Day 25: Besishahar to Bhulbule

Trip Start Sep 21, 2006
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Trip End Jun 01, 2007


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Monday, October 16, 2006

I'm up at 6am to catch the six-hour local bus to the start of my trek - the fabled Annapurna Circuit. After inching forward through a jam, we're in countryside and over terraced hills, then there is the first sighting past the capital city's smog of the jagged teeth of the Himalaya. Progress remains slow, stuck behind TATA trucks, listening to thudding pop music selected by the hyperactive kid conductor, and my knees are crushed by the reclining seat in front.
It's a blessed relief to be out walking from Besishahar. It's a gravel path for the first few days of the trek, trailing the Maroyangdi Khola river. Many trekkers catch a second bus further up the route, but we're hardier (and cheaper) than that. One estimate is that 200 trekkers have set off on this path today. We pass many and choose a guesthouse just beyond Bhulbule (820m) for the night, rather than meet a crowd up ahead. We're the only guests here, beside a towering waterfall. The Himalchuli rears up from thick cloud at sunset. Dinner's by candlelight, under a simple shelter. With no moon in view, the Milky Way glows above us, stars twinkling with the fireflies.
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