On the morning of the third day, a frost had moved in overnight and covered everything in a thin layer of white. Below is all that exists on top of Phalut.

As the morning progressed and the sun rose, the frost melted. Every morning our guide would bring us tea  shortly after we awoke. It began to become a comforting routine.

Until we started moving, it was very cold.

While we missed out on the close up views of Kanchenjunga, we didn't mind because we'd been spoiled the day before (later we heard from trekkers who did the whole hike in the fog). Instead, we were treated to constantly changing scenery as we descended from Phalut into the lower valleys. 

After hiking 15 kilometers, having descended about 1000 meters in elevation, we arrived at an incredible village, called Ghorke.

This village was located at the intersection of two rivers that flowed out of the forest. What really struck me was that this was the first village that I've ever been to that has no roads leading to it. When I asked our guide about this, he told me that the nearest road (and our exit point) was 22 kilometers away.  After having a delicious lunch in a teahouse in the village, we started back onto the trail. Once again the landscape and scenery constantly shifted. 

Occasionally the trail would pass in front of hill side houses, some of them were very charming. 

After an exhausting day hiking a total of 30 kilometers and a knee busting decent of 1700 meters, we finally laid eyes an the cozy lodge where we would be spending the night.

Inside we sat down for a much deserved cup of tea, dirty, sweaty but content.

Our host kindly provided us buckets of hot water to shower with. It may sound crude, but to us it was one of the most satisfying showers we can remember. That night we slept very, very well.