Blogs from Nepal, Asia - page 7

Today was our rest day but also acclimatization day, so not really a rest day. Breakfast was arranged for 08:30 to allow us to sleep in, but woke up about 07:00 so did some blogging. After our breakfast we started our day hike at 09:20. We walked out of Manang and crossed the Marsyangdi River and reached Gangapurna Lake around 09:50 where all the boys including Sudarshan and the porters skimmed rocks. Sudarshan then made a pile of rocks and we all had to have goes at throwing stones at it to topple it. It took quite a few goes until Ganesh finaly won the game. After enjoying our visit to the lake we left at 10:20 and had a very steep climb to the Chongkor Viewpoint with a café . It took us about an ... read more

Today was our first hiking day of the Annapurna Circuit. We had to pack our day packs with whatever we would need during the day and the rest was put into 3 large waterproof duffel bags which the porters would carry. I honestly don’t know how they do it, carrying up to 25kgs by wrapping rope around it and then attaching it to their heads and back, bloody hard work if you ask me. We had breakfast at 07:30 and whilst we ate, the porters collected the duffel bags and started the trek ahead of us. The weather today was not the best and there was light rain so Krissy decided she needed to buy waterproof pants so they went to the same shop we purchased from yesterday and she got them for just $AU20 which ... read more

This morning we had breakfast at 07:00 and this enabled us to leave earlier than previous days, at 08:00. Besides Sudarshan, our guide, we have three porters, Ganesh, Sujan and Suman. As soon as you leave Besisahar the road condition is considerably worse and very bumpy but still follows the Marsyangdi River . However the scenery just continued getting better and better as we drove further into the mountains gradually getting to higher altitudes. The first stop of the day was at a checkpoint for the Annapurna Conservation Area. Here we also saw a group of British cyclists who are cycling the Annapurna Circuit. As we drove up the first big unsealed road I couldn’t help but remember my own cycling trip in Yunnan under similar conditions. I was more than happy this time to be ... read more

Today we left Kathmandu for the first of two days driving. We were originally told that we were all going to go in one jeep but Vicki expressed her concerns about the comfort of that plan the day before , so Sudarshan contacted Rusha and thankfully it was changed to a mini-bus. It was just as well because there were us five plus the driver, the guide, assistant guide and two porters as well as another random person that joined us for the trip to Besisahar, a total of eleven people they expected to fit into a jeep. Sudy did explain though that the second drive from Besisahar to Chame, it was only possible to take a jeep because of the roads condition. However he said that this jeep would fit 3 in front and in ... read more

After breakfast we met with our trek guide Sudarshan who is also taking us to today’s visit to Shivapuri National Park. It took about one hour to drive there but that’s when confusion started. First we stopped at a point on the road going up and Sudarshan said some people hike from this point but he said we could also drive further up in the jeep if we wished. Luckily as it turned out, we opted to drive further up and we started our hike at around 10:30am. Our impression was that the hike to the top would take about 2.5 hours and then 1.5 hours down so we were happy with that but the reality turned out to be much longer than that. The first part was walking gradually upwards on a dirt track but ... read more