Ghorepani to Pokhara

After spending a dry night in Ghorepani, we greeted the next day with our second Alpine Start, in order to walk up Poon Hill and watch the sunrise over all the peaks, which line the Annapurna range. I had started developing the first symptoms of what looked like a potential nose-cold, so it was a tough, rasping climb to the peak. As described in all guide books, the peak was packed with fellow trekkers and tourists all waiting to catch the first glimpse of sun beams over Annapurna. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as sky was heavily overcast, though the clouds silhouetted by sunlight still looked spectacular. I think we were one of the last to leave, having waited a couple of hours, watching some of the clouds slowly disappearing, revealing snow covered mountain peaks. Returning to our tea house in Ghorepani, we had a quick breakfast and started making our way down towards Ulleri (2070m).

The path down from Ghorepani towards Ulleri was thankfully a lot less steeper, than the one we came up and along the way we stopped to watch some people busy distilling a local spirit called "Rakshi". The process in itself is actually very simple and the results are potent. Though I have to admit warm Rakshi tastes a lot better than the Apple Brandy we tried at Larjung.

One thing, which is very noticeable on the trek are kids. There are hundreds of the little buggers running around and it's quite easy to judge which trekking routes receive the most trekkers by the vocabulary and insistence of these kids. For example, when we started the trek at Besisahar, a few of the kids there would say "Hello, School Pen". the closer we go to Manang, we still had a few "Hello, School Pen" as well as a few "Hello, Sweet". Once we got over the pass and hit Muktinath / Jomson, it just got bad from then onwards, which each kid saying ether, "Hello, School Pen", "Hello, Sweet" or "Hello, One Rupee" and quickly went from cute to just damn annoying.

Reaching Ulleri we stopped for lunch, looked down at the famous "3421 stone steps", leading up from Tikhdunga (1515m), looking over an amazing view of the valley below & looking up at rain clouds rolling in for the afternoon shower. I did not count the steps going down, but 3000+ steps is not as easy as it sounds, the descent is pretty stiff. Though I did feel a bit sorry for the poor buggers who were coming up.

As predicted, it started dripping as we were reaching the bottom and by the time we reached the outskirts of Tikhdunga it had turned into light rain. So we quickly found shelter in the first guest house. Just as well, because the it started pouring and we sat and drank tea, while watching some wet and clearly disgruntled trekkers trudging down the remaining steps into Tikhdunga and beyond. By the time the rain had stopped we had settled ourselves and decided that we would walk the last couple of Km to Nayapul the next day (the really hot shower also helped speed our decision to stay).

Next morning the weather was clear and we made our way down towards Nayapul , stopping a few times along the way to swim in the ice cool river. Our final stop for lunch was made at Birethanti (1025m), where we ate an excellent Daal Baht before almost running the last km to the bus stop in Nayapul to catch the bus to Pokhara, where we had arranged to meet the rest of our party.

20 Days of trekking ... it was definitely worth while.

Larjung to Ghorepani

Moving on from Larjung, we wanted to get as far as possible, as there general feeling of "OK, we getting a bit gatvol of this". A feeling most likely being symptoms of sharing a road with some motorbikes and the occasional tractor as well as having to deal with really terrible afternoon winds. Thankfully, the path we were following diverted off, over a suspension bridge at a turn in the valley and rejoined the old path, which was used long before there was a road. The turn brought also on very welcome changes in the landscape as well.

We stopped for lunch in a small town called Ghasa (2010m) and listened to distance blasting noises. Here the ultra caring tea house owner told us that it was "not safe" to carry on, as the road had been closed for the rest of the day, due to the blasting and construction work. A very likely story ... especially when you have the potential of catching a "big fish" ... 7 trekkers, lunch, supper, breakfast and accommodation... we could see the dollars (or is that Rupees) in his eyes. So we kindly thanked him for his concern and left, ignoring the cries of "you'll be back". Much to our un-surprise, we crossed a suspension bridge to the other side of the river (it's well indicated on all up-to-date trekking maps), to the old path avoiding the road building & "blasting".

From the across the river, we had a very good view of the Nepalese road building process... it's really an interesting spectator sport. Everything is done by hand (except the actual blasting). The holds are hammered into the rock by hand and the blasted rock, which had not already fallen into the river, is also moved by hand. It's really something to see, these young Nepalese scrambing over the steep rock, meters above the river floor, tossing rocks down and hammering new blasting holes (a few weeks with out TV and you find things like this interesting to watch).

