5 Things I Learned While Trekking in Nepal

My friend, J. and I recently returned from a breath-taking (in a literal and figurative sense) trip to Nepal. We went there to take the Gorepani/Poon Hill trek. A relatively easy - well, that's what the brochure said, anyway - five day trek to see the Himalayas. Here are five things that we learned along the way. 

1. For being so small, leeches are kind of icky and make a big bloody mess. 

I got my first ever leech bite - actually, make that three. The leeches were tiny, but the bite on my knee bled so much that it left a three and a half inch diameter blood stain in my pants. Also, I was not a fan of the leech that bit me on the back and then fell into my underwear. Talk about the heebie-jeebies. My lucky companion, on the other hand, made it out with only a single bite.

2. Dumplings are a universally-loved food. 

Called "jiaozi" in Chinese, "gyoza" in Japanese, and "momo" in Nepalese, dumplings seemed to be a beloved food everywhere in Asia. With globalization and the spread of international cuisines, who doesn't know about and love dumpling nowadays?

3. Rural Nepalese villages always seem to be located at the top of stairs. 

Maybe the Nepalese build villages on the side of mountains at the top of a set of stairs (near the sky) to be closer to god. Maybe they like the view. Perhaps they just like to get a lot of exercise in after a long day of animal husbandry and farming. I'm not really sure, but at the end of a long day of trekking, chances are you'll have to climb a set of stairs to get to your lodging.  

4.  One man's mountain is another man's hill.

When I was hiking to the top of Poon Hill, which stands at 10,531 feet (3,210 meters), it certainly felt like a mountain. Once I got to the top of Poon Hill and saw the snow-covered peaks of Dhaulagiri (26,795 ft., 8,167 m.) and Annapurna South (23,684 ft, 7,219m), I suddenly understood the distinction between mountains and hills for the Nepalese. 

5. Which brings me to the last point: 

Trekking in Nepal feels arduous at times if you're not one of those super-fit-I-wear-my-hiking-shoes-to-bed-and-dream-of-scaling-Everest (or at least Annapurna South)-people. But when you see a view like this, 

Annapurna South from the side of Poon Hill

IT'S ALL WORTH IT.