Nilgiri and Rhododendrons

When we trekked the Annapurna Circuit, instead of flying out of Jomsom we took a jeep ride south and trekked a bit more. From the hot springs town of Tatopani we hiked a mile up to Ghorepani. Now in Ghorepani the thing to do is to arise at 04:00 and see the sun rise from Poon Hill. We did not.

We had been trekking for 14 days by then and, frankly, were a bit sick of it. Much like seeing castles in any part of castle-infested Europe, you have a saturation point for majestic and grand-looking anything. Since this was the thing to do and the time to do it, I also didn't feel like marching uphill in the dark with a hundred or so other tourists. And on the day's hike we were going up as far as Poon Hill's elevation anyway -- last thing I wanted to do is go up and down and right back up again.

So we skipped it and I have no regrets. A good breakfast and an early start, and once we got some elevation, this view.

Not nearly as photogenic, but around the time I got this image we saw the flight out of Jomsom. The airplane was a few hundred feet below us.