It was said that Ghorepani Poon Hill circuit trek in Nepal is the world popular trekking destination where those who go for trekking can enjoy beautiful mountains view, culture and people of Annapurna region. Trekking up to Poon Hill will allow you to witness the spectacular mountain scenery through charming villages inhabited by the Gurungs and dense rhododendron forests that the whole mountain could turn pink during Mar-May.
Nepal has been listed on my destinations List years ago until December 2008 as my dream is to appreciate the Himalayan Rage and learn the culture of the Nepali. I and a group of freinds decided to go and explore the legendary country that is rich of beautiful landscape, nature and its charm of culture. Our plan was to spend couple days in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal and 4 days in Pokhara, Gateway city for trekking and then we went for trekking up to Poon Hill in the Annapurna region for another 4 days.
Kathmandu : We catched a taxi from Tribhuvan International Airport to the well known area for backpack tourist..Thamel. With a little surprise that there was a guy jumped into our taxi intrducing himself and started the conversation with only the confirmation from our taxi driver that “He is a good guy, you can trust him” then the driver started to drive us off the airport. The introduction about Nepal was started and ended up with the hotel that he was running in Thamel and was happy to give us a special offer with Free taxi ride, which by that time costed 250 Rupees, if we stay at his hotel. He asked us to check out the room first and decide if we wanted to stay with US$ 10 per night. After checking out the room, we decided to stay as it was quite bother to find some other places even we were awared that there were hundreds of them with cheaper rate. All we needed to do afer finding the place to stay was exchange the money and book the bus ticket to Pokhara on the next day, also not to forget to apply the Trekking Permit to The Annapurna Region as I were not sure if we would have enough time to do so in Pokhara. We found that you don’t have to book the lodging in advance as there’re hundreds of cheap hotels, guesthouses or hostels in Thamel for you to even check out the room before booking your stay. Most of the taxi drivers were somehow being associated with those lodgings and all about travel industry here. Your first conversation with a taxi driver could lead you to next stuff to do in this country, of course, they run the business together.
I would say Thamel was everything for travelers, trekkers, backpackers given that there are everything that you would need during your trip here in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan or India. There are thousands of travel agents that offer a tailor made travel package or trekking routes. Also countless of lodging, trekking gears shops, restaurants, pups, bars, book shops, authentic souvenir shops located in Thamel.
Pokhara : A gateway city for trekking to the Annapura Region. Pokhara was a nice city that I found setting itself charming and open for visitors from around the world with beautiful weather all year round. The Fish Tail Peak and The Annapurna Range were found very up closed to you from the guesthouse window we stayed. We spent easy days along The Phewa Lake with lots of relaxing before and after trekking. There are a lot of cozy and nice restaurants in Pokhara for you to visit and also hundreds of cheap guesthouses, hotels, lodges on your choices. You don’t have to book in advance during the low season (May -September), but for the high season, it was recommended to do so (same as in Kathmandu).
How to get to Pokhara?
- Demestic flights from Kathmandu, ther are domestic flight operate from Kathmandu to Pokhara and other regions in Nepal for example Yetti Airline, Bhuddha Air, one way could cost average at US$ 65 – US$ 80
- Tourist Bus Service from Kathmandu, Green Line Service costs about US$ 12, Blue Sky Service costs about US$ 10 and other tourist bus service. You can also ask the travel agents in Thamel to help you on booking
- Car Rental from Kathmandu
Trekking to Poon Hill
We’ve hired the porters and and a guide to help us during the trek to Poon hill. Tour guide and porters are easily found in Nepal. You can ask the travel agent who booked your domestic flight or bus ticket to arrange considered good ones for you. Basically a porter can also be a tour guide, but that might add up the service. All depends on how and type of service fee that you’ve agreed at the first place.
Generally,Trekking to Poon Hill started from Nayapul Village will take you 2 days for the way up, and another 2 days for the way trekking down with the height at 3210 meters above the sea level. There also another trekking route for example, Tatopani route or Gundruk route that you can go and take you about the same time in average. Along the trek, you’ll discover the hidden beautiful landscape of the Annapurna Region and meet with warm hospitality of the local Nepali, you’ll love like I do greetings people with “Namaste” with their beautiful smiles. Lodging or tea house could be easily found at each village along the trekking trails. Basically the room per night cost 100 – 200 Rupees in average which was incredibly cheap and you can order food at most of the lodgings. The food could cost 150 – 300 Rupees each meal depended on the menus. I kind of like it this way even though the meal cost is higher than the room, but whatever way there are to support the locals, we should never hesitated to, should we? I’ve enjoyed a lot the black tea at the tea house along the way. The Nepali traditional mountain house style is one of my favorite, they blended well with the beautiful scenery of the mountain and all of the nature given. It was difficult to me to trek up to the Poon Hill, but I was worth while to see such a paradise on earth. I FELL IN LOVE WITH NEPAL since then.
Travel Guide
Tags: trekking in Nepal