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Published: October 4th 2008
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First Glimpse
Our greeting as Pieter and I arrived in Pokhara It's been a minute since I've written so I have to stretch my memory a tad to the days in Pokhara before I left for my trek through the Annapurna region of the Himalaya.
After a sometime difficult experience in Kathmandu, Pokhara felt like the Nepal I had come here for. Hardly any honking taxi drivers, absolutely no rickshaws, few begging children, even fewer homeless children - it was a nice relief from the toils of larger Asian cities. With the beautiful backdrop of the Annapurnas and lakeside guesthouses, Pokhara seemed the place to be. We rented a paddle boat and went out on lake Fewa-Tal for the day. A nice relief from the heat aside from the bickering we did with the man who rented us the boat when we returned and found the agreed upon price had doubled. Resam firiri...such is life.
Then, to put it bluntly...the travel bug nabbed me and I was stuck in the hotel for a day and a half after a vegetable curry turned on me. Having to push our departure day for the trek back to insure my good health, Sean and I rented bicycles to see how I would fair
Lake Fewa Tal
Sean and I relaxing... with some physical activity. We biked to Devi Falls and Mahendra Cave, and, playing the true part of the tourists, amazed the local children with our power to capture moments via magical digital-ism (Don't kill me for the lack of professional word choice, Professor). Having had a wonderfully healthy two days with the help of my good friend, the antibiotic, we set out on September 19th for Besishahar, the starting point for a 150 mile hike through the Annapurnas.
Let me tell you a few things about local Nepalese buses. One, sit as close to the front as you possibly can. Two, when the bus stops, get off. It will be stopped for a while. Three, enjoy the lack of shocks as much as you are able to. And four, try not to sit on the roof.
Leaving Pokhara around 7 am, covering the staggering distance of 49 miles, we arrived in Besishahar at about 1 in the afternoon. We then had a lunch of the local Dal Baht cuisine, registered at the Trekking office and found ourselves on the roof of another local bus. And man, was this a ride. Remember how I said not to sit
on the roof of the buses?
As the bus proceeded into the canyon, we realized that we were on the most vicious 4WD road we had ever seen. With each inch the bus swayed into the cliff on our left and then back toward the 60 foot drop into the river on our right. Then the bus-boy asked us for 150 rupees (for a 3 mile ride when we paid only 120 for the 50 mile ride from Pokhara?) and we said "Stop the bus...we'll walk". The remaining miles to Bhulbhule passed quickly and we found ourselves having actually started the Annapurna Circuit.
Arriving in the village of Bhulbhule in the late afternoon, we settled down, drank some tea and played a few hands of rummy. Tomorrow we would truly be on our way. Tomorrow, well, it rained. A lot. And finally at noon, we sucked it up, put on our rain gear and decided to get as far as we could. 7 hours, 10 miles and a sketchy walk upon a rockslide later, we found ourselves in Jagat. And never saw the rain again.
Jagat was an absolutely beautiful village and we stayed at an amazing
Day 1
Crossing bridges... guesthouse. The himalayas in this section of the trek startled me. I found myself not in an alpine environment of imposing mountain faces but in a waterfall infested tropical forest. It was incredible. Lush countryside, rice fields, and shoeless porters carrying loads a horse would buckle under proved the authenticity and beauty of the place I had entered.
After an overnight in the village of Bagarchap, we headed on to Chame, took in a local volleyball game and had our first glimpses of the monuments that make up the Annapurna range. Then onto to Upper Pisang the following day. See, there are two routes you can take to Manang, a high route and a low route. Taking the low route bypasses incredible mountain views and the three small villages of Upper Pisang, Ghyura, Ngawal. We opted for the higher route and found ourselves at the Hotel Himalayan, just below a Buddhist Stupa at the highest point in Upper Pisang. Among a beautiful middle-aged Nepalese couple that ran the place and friends we had made on the trek, 8 of us spent the afternoon staring at Annapurna II, waiting for the clouds to the clear. And when they cleared...well...I felt
Day 2
Good Morning!! like my whole life was happening in those moments in that tiny village.
Moving on to Ngawal on day 6, a tedious climb in which we gained about 1600 vertical feet, we were greeted with views of Annapurna III, a few rude (or was it arrogant?) Belgians, and the wonderful lemon tea we had become addicted to. All in all, a peaceful night until the Belgians' porters started banging on the tin walls and serving the Belgians' breakfast in bed at 4 am. An hour later, Sean yelled a stout "Shut the f*** up" and the Belgians slowly made their way out. And so after another restless hour of sleep, we had our breakfast and set out for Manang.
Having the majority of the day to acclimate, we walked to Gangapurna Lake (a lake formed by the melting of the Gangapurna glacier at the foot of Gangapurna Peak) and our Nepalese friend Prem read us an account of his trip four years ago to Lake Tilicho, the worlds' highest lake, which we planned to visit the next day while him and our friend Greg continued on toward Thorung La pass. Prem runs a school in Pokhara and Greg
Day 2
Climbing out of the valley lives in Australia but plays a large role in the school's programs. They were two very inspirational people to spend time with in such an incredible part of the world and I'm glad to call them my new lifelong friends.
On Day 8 we set out for Lake Tilicho, a trip we were told would take 3 days. We planned to finish it in 1 1/2. Starting out from Manang and going through Khangsar, we new there were two trails, a high one which went above 16,400 feet and a low one that gained little elevation but was prone to landslides. There was a difference in two hours if you took the low one. So we took the low one hoping to summit the 17,000 foot lake later that afternoon.
Nobody told us there was a middle trail.
After about an hour, we found ourselves in the river bed where a steep rock face made it impossible to follow the river. We knew we'd have to retrace our steps over the steep, gravelly landslide area we had tried to make a trail out of until we found the real trail. The one in the middle. An hour
and a half and a 500 foot ascent through cattles' grazing grounds later, we had found the trail. This was by far the scariest hiking we had to do. The trail wound itself around crumbly spires, over old landslides and through possible new ones for about 2 miles before we saw the Tibetan prayer flags that adorned the roof of the Tilicho Basecamp hotel 6 hours after we had set out. There was no way we were climbing to the lake that day.
Which was a good thing because when we woke up at 5:30 in the morning the next day, there was not a cloud in sight and the surrounding 26,000 foot peaks seemed to almost beckon as with the rising sunlight. I think because I was a little more accustomed to higher altitudes I was able to get to the lake first and had about a half hour before anyone else arrived. I won't even try to explain in words the feelings that manifested as I sat amid prayer flags and massive mountains listening to the sound of avalanches in the distance. I made a snow angel. I saw my first avalanche trigger. I ate the himalayan
The Hard Part Is...
getting them to stay still. snow. When everyone else arrived, smiles outweighed the altitude headaches and shortness of breath some of the people were suffering from and we enjoyed the beauty of our ninth day in the Annapurnas together.
This is getting long....sorry guys. I'll save the last 5 days for another entry in a day or two. We still have to climb Thorung La Pass (17,770 feet) and walk out...and take another local bus 😉 Enjoy the photos...and let me know if there are too many.
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