Blogs from Annapurna, Nepal, Asia - page 41

Namaste! Well, Nepal has certainly been an incredible experience so far with Tigers, elephants and rather scary sinking mud, combine that with the preposterous idea I had that I enjoyed walking enough to take on a three week trek carrying my own 20kg bag and it is fast becoming place I will never forget!! So where to begin?!... We first flew to Katmandu from Beijing via a very uncomfortable Bangkok transfer, involving a 12 hour overnight wait on freezing metal chairs with men hocking everywhere, only to find a transfer lounge a couple of hours before our next flight! Typical, especially as I had asked the nice lady at the Thai airways check-in desk if they had a lounge. "only for our gold card customers" she informed me and helpfully suggested the airport hotel instead, to ... read more

I arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal after a quick and easy flight from Delhi. I spent two days in the city wandering its narrow streets, watching Maoist supporters protest for their dubious reasons, and personally investigating the delicious Nepali food at local restaurants. After my two days expired I was taken by taxi, along with my guide and Sherpa to the village of Besisahar, roughly 6 hours west of Nepal's capitol city. Besisahar is the typical starting point for those choosing to complete the full Annapurna Circuit trek, roughly a 17-21 day journey around the mighty Annapurna mountain range, finishing in the larger city of Pokhara. The Annapuran Conservation Area Project (ACAP) is one of the largest protected sanctuaries in Nepal and full of a wide-variety of stunning scenery. The Annapurna range itself is also home to ... read more

The plan Annapurna Circle... Il should be a cool and easy trek, a pleasant and varying route, travelled through by thousands of tourists, most of them on guided tours, every year. Some individual people, couples or small parties, accompanied or note by guides and porters, also take up this challenge, while I chose to trek solo, under my own means, an adventurous way suitable for my independence feeling and my wish to be self-sufficient. Well, of course, Thorong La is on the way. This mythic pass is often, wrongly put as the highest in the world. 17972 feet (5478 m) is indeed a respectable altitude, but others himalayan passes crossed by pilgrims or travellers exceed it. I have crossed myself about 19000 feet' one (5700 m) in east of Nepal, between Khumbu and Rolwaling areas. Any ... read more

After 2 months back at ducktours after the last trip, I'm back on the road again for my last holiday before school starts, this time with Mr Victor Gan for a month in Nepal. This is our first post from the road after 15 days in the mountains. There are tons of different treks in Nepal, each varying in terms of length, difficulty and beauty. We (or rather, I did) picked the longest one, the Annapurna circuit, which takes about 19 days to complete. Call it pride or ego, but yeah, I was bent on completing the hardest, longest one available short of mountain climbing. It's also the most interesting and beautiful trek in Nepal because the scenery and towns you pass by along the way are so unique. Victor, however, was completely unaware of ... read more

One hundred yards out of the garage the bus shuddered to a halt. “Besi Saha! Besi Saha!”, cried the two lads hanging out from the doorway at the side of the bus, alerting potential passengers to the destination of the bus. Noone got on and the bus accelerated at just above snail pace, creaking and groaning over the pot holes in the road. “Now we’re on our way!”, I thought, prematurely. Five minutes later we stopped again and the lads repeated their call. Once their luggage was strapped to the roof a few locals boarded the bus. This happened several times until the bus was pretty much full and, an hour or so after departure, we were still within Kathmandu’s city limits. I settled in for a long journey and wondered if the tourist bus would ... read more