9 APRIL 2023 SUNDAY - PAUDWAR VILLAGE TO TATOPANI & DRIVE TO POKHARA

Altitude Loss : 6,561 ft to 3,871 ft
Trek Distance : 4.7 km | Trek Duration: 3 hours
Bus Drive Distance: 110 km | Drive Duration: 5 hours

Today we would officially complete our trek & will be back in our hotel rooms at Pokhara, i.e. by the end of day today and that will be after 3 hours of further trekking and a looong travel by bus. As we complete our trek, I thought of sharing this map showing what we have done over the past 10 days.

Before retiring to bed yesterday, the group had a brief chat about collecting a small purse / gratuity to the porters, Bhim kaka & Choten. Yours truly was in charge of this project.

After a quick breakfast & tea, all group members were ready to start trekking by 745 AM. By 8 AM we started the last leg of this Khopra Ridge trek. We had to cross a school sports ground before we hit the trail downhill. We saw a few students playing ball in the ground. Also a cage containing few domesticated animals.

 

 

Practically the full descent was through a road which was under construction. It was very evident that massive construction projects are happening in Nepal. The trail which we took today was actually a road that is under construction. I felt that if I visit the same place say after 2 years, I would probably be driving down this road rather than walking. The trek would get over at Paudwar Village and road travel would begin from here.

 

Enroute we crossed 2 bridges. These bridges were made out of sturdy metallic ropes, constructed over a flowing water body. As of this point of time water was not much, and a narrow stream was flowing. But probably during rainy season the flow of water would be much stronger & wider.  

After a steady walk of around 3 hours we reached the point from where we would board a bus & start our drive towards Pokhara. Most group members preferred to have a tea at a hotel at this point. Some opted for a cool soft drink.

We boarded the waiting bus & started the long drive to Pokhara. As mentioned earlier hectic construction activity was happening along this road. I was thankful for carrying along a mask, which was very useful during this dusty drive. We could not find a suitable hotel, so everyone preferred to have some fruits. After a tiring bus journey we reached Hotel Lake Star at Pokhara by 430 PM.

Vivek requested everyone to quickly check into their rooms & assemble in the open area outside the reception for the certificate distribution ceremony. It was a happy as well as a sad moment for everyone. Happy because of the success of the trip, sad because tomorrow the group would split as everyone would go their separate ways. Vivek distributed the certificate to all the group members. Without exception, each one thanked the trek lead & his team. Dr Alekar on behalf of the group spoke a few words thanking the four porters, Bhim kaka, Choten, Shure and Vivek. He handed over the gratuity purse to the porters, Choten & Bhim. We bid goodbye to Vivek & the support team.

I must have mentioned to Sridhar atleast thrice during the course of our trek over the past week, that it would be icing on the cake if I am able to have a nice hot bath by immersing myself in a bath tub after reaching Pokhara. As luck would have it, the room allotted to Sridhar and myself had a nice big bath tub and the tap had good hot water gushing from it! Needless to say, I made the most of this by having a brief but satisfactory bath.

Swamy, Sumathi, Shubra, Aditya, Sridhar, myself, Ashwin & Alekar had a small celebration party at Alekar / Ashwin's room in the evening. A grand team dinner followed and we reached back our hotel rooms by 1130 PM. I spent about half an hour with my e reader and completed the Hercule Poirot novel.

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