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Published: November 13th 2006
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Foothills
It can't get more geographical than this. Thorough trek preparations.......
After debating whether we could carry our own bags full of clothes, sleeping bags, loo rolls and "mountain man bars" (possibly the most dense substance known to man)", we decided it would be best to get a porter for the trek. After all it is putting something back into the local economy, which is our justification.
We signed up with Swissa (who organised our rafting) and they arranged us to meet our porter the night before we left to check he was ok. We were expecting a wirey old Nepali man with a hunch back from carrying bags for a living. However, we were surprised when a young lad in designer sunglasses and fancy dyed hair turned up. His name was Madhav and over the next 18 days he would become "Madhav the Legend".
As part of Ang's detailed and extensive preparation for the trek, she got her hair cut - possibly the only bit of preparation we had done! Her visit to the local Sweeney Todd parted her of roughly 30p and quite a lot of her hair. The barber, in his search for the perfect horizontal line, kept missing and had to take
Meeting the Maoists
Organised extortion off more and more until he eventually got it right. By which time the hair was a few inches near to Ang's ears than she intended. When he started giving her a shoulder massage, she knew that was her cue to leave/run.
And they were off into the foothills...
The first few days of the trek were not too strenuous. The heat and humidity was the worst problem. We started trekking at 0730 and generally finished about 1500. On arriving at each guesthouse we would promptly get into the shower fully clothed and wash everything at once. Dinner usually consisted of dhal bhat - a lentil curry with rice, vegetables and pickle - and you could eat as much as you possibly could. Definite walking fuel. Beers were quite expensive and power cuts common so most people (including us) went to bed early ready for the next day's challenge.
The scenery in this area was beautiful, the "hills" (much bigger than UK mountains) were mostly terraced with padi fields and you would see women working in them all day long. As we were walking along the paths we would often have to jump out of the way
of a line of mules carrying goods up to higher villages. We also saw many men carrying a massive amount on their backs. The most that tourist porters are supposed to carry is 35kg but for the men working for themselves, there seemed no limit. Everything has to be taken in along these paths as there are no roads so as you reach higher villages, the beers, water, loo rolls etc get more expensive. The most impressive load one man was carrying was a full set of stairs and banisters, which probably weight over 100kg and was a bugger of a shape to carry.
We made good use of the ACAP water stations on our way around - good clean water which didn't cause plastic bottle waste and didn't taste like horrible iodine.
Is it a yeti? No, it’s a yak.
After the foothills, the scenery got a lot more dramatic and after 7 days we reached Manang which is surrounded by 7000m-plus mountains in all directions. Altitude here was about 3500m so we needed 2 nights to acclimatise. Pete definitely felt the altitude - waking during the night out of breathe with headaches. Fortunately, these were
the worst 2 nights and we actually suffered less as we got higher.
We had a couple of new experiences in Manang - one was eating Yak burgers (which taste especially good after a week of lentil curry). We also visited the local Nepali "cinema" to watch "Into Thin Air" about people dying on Everest - inspiring watching when walking in the Himalayas! It made us feel twice as cold that night.
We pressed on and up and were keen to reach the Thorung La pass and get down the other side to the warmth. It was really cold at this altitude, especially with no central heating (and with certain nationalities hogging the little heat which came from log fires) and outside toilets.
We were pleased to reach Thorung Phedi - the last stop before attempting the pass. Unfortunately, the rooms in the main guest house had been booked out. But it was ok, there was a "cattle-shed" - like hut out the back which we were welcome to stay in. It did have windows but there had many gaps and the door did not close properly. There was already snow on the floor inside the door -
Prayer flags across a bridge
Bridges justify plenty of prayer flags the prospects of a warm night did not look good. After several hot chocolates we put all our clothes on (literally all the clothes in our packs including all socks, thermals, woolly hats and gloves) and climbed into our sleeping bags.
Thorung La 5416m
At 4am Madhav knocked on our door and we were pleased we had survived the night without frostbite. We got up, took some clothes off and then braved the toilets. These (eastern-style) had become frozen overnight and therefore not able to flush. Worse though, was the danger of slipping - they were like ice rinks. It was a dicey experience. At 4.30 we were on our way towards the top. The first hour was very steep, cold and dark. Ang thought her saviour had come when a man rode past offering his spare horse, but, alas, Pete waved him on before she could muster a word. The remainder of the walk to the pass was like a winter wonderland; fresh snow had fallen and was a foot deep in places but the sky was cloudless and blue. The time passed very quickly and we were very excited to reach the top of the Thorung
La pass at 5416m. We stayed long enough to take a few photos, eat a celebratory chocolate bar and feel elated.
The downhill was interesting and took a lot longer. The snow made the descent very slippy with no obvious paths to follow. After 4 hours of slipping and sliding we made it to Muktinath, heading for rest at the "Hotel Bob Marley", ate Yak steak in the Rasta Rock Restaurant. A particular highlight was our first shower for 4 days (and it was warm!).
All downhill from here...
The remainder of the trek was fun and was over before we knew it, (though Ang did have a couple of days where she was threatening to sit down and wait till a horse would come along and carry her (again) - to be fair she had been suffering with a bout of Giardia which upsets the stomach a bit; Pete had also been suffering as one of the symptoms is rotten egg burps). After 18 days, lots of lentils and rice, we completed the trek.
We returned from the trek a little bit thinner and quite a bit fitter and gagging for steak and beer, luckily
Winter wonderland
Hey snowy, I can see the pub from here there is lots of this is Pokhara.
It was really an amazing trip and we fully recommend anyone to do it! Especially as it is very geographical!!
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Bec
non-member comment
ahhhhhh!
Reading your entries makes me so emotional, all that you are experiencing together. So happy for you both xxx