Day two of our mini Himalayan trek: we'd already climbed the height of Ben Nevis and Snowdon, ascended the famous 3000+ stone steps, and checked into a small mountain lodge with plywood partitions for walls. Armed with a trusty guide book, map and advice from a few friendly local porters, we set our alarms for 4:45am the next morning. Safe in the knowledge that should the alarms not wake us, all the other guests in the mountain lodge shuffling their shoes on and securing their head torches would remind us to get up and climb the extra 300m up to Poon Hill for the spectacular sunrise panorama of the Himalayas.
Early dawn arrived, along with a cloudy haze that advised us to stay in bed. But we still got up and began climbing. The haze thickened, the nearby hills began to disappear and by the time we reached the viewing point, only the viewing point was visible. We took our photo next to the official "Welcome to Poonhill, 3210m sign" and trudged back down for a still early breakfast.
Later, fueled by Tibetan bread and milk tea, we set out on day three of our trek and reached the Deurali Pass (Deurali means "pass" in Nepali, and so the English map name of Deurali pass translates as the "Pass pass"). By 10am we could see the Poonhill viewing point glinting in the sunlight across the valley, now with a backdrop of wrap-around Himalayan peaks. Why did we get up at 4:45?!
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