numerous conversations with him, we never did find out his name) and his porter Budhi. Korean Guy amused us greatly by producing a massive bag containing at least 5kg of kimchi, which he dolloped liberally over his dal bhat, declaring that said dish, unadorned, was 'ai ai ai ai ai'.
After lunch, the weather had improved but the trail was still pretty tricky - a steep ascent along a precarious rocky path close to the edge of the gorge. It's difficult to enjoy the scenery when you have to focus all your attention on the path.
Not helping my general mood that day was the fact that I was finding Maria intensely annoying. Almost everything she said was tinged with an air of negativity and complaint and, moreover, her trousers made a really frustraing squeaky-rustling noise that, once I'd tuned into, I couldn't get out of my head. I thus spent much of the first two days trying to walk at least 50m in front or behind of her, which was difficult to maintain without appearing rude. Day 3 was, without question, the worst of the trip.
In contrast, day 4 was one of the best. I set out in great spirits, feeling like I was in the opening scene of the Sound of Music. The path all day was exquisitly beautiful, following the Marsyangdi, first along the bank, then through dense pine forest. I was absolutely enchanted by what I now consider my favourite combination of sounds - the throb of fast-gushing river with the liveliness of birds chirping. The air was deliciously fresh and full of the sweetness of the pine. I was walking by myself most of the time and was glad of it. The mountain views were becoming ever more spectacular as we climbed higher. No photos can prepare you for seeing the Himalyamas. It was almost like I hadn't believed they existed before. We got our first view of the Annapurna II summit. The scale is literally awesome (and we were still days away from appreciating the full awesomeness).
I particularly enjoyed lunch that day. We had to wait an hour for the but the dal bhat was so excellent that it was worth it. In the meantime, we played volleyball, soaked up the views and basked in the sun. Happy times! The walk was just as lovely in the afternoon. For the first couple of days I'd walked quite quickly, almost like I needed to prove to myself that I was fit. For the first time now, though, I slowed down the pace and sauntered towards along, loving every glorious minute of it. The strangest thing is that you can be looking at a view, thinking it's the best you've ever seen, then you go round a bend, see something even more beautiful and then forget what's preceded it.
In the evening, I had a pep talk with Maria, the effect of which was that from that moment on she was generally much more positive and we started getting along much better (by the end we were great friends).
Day 4, whilst not the most remarkable day, was absolutely one of my favourites and definitely the happiest.
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