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Published: August 19th 2005
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After meeting a lot of other backpackers who had recently been to Nepal, our decision to come here was made easy, especially because we were now up for some serious trekking.
Once again it seemed like the city of Delhi always had a way of luring us back in, so we had yet another two day stop here in 40 degree heat to get things organized. We went to see
Star Wars episode III and hung out with Steve and Gemma, a couple from England. They took us to Delhi’s revolving restaurant and we all agreed that the food and Delhi’s night time view was nothing to rave about. But none the less we had an enjoyable night and ended up in a slightly polished English style pub to while the hours away.
Erik and I sighed with relief at the thought of leaving Delhi, but our relief was short lived once we began our journey overland from Delhi to
Pokhara, Nepal. The 12 hour train ride from Delhi to Gorakphur (a town approx 3 hours from the border) was bearable, then came the 3 hour, overheated, squashed in like sardines bus ride to the border. Wishing that I
was sitting on the London underground at rush hour, the Indian girl sitting next to us began vomiting out of the window - nuff said!
The walk across the wide open border was a breath of fresh air and security was non-existent as a local pointed to a small shack on the side of the road, this was the Nepali Immigration office where we bought our visas.
A couple of hours later we jumped on a supposed V.I.P" bus that would take us to Pokhara before nightfall,
this is the best bus you’ll get in Nepal
we were told. So we got on the bus and didn’t mind that some of the seats were ripped out, that there was leaking oil or even that the tyres were completely worn out, we just wanted to get there asap. Off we went and within 3 minutes, we experienced our first security check that involved government troops who boarded the bus looking for Maoist rebels, something you quickly get used to in Nepal at times like this.
The bus ride offered some beautiful scenery, including a tipped over lorry and a minor crash between two others and at around 9pm we stopped for dinner and shared a dal
Cold mornings
got some nice hot porridge to warm us up bhat (Nepali traditional dish similar to Indian thali) as we only had 100 Nepali rupees/1 pound/12kr between us. After dinner the bus conductor asked us if we wanted to see a room, a little peculiar considering our 10pm planned arrival time, he told us that because of the political situation, there was a curfew in the area and no vehicles were allowed to drive until 4am. Strapped on cash we slept on top of the bus, or at least Erik did and I went inside the bus but with no luck there, I ended up sitting on the road with the driver and two other guys. It’s no wonder a chest infection caught up with me. We arrived at 7am the following day just outside Pokhara where the bus broke down… no surprises there.
Pokhara was a nice quiet town by a lake, the perfect place to recharge our batteries after India (or charge them if you’re going the other way). We met a young British guy by the name of Matthew - he had all the elements of a weed driven 19 year old (no offence Mat!), and we had a cool time lazin' around with him.
We
had to go to the hospital to check up on my chest infection where we ran into Daniel, an old camel trek friend, who also had a chest infection (thanks for the good times, we’ll see you at the Walkabout next year).
India was cheap, but Nepal was dirt cheap; you could get a pepper steak dinner and a large imported Tuborg (for Erik) for about 2 pounds. After our two week chillout period it was time to get our bums up and on that mountain -
Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). We found Mr Safi a.k.a
Cheeky Monkey, and hired his services as porter and guide.
To trek in the
Annapurna Conservation Area costs about 15 pounds a head, but we managed to avoid this by crossing the gates at 6 a.m before opening hours. The first day was an easy trek, but hard on our bodies as we hadn’t done much exercise for a while. It was particularly funny when a very old man walked past me when I was huffin and puffin and amused himself by saying
It’s hard isn’t it?
Totally exhausted we finished the days trek at 1pm and filled our bellies up with a fish curry and
No shortage
grows even outside our front door at our guesthouse in Pokhara Dal bhat.
The next day was a true Jane Fonda style workout, think of climbing a set of stairs for eight hours straight up… literally. Thank god we made it up there that day, sweat and bruises included.
After that it got easier day by day as our bodies acclimatised to the heat, trek and altitude. Each day we got going at 6am and trekked till about 3pm, then spent the evening relaxing with other trekkers too tired to do anything else but sit down and talk before spending the night at a tea house (guest house).
Amazingly neither of us got bitten by any leeches on the trek, but we listened to other trekkers stories, they had several bites to show us including a mexican who got 15 leeches in his boots… Yuk!
By day 5 we reached
ABC: 4130m! We spent the night there and viewed a spectacular sunrise over the full 360 degree Annapurna Himalayan range engulfing us. We made it!!! It felt like a real achievement.
After 5 days of looking forward to reaching the top, it felt mentally hard to walk back the same way for 4 days, so Mr Safi
Recovering
Out with Daniel, antibiotics included... took us down on a slightly different route and it was fun to be the “veterans”. Even though we didn’t bump into any Maoists, the trek presented us with constant Maoist propaganda as their presence has a stronghold within this area.
It felt good to get back to Pokhara after 9 days in the mountains. Erik with Tuborg in hand and I divulging into a chicken sizzler.
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fahmida
non-member comment
amazing trek
hi love :O) long time since i've been in touch, but that hasnt stopped me from keeping up with your amazing tour. Really breathtaking pics of your journey, and a real sense that your taking your viewers there with you (as your including all the ups and downs of your journey!)and how amazing was that allah stone?! anywayz keep enjoying, and remember during the hards times we all love you :O) lotsa hugs and beautiful kisses, fahmida . x