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Trip Start Aug 28, 2008 Previous
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  Pokhara, Nepal
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Hello everyone! Sorry I have been out of touch for the past two weeks but I was in the remote mountains of the Annapurna range trekking over that period. Just to give you a quick synopsis of the trip, I flew out of Pokhara on a mountain flight into the town of Jomson, which is at the beginning of the Tibetan plateau, a desert-like stretch of mountain ranges that goes through Tibet. There I picked up a guide for three days to get in the groove of trekking. We visited two main town, Kegbeni and Muktinath, the later is a very holy Hindu city and many Hindus from both India and Nepal were making pilgrimages there.

Three days later, I was back in Jomson, where I dropped off Mansing, my guide. I then headed to a small town called Larjung, where I did a day hike up to the Daulgiri Ice Falls, a 2000m+ ascent in a single day and def the most challenging day I had, which I did with the brother of the family that owned the guesthouse. He was a bit like the brother in Something About Mary, a bit deaf and slow, but he was a jolly good fellow, and we had a good agreement to only speak in laughter and shouts. I ended up staying at that hotel two nights, which was nice bc I was the only person there, and I really got something of a homestay with the family, watching TV with them at night and all. The next morning, I met this kid Billy and we hiked over two days to a town just at the bottom of the Annapurna Circuit called Tatopani (means hot springs) and went just for that reason. At day 7 of hiking, it was a welcome event.

I then left Billy behind (he was on day 15 already) and started the ascent up to the Annapurna Sanctuary, a 4-5 day hike to the base camp of Annapurna South Mountain (approx 4100m). Along the way, I met an Australia and German and trekked with them for a good portion of the way up. Staying in the Sanctuary was pretty challenging. It was quite cold and damp, and after hiking, I had to wear a few layers of cloething just to stay warm. Going up to Annapurna Base Camp was a 5am ordeal, since the weather is best then and you can also watch the sunrise. Then it was 3 days back down to Pokhara, including a 2 hour bus ride on the rooftop of the bus with two Asian-UK friends, Desmond and Joe. The final night culminated in steaks at Pokhara Steak House, since all you really can eat along the trail are carbs, tuna, and eggs.

That was about the extent of the trip. Over two weeks, I judged that I walked approx. 90 hours and covered 100 miles of walking, and the worst I encountered was a small sinus infection. But it was well worth it and I feel fitter than when I left high school. So now I am back at Giri Guesthouse and thinking of spending my final days until my visa expires at the national park here in Nepal called Chitawan. There I can do a safari/day hike and see some wild animals. Originally, I had been thinking of going into Kashmir with a friend I made here, but due to recent, dangerous events, I will probably head straight to Delhi and visit some of the more "touristy" places which have been deemed safer. Now I leave you with LOTS of pictures. They can speak more to the trekking trip than what I have written here. I decided to use Picassa as it is much more effecient in uploading than this POS. You can view them at http://picasaweb.google.com/matthew.zerbo/MattInNepal# Hope everyone I haven't spoken to is well. Take care!

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