After passing what seemed like a sea of pilgrims on there way to Muktinath, we reached Rupse Chhahara (1600m), were we stayed for the night. Next day, we made our way to Tatopani (1190m), hear the path splits and you can either carry on with your descent and head for Beni. Alternatively, you can start heading upwards again to Ghorepani (2750m), were you can sit and watch the sunrise from "Poon Hill". So we sadly said goodbye to two of our party members, as the thought of climbing just over 2km and then coming down again, did not agree with sore knees.

So up we went ... then it started raining, so we stopped in a very dark & small "tea shop" to wait for the rain to pass. At about 15h00 it looked like it was starting to clear, so we decided to get some spring in our step and head up. So we climbed, it rained a bit more and we climbed some more. Most of the way up, was stairs made from slabs of marble and other local stone. Imagine ascending almost 2 km in altitude on your stairs at work. Stair Master 2007! It's also quite a think to image that all these slabes had been cut out by hand and carried on peoples backs to by carefully leading into a staircase, to link towns all the way on the route.

That evening a wet very group of 5 people arrived in Sikha, desperately looking for a hot shower and warm meal, we found it, at the "Dhaulagiri View" tea house, we there ultra friendly staff we very helpful and made us some excellent meals. From Sikha, we had a short day the next day, taking 4 hours to climb up to Ghorepani. Where we made it before the rains, with enough time for lunch.

The next day we would take on the remaining 400m meters, up to the summit of Poon Hill, to see the famed sun-rise views... us and the rest of the Trekkers staying the night in Ghorepani, whom had come for exactly the same reason.

Throung La to Larjung

As mentioned in the previous post, Throung La was exhilarating. Though I am going to add the altitude was something very interesting to experience, especially since I've never been up past 3500m, so did not know what to expect. Did not get any of the major AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) symptoms, but definitely felt that it was a lot "harder" and took more effort to walk a few meters up hill.

Once on top of the pass, it was time for photos & tea from the tea house (tea only, no accommodation), which is only open during the trekking season. Then on down to Muktinath (3800m), here the landscape suddenly changes drastically and looks very barren and unfogiving, much like the descent ahead of us. The guide book describes the descent as "very tough on the knees, though it's not steep at first ...". Yes, the descent is "tough on the knees", in fact so tough it's almost painful and saying "not steep at first" is an understatement, it's reasonably steep, then quickly becomes insanely steep. Needless to say, my knees were pretty buggered by the time I got down and I felt some serious pain. I had never been so relieved to see the familiar faces of the advanced party, who had dashed ahead up the past, grinning at me from the roof top of the guest house they had chosen.

Muktinath is the next most Holy place to Hindu's in Nepal, after a place called Pashupatinath and attracts hundreds of pilgrims per year. There are also a substantial number of Buddhist pilgrims, which also come to the temple complex in Muktinath. The fame of Muktinath comes from a "natural phenomenon", where within a cavity a blue flame can be seen, burning over a trickle of water. I did not go see it (the tough of walking up hill the next morning was not very appealing), but on the route out we did walk into a lot of pilgrims on there way to see it.

Leaving Muktinath, we headed for the town of Jomson (2710m), via Kagbeni (2800m), which is a really nice oasis of a town, next to a river bed (though you need to do another long descent to get to it). Here we had lunch and "acquisitioned" a donkey to carry one of our party to Jomson, who's knees had decided "this far and no further". In Jomson we staying in real luxury at "The Majesty" hotel and I would recommend it to anyone passing by (or flying in / out). Jomson has an airport, so in the mornings you can amuse yourself by counting flights.

From Jomson, we headed to Larjung (2550m), along the river bed. Apparently in places the bed is up to 1 km wide, but is mostly empty, apart from the strong stream, which winds it's way through the bed. On the way we stopped in Tukchey, which is famous for a Brandy Distillery... much to our dismay, it was closed when we go there, apparently the "boss, has gone for a meeting" and the workers did not know when she would return. Just as well, 'cause we bought a bottle later and it's about as strong as the stuff my grandfather use to brew, which could also strip the paint off walls.

Oh, no photos in this blog, the PC is a mean-machine meant to play online games with, hence the USB ports have been disabled (don't ask) and I can't access the photos on my portable HDD. Oh, also hence the hurried post ... I heard the mention of folk playing Warcraft III, DOTA (sorry the inner nerd becons).

