Annapurna Circuit
Friday 11 March Day 1 Kathmandu to Besi Sahar to Ngadi (890m asl)
My porter, Nema, picked me and my bag up from the hotel at 6:30am and we took a taxi to the bus station, we drank tea while waiting for the bus. The bus journey took about 7 hours, we stopped for daal baat along the way. Besi Sahar is a dirty dusty town, but it is also where the Annapurna Circuit starts. There is no big sign or anything, just a path off the side of the road. We started mid-afternoon. There are few other tourists about which is great; it is busiest in October and November.
Nema is a proper Sherpa. The name sherpa is used by us to mean someone who carries lots of stuff up and down mountains, but it is actually one of many ethnic groups in Nepal and Tibet, but he is the real deal, his Grandfather came from Tibet as a refugee many years ago. Nema, when he is not portering, lives with his young family in a remote village, 3000 metres above sea level. So i was expecting him to be some kind of Superman with my bag, but not really.
The path runs alongside the gushing Marsyangdi river and after a while you come to the first checkpoint where you have to show your National Park entry permit. There are many such points along the circuit which is good because they know roughly where you are if something bad happens. Around 6pm we came to our first stop, Waterfall Guest House at Ngadi, very comfortable and much nicer than I had expected. Slept to the sound of the river rushing by.
Saturday 12 March Day 2 Ngadi to Chamje (1385m asl)
Porridge then a 7:30 start, a bit chilly this morning. Blue skies and mountains in the distance. I was full of beans and wanted to go faster but Nema keeps saying 'slowly, slowly'. Lunch at Jagat. Passed a few small villages and donkeys carrying heavy loads. Stopped at Chamje at 3pm and Nema slept. The porters and guides eat after and seperately from us, which I guess is a cultural or a respect-for-the-customer thing. Seems a shame really.
Sunday 13 March Day 3 Chamje to Dharapani (1900m asl)
Tibetan Tsampa porridge for breakfast, hot and filling. Cold walking at first but you soon get warm and start peeling off layers and soon walk in t-shirt and shorts. Very sunny, and lots of uphill today, tired legs. Daal bhaat at 11am seemed a bit early for such a big lunch but thats what the sherpas do and they know best. Stopped at a coffee shop (shack) and it was nearly as expensive as a room so won't be doing that again. They don't/can't recycle mineral water bottles in Nepal but the NZ govt. has setup drinking stations where you can buy treated water, which is great. A few wobbly suspension bridges to cross today, more wobbly in the wind.
We stopped at 2:30pm. Why so early? I would have liked to keep going, but Nema has done this trek 20 times so he knows best. I suggested to him that we share a room, and I would pay but he says that he snores. But again I think this is an etiquette issue and from his point of view, it would be wrong. Oh well.
I started reading Seven Years in Tibet, which was appropriate being in the mountains. Heinrich describes how to make Tsampa. He also talks about suffering from sciatica and how much it hurts and that he thought it was an old mans disease. These were my exact feelings when I had sciatica in Bolivia.
One of the rules of the trek is that you must eat all your meals in the lodge where you are sleeping, or pay much more for your bed. I don't mind but it means you can't spread your money around the different establishments. The menus are the same everywhere so it doesn't matter from that point of view. The lodges are all clean and the staff friendly.
We have met a few people coming back down the hill because of altitude sickness, they looked pretty grumpy, as you would expect. Nema has done this 20 times and never had a trekker with him who did not make it over the pass - no pressure on me then!. But I am determined to make it.
Monday 14 March Day 4 Dharapani to Chame (2710m asl)
7:45 start. We are now into a daily routine. I get up and pack most of my stuff, then have breakfast and finish packing and Nema puts some of his stuff in my bag while I pay. I have my small day pack and Nema has my 12kg? big backpack. We walk for a short time in fleece and beanie then have a break to strip off and eat granola bars.
Today I felt like we were really trekking whereas until now we were just walking. Along steep narrow ridges, often pausing for a rest and enjoying the mountain views, including Annapurna II. We finished for the day at 2:15pm. Although it was hard work, I feel good and really healthy. Chame is a large village with a bank and internet access; no thanks, no internet for me, I want to forget about the rest of the world for a couple of weeks, but the Belgian guy did mention that there had been a tsunami in Japan.
