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Published: October 12th 2006
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Paul set the alarm for 5:45 to see the sunrise, but it was too cloudy so tried to go back to sleep - unfortunately Beckie awoke as bright as a button and they had a complete roll reversal!. Finally up about 6:30 to get ready for the day ahead.
It was a 4 Hour trek this morning with no tea houses to stop at on the way. We are slowly contouring round to the main valley so alot of the terrain has been down, which is easy on the legs, but hard on the knees. The weather was good again, but it seemed to cloud over early in the afternoon - but so far it has remained dry. Managed to get most of our washing done and rested up as before we start gaining altitude. Paul and Mark (another trekee) decided to go down to the shop which was not too bad on the way down but 1/2 Hour of climbing to get back up - both huffing and puffing. Found out about the phrase Nepali Flat - this is ground which is between a gentle slope and vertical - perfect building land!.
A couple of the local touts
arrived and attempted to sell the girls some Jewellry and Trinkets. Its a lot less pressured than India - but the chat seems to be the same. The pre-dinner Uno was a lot of fun - we had about 12 playing at the same time with a lot of cheating from the guides. Pizza was supposed to be a highlight at the Chomrong Tea House, but all in all it was not that great - Yak Cheese instead of Mozarella, does not make a good Pizza. We're usually in bed by 8pm every night as there's not much to do and we're usually pretty knackered from the day - rock and roll lifestyle or what!!!
Set off to Dovan about 7.30am down the steps (again for Paul!) - stopped at the Pharmacy to get some supplies for a few folks in the group. Crossed a metal bridge and then started an hour long slog up the hill having to shoo some water buffalo off the trail.
We stopped for a drink with a lady shelling some local walnuts at the tea-house sat along lots of Marajuna plants (she seemed really happy for some reason!). Kody gave her a
US cereal bar in exchange for a walnut - sure this will be on sale 15 mins after we leave the village!.
Passed through the bamboo forest and stopped at the bamboo tea-house, before continuing for about an hour to Dovan. Shankar (the lead guide) nearly had a mutiny on his hands as most of the clients (apart from Lori - who was ill) wanted to continue on for a few hours. In the end we all relented and stayed the night. We had a hot water - bucket shower and then just chilled out for a while. Shankar wound up the local cat by chasing it with a length of bamboo - the poor thing looked exhausted at the end of it!. The following day was the first day of a week long Nepali Festival (much Raksi will be drunk!!) so there were lots of firecrackers let off in the night. We went to bed about 8pm - this is getting to be an issue!.
Up early again for breakfast - the costs here go up as you gain altitude. Festival started today so all the guests were "treated" to tikkas from the guest house owner (mixture
Playing Ping Pong
Rambo vs. the locals of rice and red paint). Not sure how long the decorations will last when we are puffing and panting up the trail. Passed through the Himalayan Hotel on the way up to Derauli - lots off ups and downs on the way. Had to cross a couple of scary looking bridges. Beckie did not like either one - but the second was particularly inferior in her opinon. She's not looking forward to the return journey at all!..
Made our way finally up to the Macchupuchre base camp (3700m). Bit odd to have a base camp here as climbing is banned on the mountains - the last climbers up there were a Japanese party who were never seen again!. Reached base camp about 3pm - it was really cold. We just huddled in the tea house until dinner just playing games and keeping warm under some welcome duvets. All feeling the effects of the altitude a little - feeling sleepy, staring off into space and generally a bit tired. Yet another early night before the final push onto the Annapurna Base Camp - the target for the trek.
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