We arrived in Kathmandu on April 8, took a 7 hours bus ride the next day to a beautiful lakeside City called Pokhara.   We started our trek from a town called Phedi and it was uphill from then on (literally).  

 

We did a 6 days trek under the watchful gaze of snow-capped mountains called the Annapurna range.  It was the most comfortable trek Paul and I have ever done.  Don’t get me wrong, the trek was not easy!  Stone steps straight up and stone steps straight down.  Steppers and lunges are a must for those preparing for this trek.  A comfortable trek it was because every hour or two away you reach a village fitted with restaurants and lodges with simple beds and hot showers!  The restaurants serve fresh food from their backyard garden, freshly kneaded dough for chapati or tibetan mo-mos, water, coke, black toblerone and snickers bar along side tibetan handicrafts, prayer flags and other souvenirs!  We trekked a living mountain, pass peoples front yard and winding through their streets made of stone steps.  

 

The trek we did was the Poon Hill Trek (lonely planet) culminating into a 45 minute climb to Poon Hill (3210 meters) for a supposedly fantastic sunrise view of the Annapurana range.  Unfortunately for us it was a cloudy morning, although the Annapuranas did peek through the clouds for a few seconds.  

 

It was not the trek that we expected but with a week long meeting following the trek, we didn’t have time to rough it out.  For six days, we ate healthy and fresh food, slept early and woke up early, read a lot of books that we otherwise wouldn’t have time to do in Afghanistan,  walked mindfully 4-6 hours a day....  in the end it turned out to be the perfect RnR for us.  We felt fit and relaxed by the end of the week.

 

Nepal is a great place to visit.  Thamel area in Kathmandu is a great place to shop and dine.  As soon as you get out from the the congested chaotic streets of the capital, a different world opens up.  

 

Check out the photo album under Trekking in Nepal for some pix of our trip.