Back to the lakeside, pokhara..
Trip Start
Aug 13, 2007
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42
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Trip End
Aug 13, 2008
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Pokhara,
Nepal
Sunday, November 11, 2007
The morning came, the night was long and drawn-up, noises of distant dogs, other guests unpacking and of course the kitchen staff rustling along meal till late into the night (well 9/10ish - ha ha, we were well on trekking time)
The sky was still cloudy and we felt a little dishearten by the whole charade, after 5 days trekking set on seeing the annapurna range, you really don't want to buried under a gray mist during your time! The photo's I have seen of the sunrise is the most amazing thing, Michael Palin ventured here in his series Himalaya and I knew I had to try and witness it during this trip.. We decided to wait (much to Hasta mild annoyance - he want to get going again, guess when you've done the route 18 time you're not really that fussed about the mountains) so we had breakfast and stuck it out, deciding on an 11am cut off, if nothing was out by then we would set off back down the valley to MBC.
Lucky as we waited visibility slowly improved, the sun was up, a glowing mass shining up from towards the lower reaches of the valley, and one by one the slopes began to start teasing us with views of there scale.
It turned from a dank and wet morning into a gloriously bright day, we stumbled along the glacier ridge and clicked away with our camera, turning and watching each summit as we did so, some were out, some went in, the scene was continually changing with the effects of the weather, amazing sight..
annapurna and it's glacier..
There also were a number of campers up there and the nets of a volley ball court, so much for wilderness trek! lol
At 11ish we started off again, collecting up our stuff and saying our thanks to the paradise lodge staff we started our decent back in the direction of MBC, again as the previous day at the same point of the day we were greeted with a cloud approaching the annapurna camp. We headed down into the mist and stopped for another round of hot lemon and ginger tea at MBC. My camera came out a little more on the way down, guess the struggle of luggin' my phat arse up the steps took the energy that I would have used snappin' away.. (n.b. so on flickr there are a lot more shots in the lata days of the trip - also to note after returning to bamboo we headed off in a different direction, so some was over lapping as we returned - if that make sense)
We made it down to Deorali in good time and mary collected her gear that she left on the trip up, we ate and mused over one of the number asleep in the corner under a heavy duvet.. Himalaya and Doban were the same, the route down was swift and easy, well apart from on the path which was now swamplike and the pain that slowly developed in the knees (where were my hiking poles when I needed them - darn you)
We landed at Bamboo at 5ish in the evening, feet aching and well worn by the days activities.
camping..
The last room was ours and again next to the kitchen.We settled in for the night and were entertained by the son of the owner, he was only maybe 10 or 11, but he had an air of direction about him, he strutted as if he owned the place like a mini-Tony Soprano he mused with the porters from another group and pulled card tricks on them! Never showing joy, just a straight face.. amusing to watch..
DAY7/8 Bamboo to Jinnu and then onto Pothana..
The landscape continued to change, life returned to the villages and settlements, crops are grown and water buffalo/donkeys lined the trails.
Sophie's knee was playing up and we took our time getting back to pokhara.
And an hour from our destination (Pothana) on day 8 we were caught out on a treed ridge by a thunderstorm, so being forced to run the last leg of the journey.. was fun looking back! But we were all soaked through..
DAY9 Pothana back to the lakeside of Pokhara..
And after 9 days of trek, we returned back to our gear at the yeti guest house, warm showers and plates of red meat! yummy... The return journey was amusing, we lost the guide on the last stretch down through a village called Dampus (rather he lost us - we were clicking away with our cameras and he turned off on to a side trail), so after an hr or so waiting at the trail head he returned from the hills that he had been searching.
down the glacier..
He didn't look that annoyed either, his wide grin and a "ooook' alerted us to his arrival.. we hitched a lift back on top of a local bus and was entertained by a local band singing and playing through the gushing winds on the roof.. it was festival time! Wooo hooo! The subsequent days..
Went Paragliding the other morning from the northern hill of the lake in Pokhara (the which was ace, nearly lost my breakfast over the side though, but i hear that happens a lot on the first flight and actually happened to another flyer whilst we were up.. Wished i'd packed my long lenses! would have been a funny shot..
Been chilling hard the last couple of days, feeding, resting in the sun (a nice 25 degree), went out on the lake and even booked myself on a 4 day kayak clinic course, a day on the lake training and then 3 days running the Seti river down to the Chitwan Safari park (where I will be spending the following 3 nights). then onward to India! eak!
So today i've been trying to kinda get as upto date as possible with the photos' and blog etc, but as you can imagine I didn't wanna get away traveling to sit in front of a computer! lol, so if there are patches within the entries please comeback later :) and i'll try my bestest to fill them up! anyhow the mountains are out and my stomach is grumbling so I'll leave you to it, speak 2 you soon, jH
