The AC Series: day 15

Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Location: Tikhedhunga
Elevation: 1540m

Peter and I woke up at 4am to get to the top of Poon Hill, the best viewpoint in Nepal of the Himalayas and named after an army Major, before sunrise. It was pitch dark, misting, and godawfully early. I just threw on my trekking clothes (REI pants, tank top, thermal shirt, fleece), picked up a bag I packed the night before with water and bug spray, donned my headlamp, and left the teahouse. Peter didn't have a flashlight and had to walk closely in front of me in order to see from the headlamp. We went westward until we found a Poon Hill turnoff and then ascended about 350m.

It took 45 minutes of hard climbing in the dark. I was hot and sweaty halfway into the hike and took off the fleece to repace with my midweight thermal. That's when I found it: a leech on my right forearm. It was getting bigger before my eyes. I screamed and turned my head away while P picked it off me; I don't mind blood or bugs on other people but on me it's a different matter.

one of the three leech bites

We reached the top of Poon Hill, climbed the watchtower, and our hopes of a great view quickly faded as we realized that the rain and clouds would not clear anytime soon. We hiked up for nothing except a good story. Since the tower did not have seats, we found an abandoned tea hut and sat under the thatched roof for a while while watching the clouds. They only got thicker around us. Finally we called it quits and decided to hike back down. Five minutes later I feel something like a cold coin on my lower back and immediately realize it's a leech fallen off me and trying to get out of my shirt. I squealed again, flapped my shirt like a madwoman, and ran off While Peter found amusement in examining the engorged thing on the ground before stabbing it to death with his walking stick. He reported that my blood pooled around theleech. For the 30 minutes back to the teahouse I was afraid of leeches and laughed a bunch as P made jokes about "Poon" and leeches in an Indian accent. "I am going to get Major Poon tonight!" We had a big breakfast and went back to bed for three hours.

When we woke up again it was raining hard and we had to decided if.when to leave and how far we would go today. We felt lazy, left around noon, and planned to stop about two hours before Naya Pul in the town we're currently in. Good thing, too, because two hours into the hike it started raining again and the THOUSANDS of steps we had to descend became extremely slick. The scenery is amazing, though, with saturated green rain forest and little periwinkle butterflies hovering near the ground. The water is crystal clear in the river and I have to restrain myself from jumping into every pool I see. The downhill on the steps was the toughest part. I fell a few times, the last time so hard that it jarred my entire back and blinded me with tears. I needed ten minutes to recover and wipe my unintentional tears away; I've never been in so much pain in years.

Now we're at the picturesque Riverside Lodge with Rob in the pouring rain - Mike decided to finish the trek and get back to Pokhara tonight. It's so tropical that there's a dead tarantula in the sink, mushrooms growing next to the toilet, and spiders as big as my palm. This is the last night on the trail and I'm enjoying the relaxation! I love the sound of the waterfall underneath the teahouse. I started reading The Historian this morning and it's good so far.