After discussions with our guide we decided to walk to Jomsom today then get a jeep down to tatopani, as the trail was now a dusty dirt road. In exchange, after poon hill we would head into part of the Annapurna sanctuary trek.
We set of to Jomsom in a river valley, surrounded by desert, pine forests and mountains. It was really beautiful. We walked along side the river for a couple of hours before coming to Jomsom. Here we walked through the first slightly bigger village and had lunch whilst our guide found a jeep for the afternoon journey.
Despite our guide’s best efforts, he purposefully god a jeep instead of making us get the public bus because Stephen had had such a rotten time on the bus at the start.
Sadly for stephen the jeep wasn’t much better. He was sat in the back seat with 3 other people, whilst me and 3 others weee squeezed on the seats in the boot. We drove along narrow cliff side roads with a steep drop on one side. Stephen got thrown around quite a lot and really did not enjoy the journey.
On a plus, the road was so dusty, hiking along it for 3 days would have been terrible. The new trail they’ve tried to build along side has a reputation for being dangerous. So it seems despite the pain it was the best option.
We arrived in tatopani. A subtropical oasis, to our tea house with a garden full of orange trees, positioned above the ‘hot springs’.
We had a quiet evening of good food and showers.
The next morning we awoke late for a rest day. We had a delicious breakfast then headed to the hot springs to relax. It was an interesting experience. During the course of the day lots of people we’ve met along great the way rocked up in tatopani too so by mid afternoon we were all back in the hot springs. We even had a sneaky gin and tonic.
It was great to wash clothes and relax ahead of a big hike up 1750m tomorrow. Character building.
wow it sounds as if you over the worst and found a bit if relaxation and luxury. g and t too!It must have felt great to wash clothes and feel warmer, especially hot springs, was it like the Blue lagoon i wonder. Will check out jomson on google earth as you plan was larjung i think. just as well it changed by the sound of those roads. hope you hike tomorrow goes OK. take carexx
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