I decided on doing the Poon Hill Trek.

It’s one of the only ones that you can do in 3 days, which is all the time I had! Honestly, I thought it might not be that great because it’s “just Poon Hill”, when an Everest Base Camp trek is available in the area as well. Buuuuut, I was wrong. It was amazing.

First though, a word on food. Dal bhat is something like the national dish of Nepal. Examples below:

dal bhat

dal bhat

The ‘dal’ part is lentil soup (top middle, in the bowl), and the ‘bhat’ part is plain rice, so it always has those two components. The rest of the dal bhat set can differ, but it usually has a vegetable curry (top left) and pickles. In the top picture, I had chicken curry (top right, in the bowl), spinach, and I think the bread is papadum. Anyway, being a fan of lentil soup (the past two years, I indulged in Lentil Sunday as much as someone would make it😁), this was a cool dish to get to have any time (it’s everywhere).

All this to say, my friend – and Guide – on my trek, Harry, is obsessed with dal bhat. At our first bus stop, early in the morning, for breakfast, what does he eat? Dal bhat! Later on that same day, for dinner, what does he eat? Dal bhat!

One thing I didn’t know at first, and is perhaps the key to everything: dal bhat is always served with unlimited portions; you can have as many helpings as you want!!! (think of the endless pasta bowl at Olive Garden, only this won’t give you an immediate heart attack). By the second day, it was decided that Harry would add a middle name, and change his full name to Harikrishna Dal Bhat Pokhrel.

The dal bhat thing isn’t unique to Harry… it’s so popular, these shirts are sold in shops in Nepal:

dal bhat power – 24 hour!

Me though? While I love the dal bhat, my favorite Nepali dish?? MOMO…. you don’t even knowknow. This is the best momo I had:

Omg, momo!

This was from a restaurant called Momo Hut in Kathmandu, Thamel neighborhood. Momo = dumplings filled with veggies, or chicken, or potato + cheese, or anything else, either steamed or deep-fried or pan-fried. I’m glad I don’t know how to get this exact same thing in Houston because I would eat this every day and have to change my name to Stephanie Lee Momo Harris. Awkward.

Enough about food😆.

With my trek details worked out by Great Visions Trekking and Harry (the best trekking guide in Nepal) by my side, I took a bus ride out to Pokhara, to spend the night before beginning my Annapurna Conservation Area journey, amongst the shadows of the Himalayas, to Poon Hill.

close to starting point in Nayapul

Next up: Walking. Mostly up.