Days17-25 Lecherous Leech & ABCD Base Camp
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
202
221
Trip End
Ongoing
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Where I stayed
Superview, Poon Hill
The Annapurna Approach, Dovan
Chomrong Guesthouse, Chomrong
Cosy Lodge, MBC
Milan Guesthouse, Ghandruk
Annapurna Base Camp,
Nepal
Monday, May 25, 2009
Today was an exhausting one. We lost Hasta this morning for a while until we realised he had gone on ahead and later caught up with him in the setlement of Gharkhola after crossing two suspension bridges. At only 1940m, the heat was upon us. Next began a long climb up stone and marble stone steps through dense forest. At the top was a village called Durbindara where we passed through some rock entrance way where the word 'abracadabra' was painted on the rocks then were given a magnificent view of a vast basin, the Ghara Khola valley surrounded by hills. We could see the distant villages of Ghara and Sikha on the slopes in front and the Dhaulagiri range behind us.
This was hobbit territory and quite charming. The first village we came to was Birauti with mud-walled and red painted houses, haystacks and slate roofs set into farmlands and terraced slopes. The people were friendly with some of the workers stopping for a chat. We had lunch on a rooftop in Sikh then continued to climb on up to Ghorepani through Phalate and Chitre villages. The stairs just kept going and going and there semed to be lots of false summits. Closer to the top there were rhododendron, birch and magnolia tres and some meadows filled with spooky, enchanted forest trees that seemed to be gnarled and warped into strange shapes. The weather was bad so we saw none of the mountains. We were happy to be here and having a ball regardless.
Day 18 Ghorepani(2750m)-Tadapani(2700m)
We woke early in the hope of catching a sunrise panorama view from Poon Hill from where you can usually see Machhapuchre, Hiunchuli, the Annapurnas, Dhamphus, Tukuche, Dhaulagiri and Jirbangl.
Chomrong smile
We saw absolutely nothing at all. The up-side was that today's walk was through a misty cloud forest which was even more beautiful in the rain. The trail went through lush, moist, green forest with stands of bamboo, pine, birch and moss, ferns, mushrooms and grandfather's beard dripping from trees. The birdlife was an amazing soundtrack to the walk as we skipped through the trees in the rain. Eventually we reached the Panorama Hotel in Tadapani where we waited all afternoon to see a hole in the grey clouds where the sun had made a window clearing through to some moutaintops. It was like magic and Machhapuchre stole the show. We met some English lads who were drinking hot chocolate from a giant thermos and playing cards with rocks as bets. We talked bollocks all night as usual and of course we all went to the dhaal bhaat once again.Day 19 Tadapani(2750m)-Chomrong(2170m)
We took a steep drop down through a dense forest where we spotted langour monkeys whose black faces with eskimo hoods framing them were staring at us through the trees. The noise of insects and birds filled the air. This forest opened out onto beautiful terraced fields on the slopes of the Kimrong Khola valley. We headed down into the floor of the valley where we crossed a wooden bridge built over a stream from a waterfall then made our way slowly up to Chomrong,a large Gurung village with views from Annapurna South to Machhapuchre that we could see from our window at Chomrong Guesthouse. Nadia and i took along nap to replenish our energy for the climb into the sanctuary.
Aviews ABC
The sanctuary trek was great in different ways but there are not the villages and culture of the circuit.Day 20 Chomrong(2170m)-Dovan(2580m)
We started down the Modi Khola canyon and ended up at the wholesale shop that the marmots had discovered the day before. This shop was the cheapest on the trail and well stocked. Tom and Anna, the marmots and us talked the owner into cutting a 1kg chunk of yak's cheese from his fresh wheel. We were also able to get some tomatoes and a fresh loaf of bread to make a picnic. We left the inhabited foothills by leaving the terraced slopes behind as we descended to the bridge over the Chomrong Khola and started the climb into the pristine high Himalayas. We passed through Tilche, Banawa and Sinuwa before entering thick forests of oak and rhododendron, this is the start of the sanctuary. There was a steep climb and a log bridge over a stream with water flowing down into a limestone bed. There was a bamboo jungle and more forests with lichen plants wrapping around branches. We ran into Jimbo the mountaineer and the English lads. We were tired from walking and Omar was feeling ill apparently from eating fresh tomatoes so we crashed at Dovan for the night. There was a crazy Iranian guy next dor to our room who woke us up early the next day. We lost Tom as he had run on ahead and we would meet back up with him and Anna the next day. From Dovan we had prime views of the fish tail part of Machhapucre peak that was lit by the moon as we stuffed ourselves silly with food again.
