'The shell must break before the bird can fly' Tennyson

The title of this post is a 'thought for the day', which I read about half an hour ago in the Himalyan Times over a nice cup of jasmine tea; I thought it should be shared.

Today started at 4.15am with intentions of going up to Sarangkot point for sunrise. We grabbed a taxi for 600nrs, which according to our out of date Lonely Planet is an ok price, and were dropped off at the start of a trail. It was still pitch black and our trusty Maglites were indispensable! We climbed the steep, steep steps, up the steep, steep mountain... in the dark, a reasonably terrifying experience. This climb bore far more resemblance to Mordor than yesterday. There were a few other early birds at the top ready for the sun to splendidly break over the mountains. Unlucky.

Sunshine

1582m

Today the whole valley is full of mist, not a mountain in sight, this is a shame after the efforts but it will not dampen my spirits, the view was still beautiful. Hopeful that the sky may clear, we went to get some food at a little pathside stop, we sat and had breakfast...Alicia didnt eat much as she is upsettingly a bit poorly today and didnt want to risk it. Here a very sweet Newari girl started singing through her English textbook, 'the dog is sleeping under the table, the cat is sleeping under the table', she was totally endearing and had English to about the level of my GCSE German 'Ich habe ein pony, etc' we found out she was only eight. I am ashamed at my lack of any language skill.

Heading back down the track which the Lonley Planet described as reasonably simple to follow, we met with a fork in the road. On the side of a mountain miles from where you are heading, we did what anyone would do, after all going back to where we were offered a guide or a taxi is a bit of a bore, we asked a non-english speaking local.
'Namaste, Lakeside?'  I said, pushing my Nepalese to the brink.
They pointed us down a track which looked correct, it's a road heading downwards. Unfortunately our maps are both a little bit lacking in detail, showing only the main trekking routes, which is all well and good if you take the correct path but are decidedly unhelpful if you accidentally stray. After a few more 'Namaste, Lakeside?'s just to be sure, we headed on our way until we met another fork and asked an ANCIENT lady...I believe, now, that this is where we made our mistake...we ended up on what appears to have been a long pony trekking path. The road was very dusty and we saw a total of two westerners on ponys, but we did have the pleasure of walking through local roads and seeing the kept village gardens and houses.

Locals in Nepal are varied but mostly really lovely, as soon as you get away from the taxis and buses in town you lose the hassle (except the odd child 'sweets! pen! give me money!'), most people seem eager to utalise their English phrases and say 'hello'.  We also met a man who complemented english cricket; apparently we beat Bangladesh, well done England.

The track came to an abrupt holt. We were faced with what may have once been road but was now, no more than a steep face of rubble and dust.
'Erm, I dont think we can get down there'
'Neither do I'
Perplexed by our sudden loss of road but optimistic I suggested we tried hopping over some steps we had seen a few yards back. We did this. We ended up in someones garden. I was left with no option but to uncertainly shout in my politest, confused fool voice 'Namaste??' no answer, 'errm, Namaste??'
'Namaste' came the response from inside a shed.
'Namaste'. Relief! 'Namaste, Lakeside?' I enquired.
An old lady appeared and pointed us through her garden, laughing as we passed under the hosepipe. Some new steps, thankfully, they led straight to lakeside. We passed another trail in the steps going up and believe this is the route we should have ended up coming out from.

On this journey we had the pleasure of seeing another family of monkeys, this time we were fearless and watched them play in the trees for ages. I now officially like monkeys. It also only took us an hour more than the Lonely Planet said to get down, so we can't have been far off, especially as we spoke to a lot of people and looked at a lot of animals.

We met some British women on the way back into Pokhara and stocked up on some current prices for India and some current do's and don't bothers. I am intriued by a rat temple in Rajasthan...will look it up. Heading home we are trying to secure another night in Pokhara and then book a bus to Chitwan National Park, I can't wait. We are going to chill tomorrow so Alicia can try to feel better, I also want to get some new trousers as mine are a bit torn (Alicia insists on treading on them). As usual I am looking forwards to my dinner.
Much much love to all xxxx

Sarangkot from partway down.