Himalaya part 1

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after arriving in Kathmandu from the herendous 24+ hour journey over the worst roads ive ever endured i soon met up with a guy from my hotel (Kapil), that i thought worked there, who showed me where a couple of shops i needed to find were. we got to talking and i was telling him that i was thinking about doing some trekking and it turned out that he was a trekking guide. so after a few beers that night we spoke about the many different trekking options there are in Nepal and decided that the Annapurna Circuit was the way to go. it was a 18 day trek that i knew would be pretty challenging considering that the highest point has an altitude of 5416m but i had heard from other travellers along the way that the contrasting scenery was unparrelled anywhere in Nepal and possibly the world. so with that in mind i decided that if i was going to do it i should do it properly and a day or so later we were on the bus to Pohkara, then to Besisahar where the trekking began.

Even from the first day the scenery was amazing. in the distance were icy snow capped mountains that stood above the smaller hills that were covered in thick tropical vegitation. we walked along side a raging river that originated somewhere deep in the mountains. heards of goats trotted past ready for the forthcoming festival 'Doshain' where mutton was the speciality. we strolled through remote villages with houses built of river stones and stopped in a village to get some food for lunch. as we sat and ate caravans of donkeys would come walking right next to us carrying supplies of rice and various other goods to villages that wouldnt be reached for a few more days. we set of for 'Bahundanda' where we were supposed to rest but found the people running the guest houses were not particularly interested in accomodating single trekkers and either told us there were no rooms or offered us ones that stank of gas. they apparantly had the idea that hoards of large groups were on their way that would prove much more profitable for them (this circuit has been walked long enough and by enough people that greed is an unfortunate eventuality). so despite being absolutley Knakered after my first day of real excercise in 6 months (lifting double rum and cokes doesnt really constitute excercise) we had a further 2 and a half hours to the next village where we could get a room. it was now 3.30pm so despite our fatigue we had to pick up the pace to arrive before dark but i had unwitingly packed my bag to a weight of around 15k at least, and my guide Kapil swapped bags with me as his weighed about 8k. we finally made it to Gherum Phant and got a room, had a well needed shower and got our heads down for the 6.30am start.

the Guesthouse was right next to a huge, beautiful waterfall that could be heard ever so faintly from the room as i put my head down and after a good nights sleep we awoke to find a persistant light rain slowly soaking the landscape and pretty soon us. we went and bought a plastic bag that i cut and secured under my cap to make a kind of rain coat as the only jacket i had was very heavy and would have been no fun in the heat. we set off after breakfast passing innumerable waterfalls as we gained altitude. the area around us was scattered with Ganja, but were not of the best quality according to Kapil and we pressed on to a little village where we ate lunch, drank a liitle whisky and i slept for 45mins while Kapil Waited for his dhal baat (rice with lentil soup and vegetables - the twice a day standard munch of every Nepali). we met up with a friend of Kapils who was a porter for an Israely couple that kindly gave me a small lump of fresh hashish that had been hand rolled in the mountains. i was again Knakered with a fair way to go and i bought a bamboo cane for 15p as i seemed to be the only trekker without a stick (everyone had professional extendable trekking sticks) which provided some relief when going up steep inclines. at one point we were both walking, Kapil was arounf 10ft in front of me and i suddenly heard some kind of rustling in the bushes from up the hill to my left. i stopped to glance up at what it was and a boulder the size of a football came flying down around 3ft in front of me down into the valley below. Kapil also hears this, turns around and sees the rock rolling down into the river 150ft below us and we both give thanks that either i hadnt been walking slightly faster or him the opposite, as if the boulder had not killed us on impact the 150ft drop into the raging river below would have definately finished us of. we were nearly at Tal which was our destination, and had climbed a steep path into a low cloud where we couldnt see more than 20ft in front of us, needless to say it was now begining to beome a bit chilly but luckily there was a hot shower waiting at the guesthouse.

i had been drinking the local water as i had rationalised that its all plumbed from the Himalayas and was therefore safe to drink, however after discovering the next morning at breakfast, that a fart could not be trusted i began using the clorine solution that we had bought. so a few more visits to the toilet and a vitamin tablet later we were off again past more waterfalls, more mountain vievs and more masses of ganja, at one point we climbed to the top of a hill and i needed the toilet and was forced to urinate on ganja as we were surrounded by it (hopefully no one picked that bit lol). we bought 3 fresh himalayan apples for 8p that were delicious and got a view of the second highest peak in the area and one of the highest in the world Annapurna 2 (i think). we got to the small Tibetan Village of Doanaque and span the many prayer wheels at the entrance reciting the Tibetan mantra ' Om Mane Padme Hum' and found a room. by this point i needed to do some washing, so at the outside water tap (freezing himalayan spring water) i washed my clothes by hand with a bar of soap and gazed out at the view of mount Manasulu as donkeys and chickens ran past a foot or two away from me. this was the first day of Doshain the most celebrated Hindu festival in Nepal and that night we drank freshly brewed 'Roksi' (local whisky) and smoked with Kapils friend Shuba and another guy from Colorado and his guide Kamal.

