Panchase Trek

To get to the start point of the trek, first we had to take a local bus (the kind where people ride on the roof) for 9km, which took an hour. We wound our way up and down cliffs, constantly beeping the horn and getting far too close to hurtling over the edge into the lake below and then we got to the part where the road is still being built so the tough old bus went offroad through paddocks and even through dried up riverbeds until we reached a little village which was the start of the Panchase trek.
After a quick breakfast of dhaal bhat (lentil soup with rice and some vege curry) we began climbing steep rock stairs up and up and up and they just kept on going up. After a couple of hours of the torturous stairs our guide told us that the whole trek was just a steep incline to the top of the 24oometre mountain and was one of the hardest treks to do. We thought we were off on a nice short wander through some flat land. Oh dear. I considered turning around and going home afew times, but somehow managed to persevere (and yes Katherine, I looked to Billy Blanks for inspiration!).
Most of the trek was through jungle and we stopped off at one village where we invited ourselves into someones home and asked them for some tea. They were feasting on a species of endangered monkey. The views were pretty cool along the way but because its been so dusty lately we couldn't see any of the himalayas.
So, up and up we went for about 7 hours and just when I thought I couldn't possible walk any further we arrived at our home for the night. I was so happy I nearly cried! I was surprised that there were afew guesthouses up there, and even more surprised that the guesthouses were all full. We ended up with a room to stay in though and our guide just slept on the kitchen floor.
We sat down to a dinner of dhaal bhat and black tea which the coolest old lady cooked up for us on an open fire which was in a pit in the kitchen floor. She was the strongest little lady and when she gave me a hug she nearly crushed me!
Our guide then started to drink raksi (homemade millet beer) and got pretty annoying pretty quickly so we went off to bed, leaving them to sing and dance all night. We had taken our bhai (little brother) from the hotel with us and he asked to sleep in our room with us because of the drunken guide who had promised not to drink.
I had a surprisingly good night rest on my bed which was just a wooden plank with a grass mat on it. The next day was meant to be a day of rest and wandering but we decided to head back home after a morning spent skimming rocks and watching buffalo swimming.
It was much easier and quicker going back home but so much harder on my body and my legs are so sore I can't walk!
Our guide ended up being a total dick and told his boss that we didn't pay him enough even though we actually overpaid him, and he's trying to swindle all sorts of money out of all sorts of people. Apparently it's quite hard to find an honest guide that doesn't just get drunk and try to rip you off.
All in all, I'm glad I did the trek - and did a short one before embarking on a 3week one - but I don't want to ever do one again! I'm giving my shoes away so that I never get tempted to do a trek ever again!

Here's afew photos from the trek..... The first two photos are of the view along the way, the next two are of the village I stayed in. The last two photos are of the women who ran the guesthouse, and of Mama cooking roti (like a thin pancake) for breakfast over the fire in the kitchen floor. The last photo is a random one of a snake charmer in Pokhara.