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Published: April 17th 2009
So, here we are in Nepal after a few crazy weeks that included: Nepali New Years 2066, insane bus rides and, much needed, exercise.
As we entered Nepal, we were told by someone at the border that there were strikes going on and that the roads were being blocked so there was no way we were going to be able to get to our destination, Lumbini, that day. Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha and we really wanted to go but it just wasn't meant to be I guess. So, we were forced to stay on the border in Sonali for the night. Nothing special about this town and the only thing worth mentioning is that this is when the stomach sicknesses began. I hadn't gotten sick the whole time I was in India but the very first night of Nepal, I woke up around 2AM with huge stomach cramps and no, it wasn't that time of the month. For the next week and a half, the toilet and I were bitter enemies. After that first night, we needed to get onto the next town because that's where the buses were being allowed to transfer people further away from the border.
The problem was that the next town over was 25 km away and there was no way in hell we were walking that far with our packs. Our only option was a
cycle rickshaw which took about 2 1/2 hours! We made the most of it by blasting the speaker and Aaron and I each took turns cycling - which is much harder than it seems! From the next town over, we were told the next bus was leaving the next morning and that we had to take a jeep to Pokhara (which was the city we had planned to go to after Lumbini) and would cost us about 6000 rupees. We were still traveling with a couple friends, Anchor (from Denmark) and Dane (Australia), so the cost wasn't too bad except for the fact that the next day when we awoke in Pokhara, we had heard that the strikes had ended and a bus from the border would've cost us a fraction of what we paid! Oh well. Apparently, strikes and closures of roads are not a rarity here.
So, our plan was to stay Pokhara for a few days then start our big trek into the Himalayas. Pokhara is
a major town and starting point for many people starting their trekking. It's situated in northern Nepal on a lake with rolling hills surrounding it. On a clear morning, you can see the Annapurna Himalayan mountain range and it really is...how shall I say...quite stunning. The problem with that: wildfires had begun a few days prior to us arriving in Nepal by, rumor has it, poachers. We couldn't see the fires themselves but the haze from the smoke had made it impossible for us to see the mountains with the exception of the morning that we left as there had been a huge thunderstorm the night before.
Hanging around Pokhara, although beautiful, got old after the first few days. Aaron and I had wanted to leave a couple of days before we actually did to do a mini-trek and get prepared but our stomachs were holding us back. So, each day we would wake up, walk down the main strip, purchase trekking stuff (gloves, jackets, scarves, socks, etc - all North Face rip-offs and really cheap), eat, drink, sleep, repeat until about 7 days in - then we took off for the Annapurna Circuit.
We were extremely excited to begin
this trek as it is one of the more famous and ancient routes in the world. A little background on the trek: The "Annapurnas" are a group of Himalayan peaks - I'm not sure of all the names, but I think there is Annapurna South, Annapurna I, II, III, and IV. The trek follows ancient paths used to transfer goods between Nepal and Tibet back in the day and spans over 300 kilometers, or 186.411357671 miles. (And yes, I did that in my head...And by "in my head", I mean I used a handy-dandy online measurement converter.) Granted, we finished in Tatopani, a bit short of the 186.411357671 miles, but that's pretty impressive for Aaron and I considering the only exercise we really did in the past couple of years was getting up from the couch to grab a beer. Just joking of course...or am I? The highlight of the trek is about 2 weeks into it when we crossed Thorong Pass - the biggest pass in the world and stands at almost 18,000 feet!
All in all, we trekked, or walked, for 18 days. I'm not going to go through each day and explain what we did because A)
many days it was just walking up, up, up or down, down, down and B) my last entry was way too long and time-consuming for both writer and audience. Ok, so to summarize the best of my abilities:
Day 1: Consisted of taking a bus from Pokhara to Besisahar at 6:30AM. This morning was the first morning we were able to see the Himalayas and it was a reassuring start to the trip! When we got to Besisahar, we took a jeep to our starting point - however, there happened to be a roadblock so we were forced to get out, forfeiting half of the money we had given the driver because he had no idea it was there. It just so happened that on the other side of the road block, there was another jeep waiting for us - a friend of the first jeep I'm sure, and we were forced to pay again! Our first day of walking consisted of about 3 hours. It was strenuous at times, but that could've just been the out-of-shape-body talking. The trek started at ~800m or 2600ft.
