We had come to Nepal to trek. What else is there? I mean really...
We had either Everest or the Annapurna circuit to choose from. Or some other little walks. But we were here to tackle the big boys! But which one?? World's biggest mountain or world's best views?
In the end Annapurna won out seeing as they're about to build a road through the whole thing and we reckon, turn it into a package tour destination. Sad for us but good for the locals - access to hospitals etc
Ok. So going cheap we first went and bought 6 kilos of muesli to take up, some powder milk, tea bags, coffee and instant noodles. Then a map and a guidebook to avoid a real one and we were good to go.
Day One:
We walk to the local bus station and catch a bus to Besishahar. This is where the trek begins. We grab a cheap room for a buck each, eat some samosas for tea and crash ready to begin the trek in the mornin.
Day Two:
We start a walkin. Almost get lost before we begin cause the path is hidden to buggery but we start walkin. At first the path is a road with -what the hell! - is that a tractor i'm sharing this trek with? and a truck? Oh, this is going to be fun... Thankfully the vehicles are soon left behind and the serious trek begins. Oh, nope. Still a road (o; We walk for around 5hrs (no point getting tired on the first day!) and decide to stop in the town of Bahundanda. So far all blue sky and sun. Hats and sunnies are on, t-shirts are soaked in sweat and water is being drunk like a Polish guy with beer.
We've also heard that if you offer to eat at the guesthouse you can stay for free and so today begins our "No pay" policy that lasts until the pass a week later.
Day Three:
Today we have another 5 hours or so of walking to do to reach the village of Tal. We set off and move at our usual pace (This turns out to be quite quick as we pass a lot of people and towards the end of the trek we find we leave every we meet at the start behind and so by the end we are with all new people once more).
There are amazing wateralls all along the trek route. Far more spectacular than the ones I paid to see in Vietnam! Weather also continues to be superb.
What is not superb is meeting the Maoists. Rebels some call them. Bastards is a term I prefer. We met these lovely folks just before we reached Tal. Having heard they were 5 minutes ahead of us we stopped for a think of how to deal with the situation. We'd been told they were there 10 minutes earlier but had dismissed it as a joke - the guy had been laughing after all. Then 5 mintues later we met a group of guys who had refused to pay and had had fist sized rocks hurled at them - bugger! While we thought it over (I was all for refusal) a group of Israelis came along and we decided to join up so that as a bigger group, violence might not seem so wise a move on their behalf.
Upon reaching the maoist post, we found our path blocked. They physically stood in our way and pushed us back if we tried to push our own way through - and they had sticks. Big ones. In the end the Israelis haggled with them for around an hour (I still stupidly wanted to push through) and they reduced the 'fee' from 2000 rupees to 500 ; still enough to be annoying.
We paid in the end with the israelis this 'student' price as there were girls with us and there was no real reason to be a hero. They also told us we were welcome to leave without paying but that we would run into their friends further on and be charged 4000! (This turned out not to be true and in reality we wouldn't have had to pay anything - but walking past them may not have been fun).
It seems they always work between 8am and 5pm and before and after these times they don't stop you. They actually have a schedule they stick to! They also stopped collecting two days later thankfully and may be why we came across no more. They were around on the Everest trek too and asking for similar monetary 'donations' to help their cause from these trekkers as well.
The worst part is that when we asked for an explanation of why we were paying and for what the money would be used, they had no real answers. Sad really. But for my 500 rupees I demanded a photo and we got a receipt as a souvenir too so not all was lost (o;
Day Four:
Leaving the maoists behind we pushed on for Timang. In reality we never really had goals of where we'd end the night but more just general ideas. We just kind of walked till we'd had enough.
And I think it was about here that things started to get a little nipply. By now we're sleeping with thermals and woolen hats on and I remember spending the day wrapped up in our down sleeping bags. Dinner was around the kitchen fire of the guesthouse along with the owners and their two young kids (friendly with the kids and the parents will love ya!)
