Start point: Pokhara, 822m
End point: Machakhola, 860m
Elevation gain: 42m
Distance travelled: 160km
Time in a bus: 14 hours
The 6 AM alarm was a little bit of a shock to the system, but something we’ll quickly get used to I’m sure. It really felt like the morning of catching a flight or a big work event, and we were both a mix of excitement and nervous. Our guest house had kindly offered to hold the remainder of our gear so we could have smaller packs, but they still felt pretty heavy when we picked them up for the first time… bet they will feel even heavier at altitude! We met up with Mayla at the office and after a stop for a final Pokhara cappacino we headed to the bus stand. A lot of trekkers opt for the private jeep option to get to the start of the trail, but we went for the local bus. Cost difference was $300 USD for the jeep, and $20 NZD (total for three of us) on the local bus. We had been warned about goats, chickens and babies, but honestly it was very chill. The roads are a bit bumpy and slow here, but much better than I what I expected after hearing some horror stories. They are doing a lot of infrastructure development, and a large number of roads were single lane with the other lane still being smoothed out and tarsealed. Our first stop was Gorkha, about 108km from Pokhara. This took us about 4 hours including a couple of stops, one which included delicious chai, curry and samosa for breakfast. The views at the start of the drive were incredible, it was the clearest morning so far and we had panoramic views of the Annapurna ranges. Having Mayla with us was such a joy, he knows so much about all the peaks and is very open to sharing his knowledge with us.
From Gorkha, things took a turn in the “eventful travel day” direction! It started with boarding a bus that in any other country would be considered full, but it’s amazing how many people, boxes, bags and kids they can fit into a bus here. We had been driving for about 10 minutes out of town when all of a sudden we joined a line of stopped traffic. Josh and Mayla went out for a look and discovered that the road was completely blocked by a big truck that was stuck in some soft dirt where they had been doing landslides repairs. We must have been in the first five to ten vehicles on the site, and lots of people were helping to try and dig out the truck and get it moving. When it looked like it was going to take a decent chunk of time, we sat down and had a chai to wait. From here things only escalated, there was a broken digger in the way so they set to work repairing that, and used that to help try and push the truck, it was all pretty crazy. The police were there too and at any one time there were at least 50 people around the truck. Sadly, each of their valliant efforts only seemed to get the truck more stuck, and eventually they went for a technique of using the bucket of the digger to push the truck out of the way further so at least small cars could get past. But alas, our bus was too big, so we were informed we would be turning around and going a different way! This was about three and a half half hours after we first arrived, so we did wonder a bit why they didn’t choose this option earlier. We were all excited to be on the way again.
It shortly became apparent why the driver waited so long to commit to this route, as we were going down a track I would be hesitant to drive at home in a Ute, let alone a bus!! Thankfully our driver was an absolute legend and got us back to the main road in one piece, but there were a few hairy moments for sure. From here we slowly travelled up the valley with the scenery getting more and more beautiful, and the road more and more shit. By the end it did feel like we were driving on a walking track, not a road!! It was so nice to be getting further afield, it definitely gives you a huge appreciation for the work that goes in to getting anything done up here, whether it be building, education, healthcare or food supplies. The last 25km took us a good couple of hours, with each kilometer more precarious than the last. It was only a small group of us on the bus by this point, and there was a strong sense of camaraderie with every crazy corner and big drop. It was the scariest road either of us can ever remember driving, especially given the fact we were in a bus! We all very happy to arrive in the small town of Machakhola, 14 hours after we left Pokhara, and only 160km away!!!
Something I found super interesting was the way the roads develop here, especially up in these remote valleys. They often start as walking tracks, and then gradually more and more bikes ride them, and they turn into small dirt tracks. Then, eventually they get wide enough for the jeeps and then because of the jeeps, they’re wide enough for the buses and the trucks! Eventually you have a bit of a piecemeal constantly under construction situation! Add in the destructive landslides during Monsoon and it’s especially impressive that these roads and still functional. Existence up here is hard, that much is clear after only one day.
We found a very basic but perfectly adequate guest house, and we enjoyed our first of many delicious Dahl Baht for dinner before bed. There’s so much more I could say, we’re noticing so many interesting differences from India and there are already things that have surprised us and also delighted us. But for now we’re exhausted and are getting up in just over eight hours for our first day of walking, so I’ll say goodnight. Even after a hectic travel day we are soooo excited to be here and can’t wait to start walking tomorrow!