Water Water Everywhere

  Annapurna Region, Himalayan Region, Nepal
Monday, September 22, 2008

But not a drop to drink...well safely anyway!

Saturday morning on day 1 was an exceptionally early start, with us flinging in the last few choice items! The taxi ride was interesting.

Transport to trek

Firstly the inner decor was made up of plastic marigolds, a picture of a Yogi and Avril Lavigne - seems she is a massive hit with the local young boys! We endured lots of Nepalese Music, with some very old bad Pop!!! The other interesting thing of note was the small accident -where no-one was hurt due to the 40km/h speed limit (of most vehicles anyway) - but took an hour to resolve! Talking to other travelers the roads seem to be even more hazardous than expected... Three trips each had three incidents! Luckily our statistical luck improved. Driving here seems like pot luck and the biggest car rules!

Team at 2700m

We went with Trekking Team, a local company recommended by Nix. We were the "Rock 'n Roll em" team, made up of our guide Rakam, a porter Reshum and the two novice South Africans.

What can we say to describe the Circuit! The beauty and magnitude of the environment has to be seen to believed. They say a picture describes a thousand words! I don't think a thousand pictures could describe what we saw or felt in any single day, let alone the 16 we did. Each day brought a new measurable change in Flora and Fauna as we ascended towards the top. We were both struck by the purity of silence - a precious commodity in our busy lives. We were very lucky to have most of the trekking days to ourselves - September is a very quiet time on the circuit, although business for the local souvenir shop owners was very slow so you can get swamped!

The trek is dominated by two major rivers - The Marshyangdi which we followed up, and the Kali Gandaki on the way down. Both were beautiful and in full flow. A million tributaries poured into them providing the most spectacular waterfalls. Initially, the gods were on our side and we had beautiful weather. Unfortunately towards the end of the trip they were very annoyed and the monsoon started again. This unfortunately meant we skipped Poon Hill and didn't get to see much of the peaks on the way down - See our pic of Annapurna I

Annapurna 1

. At least it gives us an excuse to come back again!

River in the monsoon

The Kali Gandaki became so pregnant with water it submerged our senses with the Roar of its flow.

We made it!!!

Luckily Kirsty's paranoia paid off and other than a bit of a headache initially we were both well throughout the trek. We both felt an immense sense of achievement at reaching the highest pass in the world! The 1700m descent however lowered the moral at about the same rate!!!

Now 17 days later, a few blisters later, we are happily immersed in the slow flow of "Urban" Pokhara. Here's to not eating any more Dahl Bhat, Fried Egg Veg Rice/Noodles or Apple Pie for a while.

**Footnote**
We used a local Nepali tour company for our trip, who arranged all our transport, accommodation and trekking. Based in the centre of Thamel, Trekking Team (www.trekkingteam.com) were excellent and we would really recommend them. Please feel free to contact us if you want any more information about this.