Day Five:
Another lovely walk. It was also our one day of 'rain' if that's what you'd call it. It kind of drizzled but we needed no raincoat until it began to snow. This started maybe 10 minutes before we reached the guesthouse and so was no real worry. It also provided a perfect back drop the next morning with the snow capped trees and lightly dusted ground reminding me of book covers advertising christmas in Norway or something.
Day Five:
From Pisang we headed for Manang. Here we would have a day of acclimitisation, visit some of the surrounding sights like Ice Lake (again, for acclimitisation as they're 1100m above Manang) and attend a lecture on altitude sickness too.
In the end we stayed in a small viallge 20 minutes before Manang called Braga. This was much quieter, cheaper and on the whole, nicer than Manang. Some Israelis we'd met earlier (there were dozens of them on the trek that we met along the way!) had walked to Manang and back and so we avoided a pointless 40 minutes ourselves.
This turned out to be a brilliant piece of advice too. We were the only trekkers in our guesthouse the first night and the room and hotel was warm. The food was also good and it was the original bakery on the whole circuit - he made us fresh banana cake with chocolate icing for breakfast the next morning on request (o;
Day Six:
Day for acclimitising.
We headed first (after our banana cake of course) for Ice Lake. Located 1100m above Braga it is a perfect height for getting used to the altitude and the views were said to be superb. We bought ourselves a loaf of 'trekkers bread' (turned out to be like one giant bread crumb - drier than ) and some nak cheese (yaks are the males only - so avoid any cheese products offered by them!) and 3 hours later reached the lake. It was pretty crappy itself really but the views could not have gotten much better. By now the Annapurna's were in full view.
We then practically ran down the hill again, beating our shadows to the bottom (not that hard whn you think about it) and managed to also squeeze in the afternoon altitude sickness talk. This was also well worth it as i'd never really learnt much about the true symptoms or causes before - they need a talk like this for Kilimanjaro!
We were also going to look at the local caves but a landslide had blocked them off and the local Lama who blesses you for the final pass had moved on for the season as it had gotten a tad cold for him. Ah well. We ate some more cake and relaxed instead.
Day Seven:
A week already?! Time was moving fast! We were going to go for Ledar but after the talk we'd added an extra day for acclimitisation. Jo also had a bit of a cold so we didn't want to rush too much. And what was the rush? When were we going to be here again? And rush back to India? I don't think so!
Instead we made it to Yak Kharka and relaxed. Again. We did a lot of relaxing on the way (o: There really wasn't much here other wise. I think we were in bed by 5pm and after a spot of music for a change, we were dead in our beds until around 7 the next morning.
Day Eight:
Again, we had planned on pushing on to High camp maybe (around 4800m) but due to the talk we were still backing down a bit. So we made a relatively short walk to Thorung Phedi of around 3 hours.
Here we relaxed from around midday, eating cinnamon buns and saving energy ready for the climb the next day over the pass. Some of the people with us made a move up the hill to the pass and back for a little more acclimitisation but we sat happy in the dining hall, visualising the climb instead. We were about to do it the following day anyway so why ruin the surprise? (o;
Day Nine:
Up at 5am, we discovered half the camp had already left off. It was dark and cold so why the rush? The pass wasn't exactly going anywhere!
By the time we left the sun was up and apart from 3 others we were the last to depart. A quick coffee and some muesli for breakfast and we were set. I also popped a ginseng pill and a snickers and 10 minutes later (coffee too), I was flying! To be honest I never felt any effects this time. It was easier walking than on the first day in a way. Jo was going well too and we made good time up the hill to reach the top around 10am or so. Around 5415m or so.
And even here, at the top of a mountain, there was a tea house! They were everywhere on this trek. It was a totally different trekking experience to back home. Here you hike from village to village and can eat normal food at each. Admittedly, prices get up a bit but even at the last village, before you go over the pass, we were eating cake and so on for dinner!
