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Published: November 9th 2010
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The Annapurna Circuit - Trekking from 16/10/2010 to 05/11/2010 At the 16th of October we started our trek with GAP Adventures and 9 other guys from all over the world. Our guide was ANIL a smart and very friendly guy from Nepal. In the evening he introduced us to the next 3 weeks, our big adventure in the Annapurna mountains.
The members of our group were:
- Dolly & Richard from Canada
- Ashley, Tom and Georg from England,
- Kiki from Norway
- Barbara from Australia
- Martin from Denmark
- Silke and us from Germany Anil also had an assistant named Arjun and our six porters to carry our luggagenice of them!
Our first day started with a bus tour to Beshisahar. It was our first stop and our first night in a so called Teahouse/ Guesthouse. By the way, the first choice was by far the worst compared to the other guesthouses we would stay in the next 3 weeks. 😉
After a noisy night made by the Marshygandi river and some strange animals we started our trek by walking along the big river, having lunch at noon.
As from thereon we got introduced to the Annapurna menus. Let us you give a forecast - every day nearly the same menu! The favorite food was
Veg. Egg Fried Noodles! Our trip continued along rice fields, which still had green color. Anil told us that the rice should have been harvested by then already but due to the late start of the monsoon season the mountain folk had to seed the rice later. Also the late monsoon still left clouds in the mountains so that the humidity was very high and the mercury went up to 30 degrees, you cannot believe how we were sweating the way up 😊
The next guesthouse had a shower and an awesome view.
Following days we were slowing getting up and down but receiving altitude. As we got higher, also the landscape changed, the rice fields were left behind, trees and bushes were mainly seen on the way, the trail still went along the river, with many beautiful and magnificent waterfalls. However, although the path was really narrow it sometimes seemed as we were walking on the highway, as the trail is also the main trading route for the Nepalese in
1st stop
There is something wrong with the brakes! the Annapurna region. We have never seen so many donkeys in our life, bringing the goods and foods up to the mountains.to serve the tourist like usand the poor animals were carrying a lot!
Not only the landscape changed, with more altitude also the religion changed: from Hindu to Buddism. We stayed at Tibetan guest house, Tibetan fled years ago to the Nepalese Himalaya region and started their living there.
Over 2.500m altitude the nights became cold and we were glad to use our cozy warm sleeping bags, taking the Sigg bottle filled with hot water into the sleeping bag to get warm feet 😊
On the 23rd we reached Manang where we stayed two nights for acclimatization. By then we reached 3.500m. At 3pm there was a lecture on AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) done by the Nepal Himalayan rescue association where volunteering doctors from UK, NZ, AUS, USA come for 3 months to inform trekkers about AMS and be of help for the locals. We could also measure our oxygen level, which is at sea level about 100%, there we only had 90%. Breathing became more difficult, you need much more air, when walking up stairs or
go up a path. On the resting day we went up to a lake (one of the highest lakes on earth) which is filled by a glacier. The view was really magnificent. Later the day we relaxed enjoying chocolate and apple crumble cake.yes, they bake really delicious cake on 3.500m!!! We could not believe it at first but the flavor was a nice alternation to the common vegetable fried egg noodles, dhal bat ( which is the common dish of 30 Mio. Nepalese and eaten twice per day) or noodle soup. (ah, we have never eaten so much ketchup in our live as we did in these 3 weeks just to give the dish some sort of flavor) 😊
Then we continued to the next stop on 4.000m, nights gotten really cold and it was about time to get out our gloves.
Next day we went up to Thorung Pedi on 4.500m and we would have done the pass the next day. However, Steffi got a severe headache and it was best to descent again to the former sleeping altitude. We said goodbye to the group and descended, hoping we would go over the Thorung-La Pass the next day
to catch up with the group again. After a 12 hours sleep from 6pm-6am (including getting up to pee - this is due to the altitude but also because we took diamox which makes you pee and breath more but helps to cope better with the high altitude) we went up to Thorung Pedi for lunch and then we even went up to High Camp on 4.850m - 1000m altitude this day. For 1km in distance and almost 400m in altitude we needed 1.45 hours. After 3 steps we caught our breath & relaxed and then continued.
The night we got up at 4am had breakfast - noodle garlic soup! (supposed to help against AMS) and left, wearing almost all the cloth we had, high camp to ascend to the pass. It was dark and freezing. After an hour the sun came up, lightening the mountains around us. However, the higher we got, the more we had to breath the colder it got. Then at 7.30 am we reached Thorung-La at
5.416m!!!! Wow, that was really challenge and an unique experience for us! Due to the freezing air, we didnt stay long and descended after 20 minutes to Muktinath
at 3.800m. It was a long and steep way down the mountain. On the village entrance we met a few people from the group and we were happy to see them again.
After staying the night at Muktinath we took a jeep to Jomson and then a bus for the next 2 days. The streets are bumpy, uneven and steep on one side. We were hoping not to fall off the cliff.hoping no traffic would come from the other side!
From Kalopani we continued our trek for another 2 days. Then we reached Ghorepani (2.800m) from where started 5am in the morning to ascend to Poon Hill (3.200m) for the sunrise. That was a magnificent view, seeing the Annapurna range lightening up, when the first sunlight hit the highest mountains in the world. From Poon Hill we went down to 1.200m where we had the last night in the mountains. Next day we went to Pokhara and had real food again (Steak!) and enjoyed the stroll along the lake. In Pokhara we also had to say goodbye to the porters which would leave in the morning by bus to Kathmandu whereas we went on a 24-seated aircraft from Pokhara
to Kathmandu with Yetiair. New experience but flight was easy.
As soon as we got to the Hotel in Kathmandu we got ourselves sorted out, Thomas got a shave and haircut at a local hairdresser in one of the side roads of Thamel, brought 16kg of cloth to the laundry service and had a good Italian pizza. Next day we did some spice and tea shopping and went once again to Durbar Square to see the living goddess Kumari (a little girl).
Next day Thomas got sick and we were done with the city itself. It was a good experience but the city is really nasty, dirty and noisy, so we wanted to get to the next destination: Bangkok.
On the day of our flight Steffi got sick and had to vomit on the airplane. The stewardesses on the Thai Airlines were really attentiveness, giving Steffi tea, electrolytes and carbon tablets.
So now we are in Bangkok to get well and sort out our way to Cambodia.
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F.Pusch
non-member comment
Bangkok
Hey Thommy, in Bangkok unbedingt nen Cocktail im Vertigo, Banyan Tree bzw. auf dem State Tower genießen !!! Enjoy Flo