In brief, we went on a very short Christmas break and had just 3 days for trekking in Annapurna. A Nepali trekking agency created a nice 3-day route, of which this is the final day.
Sunrise views from the top of Poon Hill
On the 3rd day, we woke up before dawn and started the round trip to catch the sunrise at Poon Hill, by 1-hour hike. Probably because it was the end of the trekking season in Annapurna, there were not huge numbers of trekkers going to the the hill. Everyone was waiting for the sun to rise in the chilly air. The dawn light kept changing the view of the fog below us.
The sunrise bathes the peak of Fishtail in a pinkish-orange color. We could see snow being blown by the strong wind on the top of the peak.
The drama that the sunrise creates is always short. Once the sun was completely up, the peak regained its usual white color.
The 3rd-day walk was easy and pleasant, we just kept going down.
After breakfast at the lodge, we began the 3rd day’s walk at 9:30am. I think our guide wanted to start earlier, but we were reluctant to leave the lodge, which had great views through the window of the beautiful peak of Fishtail and the surrounding mountains. We just wanted to enjoy the view for as long as we could! Almost all parts of the trails on the 3rd day were in the shade and downhill, which made it a very easy and pleasant walk all the way.
After a short break at Banthanti (2220m) at 12:00pm, we passed through village after village.
Dried flowers and spice hung in a village.
The 3-day trek ended at Hille with an authentic Nepali lunch
The last part of the trek comprised a long set of steps from Ullery (2120m) to Hille (1520m). The steps went on for too long and I swear I wouldn’t have enjoyed it if we’d had to climb them on the 1st day. This is the moment when we were most grateful for the well-planned 3-day route that the trekking agency created for us! There were views across the beautifully-maintained terraced fields below us, all the way to Hille.
After meeting up with our car driver at Hille, we had a most authentic lunch at a local restaurant – Dal-Bhat. What was very special was Dhido (Dhindo), which was served instead of chapati. During the trek, I told our guide that I really liked Dhido when I worked in Kathmandu years ago, which is a sticky loaf made of millet (often the only thing available where rice either can’t grow or is unaffordable). He remembered our chat and called the restaurant to prepare it in advance!
This is it! (Left one) It’s eaten like rice or chapati – broken into bite-sized pieces with your fingers and then eaten with curry or dal soup.
Here is the detailed route of the 3-day trekking.
While a 3-day trek from Pokhara is not common, our agency came up with a great plan, chipping away both ends of the 4-5 day route nicely, which enabled us to skim the cream of the beautiful trekking route!