After a few touristy photos at the summit to prove we'd made it, we began the descent. Here we suddenly found the going a lot tougher. My old man knees and hips were not loving the jarring descent down the zig zag path. Jo was fine though - must be that etxra year of life, wearing mee down, hahaha.
Oh and some of the paths were pretty dodgy too. Thin little icy walk ways where if you fell, it wouldn't be the end of the world but it would be a bloody pain in the arse to climb back up again!
So over the pass and we'd made it to Muktinath. Here we had a good celebratory meal at the Bob Marley Bar (does any country not have ones of these? It's like how Irish bars are EVERYWHERE!!!!!) and a really really good hot (actual hot) shower. Or Jo did. It seems I turned the hot water off when i had mine and so it was cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass monkey! I just assumed Jo had used up all the hot water. I then spent the night listening to everyone go on about how good the showers were, their first hot one in weeks etc etc, Yep. Rub it in guys. Rub it in. Thanks.
Day Ten:
Going from Muktinath to Kagbeni (and eventually on to Marpha) had some of the nicest parts of the entire trek for me. From Muktinath to Kagbeni is perfect. And that is using the word to its fullest.
The track is a very gradual down hill. Yes, that's right - downhill! And it was sunny and just nicely warm and there was no rush at all. There were also no people around. And we were both on a high after completing the pass and so every little thing we saw was worthy of delight. Ice particles and frozen ponds on the side of the track kept us smiling for hours.
From Kagbeni to Marpha however was a completely different story.
The landscape resembled the Nishilawa dessert lands in the second star wars movie. Chewbacka would have felt right at home here. Hot shimmering sands blown unrelentingly into our naked unprotected eyes. Or they were protected. Only my grade A, space proof, gold rimmed, diamond studded, blue blocker aviators just weren't quite up to task. It was a one step forward, blown two steps back, kind of walkin. Not fun.
To matters even better, we went off road, taking a short cut down a river bed at one stage only to get stuck on the wrong side of the river and ending up taking an extra 2 hrs to reach our destination; with wet feet I might add! But to Marpha we made it.
Eventually.
Day Eleven:
Marpha is the apple capital of the circuit. Perhaps even of Nepal. And its apple crumble and fresh juice speak volumes in support of this claim. Their custard, resembling more a scrambed egg or heap of melted cheese, begs otherwise. I'd suggest having the apple cake straight!
From here we headed to Kalopani, feasting on 2c apples as we went. Fresh off the trees in the adjacent paddocks, you couldn't get better!
And when we reached Kalopani, we had the added knowledge of hot springs being only one town away. And our guesthouse once more had hot showers (this time for me too) and a perfect special (not hash) Nepalese lasagne. Delish.
Day Twelve:
We set off once more with Tatopani our goal. Only today the dream was to become a reality. We made it in at around 7pm. After checking in and grabbing a quick bite to eat we headed off to the hot pools. Told they were closed (by both signage and locals) we steadfastly pushed on anyways. We got to the pools around 9pm and sure enough, they had closed for the night. But by paying a dollar instead of 50c we managed to talk the guy into opening a pool for us and so we got to enjoy a quiet night under the stars with just the six of us soaking it up. Perfect evening. Soften all the muscles tense from almost two weeks of walking and as for the feet - indescribable.
Day Thirteen:
So being the lazy buggers we are. We decide to skip Poon hill and instead finish the trek by jeep (o; We walk for maybe 3 hours and then grab a jeep for 3 dollars to take us to Beni where the trek ends. Takes about an hour I think.
In Beni we then managed to grab a spot on the roof of a bus heading to Pokhara and so our trek was over. This was also one of the best bus rides i've ever been on. Full moon. Clear sky. Ipod on. Sleeping on the roof of a bus. Brilliant.
Amazing time it was.
Nice food.
Awesome people.
Picture perfect views.
Up to the pass was a challenge well worth it.
Right to the end it was great.
No problems really.
Awesome.