Day 2: Aaron had been complaining about his right knee the first day even though
he was pushing ahead really quickly. This probably did him in and by the second day there was talk of him turning around and me continuing on solo. We decided to test it out and see how it felt. So, we went to Syange and it wasn't working out so we made our plans to part for a couple of weeks. This night we meet Yenz. He is from Berlin and happened to work at the same bar that another German couple owned that we met at the border about a week beforehand. He says he's been traveling with his two friends but they got separated. One is from Manhattan and the other is a blonde German girl. We tell him we'll keep a look out. More on this a bit later.
Day 3: Aaron wakes up and is feeling miraculously better! So, we plan on going to Jagat, the next town about 2 hours away because they have hot springs which we figure will be good for his knee. We also hire a porter to prevent any more injuries to the fragile lil' Aar-bear. The springs turned out to be A) too hard to get to because they are
making a new road and debris was covering the entryway and B) too hot anyways - you have to mix the river water with the spring water and pour it on yourself - LAME! This night, as we're hanging out at the guest house, we meet a guy with long hair and a girl with extremely blonde hair. It happens to be the same guys Yenz was talking about. Turns out this guy from Manhattan, Morgan, used to go to Disco Biscuits shows back in the day. Now, if you didn't know that the Disco Biscuits are our favorite band, then you just don't know us. Anyways, he knows a bunch of our friends from back home and even mentions the "Penfield Crew" - our hometown!
Day 6: We arrived in Chame (2600m) the night before and it was getting a bit cold out. When we awoke, we took a gander outside and it was an all-out blizzard! Really cool looking but we weren't sure if we were going to be able to go on that day. So, we drank some tea by the fire and waited. We took off in the snow about 2 hours later and it turned
out to be one of our favorite days, despite not being able to see the mountains. It takes about 4 1/2 hours to get to Pisang and when we arrive we're
freezing! Day 7: From Pisang, we made our way to Manang - a main village along the trek where everyone acclimatizes for a day which means you get a rest day to get used to the altitude, which is at 3440m at this point, so we've climbed quite a bit in the first week. Along the first half of the trek, we're following the Massyangdi River and it is the bluest river I've ever seen. Caribbean-blue - no joke! We run into Yenz here and friends are reunited and we all have a jolly-ol' time in Manang for a couple of days. There is a really good bakery here that we post up at as well as a little movie theatre down the road too. We watch "No Country For Old Men" in the basement of a restaurant. The room has theatre-style seating with yak fur on the seats, a fireplace in the middle, and food served while we watch!
Day 10 From a little village called Yak Karka,
we had a tough day ahead of us to Thorong Pheti (4450m) - the last village before we cross the pass. About an hour after our start in Yak, we cross a bridge and there is a really steep climb to a little shop. We take a break here and then continue on for about an hour along the mountainside which is steep and a landslide area so there are a lot of little rocks making it somewhat difficult to walk sometimes. When we arrive in Thorong Pheti, Aaron and I decide to drop our stuff off in our room and climb up higher. The point of this is to increase your red blood cell count by ascending and then descending. It helps with the acclimatization process. That night, I notice I have a headache - one of the signs of altitude sickness which is an extremely serious thing. Aaron has one as well so we take our medicine and hope to feel better in the morning. The plan is to wake up at 3:15AM, eat breakfast and charge up the mountain to make it to the pass around sunrise before the winds pick up.
Day 11 We wake up
and I feel fine, but Aaron is still a little concerned about his headache so we decide to stay the day in Thorong Pheti while our friends head up. Better safe than sorry!
