Bulbule (1000m)

The guest house at Bulbule had nice gardens and was quite comfortable. The family that runs it was very warm and there was a developmentally delayed man that was part of the team as well. He helped with the cleaning and seemed happy to interact with us as well. It was refreshing to see as we'd often wondered how well disadvantaged individuals would fare in seemingly harsh environments.

Yen befriended the family and helped out in the kitchen with the sweeping and putting away dishes that the young daughter was washing. It seemed as though this kind of interaction with the hosts is entirely unusual, but it was really nice to make some kind of connection with them and feel their genuine warmth.

Yen and I took a short walk through the main drag of the village, having a quick game of kick ball with some children as we strolled through their game.
Being quite exhausted from our first real day and with darkness enveloping us as dinner was over, we headed off to bed quite early. We'd soon learn that 7:30pm was a very reasonable, even desirable, hour to go to bed. Mom, dad: who knew you were right all those years?

We set out in the morning and this is where we began to understand what we were in for. Today we'd be climbing up nearly 500m. The ascents were steep and the downhills were frustrating, knowing that every step down was another two we'd have to recover going back up! However, today was also the day that we began to see the beauty of the trails. The trails narrowed and we began to walk through tiny villages, some made up of only a few small shacks. We passed packs of goats being herded along the same narrow and difficult paths that we were using and were amazed by the beautifully landscaped rice terraces, rolling hills and waterfalls en route.

The final "staircase" (staircase from here on refers to rocks and stones that have been purposefully arranged in a most certainly uneven but somewhat step-like fashion as opposed to just a natural arrangement of rocks and boulders that make up much of the path) was seemingly never ending and when we finally reached the village at the top that was to be our resting place for the day, there was a sign that said "only 60 more steps you won't regret." Sigh. Alas, in 60 more steps up and quads that were ready burst, we arrived at the Superb View guest house, it's big claim to fame is that it is *not* recommended by the lonely planet. I'm guessing that in high season perhaps it'd be nice to get away from other trekkers. We're certainly not having this problem in the dead of winter.