Our visit to the roof of the world; Nepal

Sorry for the long delay—three weeks without internet, and now we are visiting with family (and trying to right our bodies after three months in the developing world!!) so it’s been tough to get around to posting this.  BUT, the pictures are definitely worth it!!

We flew up to Delhi from Goa and then the next day flew from Delhi to Kathmandu.  This was a relatively easy part of our Indian journey, but we were quite excited to leave the country, nonetheless!!  We arrived in Kathmandu quite early in the day, allowing us plenty of time to run around the city like chickens with our heads cut off to get all ready for our trek.  We had allotted ourselves enough time to take two days getting all the proper paperwork and gear in order, but managed to get it all done in one afternoon so were quite impressed with ourselves.  Our first impressions of Nepal were wonderful—similar feel to India, but pleasant people who we enjoyed making transactions with. 

On the morning of the 12^th of March we set out at 6am to catch a bus to Besi Sahar, the starting off point for the Annapurna Circuit.  We caught a local bus and quite enjoyed our time.  The bus is a bit of a system whereby the driver is driving (obviously!!) but he pays some kids to hang out of the bus and recruit patrons.  Literally—they have the door open and are yelling “Besi Sahar, Besi Sahar” repeatedly as we go through any area with people!!  We think they get a cut of all the fares they collect, and they work very hard to get their money!!  We arrived in Besi Sahar around 2pm and actually didn’t find this bus ride all that painful, as far as bus rides in developing countries go!!

We should explain a bit about the trek we had chosen to do.   Obviously the Himalayas cover most of the country of Nepal and throughout these various mountains are many different treks.  Everest would be one of the more common treks, and the Annapurna Range Treks are likely the second most common.  The trek we chose to do is a circuit, meaning you could take about 20 days and walk round the entire range.  We did the 12 day version—walking up one side, riding a jeep down the other.  Part of progress in Nepal involves putting roads into areas that used to be only accessible on foot or by donkey.  The second half of this trek involves walking along a jeep road, which we decided our time could be better spent in other places.  So what we set out to do was walk 120km in 12 days, walking from a low of 800 meters to a high of 5400 meters elevation.  And we did it!!  This trek is known as a tea house trek, meaning there are villages and little guest houses along the trail that you can stop at for food and lodging.  Meeting the locals along the way was by far and away our favourite part of this trek.  We definitely had our ups and downs (literally and figuratively!!)—a sore knee, sore heel, unhappy digestive systems—but all and all we came out relatively well.  Rather than write on and on, we’ll post a bunch of pictures to narrate our trip.

Early morning at the Kathmandu bus station. We are ready for our bus ride to Besi  Sari at the start of the Annapura circuit. We did have fantastic egg breakfast sandwiches here too. 

The main road of Besi Sari. Here we checked in with the government hiker tracking authorities and were ready to start our journey after eight hours on the bus. 800 meter elevation.

A picture of hikers with there porter. Many of these porters had just as much gear if not more than what this guy was carrying. The rate for a proter we were told was about $15 dollars per day to carry 20 kilograms. 

Our tea house room in Khudi. This is what most of the rooms looked like. Not a bad setup for 100  rupees a night. (apprx $1.25 CDN per night).

A photo of just some of the friendly and fun kids we met during our trek. 

A government worker checking our passes as we enter the park, There were a number of these stops along the way to check and make sure we paid the initial park entrance fee. 

A porter working hard. The white across the top of his head is the strap in which is used to support the majority of the weight. 

Dahl Baht! The daily food meal of the Nepalese. The women would continue to fill our plates when we finished it. It  was fantastic. 

We are stopping for a lunch break to enjoy some dahl baht and chai. 

The majority of the hot water was generated from solar showers such as the one in the picture. This shower actually had a great shower head. The shower using a bucket was also a popular choice with the wood heated by the fire to be used in a shower. 

A  view of the mountains behind our tea house in Germu. 1200 meter elevation.  6500 meter mountains in the background

Rush hour on the path. We would often have to stand aside to let a mule train pass  by  us during the days. Some type of construction is also taking place on the path. 

A mule herder is more than happy to be made famous on our blog. In this picture you can see by the mountains in the background we are starting to gain some elevation. 

A view from our restaurant when we stopped for lunch around day five. We would be around 2000 meters.  The mountain is I think Manasulu. 7000 meter peaks. 

Navagating the muddy path as the snow had just melted in the last few days. 

The "shopping mall" in one of the villages. I think this malls has more  to offer than the Frontenac Mall. 

Posing by an archway that was present at many of the entrances to the villages. 

You can see the guy in the left hand side of the picture leaning up against the white object.  This guy hauled  what looked like a fridge sized package all day as we were walking along the path. We could not decide what was more impressive as to whether he was carrying the load that size or the fact he was wearing flip flops while carrying it. 

Our hotel in Manang. This town is located at 3500 meters. We stayed here for two days  to acclimatize to the elevation as we were now above 3000 meters which causes altitude sickness for some people.  This was during days 8 and 9 of our trek. 

The bakery at our hotel in Manang. It was delicious food. 

A view of Manang on the trail above the village. The view is down the valley with the Annapurna mountains in the distance.  This picture is from 3900 meters.

The second basket had a baby in the top of it. We could hear  a baby crying as the people went by and did not realize the baby was on top of the firewood in the second basket until we saw a hand. I think I would be crying if I was on a stick bed as well.

This kid said his name was chocolate and wanted chocolate. He was one of the kids in Yak Karka village. at 4400 meters. 

The tea hut at the top of Thorong La Pass. This is at 5400 meters. It was incredibly windy and cold event at 11 am in the morning. We were so cold we took ten minutes to get some hot chocolate, took a few pictures and began the ascent down the other side to Muktinah at 3600 meters.

We are posing by the sign at the pass stating that we had made it to the top. The sign is covered with Tibetan prayer flags which makes it difficult to see the sign.  

When we paid four our tickets for the Jeep ride down the mountain, after collecting our money the driver conveniently pulled into the repair stop to fix his car. We assume once he collected all the tourist money, he could pay to fix his car. Very funny and typical of Nepal & India. 

There is nothing like a straight blade shave after 15 days of bread growth. My $1 fee include an eyelid massage.

The view of our hike down the mountain after the pass. Only ten  km's and 1600 meter descent. 

Getting ready at the Jeep station for a day of Jeep rides. This photo is in Muktinah. 3600 meters.  Now that we have crossed the pass the area is all desert as can been seen in the mountains in the background.

One of the incredibly friendly Tibetan tea house owners serving us lunch.  The trip was to trek through the mountains, but the people we met along the way is what really makes the trip such a worth while time.  They can make a mean dahl baht!