i woke up feeling pretty good considering the previous nights consumption and it seemed that my arse was also on the mend. one of Shuba's clients had been bitten on the eye by something and was unable to open it (that expalined the crying i had heard in the night through the paper thick walls), so after giving her an ibuprofen for the headache and swelling we left Shuba behind and set off for the 2 hour uphill hike that i had been dreading. surprisingly the climb was a lot easier than i had expected as my body must have been coming round to the idea that it had no chioce but to wake up and walk for 6+ hours a day whether it liked it or not. the vegitation had now changed to pine forests as the altitude had reached around 2500m and the climate was getting colder. views of Annapurna 2 and Manasulu accompanied our journey to Chame, which we reached by 1.30pm, after deciding to crack on rather than stop for lunch. we realxed and chatted to a 40 year old women from london called wendy and a 70 year old women from wahington who was doing the same circuit (i hope she completed the circuit, whether she did or not i dont know but i had to admire her for attempting it, i doubt there are many people her age that share her zest for life. old dogs certainly can learn new tricks its just a matter of choice and determination). we went for a short walk to a small hot spring where we soaked our feet and had a smoke, i was amazed to find that my feet, as Kapil said they would, felt much better......secret healing properties of himalayan spring water? that night we went to a place that had a pool table (helicoptered in) that had posters of Bob Marley and were having a reggae night. i wondered if Bob Marley ever imagined in his wildest dreams that a few decades after his death that small villages in the Himalaya would be listening to his music....... the term prophet seems no exageration, reggae is not just a genre its a movement.

the next day we again walked trough some more breathtaking scenery including what is called 'Heaven Hill' where i learned that this was all at one stage a sea bed before the tectonic plates collided and formed what we now call the Himalaya. we arrived in Pisang at 1.30pm and went for a walk to upper pisang, 200m up to help acclimatise where there was a monastery at the top. on the way, there were fields of ganja and me and Kapil scrambled around trying to find females picking what looked ready and stripped the leaves outside the monastery. after dinner we went to a little local place that had a fire going inside, drank more roksi with some locals and sampled the herbs we had picked a couple days ago that were now dry.
i woke up at 5am in desperate need of the loo but wearing only my boxer shorts i had to get out of bed into the cold and use the outside toilet. i ran there and back but suddenly caught a glimpse of the stars, i stopped and looked up to see more stars than there was darkness, it was the most beautiful i have ever seen the sky and for the next 5 minutes i just stood mesmorised by it (in my boxers) until the cold finally penetrated to my bones and i had to get back in my bed pronto. i began to understand why civilistations of old had such a focus on the stars. from any city in Europe and possibly anycity worldwide the stars are blockedout by a mixture of pollution and light and we forget the magic that lays just above our heads.

one of the first sights of the day was Pisang Peak, a snow capped mountain that extended just beyond the nearest mountain to us followed by an amazing view of snowy Annapurna 3 and 5. pretty soon we were surrounded by snow covered mountains every way we looked and i started to really get a feel for the distance we had travlled and the true majestic nature of the Himalaya that draw so many people to them yerar after year. it wasnt long before we saw our first yak, then another until there was a field with a number of them just doing there thing, Kapil took the camera and ran over to them to take pictures despite the fact of how big not only them but their horns are! as we got closer to Manang there was a field of villagers havesting wheat the old skool way by beating it onto hollowed tree trunks that collected the wheat in a pile at the bottom. Manang was more of a town than a village due to the fact that it was also an acclimatisation station that meant people would spend 2 nights there in order to ajust to the altitude. we found a bakery and had apple pie and yak custard (wasnt bad considering), played some pool at a little place they have (again Bob was on the walls...... along with Stevie Gerrard) Wendy (the 40 year old from london) had gotten pretty upset about not having a hot shower and had convinced herself she had altitude sickness, this can be fatal and me and Kapil decided to keep an eye on her as we werent sure if she was just finding it tough and wanted an excuse to turn back or if we should get ready to call for helicopter rescue. Me and Kapil went for a Roksi in a little place we found that had tiny wooden stools around a log stove and then put our heads down.

the next morning Wendy seemed fine, i again did some more hand washing and set off for our climb to 3800m to help aclimatise. there were two options, one to climb to a monastery to be blessed by a Lama, however i felt that the compulsory 100 rupees that was expected took away from how genuine his intentions were. so instead we went to see the view of the glacier lake on the othe side of the river. it was bliss to be able to walk without a bag and i scurried up the hill like a dog off of his leash. there was a good spot to get a shot of the lake so i dashed accross the crumbling earth that sloped towards a sheer drop leading to certain death and got some good pics. at the top we had some Himalyayan fruit juice (seabuckthorn only grows above a certain altitude) and admired the views of the mountains that were now even closer to us. then it was back down for a hot shower and off to the local cinema (a small room with a projector) to watch 'Into Thin Air' a true story about a group who try to climb Everest and nearly all die, maybe not the best thing to watch considering our location but interesting nonetheless.

by now everyone was talking about 'pass day', this was the day that we would be waking up at 4.30am and setting off in the dark for a 4-6 hour uphill hike to 5416m over an old Tibetan trade route in the potential snow, followed by 4 hours of steep descent to the next village. i had the feeling that this was also part of the cause of Wendy' s 'altitude sickness' as she had often remarked that she didnt think the trek would be this physically demanding. the big day was only a couple days trek and i was secretly hoping for snow so that i could really get a feel for what it must have been like for men of old travelling in winter, which would however, have been a lot colder, plus i was still yet to wear any of the heavy warm clothes that weighed my pack down immensley.

END OF PART 1

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Photos

both a stream and also our path
thankfully my boots were waterproof

another amazing waterfall
there is really no idea of scale in the pics