|
  | |  |
additional trek details
Entry 21 of 85 | show all | print this entry |
This won't be much but I just wanted to include some of my (Kristina's) memories from the trek. Also it's quite hard for me to give a comprehensive account of the trek (It was simply incredible in so many ways and consequently hard to capture and to relate) so some thought fragments will have to do.
So of course, since we're reckless 23 year olds with limited means, upon arriving in Pokhara we had no intention whatsoever of employing a guide or a porter. We reluctantly accepted the fact that in October the Nepali govt. passed a new law enforcing that all trekkers employ a guide or a porter, preferably both. As things turned out, we ended up with a local guide named Gobinda (he was tiny- about 115 pounds), and even though I wasn't always thrilled with him following at my heels, constantly asking to carry my bag, and barging into our lodge rooms unannounced, I can't deny the fact that the trek wouldn't have been nearly as fulfilling and complete if we hadn't had him for mountain/ cultural knowledge and for comic relief.
Day one of the trek: I have no idea what John was talking about when he told me, friends, and family that the Annapurna circuit would be easy. Somehow both of us had missed the key descriptive word "strenuous" while researching the trek. So after more than 5 hours walking straight uphill- through Nepalese hillside jungle-I'm shocked and surprised by the climb. And it's an even greater shock when I finally take a good look at the guidebook and realize that we're actually climbing from 2,000 feet to 17,700 feet! I've never been about 13,000 feet before, what are my parents going to think? All these thoughts are swept aside though by the sight of our surroundings. We're standing/ sitting precariously on the side of a mountain. We've all seen the National Geographic pictures of parallel narrow shelves of farmland making their way up mountain sides, but I've never REALLY seen one and now I'm standing on one! We're also surrounded by people, cattle, goats, chickens and houses similarily standing precariously on the side of farmed mountain side. It's hard to imagine how people live here. The hillside is so steep, but it's also beautiful and the Nepalese people who live here do have everything they need. Sure they don't have cell phones or televisions. Instead they have lots of children running around, their own rice fields, their own banana trees, their own gardens, water flowing down the mountain, and a much more basic existence.
Starting with day 2 the trek changed dramatically. It turns out that for the first day Gobinda had taken us off the trekker path and into the local farms to see what Nepali village life is really like, but now we return to the actual route and will continue to walk beside donkeys and hordes of fellow trekkers for the next 15 days. From here on out the trek became tourism not just a trek. (At this point I will simply write about single components of the experience)
Walking Slowly: Even though we had over 15,000 feet to climb in 9 days, this only required 3 to 5 hours of hiking a day. Consequently it was incredibly easy and peaceful to walk "painfully slowly" but really enjoyably slowly. I've done plenty of walking and hiking before and in comparison I know that this trek was not about walking. It was about observing. It was observing our physical condition to make sure that we acclimated to the altitude appropriately. It was about observing the towns and villages built entirely of rock and wood into the hillside. These villages looked as though belonged in the 12th century, not the 21st century. And more than anything else, it was about observing the mountains. It's hard to describe how huge and how majestic these mountains are. They appear to be so close and you know that they must be so far because some of them are over 25,000 feet tall! And once your view passes one mountain range there's another which is even larger and more impressive. It all literally is breathtaking. Much of the time walking, even while walking slowly, your heart is beating so quickly trying to keep up with the altitude gain and the exertion that your body is almost commanded to stop so that you can be in awe of your surroundings.
Our fellow trekkers: We did hit the circuit during the height of the Nepal trekking season, October and November, so the trek was also a fun social event. For the most part we spent our time walking with a Frenchman, Philippe, and Norwegian girl, a group of Canadians, some germans and an impressive collection from other nationalities. What was the most surprising was the general makeup of the trekkers and the tourists in Nepal as a whole. France has the most tourists in Nepal. Shock, France is a small country. Israel is a close second. And the United States is maybe in 100th place. It's astonishing how few Americans we met along the way.
The terrain: During the 15 days of the trek we crossed through at least 4 drastically different physical environments. There was tropical jungle around 2,000 to 5,000 feet, there was alpine (similar to the rockies or Yosemite), there were the mountains between 10,000 and 25,000 feet, then we had desert with unbelievably strong winds in the deepest valley in the world, and then back to jungle.
The future of the trek: It's alarming how quickly things around the Annapurna circuit are developing. It's more than that you can find coke and snickers at any point along the way, it's that in 10 years they hope to have a road going around the entire circuit- including the 17,700 foot pass. Much of this land and mountain side is incredibly fragile. In the past decade there have been a number of deadly avalanches killing tens of tourists and locals but 300 meters from these past avalanche sites they're blowing up the sides of the mountains. During the trek we heard many dynamite explosions, were rushed across a mountain side that was blown up 30 minutes later, and had to run for over a kilometer through an avalanche area. I don't understand. They're using incredibly primitive materials to blow up the mountain and to build the road. Do they not know that many of their practices aren't stable or safe and that this is a trekking route and building a route will kill off the trekking and the hundreds of businesses along the way. Tourism and trekking is one of Nepal's greatest financial resources and they're in the process of killing off the most popular trek! We met a number of people along the way who had done the Annapurna circuit 15 to 20 years ago and they were already astounded by how much it had changed. How much more will it?
A typical night: We would usually arrive at our nightly lodge around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Then we'd hope and pray for some type of hot water for a shower. We were always quite happy with a hot bucket shower which consists of about 2 gallons of boiling water in a bucket that one douses over oneself while shivering in some small outdoors building. (By the way the trek was cold, very cold, wear everything that you own cold) We'd then sit huddled drinking tea and waiting for dinner and for our chance to crawl into our warm sleeping bags. Nights though were also the time of Raksi, the locally brewed rice wine. Apparently in recompense for guides bringing their trekkers to a certain lodge, the lodge would give the guide free food, free lodging, and sometimes even free Raksi. Our guide, Gobinda, loved the Raksi and I'm pretty sure he knew exactly which lodges would give it to him. Consequently we never had any choice about which lodge we stayed at. Instead for the last 20 minutes of every day's trek, Gobinda was on autopilot towards a certain lodge with the sole thought of Raksi for that evening. He would then spend the evening giggling and telling us about the difficulties of getting a VISA for the United States.
Lost in translation in Nepal: For the most part we were able to communicate with Gobinda about the trek basics. Every now and then however the communication lines would break down all together with no hope for repair. This usually occurred when we were with our French friend Philippe and his guide Ang after the guides had had their two glasses of raksi.
Nepalese children: There are Nepalese children everywhere. Millions of them. Literally. Most families have between 5 and 10 children and parental supervision doesn't exist in Nepal as it does in the States so there are commonly groups of small children (2 to 10 years old) roaming all over the place. These children love to follow the trekkers and to chirp after us "Namaste. Sweet. Chocolate. School pen." These must be the first 4 words of every Nepalese child. We must have heard this sequence 500 times.
Latest Comments (1)
|
Leaving us hanging...... (reply)
Nov 24, 2006 14:17 EST by nronneberg
Sort of an abrupt ending to your blog, Kristina! I was settling down to read your 'magnum opus' about the wilds of Nepal, a mug of Peets coffee in my hand, and started reading......then, nothing......Where's the rest of it?
Love, Dad R
p.s. the Nepal phase of your trip sounded wonderful. Very happy you two are enjoying yourselves, while being challenged
|
 Post a new comment |
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Nepal or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
14 votes 
This is a top pick!
