The Annapurna Circuit
Trip Start
Oct 09, 2008
1
10
Trip End
Jan 16, 2009
Pokhara,
Nepal
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
First of all apologies for leaving the first entry until almost a month from our departure from rainy Plymouth. The main reason is that we were away from any means of telecommunication, "lost" in the Himalayas for 3 weeks and on our return to civilisation things were exceitingly busy.
Today is a day of relief: Obama won and an end to the dark ages is hopefully nigh. Hence we're inspired to get the blog going again.
The only thing we really knew about the "top of the world" we learned from our big travel inspiration: Michael Palin and his BBC documentary series "Himalaya". When our friends Martin and Steffi told us of their idea to go on a trek in Nepal at a time when we were available we got pretty excited and were soon rearing to go on this adventure amongst the highest mountains in the world.
In Heathrow someone booked us in wrong and when this was discovered at the gate we were told our flight could not go out. We convinced them that this was not a option as we had 2 further flights to catch that day so they thankfully managed to get us on board our booked flight which then left on schedule. Otherwise everything worked out and we met Steffi and Martin (who had got there earlier and had already organised our trekking permits for us) at the friendly Swiss-run Trekkers Holiday Inn in Kathmandu.
The next day we shared a minibus with 3 other trekkers (Rainer, Christina and Simon) to the trailhead at Besi Sahar, a 6 hour bumpy ride along potholed highways.
Enjoying our Mountian Flight
In transit we also had our first Nepali lesson from the driver's 12-yr old son, learning the basics:Namaste (lit: I great the God within you) - hello
Tata - goodbye
Danye baht - thank you
Tere Ramro - Very good
Mitho - delicious
Chai dei na - We don't need
with that you get very far as many Nepalis speak some degree of English or can at least organise someone who can.
The Annapurna Circuit is a Trek covering about 250 km and an altitude difference of about 4100m (14.000 ft) starting at approx 1300m and crossing the Thorung La pass at 5400m, higher than any mountain in Europe. It took us 17 days and we had no major difficulties other than colds and some blisters. Many trekkers get some degree of altitude sickness coming up to the pass, usually because they take things too quickly. We slotted in plenty of opportunities to acclimatise as Thorung La drew closer and only tackled the pass when we felt ready for it. We do admit to a degree of doping as we were taking prophylactic doses of diamox, a diuretic which basically makes you hyperventilate and thus optimises your oxygen metabolism in the thin air up high. It's not licensed for this use and although widely used by mountaineers there's no solid evidence it actually prevents serious illness at altitude. So the main advice by trekking guides regarding acclimitisation remains: "bistare, bistare" - slowly, slowly.
Talking of guides: the vast majority of trekkers, be they walking individually or in a group, take a guide and porters for their luggage and frolic along the path with a day pack to meet up with the bulk of their luggage in the guest house in the evening.
Saying goodby to Steffi & Martin
That certainly sounded more enjoyable than lugging all our stuff for all climatic conditions including sleeping bag ourselves. We nonetheless decided to carry all our belongings ourselves, though, for a number of reasons, including the feeling of doing it "properly", cost consolidation and not willing to take responsibilty for porters. These are fairly ill-equipped, carrying loads of up to 60 kg (roughly their own body weight) on their backs, only supported by a strap around their forehead, in potentially very adverse and freezing conditions in flip-flops with maybe a thin jacket to keep them warm. The path of the circuit is fairly straight-forward and easily navigable without a local guide, just with a map, guidebooks and, most importantly, talking to locals and other trekkers along the way. That said, a guide does add a lot to the itinerary as we could experience along the way. The quality of guides varies decicively and if you're lucky, you get someone like Bhola. Now we were very fortunate to venture across Dawn and Donna, a mother-daughter team from British Columbia and their guide Bhola early on in the trek. And the knowledge, experience and humour that was Bhola was incredible. We were lucky to be adopted by all 3 of them and each day we were more grateful for the advice Bhola could give us regarding the trek, which guesthouse to aim for (i.e. where the food and athmosphere were best) and just general advice and comradeship. Dawn, Donna and Bhola became true friends, just like their porter Santa, Eric and Sarah from Utah, Konstance from Hong Kong, Laura and Jim (who had his mini electric guitar with him...) from Montreal and Cathy from the French Pyrenees.
The Trek itself is best demonstrated by the pictures we took and I won't go into a detailed itinerary.
Last night with good companions
For those planning to do it themselves this is how we broke it down:D1 Kathmandu - Besi Sahar - Bhulebhule (Manang Guest House)
D2 Bhulebuhle - Syange (Annapurna Lodge)
D3 Syange - Tal (Paradise Guest House)
D4 Tal - Koto - 10 hour walk
D5 Koto - Upper Pisang
D6 Upper Pisang - Bragha (3300m, Buddha Guesthouse)
D7 Acclimitisation walk to Ice lake (4400m), and visit to Buddhist temple to get blessed for the pass
D8 Bragha - Yak Karkha (3900m, Gangapurna Lodge)
D9 Acclimitisation walk towards Thorung Phedi
D10 Yak Karkha - Thorung Phedi (4400m)
D11 Thorung Phedi - Thorung La (5400m) - Mukthinat (3800m, Hotel 4 Seasons) - 11 hour walk: 1000m up, 1600m down!
