Our trekking is supported by a guide named Budi and two porters. We carried our own daily pack consisting the bare minimum to supplement the walk, about 5 to 7 kilos each. The rest are carried by the porters, each one could carry up to 60 kilos each if required.
At Phedi, a small village, we set our gears and the porters started to arrange the bags which they will carry. We started the ascent. It was going uphill all the time, quite punishing, intermittently interrupted by gentler climbs passing through numerous paddy fields and small villages. It was hard work. We were sweating all over as we pushed our way. We reached Dhampus, a small village, about 2 hours later. The climb brought us another 500 metres higher into the mountain.
In Dhampus, one could find many good accommodations with reasonable facilities. Our guide managed to find a room in one of those hotels, though probably more like hostels. Because they are many choices, our guide didn’t even bother to book our accommodation in advance. We could just hop from one place to another to find if there are rooms available.
The Sakura Hotel where stayed was beyond our expectation in terms of available facilities considering trekking routes like the one we are taking goes deep into the valleys and mountainous region. We were expecting real basic facilities. In Sakura Hotel, the rooms are nice, toilet and hot shower facilities were amazing considering where we were and there was even a restaurant offering almost everything one could imagine. It was quite refreshing to have a hot shower after a very long day, on the road for 8 hours, followed by 2 hours trekking.
The sights so far were amazing. From Dhampus, we could see a big part of the Annapurna mountain range. The white capped mountains dominated the backdrop. The Fish Tail Mountain is huge and easily recognisable and yet is only some 6900 metres high. The higher mountains in Annapurna are over 8000 metres.
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