First weekend trip in Nepal

In addition to starting our studies and settling into everyday life here in Pokhara, we’ve been on our first field trip and had our first weekend of trekking. I thought I’d take you along on our first weekend here, filled with lots of new impressions and experiences.

Already at the end of the first week here in Nepal, we went on an overnight trip together to Lwang.

It’s a small village about an hour’s drive from Pokhara. We all took the bus up there, and the drive itself was an adventure. The roads wind along sheer mountainsides, bumpy and narrow.

In Lwang we were able to get closer to Nepalese culture, and among other things we got to help make ghee, which is a type of butter that is widely used in cooking here. In addition, we went for a walk on the tea plantation in the town and got to taste the local tea that was grown in the village.

It’s incredibly exciting to get so close to a new culture, and we had the opportunity to talk with the local residents and gain an insight into their everyday lives.

In addition, the trip was a perfect opportunity for us to get to know each other better as a group. There are few things that create such a good atmosphere as sitting around the campfire grilling s’mores and bananas with chocolate, with everyone singing together all evening.

Now in winter there is a lot of fog here in Nepal, so we still hadn’t seen much of the mountains around Pokhara.

After spending the night in Lwang, we woke up to clear weather, and the view from the village was absolutely fantastic! It was truly magical to wake up and step out onto the terrace and see the snow-covered mountain peaks that had been hidden behind the clouds the whole time.

After breakfast in Lwang, a large group of students continued on our first trip into the mountains. We had been told that there was a route that was a good introduction to trekking and wouldn’t take more than a couple of days.

The peak we hiked to is called Khumai Dada, and it is one of many hikes near Pokhara where you can get a good view of the Annapurna mountains.

The summit of Khumai Dada is at 3,245 meters, which sounds high from a Norwegian perspective, but in Nepali eyes is just child’s play. In fact, our guide told us that this wasn’t the Himalayas, but just “the countryside,” which we were perhaps just a tiny bit disappointed to hear.

Even though we realized we wouldn’t be going up into the high mountains, there were still many meters of elevation to climb, so we just had to keep going.

We spent two days on the way up to the top, with fairly manageable daily stages. Your legs still get a real workout, though, because the trail is pretty much just stairs the whole way!

When we arrived on Saturday evening, it was still impossible to see any of the view because of the fog, but we crossed our fingers that it would lift during the night.

After many rounds of card games and sing-alongs (our guides were probably a bit taken aback when we did “Alle fugler små de er” as a canon for the third time in a row), it was time to go to bed, because we had to get up early to catch the sunrise.

When the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, it wasn’t exactly tempting to get out from under the duvet, because after all it’s winter, and even though the temperature in Pokhara is like a Norwegian summer, it’s below freezing that high up.

But we put on everything we had and went out the door, and the cold was soon forgotten. Outside we were met by the most incredible view I have seen in my life!

We could see almost the entire Annapurna range, Fishtail and Manaslu, which is the 8th highest mountain in the world. The sunrise between the mountains was absolutely amazing as well!

Along the way on the trip, we stayed and ate at teahouses. These actually resemble the Norwegian DNT cabins quite a lot.

The only difference is perhaps the selection of food. It’s mostly Dal Bhat, Nepal’s national dish, which consists of lentils, rice, and a few other side items.

Dhal Bhat is basically very good, but after eating this meal seven times in a row, we were all pretty ready for something a bit different. So it was perfect to be told that pizza had been ordered for when we got home on Sunday.

Safely back in Pokhara again, we were all very pleased with the trip, even though our legs were pretty wrecked after 2,000 vertical meters of stairs downhill again on Sunday.

It was really nice to go on that kind of trip with new classmates, and it brought us very close together.

I’m very pleased after the first week, and I’m looking forward to the rest!