Throung La Pass

OK ... so the moment we had all been building up to ... Throung La Pass (5416m). Actually not going to say much about Throung La pass, will let a couple of photos do it. Only thing I am going to say is that the initial slog up to High Camp (4800m) is a very dishearteningly steep ascent, but the views and exhilaration of being up there was definitely worth any amount of slog. We even managed to do an Alpine Start (us and everyone else staying at Throung Phedi), so it was quite a site to look up and see the fail glimmer of headlamps up above you as people made there way up the pass. Wanna know more ... take a few weeks off work and go trek, before the roads, which are being built ruin it :)

On the way up ...

At the Top ...

Pisang to Thorung Phedi

Often there is a choice between a "upper" and "lower" route, getting from Pisang to Manang (3540m) was no different, and as these low / high choice go, it boils down to how much climbing you are willing to do and if there are landslides. So already mentioned in a previous post the decisions are generally based on where the donkey trains go. This time however it really did not matter, it was just a question of if you wanted to climb to Ghyaru (3670m) or not and since it was potentially going to be a long day, it was decided to rather do the "lower" route & wake up early the next morning to run up to Upper Pisang to watch the sunset... that was at least the initial plan. Next morning at 05:30am, my sleeping bag won & unlike some very energetic folk, I skipped out on the pre-breakfast walk. Thus us sane folk, who decided to get and hour more sleep starting out on the route just as the others were stumbling back into the tea house.

So the lower route ... first town we came to was the town of Ongre, otherwise also known as Humde (3330m). Nothing much special about this town, expect it has a airport (very small, and I did not see or hear a single plane). Though it is worth to mention that we walked through our first snow, as we were leaving the Pisang Valley and entering the Ongre Valley. It was kind-a like something out of those cheesy Christmas holiday movies, where the snow is starting to melt of the pine trees. Cheesy movie or not, it was stunning and I was in my element. By the time we got to Ongre, we started wondering why the rest had not caught us, after all, we were walking DAMN slow & taking lots of photos. Turns out that the pre-breakfast walk was such a success that the participants decided that the Upper route seemed like a good a idea, oh well, we would all meet in Manang anyway.

Just before reaching Manang, we stopped in the town of Braga (3450m) and had the best Tomatoe Noodle Soup of the time, the chocolate brownies were not bad either :) Reaching Manang we stayed at a place called Gangapurna, which was not bad, after all we planned to stay here two days to acclimatise. Just as well we did, because that night the Veg Momo's & Garlic Soup I had for supper made themselves very known to me and I was not a happy camper the next day. Everyone decided to go up as a side / acclimatization (climb high, sleep low) to the nearby Ice Lake (4600m). I think I managed to walk 2 km down to the start of the trail, then turned back (almost took me and hour to get back uphill to the damn tea house ... I was not in a good way). On the flip side, everyone who went to the lake really looked a bit worse for wear when they returned, after all it's just over a 1000m climb at altitude. Next day, I was thankfully a lot better, though I did skip out on the pre-breakfast Glacier walk. Did however opt to walk back to Braga to see the Braga Gompa, which is believed to be about 500 years old.

We decided that in order to enjoy actually going over Thorung La pass (5416m), we would take a few days to get up to Thorung Phedi (last stop before the pass). So we stopped 3 nights, 1st night at Gunsang (3900m), were we staying in the cleanest tea house I saw on the whole trek (we actually saw them washing the floors), namely a place called "Marsyangdi Hotel". Not many people stop to overnight in Gunsang (hence there being only 2 tea houses), but it is definately worth it.

On from Gunsang, we stopped at Letdar (4200m), though a lot of folk (especially those who skip Gunsang), stop at the previous town of Yak Kharka (4018m). Not much to say about Letdar, except that the place we staying in (The Snowland), was pretty crap (the rest of the town was packed) and I was very thankful that the wind did not blow during the night, otherwise the room would have been freezing... also you had to get your water via the kitchen, it was pretty scary to see what was going on in there.

The last night before going over the pass, we staying in Thorung Phedi (4450m) at a very pleasant place (can't remember the name). Pretty much spent the afternoon reading, playing cards, attempting some Yoga and watched as quite a few trekkers decided to give staying at Thorung Phedi a skip and do the first 400m uphill slog to stay at "High Camp" (4800m) ... from chatting to folk afterwards and while crossing the pass, unless you are well acclimatized, it's not worth it (not to mention the apparent lack of hygiene... but I can't comment, as we did not stay there).

