Our Trek to the Mountains - by Ian Day 1

Day 1: We went from Pokhara to Tikedungha. My Mum & Dad and 2 porters were an hour behind us - walking slower because Mummy's knee hurt to climb the many little stone steps in the mountains. We got to the hotel one hour ahead of them.
What did we see along the way? We started climbing from the valley. We watched women washing their clothes in the river on the cool clean(?) water rubbing them on the stones in the river bed.
As we climbed into the hills we passed mothers with their children returning from school. People would stop along the way to each oranges which they bought from sellers along the way. We saw lots of trees in the mountains laden with oranges and in some small villages the smell hung in the air.
At one point I tried catching up to Andrew & Sarah's porters and got a little lost. I climbed this 'hill' of loose rubble and Daddy had to come up and rescue me. We both slid down to the other side ... not that Mummy had had such an easy time on the lower level. The path had been washed away below the bridge and old ladies with baskets of onions on their heads were just ambling along so cooly we thought it was easy.
Then we crossed the river by jumping over these huge rocks. On the other side Saucy & Sanjeep had bought a basket of oranges from this old lady .. so we all sat to eat them. Oranges never tasted so good.
As we climbed we started seeing more and fields with vegetables. Mainly potatoes as a second crop, with lots of spinach and leafy greens. There were bullocks and goats and lots of chickens. When we stopped for lunch Andrew decided to play tag with a chicken. Needless to say, the chicken won!
Lunch was delicious. Mum ordered just rice and butter for us - but the plates were piled so high that we shared one plate for all three of us and still could not finish it!
The porters ate Dhal Bhat (Dhal with Rice). This was the first time I had milk tea - and I loved it so much I drank it whenever I could!
Then we started the last part of the climb up into the base hills. It was long and mostly uphill. I kept up with Saucy and Sanjeep, but Mum took it alot slower because she was worried about her knee - and because she was not fit! We got a bit worried about them because Mum and Dad did not reach the hotel in Tikedungha for a whole hour after us.
When we got there, we really were hungry. We ate Nepalese pizzas that night and they never tasted so good. Mum & Dad had more spicy food with a hot soup to start. We are loving the big pots of hot chocolate that they are letting us drink.
The hotel was basic - we had 2 rooms. The bathroom was the squatting style, so we had to get used to that ... though when you are desperate you get used to it fairly fast!
They do not use toilet paper here as it clogs up the pipes. We had brought lots with us, but you cannot toss it down the drain after you are done .. they have buckets for you to throw it in and then they burn it. Gross! (but environmentally much more efficient!)
The night was cold. We slept in down sleeping bags that the guides had brought with us. Everyone went to sleep early. We were really tired. Sarah slept at the table during dinner.