Namasté

Arriving into Kathmandu we were a bit overwhelmed by the chaos. The noise, air pollution, and trash that littered the landscape were shocking. We arrived to the city late at night which we weren’t too concerned about because our hotel was to pick us up from the airport. When we woke up the next morning we realized we were not even in the hotel that we booked, but one of the hotel’s sister companies. The hotel had overbooked and decided to bring us to another hotel, failing to mention this to us. It was a little disconcerting to wake up the next morning and realize we didn’t even know where we were (so much for my trip advisor research). We acknowledged that travel was going to be very different in Asia than it had been in Europe.

We could not wait to get out of Kathmandu so we immediately got our permits and TIMs pass and set out for our trek. We had decided upon going to the Everest Region. However, when we went to the airport the next day it was packed with trekkers laying on their bags, playing cards, and waiting for their flights. The flight to Lukla had been delayed at least a day and a half, which it often does due to unfavorable weather conditions. When our flight got cancelled we decided to go to the Annapurna region instead of waiting around in the airport for days. After a day and a half of riding in a minibus, a bus, and then a jeep, we finally made it to Tal where we started our trek.

Seeing the majestic Himalayas for the first time is an experience we will never forget. The energy is palpable. The first few days of hiking were long, but in low elevation and generally not too difficult. The trail winded along the river through green terrain and soaring stone hillsides. We would normally refer to these as mountains, but as our trekking companion and quasi-guide Niran informed us, “mountain” is typically reserved by the Nepali for the larger snow-capped monsters of which we had only caught spare glimpses thus far.

In addition to spectacular natural landscapes, one of the greatest gifts of the Annapurna circuit is the ability to walk through villages and glimpse the Nepali way of life. Farming is the primary means of survival, followed by tourism, so most of our interactions centered around this latter aspect of the culture. The trail winds through villages of varying size and character. At times you feel as if you were literally walking through villagers’ homes. Traveling through Nepal is like stepping back in time, although in some sense, you are actually stepping into the future. The year is currently 2070, based on the lunar calendar still in use by the majority of the country. Most everything is done by hand or with the use of the simplest tools and animal labor. Many people have no running water or electricity and goods are transported by yaks, human porters and the occasional jeep. Most of our food on the trail was cooked from scratch using a wood stove, though some of the more modern kitchens used gas. The water was often heated by solar power, which did not make for comfortable showers :)  

It is incredible to see how much the porters carry. On the day we hiked from Pisang to Manang Tony and I were taking it particularly easy, stopping for lots of photo opportunities and trying to let Tony’s foot blisters heal a bit. There was a man who looked about 70 or so carrying what appeared to be a refrigerator on his back who walked with us almost the entire day. We barely beat him to the village ( :

In Manang we took an acclimation day to adjust to the altitude. On our hike from Tal to Chame we had passed a deceased porter covered with a blanket on the side of the trail. We found out from the locals that he had been experiencing altitude sickness and was trying to walk down to get help when he died. Seeing the porter reinforced our understanding of the seriousness of altitude sickness and we were determined to take every possible precaution. In Manang we hiked to an inactive monastery at 3,990 meters to help acclimate. The 900 year old monastery consisted of only 2 or 3 rooms situated in a walled-off cave in the mountain. We met the solitary nun who lives there (daughter of the lama who preceded her until his health began to fail) and spent some time talking with her about her practice and way of life. Nepal has a very rich Buddhist culture. Prayer wheels and flags, temples, and stupas adorn the entire Annapurna circuit. In at least one region we visited, the second son of every family blessed with 3 sons or more was automatically ordained a monk.

It started snowing on our way from Manang to Yak Kharka. There was some concern that the snow would prohibit us from making it over the Tharong Pass at the highest elevation of our trek: 5,416 meters. We were told we wouldn’t need crampons so we didn’t have them with us, but later wished we had for the slippery descent to the next town. It was in Yak Kharka that we started really experiencing the cold. In the dining hall was the only source of heat. We crowded around a wood stove heated with yak dung with trekkers from all over the world including the U.K., Australia, China, France, and South America. We managed to distract ourselves from the cold with a sing-a-long of featured songs from everyone’s country. We led a not so thorough version of American Pie. 

The next day we climbed to the higher and much colder Tharong Base Camp. Unfortunately there was no wood stove even in the dining hall. It got down to negative fifteen degrees Celsius that night. The porcelain holes in the ground (aka: toilets) were covered in ice so you had to perform a fancy balancing maneuver and pray your foot didn’t slip into the hole. Most of the time it was just easier to make yellow snow.

As we climbed higher more and more people around us were turning back due to altitude sickness, cold, or fear of frostbite and crossing the pass with ice and snow. We were well aware of all the potential dangers and we gave ourselves full permission to turn around at any point we didn’t feel safe. The hike through the pass was difficult, very beautiful but difficult. We did not feel well secondary to not sleeping soundly about 5,000 meters and fighting upper respiratory infections. My headache was so bad coming down the pass that I thought I may have had cerebral edema from the altitude. We also spent many moments on our butts sliding down the ice and gravel on the way down. Despite the obstacles we made it. The view from the top was incredible. Condors soared over white-tip peaks with seemingly no destination, just enjoying their flight. 

In Muktinah we had our first shower in six days. I’d like to say it was wonderful, but honestly I thought I may get hypothermia from the cold air and semi-warm water. Hiking from Muktinah to Jomsom there was a dramatic change in the landscape as we passed from alpine to an arid desert-like ecosystem. Niran knew a shortcut so we walked through some cow pastures and rivers along the way. Even with the shortcut we made it just as night fell. The rest of our crew was behind and had to hike into the night to a dimly lit Jomsom suffering from one of their regular power outages. Everyone made it safely and we had a candlelit dinner with our first beer in days to celebrate safely making it through the pass and down from elevation.

From Tatoponi the ecosystem along the trail changed again as we entered a lush green jungle with banana and orange trees, cherry blossoms, and new species of fauna including monkeys. 

After hiking for 14 days we ended up in Birethani where we were miraculously able to find a taxi to Pokhora. It was an old Toyota Corolla from the mid-60’s that reminded Tony of his Dad’s old car. The buses and jeeps weren’t running because of the transportation strikes in protest of the upcoming election on November 19^th, the day we were scheduled to fly from Kathmandu to Bangkok. There were protests with picketing and communist flags throughout Nepal while we were there. We were told that protesters had been putting petrol bombs in buses and jeeps whose drivers chose to operate despite the strikes. No one had been killed, but vehicles had been blown up, giving passengers just enough time to escape. Needless to say, we were nervous about being on the road. Our taxi driver and Niran reassured us that no one would bomb his taxi. 

Pokhora is a very nice part of Nepal. It was almost as much of a city as Kathmandu, but with a much more relaxed, non-polluted, and fun energy. We spent a few days there regrouping and preparing for the next leg of our adventure in Thailand. From Pokhora we were able to take a police-escorted bus back to Kathmandu. Due to the strikes, Kathmandu was actually tolerable when we got back to the city. Without the old cars and motorbikes on the roads you could actually breathe the air. It was like stepping back in time about 15 years to a time when the primary mode of transport was bicycle or trishaw. On the day of our departure, election day, a trishaw driver took our bags and rode alongside us as we jogged to the airport shuttle.

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