What a boon

I regathered my violeted self and set off on a 6 hour hike straight up to a tiny village called Boonboonee, famous for it's view (when there's no fog) and it's buffalo-milk chai and buffalo cheese.

Apparently it's a treacherous walk, which I discovered after an hour of intense uphill climbing when I caught up with a group of 6 Israelis and their local guide in a foggy alpine meadow. They'd started a couple of hours before me and were stunned to see me emerge from the mist.

"But but but... you're walking alone???"
"Yes I am"
"How do you know where to go?"
"I asked someone where the path started. Then I followed it."



Soon I saw why it had taken them so long. Every five minutes of walking required a ten minute rest stop. After a short while I'd had enough and took off, two of the Israelis - Alon and Karen - came with me. "Finally we can walk at a decent pace."

Somehow we managed to fight our way through the fog, over a glacier and through the herds of gigantic buffalo with unnervingly ice-blue eyes to find Boonboonee. A village? Well two stone shacks on the mountainside. But the buffalo-chai? Outstanding!









A long time later, on the way back, we ran into the other crew.
"What took you so long?" Alon asked them
"Ahh the guide got lost. How the hell did you guys make it here without a guide?"
"Oh no, we had a guide. An Australian guide!" he told them proudly.

Crikey!