The night before during dinner several of us were debating in hush tones. A couple was saying Binod was telling them about Poon Hill the next day. I was adamant that there was no Poon Hill. Kong Wan was wondering how come suddenly got Poon Hill because it wasn't even in the itinerary. Most of us have been to Poon Hill before, and some of the children, when they heard that we were going to do Poon Hill, almost went into AMS. So the discussion went on and on and on.... until Babu confirmed that yes, we WERE going to do Poon Hill.
Ok lor... let's make the experience complete and memorable, especially for those who hadn't done Poon Hill, we would all go up Poon Hill, I told the children, though we may run the risk of developing PoonHill-ilits. But it would be really worth it. Let's go!
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| These people are all siao one. |
5:15 am. We started off from Sunny guest house with Babu leading the way and made our way towards Poon Hill. It was still dark. And it was freezing. The whole team was there sans Serene. This young lady had diarrhea the whole night, the classic E. coli infection, and she had to skip Poon Hill. Fortunately for her she did, because while we were up in Poon Hill she had five more episodes of watery stools ~ classic PoonHill-itis.
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| Dark dark climb illuminated only by our headlamps. |
Babu said: "Usually it will take one hour to climb up to Poon Hill. But for you, I will say.. maybe one hour fifteen minutes." Ok, Singaporean pace is one hour fifteen minutes. But hor, inside my heart I secretly harbour the notion that for us, one and a half hour should be more like it.
But we were quite close to Babu's estimate. One hour fifteen minutes, and we were almost at the top, with the dawn of the new day lighting up the sky.
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| YES! That Poon Hill tower! |
THE VIDEO
Click on image below for my Strava record of Poon Hill's trek
Click on image below for my Relive Video of Poon Hill's trek
Relive 'ABC 2018 Day 4: Poon Hill trek in the morning'
The COLD up on Poon Hill...
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| frosted grass |
The Poon Hill climb was cold, negative 5.4 degrees right on top. It took us one hour fifteen minutes. We were breathless and our leg muscles were still asleep and stiff when we first started the ascent, but the circulation improved as we progressed and at the top what remained cold was no longer the muscles but the skin. Some of the girls experienced nausea when reaching Poon Hill, but it was more of the climb to above 3000m, in addition to the early morning start off that compounded that. Perhaps some mild indication of slight AMS.
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| I just CANNOT believe it! Mongolian Kar-C Jacalyn CHEONG could still jump up on Poon Hill! Photo: Jacalyn |
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| The two ladies in blue. Photo: Jacalyn |
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| Group photo one at negative 5.4 degrees. Photo: Kong Wan |
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| Group photo two at negative 5.4 degrees. Photo: Kong Wan |
My memory was brought back to six years ago when we trekked Poon Hill with the children, Questal was the one who suffered tremendously going up Poon Hill with the whole works of symptoms - nausea, abdominal cramps, breathlessness, fainting spells... PoonHill-itis, a classic textbook description of the unmissable diagnosis characterised by panic attack, breathlessness, nausea, abdominal cramps, giddiness, occasionally watery stools.
But all was worth the suffering because we made it just in time for the golden rays of sunrise to hit the mountain ranges- Machhapucchre, Himchuli, Annapurna South, the Annapurna Fangs ranges and Nilgiri. I personally enjoyed the golden peaks much more this round, perhaps because I could start to recognise many of them.
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| For those (namely, Fann) who are very anal about the names of each of the peaks. Here they are. |
This round personally I enjoyed Poon Hill even more than the first time 6 years ago. Most likely because I knew what to expect and I was more able to appreciate the peaks basked in golden lights. But my sentiment wasn't shared by Ah Sing and Ah Li.
"Papa, this time round I did not find Poon Hill so beautiful as last time," said Ah Li.
"Yah, I remember the last time six years ago it was nice a green. But now the grass were all yellow," added Ah Sing.
Setting off from Ghorepani towards Tadapani
With Poon Hill done and dusted, we were ready to move out. After yesterday’s tough trek, we really didn’t know how today was going to be. My only memory of the trek from Ghorepani to Tadapani was it was tough. But that was six years ago.
Click on image below for my Strava record of today's trek
Click on image below for my Relive Video of today's trek
Relive 'ABC 2018 Day 4: Ghorepani to Tadapani'
We finally set off from Sunny Guesthouse (they called themselves Sunny Hotel, but to me it was still more of a guesthouse than a hotel) at Ghorepani at around close to 9am. This day turned out to be a really nice day of trek as we traversed the woods of Rhododendron forest and we walked along the ridges of the mountains. From Ghorepani’s 2874m we would ultimately arrive at Tadapani which would be around 2700m. Although it appears on paper to be a descent of about 100m, it entailed much ups and downs.. the usual what Babu would term 'Nepali flat'. I began to enjoy this term. Everything on the trek was 'Nepali flat' and when one simply accepted things as Nepali flat, then it would just be flat.