D12 Mukthinat - Kagbeni (Red House)
D13 Kagbeni - Tukuche (Dutch Bakery/High Plains Inn)
D14 Tukuche - Ghasa (Eagle Nest)
D15 Ghasa - Tatopani (Dhaulagiri Guest House)
D16 Tatopani - Ghorepani ( Hungry Eye Guest House)
D17 Ghorepani - Poon Hill (3900m) - Naya Pul (down 3280 steps, ouch!) - Pokhara - 12 hour walk
A few Annapurna facts:
1) You basically walk around a group of mountains named Annapurna I (8091m), II, III, IV and South, Gangapurna, Hinchuli (all well over 7000m) and the spectacular Machupuchare (Fishtail - ca 6500m).
2) You do so by following 2 river systens: You walk up the Marsyangi Khola, hop over the pass and then follow the Kali Gandaki Khola back down.
3) Walking takes you first from subtropical humid rainforests through forests, then to shrublands, barren rocks, then snow before going back into a dry rock desert around Muktinath and Kagbeni.
Breaching the snow line
Hence you need clothing for all climates, including longjohns, gloves and a hat for the subzero temperatures at night in the high camps.4) The best trekking season is on Oct/Nov after the monsoons have washed any dust out of the sky now the weather is stable and offers optimal clear views. There's a second season in Spring.
5) There are plenty of Guest Houses every few hours along the way (with accomodation only getting thin at higher altitudes). The guest houses offer simple standards, but you can pretty much always get a double room for a few Euros a night. You usually eat in the lodges, too. They offer a simple, but satisfying selection of traditional Nepalese fare with some western food as well. Staple diet is the Nepalese national meal of Dhal Baht: unlimited variations on a basic theme of rice with a lentil brew, a veg curry and pickle. And the best thing about this tasty meal: free refills until you bust. Now that's what I call trekking food.
6) They're building a road on both sides of the Circuit. This is already taking out quite a big chunk for those trekkers not keen to walk the entire traditional route. While the road on the eastern side is not too much of a hassle yet as it only goes to Buhlebuhle, it already spans the entire western side from Muktinath to Beni. It's possible to avoid stretches of the road, but the track mostly follows on or next to it until Tatopani (if you take the Poon Hill detour) or Beni. It's a dirt road and will probably not be paved anytime soon with regular landslides interrupting traffic.
Up on the Thorung La Pass (5400m)
So far Jeeps and motorbikes use it and an increasing number of buses has joined them. It's probably good for general accessibilty to these remote areas, but guest house owners justifiably fear that it will endanger their future income as it will render Nepal's most popular trek less attractive unless alternative walking routes are found. And I couldn't agree more having been repeatedly squeezed against a cliff by a truck to then have dust spewed in my face as it thunders away.The most interesting stops were Bragha with it's monastery; Muktinath; Kagbeni - an old rabbit warren of a village; Tatopani; and Poon Hill with it's spectacular mountain vista.
Mukthinath has an interesting temple complex run by Buddhist nuns, but at the same time is the second holiest site for Hindus in Nepal. A prime example for the tolerant blend of Nepal's 2 main religions that is so refreshingly different to the tensions religious differences cause elesewhere in the world. Mukthinat's significance is due to a gas flame that comes out of a rock together with a spring, thus combining the elements earth, water, fire and air. Many Hindus from as far as South India make the pilgrimage here, including the colourful Holy Men of Hinduism, the Saddhus. Another spectacle we could witness were the cleansing rituals at Muktinath. Here Hindus run a circuit underneath 108 spouts of freezing water surrounding a Vishnu temple.
We did it!!
This signifies the cleansing of all sins and is thus a wet yet brief purgatory well worth undertaking for most...Tatopani in turn is the exact opposite: a hot spring which Martin and I utterly enjoyed soaking in with our Everest beer and a plate of popcorn at "happy hour". The ladies refrained from this experience which may have been a good idea given the oggling local male crowd unaccustomed to so much female flesh on display. The evening meal with most of our travel companions that night turned into a celebration including music by Bhola and Tharsi and a wild dance by Santa. What a great goodbye to everyone as we parted ways here.
Pokhara
It was a bit awkward to be back in civilisation (with regular power cuts, mind you). Pokhara is a lakeside resort offering beautiful views across Phewa lake to Machupuchare (Fishtail) and the southern Annapurna range. We took advantage of it with a paddle trip on the lake. At his time it was Deepawali/Dewali/Tihar, a five day festival commemorating on day 1 dogs, day 2 cows, day 3 light, day 4 parents (and also Newari New Year) and day 5 brothers and sisters. In the evenings children would go from door to door singing songs for a few rupies or dancing (similar, I guess, to Halloween or German St Martin's day, both celebrated at a similar time of year). There are also bands driving around on the back of trucks rocking out hard, something I would have loved to have done with my band as a teenager, but we would have probably been presented with a hefty fine for...
Mountain Flight
On 29 October we took the bus back to Kathmandu (7 hours) where we were to go on a mountain flight early the next morning together with Steffi and Martin before they flew back to Germany the same day. This was a present from Regine's parents for both our birthdays and was pretty spectacular. We soared high above the clouds towards the east, parallel to the Himalayas, passing several 8000m peaks (Nepal has 8 of the 14 8000m+ peaks within its territory) to then turn around in front of Mt Everest to return the same way. We all had window seats in the 20-seater plane and were allowed to visit the cockpit briefly as well. Thanks Eva and Udo for this great opportunity!
Afterwards we bade farewell to Steffi and Martin. We were very lucky to have a chance to share the experience of trecking this incredible circuit with such good friends and proved to be an excellent team!
