Pokhara(828)->Birethanti(1025)

We rise early this morning and buy croissants from kids selling them wrapped in newspaper on the street - 30 rupee. I decide a coffee would go great with this. We go to a restaurant and are told to sit well inside from the half open roller door. Nick goes back to the hotel and soon afterward some Maoists walk in, sit down at a table and begin yelling at the staff. I pay with a 1000 rupee note, while I am waiting for change the arguments seem to get more heated a soviet flag is banged against the table as I grab my change and hot foot it out of there.
I meet Nick and our guide Kris who will walk us to the start of the trek no other transport options are available. We start the trek proper and are immediately glad we got a guide as the first turnoff would have been impossible to find. We begin the climb to Sarangot (1592). Nick is setting a cracking pace I am struggling. I am getting dizzy from the exertion, Kris starts to get worried. I finally join them at the lookout, I am utterly exhausted. The view over the town on the lake is amazing we are so high there are eagles circling below us. We are lead from one shortcut to the next I am able to keep up through the flatter sections. We manage to avoid the road most of the way however on one section we encounter a group of very young local girls that have made skis out of flattened plastic water bottles and are skillfully getting dragged downhill.
We stop at nirvana guest house, while sipping our cokes Nick points over my shoulder and we see Machhapucchre for the first time from this angle it is obvious why they call it the fishtail. From here it is all downhill to Birethanti where we stay the night.
We managed to cover 2 days trekking in 1 and apart from the porters are carrying the heaviest packs of anyone we pass. While waiting for dinner at our guesthouse the last rays of sun hit the fish tail mountain. Kris marks on our map the best places to stop and what time we should be leaving each morning. I barely have the energy to write this as I plonk into bed.