Woke up, put on the same old dirty clothes, then went downstairs for another delicious breakfast of Tsampa porridge and Tibetan bread with homemade apricot jam. This was our last meal at the lovely Baba's Guest House. Our total bill here was 250 rupees ($12) for dinner and lunch and breakfast for two, approximately twice what we would have paid on the other side of the pass. The difference is not so much the price, but the variety that hits us. For instance, we had 5 pieces of apple pie and two coffees with brandy. Simply not available on the other side, and 25% of our bill.

After breakfast, hit the trail again. As before we headed down the Kali Gandaki river. At the exit to Marpha, Brad did a little last minute bargaining before leaving town, buying a cat's eye necklacefor 200 rupees ($10). About half the space in his pack is taken up with trinkets. In fact, I have more in my pack too because of the large Nepali knife that I bought.

We cruised through the village of Tukuche, where we had contemplated staying, without even stopping for tea. As we passed down the river we were watching a constantly changing view of the Nilgiri mountain range (max. ht. 23,166 ft.) on our left, and the emergence from behind the hills on our right of a splendid view of Dauhlagiri (26,795). We passed through the small village of Khobangand into its neighbor Labjung, which had the ideal view of Dauhlagiri, Tukuche Peak just to its right, and a rather large glacier flowing down the northwest face of Dauhlagiri. We took a considerable photo break, to capture these peaks in their splendor. Then we went into town for some tea and lunch in the "Peaceful Lodge." We had the Swiss Rosti with tomato and onion sauce which was good at first, but which rapidly became overpowering (very salty). Brad had a nice cold glass of amoebas, forgetting that lemonade is not boiled or filtered. Oops!

From there we hiked down the right side of the riverbank, according to the directions given in the book. It turned out to be a long-cut; the people who cut straight across the riverbed ended up with a much more direct route.

But our route was preferable. Despite the fact that we had to ford two portions of river, we were also treated to the plaque dedicated to the memory of some climbers who died in an avalanche on Dhaulagiri, and our very first view of the main peak of Annapurna (26,545). Time for more pictures.

Soon after this we rounded the corner and came upon our destination: Kalopani. As soon as we got into town we were rushed into the Kalopani Guest House by our eager hosts. Our room was in a building that was still being built, while we stayed in it. The hammering was a bit loud, but we didn't spend much time in the room anyway.

The meal here was a true performance. They started taking dinner orders at 4:00. By 6:00 there were at least 40 people in the room, waiting for the dinner to be served at 6:30. Yesterday we had heard stories of the meals here: served quickly and accurately despite all complications. It was true. The show was run by a single man who basically hung out in the dining room all evening directing trafficand talking with the happy customers. All dinner orders were written in a large book. Somehow all the orders were passed back to the kitchen. It seemed that the book was present the whole time the meals were being served. In any case, they succeeded in bringing out a huge amount of fairly complex food in a very short amount of time. Everyone was really impressed, especially since the guy who we thought was doing the cooking didn't seem to be spending any time in the kitchen. But somehow the food started appearing shortly after 6:30, and was all served by 7:30. It was amazing to watch. And any intermediate orders of tea, hot chocolate, or popcorn were immediately satisfied. And the food was good too! The girls from Manang showed up just before 6:30, got their orders in and were served within the hour.

In the interval between 4:00 and the start of dinner Brad and I played backgammon (which they had lying around in the dining room) and two-handed spades. When the girls showed up we played our traditional game of hearts until dinner was served.

I should mention the cheesecake, a huge slice of incredibly rich yak's cheese that had been sweetened somehow. Indescribably interesting.