The terrain today was alpine, big green pine trees and some snow at the side of the path. Walking along with a couple of french guys and their porter and guide. Good for Nema to have other Nepalese to chat to as his English is not good enough for us to really chat as we go. My feet feel ok but they smell of vinegar. I had a cat nap but then couldnt sleep well at night, so I must make myself stay awake when we finish each day.
Tuesday 15 March Day 5 Chame to Lower Pisang (3250m asl)
Gloves on this morning, my scuba diving gloves. Walking, its warm in the sun and chilly out of it. It's too fiddly to keep putting clothes on and taking them off so I just put up with the cold, being too warm is more uncomfortable, and you warm up eventually. The scenery was fantastic today, walking through the forest, and the melting snow and the moutains up ahead. We stopped at one point and looked across this green valley with the white mountains and it was beautiful, and I discovered the glory of widescreen photography. I will always remember that scene. I stopped by myself, not a person in sight and looked around 360 degreees and it was awesome, in the wilderness. Its also fun walking alongside the sherpas who live there, and their donkeys, probably carrying my next breakfast, lunch and dinner up the track.
Hanging out with the french boys again. Nema keeps saying 'something tea' which I think means 'do you want tea', but I have told him tea is overpriced and doesn't always agree with my stomach and I am not drinking it. I think he gets pressure from the lodge owners to get me to spend as much as possible. Well, they have got the wrong guy!
I do need to eat more, especially in the morning, before lunch at noon. But apart from that I have had no problems. Slowly slowly.
Wednesday 16 March Day 6 Lowe Pisang to Manang (3540m asl)
Some of the path was icy today, good to have my trekking poles. The mountain scenery is amazing and you could just take photos all the time, but I mostly just take it all in without click-clicking too much. We arrived at Manang at 1:30pm. It is a larger village with internet and places to watch movies. Had my first hot shower of the trek, very welcome. I sat on the lodge rooftop, my hair drying in the sun and breeze(!), admiring the snow-capped mountains that look close enough to touch, and enjoying 'Seven Years in Tibet'. He talks about some of the Tibetan antiques and documents being smuggled out and taken to India by refugees; I saw some of these things in the museum in Darjeeling.
Friday 11 March Day 1 Kathmandu to Besi Sahar to Ngadi (890m asl)
My porter, Nema, picked me and my bag up from the hotel at 6:30am and we took a taxi to the bus station, we drank tea while waiting for the bus. The bus journey took about 7 hours, we stopped for daal baat along the way. Besi Sahar is a dirty dusty town, but it is also where the Annapurna Circuit starts. There is no big sign or anything, just a path off the side of the road. We started mid-afternoon. There are few other tourists about which is great; it is busiest in October and November.
Nema is a proper Sherpa. The name sherpa is used by us to mean someone who carries lots of stuff up and down mountains, but it is actually one of many ethnic groups in Nepal and Tibet, but he is the real deal, his Grandfather came from Tibet as a refugee many years ago. Nema, when he is not portering, lives with his young family in a remote village, 3000 metres above sea level. So i was expecting him to be some kind of Superman with my bag, but not really.
The path runs alongside the gushing Marsyangdi river and after a while you come to the first checkpoint where you have to show your National Park entry permit. There are many such points along the circuit which is good because they know roughly where you are if something bad happens. Around 6pm we came to our first stop, Waterfall Guest House at Ngadi, very comfortable and much nicer than I had expected. Slept to the sound of the river rushing by.
Saturday 12 March Day 2 Ngadi to Chamje (1385m asl)
Porridge then a 7:30 start, a bit chilly this morning. Blue skies and mountains in the distance. I was full of beans and wanted to go faster but Nema keeps saying 'slowly, slowly'. Lunch at Jagat. Passed a few small villages and donkeys carrying heavy loads. Stopped at Chamje at 3pm and Nema slept. The porters and guides eat after and seperately from us, which I guess is a cultural or a respect-for-the-customer thing. Seems a shame really.
Sunday 13 March Day 3 Chamje to Dharapani (1900m asl)
Tibetan Tsampa porridge for breakfast, hot and filling. Cold walking at first but you soon get warm and start peeling off layers and soon walk in t-shirt and shorts. Very sunny, and lots of uphill today, tired legs. Daal bhaat at 11am seemed a bit early for such a big lunch but thats what the sherpas do and they know best. Stopped at a coffee shop (shack) and it was nearly as expensive as a room so won't be doing that again. They don't/can't recycle mineral water bottles in Nepal but the NZ govt. has setup drinking stations where you can buy treated water, which is great. A few wobbly suspension bridges to cross today, more wobbly in the wind.
