March 4, Pokhara - Nayapul - Hile

After an almost sleepless night we got up at 3 a.m. in the morning, packed the rest, got a packed breakfast and started our way from Pokhara to Nayapul (one of the starting points for the Annapurna trekking region). There were 15 of us: Christoph and I, our guide Chola, the assistant guides or future porters or assistants Indra and Raju, Silva, her guide and female porter plus the other couple plus guide and 2 porters plus the 2 car drivers and we left Pokhara on time (4.am. in the morning). Everybody was sleepy when suddenly (after 20 minutes in the car) a road barrier appeared and caused us to stop. Lots of young men were blocking the street with burning tires. Our car driver opened the window and talked to them and they agreed to let us pass. The guys stepped aside but the tires were still burning and so our car had to drive through the fire. (it worked, nothing happened:-). A short while later the same procedure again!
Afterwards I asked our guide about the incident but she didn't really wanna tell me a lot. She only mentioned, that the strike had begun earlier than expected and the reason of the barrier was to prevend people from leaving the city or coming into the city. We (as tourists) had a "green plate" (whatever this was) and therefore we were allowed to pass. I am still asking myself why we had to leave Pokhara that early and not like scheduled first even though we had that green plate.... Anyway...

After 75 minutes we reached Nayapul and I was surprised again. I can't really say today how I imagined Nayapul, but for the starting point of one of the world's biggest trekking routes I expected something different than 2 garages along the road.

Starting point of our trek in Nayapul