Dharapani to Pisang

With bearing the previous day's rain, we were rewarded the next day, with our first "clear" view of snow capped peaks... stunning.

Leaving Dharapani, we set out before breakfast to reach the town of Chame (2670m). Not because of the distance, the decision to leave before breakfast was simply because of the service from the tea house we stayed in the previous night, was terrible (probably the worst on the trek). Instead we decided to stop for breakfast at the next town of Bagarchap (2160m), which according to the guide book use to be the popular over night stop, that is until a landslide devastated the town, wiping out several tea houses & people (including some trekkers). There is apparently a memorial, but we did not pass it.

Next we did a quick climbed up to Danagyu (2300m), were the route splits into a "lower" & "upper" route, the "lower" route being easier, but is apparently plagued by landslides, while the "upper" just translates to more climbing. Anyways, when in doubt, follow the donkey trains, so upper route it was.

Apart from the stunning scenery and just the exhilaration of trekking, the day was reasonably uneventful (well, in my opinion). So we reached Chame, sometime in the late afternoon and just making it before the rain set in. Chame, is a pretty big place (apparently it is the district headquarters of Manang), it even has a bank! I managed to find an Internet connection, but at about R20 for the 1st 10min and about R1 a minute afterwards (on a slow connection), I thought better of it.

The next day we left Chame with the goal of making Ghyaru (3670). On this section of the trail the path curves into the "Manang valley" and the views are definitely worth the walk. It really always amazed me how the scenery on the trek changes constantly, depending on the valley our in, similarly so do the people. When we reached Lower Pisang (3200m) the weather had begun to set in, so we decided to bed down for the night. With remaining day light hours, we some of the more energetic of us decided to run up to monastery on top of Upper Pisang (3300m), which turned into climbing another 100m, up the rest of the hill. The views of Pisang and the valley below definitely made the slog worth it (and it was a lot easier without backpacks).

I feel that at this point I should mention something about altitude, as I've been diligently including each towns altitude. First, just for interest, 3200m is enough to set off the first signs of Altitude sickness (i.e. head aches, loss of sleep / appetite) for some. The point however that I want to stress is that because town A is at Y meters and town B at X meters, it does not mean you are going to climb up Z meters, due to the formula X - Y = Z (i.e 3500m - 3000m = 500m), that would just be too easy. From my estimates, I figured that for each 5 meters we went up, we had probably dropped 1.5 meters. Hence to work out the average total "ascent", the formula looks something like this ... 1.5((X - Y) / 5) + (X -Y) = Z (i.e 1.5((3500m - 3000m) / 5) + (3500m -3000m) = 650m). Some days more, some days less, hence I recon this is average (though I've probably under estimated the initial ratio, will have to revisit this in a later post).

Bahundanda to Dharapani

Next morning we eventually left Bahundanda (have I mentioned group inertia....). We were hardly out the town and met two guys, who were doing the circuit on their Mountain Bikes, apparently this was their second time & I takes about 10 days (half our time). After about 45minutes or so of walking, there was a huge explosion. At first I thought.. landslide, it was not till the second & third explosion that I realised all this noise was being generated by blasting on the other side of the river.

Presently there is great upset amongst the tea house owners, as the present government has decided that it requires roads to the capital of each province (the needs to be proper tarred roads). In this case, the road needs to run up the valley all the way to Manang, this however in turn cuts out about 6 days of the trek, which translates to less trekkers walking to Manang. Why walk when you can drive & shorten your trek by 6 days? What is good for some, is not good for others, hence the road will obviously not not benefit the tea house's, but is of great benefit to farmers who can now send produce to the cities. The road also has a negative impact on the porters & donkey trains, which constantly traverse route carrying goods up and down between cities (after all, that beer you drink 6 days into the trek needed to get there somehow).


Just a quick note on the porters... my bag (with 3 liters of water) weighed about 17 - 18 kg. Also I have very conformable hiking boots, which support my ankles. The porters, who carry trade goods are paid per KG (and it's not a lot) and due to the length of the trip. We chatted (as best we could), to a group of 4 porters with and average weight of about 78 KG between them. The biggest load was 84KG... and these guys walk with sandals. Tough as nails. As super-human as it sounds, they get paid peanuts and life is very tough. Concerning donkey trains ... a donkey carries less, up to between 30 - 40KG, gets the same per KG rate as a porter, but obviously does the trip A LOT faster and you can have a very donkeys. The average donkey train seems to be between 8 - 10 donkeys. Oh, you hear them a mile off, as they all wear big bells around their necks.

