Exhausted!

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We started our travels in a city called Kathmandu which was where we last updated this blog. We met up with our group of which there were 1 Norweigien, 1 Londoner, 3 Oz, 3 Kiwi's and a lad from Southampton! (Pompey supporter, Tony was not impressed!) The initial days were spent sight seeing and generally getting to know one another. It was a strange experience after being on our own for several weeks. We vistsed Swayambunath Monkey temple (Tony felt very at home) and Baktaphur which is a world heritage site. This bit is a bit boring so i'll skip to the good bits.

We left our comfortable hotel in Pokhara on October 21st. Having been indulged with good food, alcohol and a comfy bed we were then told 'to forget everything we know whilst we're in the mountains!!!' What had we let ourselves in for? We were dropped off 15km from Pokhara and handed over our heavy bag filled with our worldly possessions to a very small Nepali lad who would be our porter for the next ten days. Tony was adamant that he would carry his own bag but after the first day was glad we had got a porter.

The first day was only three hours and wasnt that difficult. We stopped at our first tea house for the night where we found a great game called Karem Board. This is a game that the Nepali's are very good at. It's a bit like pool (which their crap at) but you flick counters with your fingers trying to sink them in the holes. Our guide Shankar (The Nepalese equivilent of Del Boy, mange tout rodders!) was quality and a bit of a hustler me thinks.

This first day was a cruel incentive to make us believe that the remainder of the trek would be pretty easy going. Woke up very early (or was woken up very early) for breakfast and told that today would be difficult. We would have to climb over 3000 stone steps in under 2 hours if we were to arrive at our destination on time that day. No problem we thought. How hard can it be? Blimey, it was difficult. After about 100 steps we remembered why we have lifts in the UK. Sugar and chocolate bars seemed to be a staple supply that day and Tony had hoarded a bag of Harribo gummy bears which came in handy as I panted my way coughing and spluttering to the next stage. The events which followed were insignificant compared to that event, so roll on the next day.

Shankar said that in Nepal there are three types of surface. one that slopes up, one that slopes down and Nepali flat. this consists of a bit of up, a bit of down and a very tiny bit of flat ground in between. We stayed in quite a nice tea house which had a heater in the main common room. it was freezing that night and Amy had to use my shorts as thermals. We went o bed early as the next morning we had to get up at 4 am in order to trek 400m up to Poon Hill for the sunrise.

Can you tell that Tony and I are both writing this? He knows nothing about punctuation and is infuriating me with his lack of capital letters. I'll try to ease the tension as you read on with accurate use of capitals. (You can tell i'm a teacher).

Awoke at 4am and was greeted with a small cup of black tea and very cold weather. The trek up to Poon Hill is a very popular one and we were told that it was a must so we packed our cameras and tourches and set off. Within moments I began to feel a little anxious. It was pitch black and the steps leading to Poon Hill were uneven and unsecure. Tony was a trooper and knew exactly what he had to do in order to survive. He had to leave me! I reassured him that I would be fine with the others and so he reluctantly skipped off into the distance with the other troopers. It was a struggle and probaby the hardest thing I had to do during the trek but the view at the top was amazing and I made it with 5 minutes to spare. Tony was waiting for me at the top and spurred me on for the last few metres. I just want to add that this was the only time I didn't manage to keep up the pace. I was bloody amazin after Poon F**king Hill!

the next few day were more of the same up and down, up and down,,,, we stayed at a great guest house (check out the pics) where our room was nothing more than an outside cupboard with plastic sheeting for a ceiling and paper thin walls, nice! it was quite cold that night so we were asked if we wanted some heat in the dining room........ the staff proceeded to load up a coal fire and then put it under the bloody table!?!?!? health and saftey has gone mad, why don't we do this in England! we then asked for some light as the power had cut out ( a common occurance) and they brought out what looked like a blow torch and hung it on a wooden piller below some electric cables, great! oh and amy wants me to tell you there was a rat in the shower. I didn't see it myself, but some of the girls saw it and said it was huge! just before we went to bed Shankar told us not to leave anything outside that night. when asked why his reply was 'nobody knows' and he walked off.

after about day six of the actual trek we reached Machhapuchchre Base Camp where we stayed the night in a very warm tent. Tony decided that he really needed a wash and as you had to pay for hot water by the bucket, he decided that we would take a walk down to the modi khola river which comes from the annapurna glacier, to bathe himself. Fool! The water was ice cold but the sun was shining so it counter balanced quite well. We were now above the cloud line and at about 3pm we could see the clouds coming up the valley wrapping themselves round the base camp. Our wake up call was our fellow treker Fiona screaming outside our tent after finding a mouse in her bag. The hungry blighter had eaten his way through half a packet of oreo cookies(which I told her wasn't a bad thing).

The following morning we reached Annapurna base camp. It took us only 2 hours as we had put in a lot of work the previous 2 days. The walk to ABC was beautiful. The river had frozen over and the sound of water was rushing beneath. We arrived at ABC at 11am and had reached our goal of 4130 m above sea level. It was the most powerfull experience and well earned after 7 days of hard walking. With lunch ordered and eaten, we carried on exlporing. Prayer flags were everywhere and a constant reminder of those who had lost their lives whilst attempting to climb Annapurna 1. The sounds at ABC were extrordinary. There was a huge glacier nearby which made cracking sounds as the ice shifted. This was a very unusual sound. Tony enjoyed a game of volleyball with the porters and managed a few good smashes, but sport at altitude plays havoc with your lungs as they seem to shrink to the size of walnuts and your oxygen intake is minimal. Got a few snaps of him anyway so you can see them soon.

(yawn, amy cant half rabbit!) Skip to the end........ getting back to Pokhara was no less of a challege as we had to go up and down through valley after valley. In a place called Jhinu Danda we celebrated Devali with the locals where we were pulled up to dance and wern't allowed to sit back down. the last night was spent partying with the porters, our group and guides. Everest beer and the Venga Boys, you cant beat it.!?!? Said our goodbyes over dinner 2 nights ago and we are now haeding to Lumbini tomorrow. its the birth place of the buddha.

Miss you all, bonjour!

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