The tea house was full last night but it was super quiet. I suspect that everyone was exhausted, as I was, from the grueling climb up the stairs thus everyone went to bed early and likely slept as soundly as I did. Which was good as we got up early and were walking by 6:30 am. Like yesterday the path went straight up the side of the mountain and consisted of more of the dreaded steep stairs. I had two things in my favor this morning, I was well rested and the sun was not shining down on my head yet. It had risen but had not reached the point where it shone into the valley where we were; the path was still shadowed. I started out with determination knowing that the steep stairs ended about an hour up the trail. From there it was back to the “normal” stairs. It is amazing how fast you adapt. The “normal” stairs were quite grueling on Day 1 of the Langtang trek and now they were not difficult at all.

Looking ahead on the path. Two days from now we are going to be on the edge of the hill on the let about half way down.

We had the trail pretty much to ourselves since we started out early although as we passed tea houses along the way there were people out and about. They simply were not moving yet. Once we reached the point where the steep, tortuous stairs ended, the walk became rather pleasant. It was still a steady climb up but the path alternated between the all too familiar stone stairs and smooth dirt. The stairs were scattered apart enough that I was able to keep a pretty good pace. The terrain was mainly forest and as the morning wore on and the heat of the sun started to become an issue, the forest provided some excellent shade. I really never had to get my shade hat out as I felt protected for most of the way. It was also peaceful walking along among all of the various shades of green. Because the path was a bit more smooth I could take time to look around more since my feet could take care of themselves without my full attention. I have to admit that was one of the things that made it more pleasant!

After an hours climb, this is looking back to where we stayed. It is the lower set of blue buildings.

As we got higher it was interesting to look back and  get another perspective on just how steep the trail was. After only an hour on the trail the village where we spent the previous evening was small in the distance. The total altitude gain today is just shy of 1000 meters. Our stop for the evening is at 2900 meters, more or less. Even though we gained 400 meter more than yesterday the whole hike was much more comfortable.

This is what a nice, smooth path looks like.

As we continued to gain altitude the forest started to change; it came alive with color. The rhododendrons were in full bloom and there were splashes of red everywhere. Both Prem and I took tons of pictures but looking at my collection it is clear that it is hard to capture the actual colors as sharply as they appeared to my eyes.   As we would stop to look up at the slopes around us, for we were walking in kind of a crease in the mountain, so there were slopes all around, the hillside would be awash in green and red. All we needed was some snow to have a picture perfect Christmas scene! (I’m sure the snow will come later as we get closer to the base camp.) As we walked, tucked away here and there were tea houses. After about two and a half hours on the trail we stopped for tea and a bit of a rest.

The walk became pleasant as we walked through forest.

There was quite a bit of traffic on the trail passing us by, going down the mountain. Of course I am sure there was an equally busy traffic lane coming up but since we were all walking in parallel I did not have any insight into that, until we stopped for the day. Tonight, as I sit here writing this, the tea house we are staying continues at fills up, and it is huge, it is obvious there are a lot of people out here wandering around.  Clearly the Annapurna area is hugely popular and quite busy.

As we emerged from the other side of the forest, in the crease where two slopes met we saw tons of flowering trees.

After resting it took only another hour and a half to reach our stop for the day. As I mentioned, it is huge, consisting of three floors. The top floor is the dining hall and could probably hold about 70 people. The kitchen looks more like a professional kitchen as opposed to a family’s personal realm. This truly is a lodge. The bathrooms, which are located on multiple floors, even have western style toilets- a treat for us girls! I really got a kick out of the menu because it was multi-cultural. As a matter of fact I ordered a bean and cheese burrito for lunch just out of curiosity about how Nepali cooks interpret a Mexican dish. It arrived and really was quite good. Inside were not only beans, but also carrots, tomato, onion, and believe it or not, diced green bean. As always it could have used more cheese but overall I really enjoyed it. A nice change from pure starch.

In case you are wondering how heavy equipment moves around up here, we passed these guys moving a generator.

The weather was really bad during the afternoon.  Prem and I were going to go out and wander around but no sooner than we had taken a dozen steps from the tea house than thunder rumbled in the distance.  Taking a look at the clouds we re-thought our plan and went inside.  Sure enough, it started raining and that was the story of the afternoon.  It must have rained, steadily, for about three hours.  The clouds would thin in areas allowing me a brief glimpse of one of the snow capped mountains we are heading for.  But the scene was gone in a second as the clouds continued their dance up and down the valley surrounding us.

Nepali version of a bean and cheese burito. It was actually pretty good.

All during the afternoon people would trickle in wet and happy to be here.  This evening the stove in the center of the dining room, with its multi-level drying rack completely circling it, is the most popular place for both people and wet clothes and shoes.  The place is noisy with multiple language, Thai, Chinese, a slavic European language that might be Czech, English, Arabic (the Kuwaitis showed up), and German are the ones that I recognize.  The kitchen is busy turning out cups of tea and everyone is relaxing.  It is the most people I have run into on a trek, ever.  I suspect it will be fairly noisy tonight, unlike last night.

Tomorrow morning we are really getting up early, leaving at 4:30 am for short hike up Poon Hill to watch the sunrise, then back for breakfast and the start of the day’s hike.  I hope the clouds depart some time tonight!