10 hours of sleep, so good! I wake up to a view of Dhaulagiri’s snow covered top. We have a relaxed 9:00 departure and just as the day before, we walk along a narrow path through the forest. Every now and then the trees open up and give way for a view into the valley. Dhaulagiri and Annapurna are now hiding behind the ridges that line the valley we are walking up in.

The lodge is a big house with a high roof and the rooms are only separated by thin walls. I wake up at 5:30 when my neighbour opens his squeaky door to visit the crapper. Given that I was in bed before 22:00, I don’t mind the early hour, it’s getting light anyway. It still takes a moment to leave the comfort of sleeping bag and blanket. Fleece and long underpants always spend the night in bed with me, so they are nice and warm in the morning.

I’m really excited about going on this trek. I think a big reason for that is that it’s something completely new and challenging for me. I have a coffee for breakfast and order a brownie with it. Expected them to just slap it on a plate but instead they did this. Excited and on sugar rush I head back to the guest house to prepare for departure. If this was a cartoon, I’d be jumping up and down, shouting “let’s go trekking!

At a quarter to seven I’m out of bed and sit at the breakfast table not much later. I go for fried rice, as for me rice is a proven classic for not getting hungry again too early. The day ahead is likely to be the hardest of the whole trek. We’ll walk for 7h and the only direction is up. It’s 8:00 when we leave the guest house and its amazing host behind.

Right then, tomorrow is the big day (play the intro of Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger here). Heading out on the longest trek of my life. Considering that the two days back in Laos were the longest so far, it’s quite an increment. That being said, the treks around here have a reputation for being rather feasible, given a decent physical shape. Nothing for your average 400 pound US-American though.

Two things keep amazing me about Asia. Number one is that Asia works. They find a solution for everything and make things happen with smallest means. They transport fridges on scooters, they use chopped-off fish heads as candle holders, they keep machines alive that the west abandoned decades ago. Take a radio that was at the centre of a nuclear blast and give it to an Asian - he’ll fix it.

Tourism in Pokhara and Nepal in general was badly hit by the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake and the following Indian border closure that resulted in a severe lack of gas, petrol and many other things needed during winter time. These days, parts of the main tourist area in Pokhara look like a ghost town. Restaurants able to seat a hundred guests are empty all day round and bars blast their music at a handful of patrons or none at all.

So you think your job is tough?

To get from Kathmandu to Pokhara, the adventurous traveller has several options. A short hop on a domestic airline is the fastest and most expensive. Given that this country had two plane crashes in the short time that I’ve been here, it’s not an option I’d seriously consider. Which leaves road transportation (or walking). There aren’t many things I dread as much as bus journeys in Asia. It’s not that I’m overly concerned about safety, it’s just that I’m way too tall for… well any kind of vehicle around here.

“Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival of Nepal and India celebrated annually in reverence of the God Shiva” (wikipedia). The guys at the house had gotten pretty excited about it, as it’s the one day were one can smoke excessive amounts of weed in the streets without being considered a lowlife. Yesterday it was that day of the year and I had considered paying the Pashupatinath temple a visit. It is one of the holiest places of Hinduism and people flock from all over Nepal and India for the festival.