Poon Hill trek Day 2: Ulleri to Ghorepani.

Eight km and 1000m up.

We woke up to sunshine and wonderful views of the Himalaya. Sixty million years ago the Indo-Asian plate collided with the Eurasian continent, forming the Himalaya. And the Himalaya and is still growing at a rate of 6 mm a year as the Indo-Asian plate is still sliding. Nepal claims 10 of the world's 14 tallest mountains.

After breakfast we continued the climb up the mountain on more stone steps, and it took quite a while to get going. But today the steps were interchanged with more even terrain, while still slowly climbing. 

It was a very varied hike, as we passed several waterfalls, villages and a rhododendron forrest. We stopped for tea, and Dorte gave a small girl a couple of gummy bears which she liked. I rubbed my tummy, and she did the same after she had eaten them.

Lars took a short cut down the mountain side and fell, but luckily he only got a few scratches. Towards the end of the trek it started drizzling, and Mr. Rai was encouraging us to move ahead before it really started raining. We reached Sunny Hotel in Ghorepani at 2820 m around 2:30pm, and it was wonderful to have a hot shower. We almost felt like taking another one, just because we didn't know when the next one would be! The hot water is heated with solar power, so no sunshine, no hot water! Unfortunately, Ghorepani was covered in clouds, so there was no much of a view. After some hot tea, we found a warm place with Internet access, and caught up on our emails. 

It started raining again, and we really hoped it would clear by the next morning, so we could enjoy the view from Poon Hill. We had dinner at 6:00pm and were in bed by 8:00pm, as we were tired - again. Once you pass 2500m the air starts to get thinner, you breathe faster to get enough oxygen, and you can get altitude sickness.