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| The lovely gentle step up right out of Ghorepani. Photo: Jacalyn. |
We were really pleasantly surprised by the first part of the day’s trek. It was such a splendid walk. Babu said earlier that the first part would be a gentle climb and true to his words it was. And looking at the photo above, the steps were so nice, compared to the day before and it was effortless even though we were climbing.
The only unfortunate thing was, the day was overcast and misty. We would have loved more sun to keep us warmer and also for charging purposes. With these kind of cloudy conditions, our solar panels didn’t do us much good.
It felt like walking in the woods of some mythical countryside. Cooling weather and misty sky, ups and downs but it was a serene journey. We passed through small running streams but it was mainly rocks and trees with undergrowth.
I remembered there was a part where we would trek up to the top of the ridge and would be walking along the top for a certain distance until we reach a whole stretch of Rhododendron forest. Soon we ascended to the bare top ridge.
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| Almost reaching the top of the ridge. |
Nicole later said: “The climb from Ghorepani to Tadapani was nice because there wasn’t many rocky steps, just walking along the mountain trails.” And I totally agreed with her.
It felt like walking in the woods of some mythical countryside. Cooling weather and misty sky, ups and downs but it was a serene journey. We passed through small running streams but it was mainly rocks and trees with undergrowth.
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| Ryan must be missing his football kaki... Photo: Jacalyn |
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| VO2Max Queen Ai Lin this whole trek she was just taking it really easy. Photo: Jacalyn |
Yes, memories came flooding. Years back when I arrived here, for some reasons I was pretty winded already and I looked back and saw Fann and Questal a long distance behind. But at that point in time the children were much younger and I was overwhelmed by emotions when I saw each of them doing their best to trek up to this ridge top. That was when I knew they had it in them.
Fast forward now, six years later, the children had grown and were now stronger both physically and mentally and both Serene and I were so much more reassured. Only thing now was, we had to take care of ourselves because age hadn’t been kind to our joints and physical fitness.
Nicole was really an outstanding example of a bubbly happy trekker. Every step of the way she had really outdone herself and was able to adapt well to the cold, the climb and the harshness of the weather. Despite suffering from a right hip pain that made it difficult for her to lift up her right leg, she was still cheerful. I really took my hats off to this young millennium bug who was new to trekking. I believe I could reassure Kong Wan and Ai Lin that she had what it took to be a trekker.
Ryan was definitely a seasoned trekker. After successfully accomplishing EBC last year, I knew Ryan was ready for anything. He just needed chocolate, and plenty of anything that was chocolatey. And he needed long suspension bridges to jump on. Of course, he needed his constant companion. But sometimes life turned out not exactly the way one wanted it to. So this time round it was also a challenge of character to see how he surmounted the adversities without his football buddy to talk about Gabriel Jesus the football player, about Manchester City and Manchester United.
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| Photo: Serene |
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| Photo: Ah Li |
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| Photo: Ah Li |
I was on the constant look out for that part with the prayer flags and my heart skipped a beat when they appeared. The prayer flags were what I trekked for. To me, they were a lighthouse of protection, a luminous embodiment of what the Tibetan Buddhists take refuge in. Being in their presence, I knew I was close by civilisation and I was comforted by that. I spotted new flags upon old. The locals really were very meticulous in replacing them.
"Papa, remember this part? Last time you took a picture of both of us here. Can you take a shot of us again?" requested Ah Sing and Ah Li, which I gladly obliged.
We reached a small ledge where we took a short rest.
... and before long we started trekking again. The weather changed... not a single bit.
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| Photo: Ah Li |
Thinking back, I reflected on this day's trek. The day before was a tough trek and that probably killed many of us. But life has always a way of balancing things out. You get a bad day, and then you get a not-so-bad-day. Thus, today was a relatively enjoyable day. In our minds, we knew that all we needed to do was to just grit our teeth and walk through that dark dark tunnel the day before, and we would emerge into the light of this day. I dare even say, it was a relaxing a fun day.
Thinking back, I recalled the description given by Babu the night before: the first three hours of climbs followed by two hours of descent and then about 30 minutes of what Babu called Nepali flat consisting of some gradual ups and downs before we would reach the Banthanti river and walked along the Banthanti River, following its bank to reach a bridge that crossed it and from there on about one and a half hours of steep climb up to Tadapani.
