Trekking In The Land of the Mountains. Poon Hill, Nepal
Mooting the idea…
Doing a trek in Nepal has always been on my bucket list, but I have never thought that I could actually fulfill my dream so quickly. Nepal is an unfamiliar country to most of my friends; a rugged country that is shrouded in mystery and unknown. Visiting the country is already pretty exotic in itself, let alone trekking or mountain climbing. It is home to the famous Himalayan and the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, the mountain that inspires greatness and yet strikes fear in the hearts of those bold enough to even hazard the thought of climbing it.
In recent years, and especially following the 2014 earthquake, much publicity and awareness has been created on this country, and we see many travel groups starting to organize Nepal treks; promoting tourism so as to help with the on-going rebuilding efforts. Getting into the country and talking to the locals, you will realize that tourism is truly the most important revenue generating industry for the country. Tourism pushes the country towards modernization; young people have to pick up English to be able to work in this industry, and other related industries such as hospitality and retail followed suit to take a piece of the pie. To help the country is to visit and it is certainly a country well worth many trips to come.
Things moved quickly, a couple of Whatsapp messages, checking of flights and accommodation, and getting the contact for a reliable tour agency, my friend and I confirmed our trip in April. Experienced planners as we are, choosing the period to trek in Nepal turned out to be the most careless mistake that we’ve made. We chose first week of September more out of convenience, neglecting to check the weather condition. According to most websites, this is at the tail-end of monsoon with rain still being anticipated. 3 weeks before our date of departure we started checking out weather forecasts and all days of that week indicated rain and storm! We even tried to change our flights to other dates, but at such short notice, this has been proven impossible. When it comes to the weather, there is only one thing left to do – pray, and mentally geared up for a wet and difficult trek. Nonetheless, the hope that perhaps it will all turn out well is still high. After all, we will be fulfilling our dream of trekking in Nepal. Surely it cannot get any better than this. The mistake we thought we made turned out to be the most memorable experience we have ever had.
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