ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT / DAY 10 - 12

DAY 10 ( Letdar 4.200m - High Camp 4.850m )
After throwing ourselves out of the lodge as quick as possible, we climbed for about 45 min. up to a teahouse. Mila was so slow due to her headache. We were checking each other on the way; the altitude made this necessary. Just before we reached at the teahouse (4.310m), I started to feel the altitude also as it had been difficult to keep up the usual pace.

We drank our teas and Julian & Renata asked the price of one cup of black tea: 70 Rp. ( It normally varies between 15-20 Rp.). They started to argue with the Tibetan lady. When I got close to the venue, things had already got ugly as Tibetan lady hit Julian and Julian responded. While they were yelling each other, I realised that the husband? had taken his Gurung knife (has a similar form of a boomerang). I tried to calm him down and prevent him doing something stupid. Other trekkers were watching the movie, even one old guy had told the Arg. couple that they should have been ashamed of themselves. Anyway, at the end we paid money they wanted to end the conflict. On the way to Thorung Phedi, still some British were critisicing the Arg.s.

I'm not saying that Julian had completely behaved correctly; but it was so clear that the Tibetans had tried to take advantage of us, since we hadn't asked the price before ordering. And I hadn't seen any effort from the trekkers (mostly Europeans) to end the tussle.

Close to 11:00 AM we arrived at Thorung Phedi (4.450m), which consists of two hotels. After a short discussion, we decided to climb up to High Camp (4.850m) with our backpacks to stay the night there. In case of any altitude problem, we could have turned back to Thorung Phedi.

The 1 hour 15. min ascent was at a very slow pace. Still I cannot forget the last 10 min.. We saw the buildings of the only hotel in High Camp, it was just 20 meters away; but it took Julian and me 10 min. to get there:)

After we arrived and put our things to rooms, Julian & I climbed up to the chorten to have the view while the girls were trying to find way to get warm. As the sun set after 15:00 at the back of the mountains, everbody gathered around the tables to feel the heat coming from a small electrical heater. The old (around 55) guy from New Zealand, we met on the table, was the inspring surprise of the day. He had quited
from his job and left his wife and children to trek Annapurna Circuit and Everest Base Camp. In 2 months time, he would meet with his family in Kathmandu and travel Europe for two years with their van. He had a serious headache as Mila had, but still didn't lose his sense of homour.


High Camp / View from The Chorten

I could only have stood until 8 PM, the crowd had disturbed me and I was feeling tired because of the oxygen level. We agreed to start the trek at 6:00 AM with the light, while most people preferred to launch at 4:30 AM due to strong wind at the pass after 10:00 AM.

DAY 11 ( High Camp 4.850m - Muktinath 3.800 )
The day started as we planned. Other than Mila's headache, nobody had had an altitude problem in the morning. The trail was somewhere snowy and somewhere rocky, but easy to follow and almost flat:) The problem was that a few quick steps were enough to make us feel breathless. We were very cautious in our speed.

At the end of the 1st hour, we gave a long break in the teahouse since Mila's headache had been troubling her more and more. Onion&garlic soup and black tea she had as it had been the advise of porters and guides all through the circuit. We were back on our feet after the 30 min. break, but Mila's condition was making us very nervous. At the second time we stopped, she searched other options as she talked with the one of the local guys, renting horses to carry troubled trekkers. 50$ for carrying her to the top was too much for her. She decided to move on.

MILA
An Argentinean lady, aged around 35, who is working, living and travelling around the world for 14 years. But always selecting the hot seasons:)

2 more hours it took us to reach the Throung La Pass (5.416m). I was the slowest member of the group and had fallen 10 min. behind of my friends. I saw Renata&Julian at the pass, but Mila wasn't there. As Renata told me she hadn't stopped at the pass and went directly down. We hug each other, celebrating our conquest:) Took the picture and started descending just after. After a hour of descent on the slippery steep trail, I realised that after 10,5 days of climbing I had just stopped for one minute at the pass:) That 4 hours of climbing in the morning didn't let me to think clearly.