We stopped at 2:30pm. Why so early? I would have liked to keep going, but Nema has done this trek 20 times so he knows best. I suggested to him that we share a room, and I would pay but he says that he snores. But again I think this is an etiquette issue and from his point of view, it would be wrong. Oh well.
I started reading Seven Years in Tibet, which was appropriate being in the mountains. Heinrich describes how to make Tsampa. He also talks about suffering from sciatica and how much it hurts and that he thought it was an old mans disease. These were my exact feelings when I had sciatica in Bolivia.
One of the rules of the trek is that you must eat all your meals in the lodge where you are sleeping, or pay much more for your bed. I don't mind but it means you can't spread your money around the different establishments. The menus are the same everywhere so it doesn't matter from that point of view. The lodges are all clean and the staff friendly.
We have met a few people coming back down the hill because of altitude sickness, they looked pretty grumpy, as you would expect. Nema has done this 20 times and never had a trekker with him who did not make it over the pass - no pressure on me then!. But I am determined to make it.
Monday 14 March Day 4 Dharapani to Chame (2710m asl)
7:45 start. We are now into a daily routine. I get up and pack most of my stuff, then have breakfast and finish packing and Nema puts some of his stuff in my bag while I pay. I have my small day pack and Nema has my 12kg? big backpack. We walk for a short time in fleece and beanie then have a break to strip off and eat granola bars.
Today I felt like we were really trekking whereas until now we were just walking. Along steep narrow ridges, often pausing for a rest and enjoying the mountain views, including Annapurna II. We finished for the day at 2:15pm. Although it was hard work, I feel good and really healthy. Chame is a large village with a bank and internet access; no thanks, no internet for me, I want to forget about the rest of the world for a couple of weeks, but the Belgian guy did mention that there had been a tsunami in Japan.
The terrain today was alpine, big green pine trees and some snow at the side of the path. Walking along with a couple of french guys and their porter and guide. Good for Nema to have other Nepalese to chat to as his English is not good enough for us to really chat as we go. My feet feel ok but they smell of vinegar. I had a cat nap but then couldnt sleep well at night, so I must make myself stay awake when we finish each day.
Tuesday 15 March Day 5 Chame to Lower Pisang (3250m asl)
Gloves on this morning, my scuba diving gloves. Walking, its warm in the sun and chilly out of it. It's too fiddly to keep putting clothes on and taking them off so I just put up with the cold, being too warm is more uncomfortable, and you warm up eventually. The scenery was fantastic today, walking through the forest, and the melting snow and the moutains up ahead. We stopped at one point and looked across this green valley with the white mountains and it was beautiful, and I discovered the glory of widescreen photography. I will always remember that scene. I stopped by myself, not a person in sight and looked around 360 degreees and it was awesome, in the wilderness. Its also fun walking alongside the sherpas who live there, and their donkeys, probably carrying my next breakfast, lunch and dinner up the track.
Hanging out with the french boys again. Nema keeps saying 'something tea' which I think means 'do you want tea', but I have told him tea is overpriced and doesn't always agree with my stomach and I am not drinking it. I think he gets pressure from the lodge owners to get me to spend as much as possible. Well, they have got the wrong guy!
I do need to eat more, especially in the morning, before lunch at noon. But apart from that I have had no problems. Slowly slowly.
Wednesday 16 March Day 6 Lowe Pisang to Manang (3540m asl)
Some of the path was icy today, good to have my trekking poles. The mountain scenery is amazing and you could just take photos all the time, but I mostly just take it all in without click-clicking too much. We arrived at Manang at 1:30pm. It is a larger village with internet and places to watch movies. Had my first hot shower of the trek, very welcome. I sat on the lodge rooftop, my hair drying in the sun and breeze(!), admiring the snow-capped mountains that look close enough to touch, and enjoying 'Seven Years in Tibet'. He talks about some of the Tibetan antiques and documents being smuggled out and taken to India by refugees; I saw some of these things in the museum in Darjeeling.
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