THANK GOODNESS!

I am finished! I thought I would be sad to leave the mountains but... cest la vie. I am not. I am HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!! I've been sick much of the time since we crossed the pass and add in the walk along the dry, dusty, boring road that goes much of the way from Muktinath and blisters... and... nope... the other side was much more beautiful and enjoyable and I was sick less so... I'm singing... "I'm done! I'm done! I'm done!" Now I'm shopping and resting cuz I'm still sick!

It is beautiful and this is an experience I will cherish. I've met some amazing people - mostly other trekkers - and some very nice Nepali people. A few that ripped me off and were jerks as well but... I am a tourist in a place that has 60,000 + a year on the circuit!

Correction to a previous post: Thorang La is not the highest pass in the world... it's the "biggest" and I'm not sure how they define biggest... widest? longest distance from bottom to top? Not sure. But it was pretty. And I'm glad I'm off it!

So... trivia question for you... and maybe someone else can top this...

-How many people can you fit on a Nepali bus that seats 19, including the driver? (And three of these are sitting sideways in the front near the driver)...

- On ours they had 30 people and 6 on top with the backpacks. (This is from Tatopani to Beni). I'm SURE we could have added 1 or 2 more inside and at LEAST 5 more on top. Okay, maybe not. And this along cliffs that are 6" from the wheels and mud that is 6-12" deep... Let's see... maybe I'll walk next time. No - I was exhausted!

The nest bus from Beni to Pokhara was much larger and you actually have room for western long legs but we still had people standing and that was about a 5 hour bumpy ride. I miss Seattle luxury Metro buses! I was so sick though I slept much of the way... head jerking around... I'll probably have whiplash... I couldn't move my neck yesterday.

I've had a cold for 5-6 days and had a "violent" (as my Canadian friend calls it) barfing and diarrhea episode that was non-stop for one hour but left me shaking and feverish for another 5 hours - I stayed in bed and passed out! I couldn't move. I was lucky though... it was hard and fast but it only lasted that one day. Others get it for much longer. I hiked another 5-6 hours the next day on not much food. Yippee! :-) Other than being sick though it's been pretty amazing and it makes for great stories. I also have a "special" story from the pass... email if you want to hear that one ... I'm not blogging it!

Anyways, I'm in Pokhara and will blog about the whole trek once I'm back in Thailand with free internet. It's really beautiful here - I'm telling you the "fun" part here but overall I'm really enjoying this. The food's purdy darn good too! And the food in Pokhara is REALLY GOOD. :-) And I'm off the mountain... I'm off the mountain... I'm off the mountain!

Love and hugs!
Joyann