The view had completely changed at the other side. The huge and wide Muktinath valley gave us a desert landscape. There was no life sign up to the point where some villages around Muktinath were seen 1.600 meters below. Almost 3 hours later we found Mila sitting in a lodge restaurant and drinking her coke. She told us that after she had went down for maybe 200 meters, she asked a guy about her headache. Just after the guy told her that unless she puked, the headache was not so critical since she was descending; she puked in front of the guy:) Then ran down as fast as possible. She could have broken the time record of that descent trail:)

After a half hour walk, we were at Muktinath. As we got closed to the town, it was so clear that we would have a different trek during the rest of the circuit. Significant sized Hindu temples and Buddhist gompas (Tibetan Buddhist monastry) could be easily seen from the top of the town. We were now at the last town of the popular Jomsom Trek, which includes Lower Mustang district towns that had played an important role during "Salt Trade" era between Tibet and Nepal.

Agreed with the first lodge of the town and had our hot showers. Following our visit inside the town, we went to the most popular place of Muktinath, Bob Marley Hotel&Restaurant. The trekkers, who had been driven by their guides, were all there. The place was excessively branded with shirts, flags, any item you can guess of Bob Marley:) Julian and I tried the Yak steak finally. It has a very similar taste with cow meat.

DAY 12 ( Muktinath 3.800m - Kagbeni 2.800m )
No more appointments for the morning to start trekking from now on, it was the time to explore these historical towns. Everybody was all of one mind. It was around 14:00, when we left the lodge and started our short trek to Kagbeni, the gateway to Upper Mustang district and the closest point you can get to the mysterious walled city - Lo Manthang, the capital of the legendary kingdom of Mustang - unless you pay 700$ to enter the district.


Mila & Kagbeni

Accompanied with the great view of the Muktinath valley, meadows and streams, we first past Ranipauwa and then Jharkot villages. A hour walk on dusty stone road after Jharkot brought us to the edge of Kagbeni. It was nearly dark, when we went down the hill to enter the town and found Red House Lodge , serving inside a 350 years old building with a little monastry inside. A short walk we had after and spent the night talking with a middle-aged Australian-British couple in the lodge.

ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT / DAY 7 - 9

DAY 7 ( Lower Pisang - 3.200m to Braga - 3.500m )
There are two trails you can follow after Lower Pisang. The flat one leaves from Lower Pisang to Humde, through which you can enjoy a easy walk in the peaceful valley. The upper and the harder one, which you should ascend up to 3.750m before coming down to 3.500m, includes great views of the valley and the mountains.

At the end of the 6th day, with the information we had received and the hope of a clear sky due to the snow we'd seen after we had arrived at Lower Pisang, we had decided to take the latter route. Juli & I had also agreed on meeting before sunrise and climbing up to the Buddhist monastry on the top of Upper Pisang previous night. So we did; the morning ascent - maybe because of altitude and/or the backpacks and/or starting trekking with a steep climb just after waking up - was challenging. Unfortunately, the sky was again a little bit cloudy.

Finishing shooting, we met with the girls and continued our trek. 45 min. walk on the slope of the mountains was decorated with the view of the tiny and cute green lake. Then came the toughest ascent of the circuit, which leads to Ghyaru village. It took us nearly an hour to climb 400m. We had our black teas in a lodge of the village and rested.


Ghyaru

It was nearly noon when we started to walk again; the target was Ngawal village for the lunch break. With each second, the sky was getting clearer and the snow over 4.000m mountains was becoming brighter. After 2 hours of walking, we reached Ngawal. My blisters on my feet, from the beginning of the 3rd day, were hurting badly. Plus my right shoulder was aching due to my unbalanced old backpack. I had to repair it as soon as possible.

During lunch, I blew my blisters and hoped that they wouldn't effect me through the rest of the day as we had decided to reach at least Braga, which meant 3 hours of walking. For the first 15 min. I was convincing myself that I should wait my body&feet to get warm and then I would not feel the pain. When we started to descend steeply, I had already forgotten my blisters. The enchanting view of Annapurna III (7.555m) also accompanied us all the way down.