At this point, I believed we were going to be hitting the descent soon. And I was right. It came.
Half way through the walk, Fann suddenly alled out: "Uncle I need to pee. Can you please help jaga and protect me while the rest walk ahead." Of course I would. But I had the habit of taking a selfie whenever she squated down a distance away from me to ease herself.
Banthanti river with the longda
Along the trek we kept coming upon areas in the woods where flashes of memories surfaced from deep inside our mind, snippets of Dejavu from six years ago.
And oh, what a welcoming sight to behold the Banthanti River with its bank full of stacks of Longda. Over the years more and more were added and now there seemed many more. Jacalyn, Serene, Shu Ning and Kong Wan couldn't get enough of shooting from all angles.
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| Photo: Serene |
Here was a photo created from a still shot on my iphone with the App Pixaloop.
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| Photo: Serene |
I distinctly remembered one leg of the track where we had frozen ice on the trail and it was so slippery that six years ago. What more, we didn't expect to hit ic trail so early and we packed all our shoe spikes with our advance porters ahead. We had learned our lesson since. [Click on each to review our adventure that six years ago: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.] But on this day the ground was nice and solid. No frozen ice this time round. Well, no frozen icy trails, YET.
And finally we arrived at the bridge at the low point. From her we would be walkig along the banks of Banthanti River before the sharp ascent to Tadapani.
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| Animation created with Pixaloop |
The trek hor... just keep going down and then up and sometimes when we look far ahead we saw the road ascend up and our hearts sank. But no choice right? What went down must also go up mah. This part from Ghorepani to Tadeapani was all walking on the top of the ridges and I found it most liberating. I am one who loved to see the vast openness, and to enjoy space.
I happened to be walking behind Ah Sing and Nicole. These pair have struck up quite a relationship and were talking and chit chatting quite a bit. As I looked up, I saw them rounding a corner - I liked the frame and the feel of this.
Kong Wan was the hard-working perpetual wefie-machine as well as photographer. He was the pillar of the group, his steadiness, his decision-making and his wisdom. I was glad to have him with us on this trip because he kept us safe. And not to mention, as per Fann, he is also the kindest man on earth, which I agree whole-heartedly.
After the Banthanti River we started the steep ascent toward Tadapani. We arrived at Tadapani at 5:28am, just nice for us to climb to our guest house that had a magnificent view of Machhapuchchre, Himculi and Annapurna South basking in the golden sunset rays. It was such a small world, we met three Singaporeans- a man called Mark who used to cycle with the Joyriders, his fried Chen Han and wife Katerina. They were heading towards Chhomrong and after that back down to Jinhu.
"Quickly!" called out Kong Wan as we walked into Tadapani. "We are just in time to catch the golden suset on the moutains. Quickly come!" and we ran. An oh! What a magnificent view!
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| Ah Sing was so relieved to be at Tadapani finally. |
Here are the individual shots of ourselves: Jacalyn, Fann & Shu Ning, Ah Li & Ah Sing, Serene and myself, Ai Lin & Kong Wan, Lim Family, Wong Family.
Refilling of water bottles...
At Tadapani we started refilling our empty water bottles at 100 NPR per one litre bottle and hot water at 100NPR per container. This price would gradually escalate to 120NPR for a one litre bottle refill at Chhomrong abc 130NPR at Dhovan, and further up at Deurali per refill costed 140NPR.
Both Kong Wan and I agreed that this was a green way of not generating plastic waste.
It was later at Deurali when Babu explained that over the past 6-7 years the ABC trek had adopted this safe water refill system to cut down unnecessary plastic waste which we all thought it was a good idea.
Kong Wan asked why it hadn’t been adopted along EBC trek yet. Baby’s answer was they are slowly going to do that among EBC.
What was interesting was when we were at Deurali later on this trek we witnessed an American couple who was using an ultraviolet SteriPen sterilizer that all they needed was ask for free tap water and kept stirring this UV pen for a minute and half and viola! Safe drinking water! The cost? US$120. If we use it among a group of 10 plus of us it would be worth its money in just one single trip.
Was it cold that night in Tadapani?
You bet it was. We had no more NCELL mobile signal. So we ended up paying 200NPR at every guesthouse to buy their wifi. And on this night it was not warm.
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Walking down to dinner. [Photo: Serene]
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| The highly-sough after central heater. Photo: Ah Li |
With this heater, we managed to dry our wet base layers, wet middle layers, socks, outer fleece - everything... within a short period. This was marvellous!
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