We also went for a dusk walk along the lakefront, where we saw locals and tourists rowing rainbow coloured boats on the glassy Fewa Lake.
From the top of Poon Hill we got amazing views of Mt Dhaulagiri and the Annapurnas - well worth the early morning climb!!! The only bummer was that is was so windy that we couldn't stay up and enjoy the view for too long. 
We had a second breakfast back at the hotel, and then set off to Birethanti for our last proper day of trekking. 
The first hour or so was lovely, with great views of mountains and forests, but then came the 3280 steps straight down! 
While we didn't envy the poor people (and horses) clambering up, the stone steps were really hard on our knees, and we were extremely grateful when we got to the bottom and met up with Peter for lunch overlooking the river. 
We made it to Birethanti just in time to find the best rooms with the best outside dining room perched above the river, and get some drinks to wind down from the trek.
Feeling the pressure to make it in one go, Liv charged on ahead passing trekkers and porters alike - one local guy told her that she was "just like Nepali man".
Adam, who had stopped only to commune with nature, spent the next hour rushing to catch up, surprised he hadn't caught back up. When he passed Peter and expressed concern Liv had taken the wrong route Peter replied that she's come racing past 10 minutes ago like a bullet! Liv puts her energy down to all the pies.
In Ghorepani we scored a great lodge with inside fire, where we sat relaxing waiting for our crew to join us!
Adlibing it after bullet Porter.
The only thing that took up time was eating pies as the village is tiny and there's only so long you can stay in a hot pool!
Adlibing more pies
Peter had been building Tatopani up to be the best place on earth, and when we arrived and checked into Peter's favourite place. 
The hotel was as nice as he told us with its own orange tree orchid full of oranges ripe for the picking (and pick we did!), and a direct path down to the local hot spring (now unfortunately on the edge of a road). This hotel also happened to have its own bakery which Liv took full advantage of over the 2 days we stayed here!
When the boys went down for a swim in the springs Ryan provided the drama by fainting right into an Indian guys lap!! Adam and Derek stayed to enjoy a beer in the springs before joining the rest of us for dinner in the garden, and of course pies for dessert.
On our way out of town we came across this cow getting its fill from the local water supply!
We stopped in Ghasa for a relaxing rooftop lunch in the sun, and then wove our way through village after village before finally settling on Dana just before the sun went down.
Along the way we dodged terrifying snakes - but luckily we had Ryan to take charge!! We also had to creep past ferocious dogs guarding the heavy loads of nearby sleeping porters!
For the first time in weeks we had dinner outside under the stars as we're back into orange and banana tropical terrain and out of the below freezing mountains. 
Adlibing it out of animal danger.
As Liv didn't feel too well today Peter and the Canadian boys went ahead to find a good hotel, but unfortunately forgot to keep a lookout for the trailing Adlibers who proceeded to walk 20 minutes beyond the hotel, at which point Liv stopped and Adam ran back and forth until he found our missing friends!
Luckily we weren't too upset as we managed to get a great room for a bargain price in a hotel that overlooked Mt Dhaulagiri (7th highest in the world at 8,172m)! The suset over the Annapurna range was stunning - a great backdrop for our dinner! 
Adam continued the theme of exploring while Liv continued the theme of relaxing - on his return he had stories of young boys and their wood chopping chores!
Adlibing a mountain sunset.
By 11am the winds were in full force and all 4 of us were muttering words not to be repeated as we walked with our heads down over the gravel roads spraying us with mouthfuls of dust. When we made it to the depressing town on Jomsom, we were happy to march on to Marpha for the night. 
When we arrived we were so glad to meet Peter who had left the day before, and as group reunited we settled in for a late lunch in the sun. 
In the evening Derek and Adam set out for an exploration of town, and found themselves walking through crumbling alleyways that led them to observe a local volleyball game and resulted in them coming home with Tibetan purchases and some great dried Marpha apples - the best in the world!
Adlibing it in the wind.
It was an amazing feeling to know we were looking out over the one place we both dream of going to, and have dreamed of going to for years - but a dream crushed by the mighty, money grabbing hand of the Chinese government. We also got a great view of the Throng-La Pass we conquered only a few days ago. 
