Bistari, Bistari..... A first trip through the Annapurnas - Khudi to Sirung

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This morning I am better, the trek must go on. We are to have a long morning with only short breaks, it will be about 6 hours before a meal break. Porridge is the answer- low GI (glycaemic index) and curer of all ills! Dhana tells me to stop worrying about GI, and get on with it. Pre-medicated to the hilt (Gastrolyte, Lomotil, Stemetil and Panadol) we leave Khudi behind. Time to go uphill, uphill, uphill, flat, uphill, uphill, uphil...

The terrain is similar to the last few days. We stop after a couple of hours at a home in a small village, the woman there has agreed to serve us tea (Dhana and Santos are given buffalo milk). It is an elevated home with a verandah, we sit and drink our tea soaking it all in. Dhana brings out the coconut cookies (NOT low GI).

Today is the first day that I have used my walking pole (I bought 2 in Thamel but decide one is fine, I need a spare hand for my camera that is always at the ready), it is awesome- why didn't I get it out before? It becomes number 1 on my top 10 items required. We continue walking and I am rewarded with my first sighting of a red-billed blue magpie. Beautiful bird. We continue with the flat, flat, uphill, uphill...leopard poo! Dhana tells us he spotted his first snow leopard only last year (he has been trekking since 1984), this poo, however, is common leopard. We take several small breaks and get stuck into some fruit and nut bars. We cross a suspension bridge (or 2) and start the uphill, uphill.

Lots of interesting foliage here- pine, orchids and dope. We encounter lots of goats high above us and lots of goat herders. I take lots of photos, I feel strong, my happiness factor is high. At last, we reach Sirung Village (1854m) and we are starving. We somehow manage to lose Mary though. She shows up 10 minutes later- not actually sure where she got to. There is a town council meeting in progress when we arrive. Each family send a representative to the meeting- they seem to be more interested in us than the meeting at one point so we quickly find our home for the night and duck out of sight.

We stay in a "duplex" room that is on the land of the village's headmaster but our host is Dan Kumari. Our duplex is the bright blue that I now associate with homestay accomodation, the inside walls are a fairly bright pink (peptobismol pink if you are an American). Dan Kumari is unmarried and lives with her mother (we call her Amma). She is part of the Mothers Union which we are told was established 4 years ago. Dan Kumari and Amma are very talkative, Amma Kumari could and does talk the legs off all the goats in Nepal- Dhana kind of translates but gives up as she is very, very talkative. We are served our very late vege noodle soup lunch and tea and then head up the hill to the new monastery that the village are building.

Dinner is 2 hours later, Dan Kumari also cooks a great dhal bhat. We sit cross legged in her kitchen on a woven mat and soak it all in. Dhana tells us we must try some rakshi- oh, ok. How bad can it be? It still makes me gasp to think about it! We sit for 2 hours and Amma talks to us for 2 hours. Bloody cold, I love it.

Walk back to the rooms in pitch blackness- the stars are upside down.

Late night - 9.15

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