At the end of the descent, we found ourselves at the beginning of a forest with short trees lying through the northeast of side the valley. Since I'd been slower than my friends, by the time I caught them they had already been rested and prepared to move. On the contrary, I was tired and wanted to view and shoot Annapurna III for a while.

I stayed there for 15 min; when I walked a little bit, I was confused of having difficult trails. Decided to take the lower ones, which enter the forest, continued on my way. Few minutes later, there were no trails:) The little wooden bridge I saw far ahead helped me in finding a trail again. I realized that my Arg.s had the upper path. The way I should go was so clear; with the confidence of this knowledge the 1 hour lonely walk in the forest up to a small village, Mungji, was great.

I had a black tea and biscuit break in Mungji whilst watching the trails. It was the intersection point of the two trails. Waited for a half hour, but they didn't come; so I continued my way to Braga. The first thing I thought when I saw Braga village was that my fellows, especially Juli, would certainly love it as I did. As the sky was also getting dark when I arrived; decided to stay here and checked the lodges whether they'd already been in the town or not. Having 'No's, I put my stuff in one of the three rooms of a new built lodge after agreeing for "food&drink without bed".

I started to keep my eyes on the trail passing in front of my dining room. Just my hopes had finished, I heard a Spanish voice coming from the dark road. It was Juli's voice asking me to the previous lodge. Renata and Mila gave me a big hug:) They had really had some hard times and worried a lot.

The rest of the evening was full of joy and laugh, as we met again:) The lodge was ours since it had just 3 rooms filled with us and our hosts were so generous in keeping us warm in the dining room. Now it was the time for rest, logistic preparations and the great views of Annapurna range with hopefully a bright sky. As we were feeling good and had went up to 3.750m before, we decided to skip the acclimisation for the next day that most of the trekkers do at this point.

DAY 8 ( Braga - 3.500m )
At the time I woke up, it was the end of the night and from my window you could see the Annapurna III with the stars at the backround. At last we had our full clear sky!

I did some washing and stitched some of the parts of my backpack, which were ripped. After that I had a walk to Manang, which was 20 min. away from Braga. It's the biggest town after Chame and the last town before Thorung La pass. Full of hotels, bakeries and shops, in which most of the things a trekker needs could be found.

I was back at my lodge after 2 hours and I learnt from my friends that the tasty meals we had previous night were cooked by a cook from another lodge. As you can see our lodge was brand new:) As our hosts told us they could not cook, we went to that cook's lodge, Himalaya Lodge & Bakery. As the middle-aged Tibetan cook told, he had worked in Kathmandu with his wife for years and learnt international cuisine, then had started the first bakery house of the Manang district. I'm glad he did:) After 7 days of scarcity of tasty food, we were at the seventh heaven with the great view, beers, cheesecakes,...



As the sun set behind Annapurna range, we turned our faces to the exit and walked to our lodge with quick steps:) The evening passed as usual: simple dinner around the fire. It was a very relaxing day before we tested ourselves over 4.000m.

DAY 9 ( Braga - 3.500m to Letdar - 4.200m )
After buying Yak cheese&bread from Himalaya Lodge&Bakery and chocolate bars&tuna cans from Manang, we continued our way to Letdar. With the heroic view of the Range, we climbed for nearly a hour to our first black tea break. The way to Yak Kharka (4.018m) didn't take long. Yak Kharka just consists of 2-3 lodges as the latter stops before Thorung La pass. We had our lunch here and followed the trail to Letdar.

The first time any of us (Julian) felt the effects of altitude was during this period. Mila joined him in Letdar later with her headache. But nothing to worry about, 'cause these were the normal symptoms and we had all the afternoon, evening and night in Letdar to adapt our bodies to this level of oxygen.

The thing that disturbed us was the crowd in our lodge. As the towns had finished, we had just few lodges on our way to the Pass and there was no way to escape from the trekkers. The lodge management was another case: bad food, inadequate fire and cold rooms. Only funny experience we had was the mice in our (Mila&I) room, which ate all the peanuts of Mila all through the night:)

ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT / DAY 4 - 6

DAY 4 ( Bagarchhap - 2.160m )
We'd decided to stay and spent a whole day in some villages before trekking, when we felt tired or liked the village. One of the phrases we'd been using frequently was (and still using) "We're not tourists, we're travellers", especially during times of bargaining:) After 3 day trekking and seeing all French and German trekkers, dressed special trekking gear and hired guides&porters through which they were also handling their food orders in lodges:), the phrase had been changed into "not trekkers, but travellers". As a bunch of travellers, we needed some rest and had been also complaining about our trekking timing (8:00-17:00) since we hadn't time to travel inside the villages.