Liv made her way down into town while Adam and the Canadian boys climbed even higher and jumped their way down the scree slopes - descending at break neck speed!
While Liv hung out in our hotel (Red House Lodge), built around a 300 year old monastery with intricately carved pillars, prayer wheels and a huge seated Buddha, Adam explored more of the town finding lots of surprises along the way. 
After delicious dinner and apple crumble with custard for dessert the boys (including student Ben who's living in Kagbeni for a few months) went along to the new monastery for a night of festivities. 
Tonight is the night where the demons and all bad things are scared out of the village by people dressed up in costumes (including Adam, Ryan, Derek and Ben!) who run around town yelling their lungs out while taking offerings to the ancient statues that guard opposite ends of the village. 
The night ended with the boys eating fortune cookies (really just hard lumps of dough) until they were sick. From the hotel room Liv could even hear Adams yells throughout town!! 
A great night heard by all (well except for the cookies and the many near falls due to not being able to see through masks in the pitch black night)!!!
The walk to Kagbeni was amazing - although Ryan had to detour back to Muktinath after 20 minutes to give back the lock and key to their hotel room!!!
The first place we came to was Jharkot, which was a old, mellow, Tibetan village seemingly unaltered by time and tourist influence that has clearly changed other places we've been through. As we strolled through the narrow alleyways we observed normal life going on: a woman beating chillis in a communal mortar and pestle; kids running wild; villagers carrying loads to and from farms and houses. 
The jeep road begins in Muktinath, but it was't actually as bad as we had feared with only a couple of jeeps and a tractor passing us along the way - and we also managed to get off the main road and onto smaller trails through villages now and again. It was in a small village that Adam tried out a woman's huge load, after which he was more than happy to take his pack back!!!
As we approached Kagbeni we got a great view over the village and its farms and apple orchids, before breaking our own trail along the river and into town. We strolled through town looking for a nice place to stay, but were so taken with the adorable village the ended up walking around and looking with our packs still on our backs! We finally retreated to the original hotel our search began at, and then settled in for the day.
Even though the sun had begun to rise, it had not yet hit us directly so the temperature was around minus 20 degrees - in other words incredibly cold! This affected Liv a lot and she was soon shivering with the cold - after persistent bugging from Adam (completely out of love!) she put on more clothes and another pair of socks and after a stop for hot tea at around 5100m felt a million times better.
It was at this tea stop that we ran into Peter and the Canadians, and while the boys ran on ahead of us, we preferred Peter's pace and walked the rest of the way with him.
We hung around for about half an hour taking in the views and feeling proud of ourselves before starting the knee pounding painful descent into Muktinath. 
Once we were over the pass the scenery changed dramatically as we moved from the Manang region into Mustang. Mustang looks more like Tibet, with barren but beautiful landscapes stretching for miles beyond us - in fact here we are only kilometres from Tibet itself!
In Muktinath the boys had already got us a room, but with the strange policy of double rooms only going to 2 people and dorms being reserved for groups Peter and Rita struggled to find a room, other than complete holes. After Adam took charge (physically going and removing Rita and her things from the dump her guide got her) we all ended up in the same nice hotel, where we settled in for an afternoon and evening of well deserved food and drinks!
After a yummy lunch of dhal bhat we climbed the 500 vertical metres to High Camp to help with acclimatisation, and at the top we played around on rocks perched on the cliff edge while enjoying mountain views that surrounded us and gave us an indication of the height to come tomorrow!
We are slowly (but surely) getting sick of all the huge tour groups doing the trek - not only do they walk furiously slow (clicking their ski sticks as they go) but that book all the rooms in advance and always get their food before us, even when we order first!!! But, the good thing about crossing the Throng-La Pass (which we'll do tomorrow) is that so many people think it's necessary to leave at ungodly hours like 2am in the morning, that by the time we leave around 5.30am all the big groups will be well gone!!!
After farewelling Mavis goodbye the 3 of us set off towards Yak Kharka where we meet the new additions to our trekking crew: Rita from Portugal and Ryan and Derek, brothers from Canada. It was Rita's birthday today so we ended up buying an apple pie as a birth day cake to celebrate over tea and good conversation - crazy that at 4020m we can buy a delicious freshly made apple pie! 
Adlibing a happy birthday.