Day 12 Pass Day! Alarm doesn't go off! No matter, we wake up in time to get a quick breakfast and head up before the French-Canadian people - about 8 of them who happen to be around 55-60. Pretty impressive, I must say. The first part of this day is a climb to base camp - a 350m climb straight up in the dark. We use our headlamps but it's still hard to see the trail. The air has become noticeably thin and we are forced to take breaks every 50 or so steps.
From high camp, we walk along side a ridge that is packed in snow and a straight drop. There are people who stay at the high camp and everyone walks along the ridge slowly using their walking sticks. From there, we ascent up the side of a mountain for about 15 minutes. The trail is filled with snow and we're climbing - only climbing - the whole way. As we walk, we can
see a pole at the top of each horizon showing us where to go. We reach a tea-shop about half-way to the pass but don't get any tea. We just take a break and warm up a bit by the fire and head out. The second half of the trek, we spot snow leopard paw prints!
Finally, we see prayer flags in the distance and realize we've made it! We're the 3rd and 4th foreigners to reach the pass that day - not bad! Left around 4:30AM, arrived around 7:50AM - 3 hours and 20 minutes! It is absolutely breath-taking from the top of the pass and we're ecstatic to be there. What an accomplishment! We eat a celebratory Snickers, take some pictures and head down.
The way down is as difficult, if not more difficult as the way up, and takes 4 hours. It is extremely steep making it hard on the knees and quads and we're running low on water as Aaron slipped and broke the CamelBack! We finally make it down to a small tea-shop and are exhausted. We get a quick lunch and take off to Muktinath, a gradual descent for about an hour. Muktinath is
surrounded by a wall and as we enter, we go to a temple where many people are gathered. We talk to a sahdus, or holy men, and they inform us that a big festival is to take place in couple of days here! Perfect timing, but for now, we need rest. We head down the path to the Bob Marley Hotel and reunite with our friends. That night, the kitchen allows me to make a calzone! Then it's time to sleep. All in all, in one day, we climbed 1,000m, or 3,280ft, and descended 1800m, or 5,760ft!
Day 14: We leave Muktinath after the festival for Kagbeni which is situated in a valley and really, really nice.
The next few days are filled with somewhat easy-walking, but the trail is now shared with jeeps which makes it a lot less authentic and enjoyable.
Day 17: Arrival in Tatopani, which literally means, hot springs - YES! As much of an adventure as this trek was, we are ready for it to be over and Tatopani is a great place to end it. The hot springs are really nice to soak in for a while and we eat a celebratory dal bhat
which is a lentil soup sort of thing, rice and veggy curry. We ate this a bunch along the trek and it's pretty much the only thing the Nepalese eat. It was such a common thing for us that it almost became a friend. We had nicknames for it such as: dal B, dal bizzle, db, the bizzz, etc.
Day 18 We take a jeep from Tatopani to Beni, and from there we take a bus to Pokhara where I eat a big steak and get a well-deserved ice cream. This trek was by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life and I would 100%!d(MISSING)o it again and suggest it anyone who wants to explore the Himalayas and get away from everything for a couple of weeks...also it gets you into shape!
Well, I think I failed in my shortening of my lil' entries here, so I apologize. I'll work on it, nah, probably not.
Until next time...
Pictures 1 Pictures 2
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almost a friend
I loved this line. I swear you need to write a book or at the very least, a magazine article somewhere. Don't worry about writing being too long, I devour every word, and can picture myself there through your gorgeous photos and funny and colorful descriptions. Glad to see you're changing your likes and dislikes with food. Maybe when you come visit next time you'll eat something new. So, it beats the Rockies?? Thought that was pretty hard, can't imagine trekking your route. I agree that those downhill parts can be even harder sometimes. Glad the headaches didn't progress into real altitude sickness. So enjoy your music festival, leave it to you guys to find concerts wherever you are! LOVE and safe journeys.