After washing and drying our clothes with the morning sun, we had a sunbath until noon. Little walk in the village followed by 'King' lesson for my Arg.s. It was so clear that they hadn't had much experience in card games:) While I was walking to my room, I was feeling anxious to start trekking the next morning.

DAY 5 ( Bagarchhap - 2.160m to Chame 2.670m)
The day started very early for me as I woke up around 05:00 AM. While I was doing some streching moves, I saw the peak of Annapurna II for the first time (7.939m). It made me hopeful for the rest of the day. Before we started trekking, I gave some my clothes ( my favourite green short, sweatshirt, 2 shirts), which were hard to make dry, to the owner/manager of the lodge.

Up to Danaqyu, the 30min. walk was flat and easy. After that we had a long, steep and rocky climb. I was telling myself not to give break until the top. So I did; I was feeling very fit after the rest in Bagarchhap. The climb was followed by a walk in a pine tree forest up to Chame, during which I'd found my trekking stick (a wooden stick) at last. It's a very useful equipment when climbing. When we had been getting close to Chame, Annapurna II showed most of its huge block between clouds. We were so close and almost 5.500m of altitude was between us. I hoped to have a better view in Chame.

Arrived at Chame, the capital city of Manang District, around 14:00. A big town with a bank, post office, etc... It seemed to be the right place to end the day's trekking. Agreed with a newly built lodge, which had a fire place also, with usual terms. Girls were delighted to have the fire (Before Chame no village lights fire or avoids as much as possible for environmental reasons) and I was feeling like it had been weeks since I felt heat on my skin. After we had lunch there, we walked in the town. It's worth to spend some time here.



Day ended in the fire place; unfortunately this time we couldn't have escaped from the crowds. Dutch and French tourists and their guides/porters were also with us. That's why I went to bed a little early than before.

DAY 6 ( Chame - 2.670m to Lower Pisang - 3.200m )
The route started easy and contuinued all day like that. It seemed that we'd finished the hard part until trekking over 4.000 meters. The sad part was that we hadn't had bright sky up to that point, which at the same time made the trip a little bit mystical.

Around 3.000m we saw the great and impressive rock curve, after which the climbing of the valley had finished and we were walking in the 'Peaceful Forest'. As the name implies, the 20 min. walk was really peaceful since the Marsyangdi Khola had weakened and the trail got away from it.

Getting out of the forest we saw Upper Pisang and then Lower one. As the girls didn't want to climb more:), we decided to stay in Lower Pisang and selected the most untouristic lodge. First we got surprised that the prices went lower, but then we realized that there's a airport in Dumre (close to Pisangs).

Except us, just two English? girls were staying in our lodge, who were quiet types. After the walk in the town, 'King' lecture continued. While we were eating our dinner, the manager joined us. He was a 1.65m height & 35 years of age, talkative guy. When I asked him what Chyang meant in the menu, he said "Nepali beer" and invited us to a place in order to drink it. Before I had tried and liked Rakshi , which was introduced as "Nepali wine". It tastes like Saki.

We went to a momo restaurant(during daytime and can be accepted as a bar at night). One Tibetan young woman and 5-6 guys were sitting around the fire. The manager ordered two hot chyang for Julian and me(Girls had decided to stay in the hotel). Guys were already drunk and high as our manager was. Julian and I had been waiting to taste Yak meat for a while, so we asked whether it was possible. Not Yak but dried cow meat,called Landung, we had. The young woman first boiled the dry meats and added some curry after. It was too hard to eat, but it had been so long since we had our last meat:) Nearly an hour we were there; then went to our hotel. All the way the manager told us not to say his wife that he was drunk:) Joined the girls, who were sitting in the kitchen around the fire with the pretty Tibetan lady, wife of the manager. Lots of yak meats were hanged in the kitchen(Getting close to the winter, the villagers starts to hang yak and cow meats on top for 2-3 weeks in order to dry them. In small places they prefer not to sell to tourists). The night ended with some Tibetan and Argentinean love songs, sang by the drunk manager and Renata.

ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT / DAY 1 - 3

Before...
My Pokhara days lasted 6 days before starting the trek. In the first 3 of it, I couldn't do any search due to my illness. On the 4th day morning, I started to walk along the main touristic road, which is full of trekking gear shops. On the way to Damside (south part of lake), I met by chance my Argentinean&Spanish friends. We had seperated after Lumbini, since they wanted to stop at Palpa(Tansen) due to Renata's sickness. Like me, the Arg.s had been also dreaming the Circuit. We agreed to discuss the issue the next morning, after doing our investigation.

The discussion lasted very short on the 5th day morning:) 25.000-30.000 Rp. (around 400-500$)/person we calculated the budget for 3 weeks, in which trekking equipment shopping (5.000 Rp. for me), 2.000 Rp. ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area Project) fee, the Maoist fee (It's been said that they had check points which they try to collect money from the tourists; 1.000 Rp. we estimated) and accomodation&food (1.000/day) are included. As noone had predicted to trek in Nepal in such altitudes before, we should have bought lots of stuff, especially me:).

Boots - 2.450 Rp.
Trouser - 600 Rp.
Jacket - 600 Rp.
Hat for cold - 150 Rp.
Hat for sun - 120 Rp.
Gloves - 200 Rp.
Inner trouser - 170 Rp.
3 pair of socks - 300 Rp.
Sweat-shirt - 400 Rp.
Other - 200 Rp.

Of course, every product was Chinese origin and Gore-Tex:) We were exhausted but very excited, the hard part had already finished:) After buying 2 days later touristic bus ticket to Besisahar, we could have now started to enjoy our Pokhara days.

DAY 1 ( Bhulbhule - 840m. to Bahundanda - 1.310m. )
In the morning, we had the chance to witness the glorious mountains for the first time. Actually, the sky was not so clear; but with each second the red sunrise lighten the rocky and snowy peaks of Annapurnas. It was enough to make us anxious, since it was the first time we saw them from Pokhara during our visit.

4 hours later we arrived at Besisahar and registered ourselves to ACAP check point. We learned that it was possible to take a bus to Bhulbhule, so we did. And Julian&I enjoyed a lot, travelling on the top of the bus as Nepalis do:) on the road! if you could say.

Before start walking, we had a lunch with a Czech guy, who we met on the top of the bus. The trail starts with a long suspension bridge over Marsyangdi Khola (River). Following the river, we walked into the deep and wide green valley. It had been just 2 months after the Monsoons, and it was nearly impossible to see the soil under the trees and plants.

Up to Ngadi village, the trail was easy; but with the addition of my trekking gear,the weight of my backback had already started to disturb me. I decided to put on my boots instead of the casuals. Although I was relieved a little bit, still I was thinking the upcoming days. After Ngadi, the path got steeper and stoney. At the end of our 3 hours walk, we arrived at Bahundanda and agreed with the first lodge (50 Rp./person for bed) we saw.

The owner of our small lodge and his nephew joined us during our dinner. Delicious Tibetan bread, vegatable soup, lemon and fresh mint tea accompanied with a sincere conservation with the locals (and without other trekkers) were just the things we had wanted. Night ended around 9:30 PM, after agreeing with the Arg.s in order to meet at 8:00 AM in the morning for breakfast.


Bahundanda

DAY 2 ( Bahundanda - 1.310m. to Chamje - 1.430m. )
Day started with descending down to Syanje (1.100m). We gave a short break before ascending to Jagat. It was a very though climb; we were breathless at the end of it and luckily! there was a restaurant. After having my Dal Bhat ( the national and the only dish of Nepalis: Rice served with curry and vegetables in small spots - similar to Indian Thali. Nepalis eat 2 times every day. ), we followed an easy trail up to Chamje.

