The trek begins

In the morning, after breakfast, we set off for hiking. In pouring rain, we rode with a taxi driver we had met two days earlier to Nayapul. The taxi driver worked as a pizza delivery driver in Saarbrücken in the 1990s. On the way, we wanted to withdraw some money since cash is the only accepted payment method in the mountain huts. Unfortunately, our credit card did not work outside of Pokhara. We had some cash, but not enough. And then something very unexpected happened: Our taxi driver borrowed money from an acquaintance he randomly met and gave it to us along with his own money, totaling about a seventh of his monthly salary. We were very impressed by that.

Then our trek started. It first went through a small village, then along a muddy, rocky path. After about an hour, the children didn't want to walk anymore, and a jeep offered to take us to the next village. Since we hardly had any money, we had to negotiate with the driver to lower the price from 2000Rs to 400Rs, which worked.

And that was our luck! Because after the village, it went uphill. And by uphill, I mean 1000 meters in altitude spread over 7650 steps. Each of us reached our limits on these steps.

What we didn't know was that there were leeches crawling all over the path. That's why we couldn't take a break and had to climb all the steps in one go. We also found it fascinating that there was dung on almost every step, so we had to zigzag.

But we were so proud of ourselves for making it to the end.

We stopped at the first teahouse that appeared in front of us because we couldn't take another step. It was probably the same for all the other hikers since the accommodation was full. As a result, it was really cozy. The stove was lit, and we were able to hang up our wet clothes.

After a delicious meal and 3 liters of masala tea, we went to bed completely exhausted. We didn't care that it was freezing cold in our room. In general, there should be no heating in the teahouses.