My knee still hurts in the morning from the many stairs we took the day before. Lacking alternatives (no jeep to Ghorepani), I decide to continue to hike. After the first 90 minutes a highlight awaits us anyway: the hot springs of Tatopani (which means Hot Water). We soak ourselves in the pool for 20-30minutes, what a pleasure! Entry is 100 NR for strangers and at that early time of the day we are sharing the pool mainly with locals who come here to wash themselves. You need to cover yourself though, so at a small changing room I put on my shirt (which needs washing anyway) and wrap my scarf around my legs.

The rest of the day will be very exhausting for me and rather painful for my knee. It’s not only going downhill by stairs – no, it’s also going up stairs, down again, just to go up again! The scenery has changed so much from the higher altitude, everything is green and there are plenty of rice terraces along the way. We meet a guy from New Zealand who skipped the last days and took a jeep. Mirke and the guy are much faster than me but are kind enough to wait for me. We have lunch at some point in Ghasa – as the “towns” spread so much along the trail you can walk for an hour and are still in the same town! We didn’t choose wisely, we have a great view but the owners cook on wood fire and the preparations take more than an hour. At least  I get a nice rest!

After lunch we still have to hike a lot and only arrive around 5pm in Ghorepani when the sun already sets. It’s so busy here! Ghorepani is close to Pokhara and famous for the sunrise so plenty of people come here even during off season. I am happy to share a room with Mirke, thanks to her negotiating skills we don’t pay too much, but “for free” isn’t feasible here anylonger. I am going to bed really early, very exhausted.