The lodge we stayed were being managed by 4 girls and a boy aged between 6-16. The father had gone to Kathmandu for business, no idea about their mom. They were like 'Little Women' in the kitchen, while preparing our dinner. Playing and dancing and cooking...:)


Chamje - Our Hotel

DAY 3 ( Chamje - 1.430m to Bagarchhap - 2.160m )
We started a little bit earlier than the previous day. I was thinking of my wet clothes, which were getting heavier. Due to the cloudy weather in the first 2 days (And since you're walking in very deep valley, the sun is avaliable for limited hours) and our trekking timing (8:00 - 17:00), I hadn't had the chance to dry them. The 3rd day was same as it were, the only soultion comes on my mind was to hang my stuff on my backpack one by one.

The first steep stone climb made me forget my problem easily. Just finished it and started to walk on a flat trail, I saw the next one with some locals and tourists gathered at the beginning of it. As we approached, it was understood that it was the Maoist check point.

The Maoists
An Israelite woman with her porter was arguing with the guys in order not to pay any fee. My image of the Maoists was a few serious looking armed men; but they were bunch of guys in sport pants and jeans with black sun glasses and a big spoilt smile on their faces. The Arg.s were discussing the issue among themselves in Spanish. After two trekker had given 1.000 Rp./person in the name of donation!, we told the Maoists that we were South Americans and had come from a long way, no porters, no guides because of insufficient money, etc. They requested from us to stand aside; they were seemed to be convinced and would let us pass after collecting from other trekkers waiting behind of us. As the 2 German girl had given 2.000 Rp./person and wished 'Bad Karma':) to them, we talked for a few seconds more and left them behind without any charge:)

Finishing the half an hour climb, it took us 20 min. to reach Tal, the first town of Manang District. It's a mid-size village, set near the Marsyangdi Khola, where you can find more variety of products and some trekking gear. Had our lunch and continued our way. The first hour was easy, but then we started to climb again and my stomach in bad condition (probably because of the soup I had in Tal) and my heavy backpack was slowing down me. I'd already fallen 30 min.- 45min. behind of my friends before Karte. It was getting thougher with each second; I was hoping the Arg.s to wait for me at the entrance of Dharapani and thinking of which clothes&things I could get rid of.

They weren't there when I arrived at Dharapani. I rested for few minutes in the ACAP check point, bought a Mars chocolate and continued to climb the trail to Bagarchhap. REMEMBER! If a Tibetan/Nepali tells you that the trail is almost flat/plain, it means you'll climb for few hundreds of meter - but on a wider mostly soil path:) The Mars really helped me to finish the 45 min. ascend. I started to ask my friends
to lodges, luckily they were in the second one. We screamed!, when we saw each other and sat in Renata&Juli's room for a half hour. Then I went to my room to rest for a while. It was 8:30 PM, when I woke up and the village and the lodge had been already sleeping. I puked in the toilet and went to my bed again. At last my stomach had been relieved.

............

During this 3 day, we fed very basicly: 2 eggs any style with shared chapati or tibetan bread for breakfasts, soups for lunchs, fried potatoes vith vegatables or chowmeins (noodle) for dinners, drank water filled from fountains after dropping iodine drops. The prices were too high compared to Pokhara and the information we had was that it would get higher as we ascended. The cloudy weather had also helped in killing our appetite. 600-700 Rp. was our daily cost per person.

Although every lodge was given the same price list including bed fees, we understood quickly that since the foods are priced so highly, generally lodges were OK for just billing for food&drink. The amatuer look we had without any porter and guide also helped us in our bargainings.

Annapurna Circuit

Hi everybody,

At last my feasibility study has finished and the decision has given: Annapurna Circuit is the route, which includes a 5.416 meter Thorung La Pass. I expect to be in Pokhara in 16 to 21 days. The route includes Nepali, Tibetan and Gurung villages and some spectular mountains (Annapurna I - 8.091m, Annapurna II - 7.937m, Anna. III - 7.555m and keeps going and going...), valleys, lakes, etc. So who knows maybe I'd prefer to stay a little bit longer.

In the mean time you'll not hear from me. I'm leaving you with my last photo, which is so familiar for some of you:)