gorkha knife
Day21 Dovan(2580m)- Machhapucre Base Camp (3700m)
The climb continued through dense woods past a temple and a braided waterfall until the forest thinned out and the roaring Modi Khola could be seen down in the deep gorge. There were landslide and avalanche tracks and the trail was littered with boulders. We went through bambo and grass vegetation through Deurali village and past Hinku Cave from which we watched another group of inquisitive langour monkeys swinging around in the trees. There were lots of gorgeous red and black spoted ladybirds on the path so you had to watch your footing as to not squash them as you walked. The mist was taking over everything by the afternoon making visibility poor and wiping out any chance of views. After Deurali the canyon widened into alpine country with low scrub and birch trees and brown and barren mountains on either side. The trail ran alongside the river into the wilderness of the magical Himalayan domain, we were nearly at the base camp of the Anapurnas but decided to bunk down for the night at MBC instead and make an early start to the ABC the next day. Tanja and i went for a walk to find hot chocolate and met a pair of Swedish girls and a kiwi guy named Luke 'bird beard', a pirate from New Zealand.
Day22 Machhapucre Base Camp(3700m)-Annapurna Base Camp(4130m)
Today we walked into the lap of the Himalayas. The weather was quite bad with mist swallowing up us and all the good views of the mountains. We followed the river and spotted the marmot holes and also some Himalayan tahr, a mountain goat species on our way up to base camp.
donkey train on bridge heading out of tatopani
We also saw the English lads who had just done a nudie run in the snow. Once there, we stayed inside the lodge getting cabin fever. We saw Maya and Ben again, monkey did some breakdancing, the ipod got a workout, we did a how much do you know about the generic menu quiz and someone started a game of high altitude volleyball. Day23 Annapurna Base Camp(4130m)-Chomrong(2170m)
Luckily the cards were in our favour this morning, there was a knock on our door, a call of 'clear sky' and everyone was sprinting out of bed to catch the spectacular views in this wonderland. Coming into view were Tharpu Chuli, Singu Chul, Annapurna III, Gangapurna, Gandharba Chuli, Machhapucre and Annapurna south with it's ridge extending to Annapurna I. It was a treat to see peaks from a place that is embedded in the mountains so that you feel like you are a part of them and not just viewing them from a distance. Superb. We had a window of clear sky for about 45minutes before the mist rolled in and took over the mountains.
I was a little tired because i found it hard to sleep at altitude and a mouse was cruising around our room all night so the long walk we decided to do today seemed all that much longer. We did a ABCD Base camp, MNO base camp, SAR, SAR, CD Himalayas on a film for Wicksy. We made our way back the way we had come with Luke and the marmots and also a stray dog that followed us part of the way back to Chomrong. It really was too far to walk in one day but we were all after some more yak cheese supplies so trekked on to Chomrong where we talked about the trek and Hasta got drunk on rakshi.
flowers
go son!Hasta's Quote Of The Day:
"see ya later alligator"
Day 24 Chomrong(2170m)-Ghandruk(1940m)
The trail wound through terraced fields and farmsteads along a gently inclined slope then headed steeply down to the village of Kimrong then up to Komrong where we met some very random people at the lunch stop. There was some step climbing and lots of leeches that were trying at every opportunity to get into our shoes. One of the suckers made it's way into the front of my talking shoe and gorged itself until it was a big, fat lecherous leech, a giant bloated slug of a creature. The hole it left on my toe wouldn't stop bleeding for hours it. We made it into Ghandruk, the largest village on the trekking trail where the houses have stone walls and slate roofs. There were white horses, water bufallo and butterflies and some young boys shooting birds with slingshots and rocks. The boys proudly showed us their catches of the day as we went by. We stayed at the delightful Milan Guesthouse owned by a gentle Hare Krishna guy. Hasta came out with a lego head hairstyle and gave us all a back crack whilst we ate dinner. The views were good here too and we really felt like we had explored these Himalayan mountains from many angles.
Day 25 Ghandruk(1940m)- Nayapul(1070m)
We had clear views of the mountains all the way down the steps to Nayapul from where we walked on the road and scored a bus that would take us to Pokhara. Tanja, Luke and i sat on the roof and answered the many questions being fired at us from a crew of military boys as we rode open air. We met up with Tom and Anna at Shanti Guesthouse and then all went for a dinner at Everest Steakhouse where we had a reunion with Maya and Ben. Nice one. 25 days on the trail. Yak Yeti Yak Yeti Yak Yeti!!!
The Nepalese mountain treking is a highlight of our journey and the friendly people and spectacular scenery we encountered will remain a part of us forever.A fabulous walk in the mountains.
Hasta's Quote Of the Day:
"what to do, back to Kathmandu" (said many times when he wanted to fill in a silence)
Comments
Photo fun
God I love that photo of 'Nadine squashed under avalanche', it cracks me up every time!x