Barahi Pokhara

... in the Annapurnas, so the trail conveys. Us tourists march from teahouse to teahouse, enjoying the basic yet comfortable accommodation after long days of rugged terrain. Foam mattresses cradle our weary bones, and dal bhat, the local dish of lentils and rice, fills our grumbling stomachs. Each morning we set a course for a higher display of tourist-friendly living, quickly discovering that comfort is inversely proportional to altitude. With no ...

... jungle to pine forests. It was wet and muddy everywhere, really dark clouds and the river had really swollen and turned mucky. After an easy 13km we arrived in Bagarchap and found a really nice tea house and sat with some Israeli guys for the evening. As we were eating dinner the clouds came into the village and it got really misty then started raining really heavy, again!

Day 4 - Bagarchap to Danaqyu 2km now at 2200m
After a full night of ...

Leaving Gandruk behind and heading to Tolka. About 1 hour in, the rain starts and according to the guide we are getting into more leeches. Not sure if I should wait it out here or go on to Pothana. We meet a couple of other treckers and they are moving on. The lovely Irish lady is heading to Pothana and it is her birthday so I decide to attempt the trail and see if maybe I can meet her in Pothana so she won't be by herself on ...

... all for an $8 blood test and $5 worth of meds. Excellent. So we get up the next day and get the tourist bus to Dumre where I wanted to get off and get up to a town called Bandipur which is a really cute little Newari town. So we get off this bus after 4 hours and land in this shithole called Dumre which has nothing worth writing about except the jeeps to Bandipur. So we scramble in the back of this 'jeep' which was like a cage with benches, for 25rp's which is about 50 cents ...

... highest mountain in the world at over 8100metres) and it's surrounding peaks forming the backdrop. Continuing past the ruins of a former yak herders shelter the trail was descending at an average gradient of 1:2 and the strain showed. After the steepest section yet we found ourselves amongst several tea houses and a quick lunch of noodle soup and, yes you've guessed it, sweet, black tea ensued having now reached 4200metres with another 400 vertical metres to drop still to the holy town of ...

... pass that day, and the pass was closed for the following two days due to bad weather. After the pass, there was a ridiculous long and painful descent to Muktinath 600 m below. The Muktinath (or Jomsom) side of the trek is a whole lot more developed than the Manang side. That night we stayed at the Bob Marley Hotel and partied.

Day 12: to Kagbeni (2800m, 131km) Honestly, after the pass, the trek loses some steam. The other side is much more developed, and there's a ...

... strapped into a harness, as part of a paraglider, with the pilot strapped in behind me, of course! Not that this did much to assuage the terror as I followed orders...
"O.k., walk...now run...fast, off the edge...GO!"


But, on cue, the lines tightened, the canopy billowed up and suddenly we were airborne, me like a cartoon character with my legs still frantically ...

... isolationist Nepal when, between 1816 and 1951, all borders were closed and it was forbidden for foreigners to enter the country. We set our watches ahead by fifteen minutes and stumbled through the dark streets to our guesthouse, which had been arranged by the bus company and was of the most basic sort. When we had dumped our gear in the allotted room (I had asked for a 'married couples room' for a joke and was surprised to have been given one, instead of being lumped into ...