Paudwar to Tatopani to Pokhara

Day 9: 16 Oct (Paudwar to Tatopani to Pokhara)

Morning Fun

In the morning, we were all fresh - slept well, got cleaned up.

Alima & Bushra had some makeup on and they covered Roshini’s face with kisses & lipstick. It was very cute.

Tipping the Staff

We also gave the consolidated tip money to the local Nepali staff (Premdai, Asmer & the juniors - Sagar, [Name missing], [Name missing], [Name missing])

Bolero Ride

We walked for 10 min & reached the Bolero pickup place. There were 2 Boleros and we all managed to fit in (including the staff).

George, Boni and all sat in the open trunk space. It looked funny & uncomfortable, but they said it was ok. It was a 1 hr drive & we reached Tatopani & took the bus.

We chipped in the money for the ride for two Boleros (800 NPR per person)

Hot Springs Stop

After a 15 min drive in the bus, we reached the hot springs place. Boni, Renjith, PC went in, the rest of us hung around outside. We went to a nearby restaurant & had chicken momos.

Bushra the Vegetable Vendor 😄

Bushra found a bamboo basket on the shelf and asked the hotel staff if she can use it as a prop. She filled it with some vegetables & posed as a vegetable vendor. She is a real champ - she has the knack to do such fun things.

Dancing on the Bus!

We got back on the bus & continued the drive. We danced in the bus. The Nepali staff also joined. It was super fun!

Lunch

We stopped for lunch - daal bhat & fish fry. Yum!

Return to Pokhara

We reached Pokhara Top & Top hotel by 6pm

Said goodbye to:

• Staff
• Non-TKM gang

Kit Bag Return

Went to Dashain hotel, emptied the kit bag & returned it to Praveen at Top n’ Top.

We had a hot shower - after 9 days - it was so refreshing!

Celebration Dinner

We met at the hotel lobby at 8pm & walked to Hotel Lakeview for dinner. They had live performance of Nepali songs and dance.

Towards the end, they said it is audience participation & invited all of us to join. All the girls joined - it was fun! The dancers showed the steps & we followed along.

Feast

We had a lovely dinner:

• Trekker’s steak
• Trout baked
• Pork belly sizzler

We sang a few songs, but the security came & said it was a disturbance to the people who were staying in the resort 😅

Midnight Walk

We came out & walked back to Dashain. On the way, we stopped at a small place to buy ice cream.

It was fun walking on the road as a group almost at midnight. A security guard in one of the hotels came to the gate & Boni asked ‘where do you throw the trash?!’ Boni is always ready to protect us 😄

Tomorrow’s Plan

We all agreed to be ready by 8:30 tomorrow to take the bus to the Pokhara airport.

It was a great day ending a great trek!

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Tomorrow: Flying back to Kathmandu and more reunions!