Annapurna Circuit - Day 9 - Old Chinese Penises
Trip Start
Jul 25, 2006
1
123
165
Trip End
Ongoing
Manang,
Nepal
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Last night we decided to spend another day in Manang. This is of most obvious benefit to me, although we all feel we like this side of the pass a lot.
Yesterday I performed home surgery with my jack knife, some iodine, and bandages. My feet seem seriously damaged and bruised. I cut open, drained, and then cut all the dead skin off with the scissors on my knife, cleaned them, and bandaged them. The little toe of my right foot is worst, raw flesh and possibly infected. On the ball of my left foot is a deep blister, now hole, that is very painful when stepped on. I hope today will help the healing process.
Yesterday I was stopped on the street by a local who obviously had been talking with some of the porters from other groups
Day 9 - 01
. He offered to carry my bag to the top of the pass. I had been told it was possible to hire a porter in Manang but it would be very expensive, at least a thousand rupees a day, including paying for them to return, a minimum of 6000 rupees from Manang. I asked the man how much, and he responded by asking me how much. I said if I wanted a porter, I would pay 500 rupees a day (standard price). To my surprise, he said ok. 1500 rupees to the top of the pass. I told him I would have to think about it.Last night I was sitting with the Dutch group when one of the porters from the Israeli group approached me. He had told me before to talk to him if I needed a porter, he would carry my bag as well as his clients. I had told him I didn't know if I wanted one. He came last night to put one last effort into getting my business. He said to Muktinath (3 days), he would only charge me 5000 rupees! I tried to let him down gently by saying we were staying in Manang an extra night. He said no problem, he could stay. This I thought was a bit dodgy considering he was already under the employ of another group. The 5000 rupees he was asking for was ten times the daily rate of 500 rupees he was getting from his group, accounting for, I suppose, his willingness to abandon them.
All of this has made me more determined to carry this damn bag over the pass myself
Day 9 - 02
. I might be a great example of how not to do a trek, but I will finish it anyway. I'm too stubborn.This morning at breakfast one of the employees of our hotel was sitting at a table and cleaning what appeared to be some kind of roots with a toothbrush. They turned out to be Yatsa Gombu, a type of caterpillar (dead). They apparently are only found around this area at an elevation of about 4000 metres and up. They are dug from the ground, identified by a long stalk like growth that sticks out of the ground like a weird blade of grass. I was told that they are very hard to find and sell for about 200 rupees a caterpillar. The buyers are, of course, Chinese who view it as a powerful aphrodisiac when eaten or made into a tea, or drunk with whisky.
What is with the Chinese and their damn traditional medicines that always seem to need the most obscure parts of the most endangered animals in the world? Tiger spleens, bear gallbladders, rhino horns, gorilla hands. A huge amount of pouching and illegal animal trade seems dedicated to keeping old, rich Chinese men's dicks hard. Take the fucking little blue pill like the rest of the world. It angers me that species already endangered by human encroachment, climate change, and loss of habitat are pushed towards extinction by an illegal demand for exotic animal parts. I heard stories in Africa of rhinos being found dead and rotting, only their horn being hacked off and taken to be ground up and added to some rich Chinese person's tea to ensure strong fingernails or some other line of crap.
Comments
summary
So,
1)this man tried to sell you a tequila worm?
2)maybe the Chinese are anti-big Pharma
disclaimer: i do not in any way support the poaching of animals and the harvesting of their various parts for commercial use. thank you.
- management
3)could this man also have ground up some antibiotics? you have a hole in your foot! did you clean the knife and scissors with the iodine first? i hope you don't get gangrene! the public health professional in me is having heart palpitations.
4)i'm glad you decided to carry your pack yourself. you did after all, eliminate a lot of the weight by getting rid of your spoon and luggage tag :).
i joke, i kid. i wont make any more fun of your misery.