I digress... back to explosions. So, explosions finished we walked on a bit & stopped to wait for the others. Looking across to the other side of the river, I saw a big cloud of dust and stones flying. A bit odd (completely forgetting that light travels a lot fast than sound), but about mid thought, the shock wave hit ... whoa, it's a feeling I can't really describe, except by saying "I was blown away" (no injuries though), just a wave of sound, quite unbelievable!

So on we plodded, shaken and a bit deafer. Till we eventually arrived at a town called Jagat (1300m), where we staying in the "Tibetan Pemba Lodge", run by a lady (wait for it...) called Pemba. Very nice place, very friendly, excellent food & very very small rooms & even small beds (got to be the smallest room / beds of the whole trek). The place was so great, we stayed two days. Though this was more because one of our party got a bit of flu and was really in a bad way the next day, so we though it best (and we had time) to stay on the next day (much to the delight of Pemba, who probably thought she had just scored the jackpot).

After a full days rest, things got a bit better and it was decided to press on, with and extra party member. Decided to hire a porter just for the day, to carry a backpack. Our destination for the day was Dharapani (1900m), which we finally reached (in the rain), but before we got there we had to pass though a place called Tal (1700m), where we stopped for lunch, after a small monster of a climb, next to an amazing water flow.

Tal is said to be reminiscent of the American Wild West and it definitely lives up to that claim, though if you've ever been up the west coast, I'd say it looks more like one of those sleepy west coast towns, where the sand comes right up to the edge of the town and start the moment you exit. Between Tal & Dharapani, lies Karte (1850m) and the only reason I mention this town, is because we lost our porter in Karte, due to a "mis-communication" of the the final destination. Otherwise, on a much more "adventurous" note, leaving Tal, we did experience a "rock-slide", just a few meters ahead (I'd say under 10). What basically happened was that this huge boulder, which formed part of an overhang, had decided that enough was enough and "broke" (I lack a better word for it) off. Exciting stuff.

Frist 2 days of Trekking

So, as already mentioned in my previous post, we organised a "private bus", or at this point I should rather say "tourist bus" (or something similar... basically no a local bus) to take us to the start of the trek. Faithfully the bus arrives at our hotel promptly at the arranged time and it quickly becomes apparent that even though it does fulfill the requirements of what was promised, it was "not quiet what we expected". Turns out, that the bus is simply just a mini bus (like the ones we pack 30 locals into back home), packed with a few tourists and many locals (considering what we paid, we reckoned, we each sponsored am additional). Either way, the journey was very pleasant, through the winding roads and after a couple of hours we finally arrived at the "end of the road", Besisahar.

Traditionally the Annapurna trek started at Dumre, but the walk been Dumre and Besisahar (820m) is essentially now tarred, so honestly, what is the point. There are local busses, which run to Bhulebhule (two downs down the road), but the road is not tarred (yet) and the walk is friendly enough. So all eager and wide eyed, waiting for out first glimpse of yonder snowy mountains, we check in at the police check post, eagerly waving around our trekking permits and all gearing to "hit the trail" ... after a good lunch of course, where are treated to watching a small Maoist march (this was to be about the only "Maoist" contact we had through out the entire trek).

14H00 and we finally start walking, reaching Khudi (790m ... hey, ain't we suppose to be going up) about 2 1/2 - 3 hours later where we shack up for the night in a very quaint tea house called "River View Lodge", idically situated on the banks of the river running though the town.

In fact, what makes this place interesting, is that the owners build a third suspension bridge, just to attract trekkers to their establishment. The rooms of the place were pretty basic (as most tea house rooms are) and are very cheap. We paid an average of Rs20 - Rs50 (R2 - R5) a night per person. You can practically almost stay for free at a tea house, but then the general "unspoken" rule is that you have supper and breakfast there. Also having 7 people, does provide a lot of bargaining power and so does not having a guide or porter. Apparently most guides insist that the tea house provide them with free food and lodging (even though you've paid enough to cover that), with the threat of not bringing any trekkers in the future to the establishment (and hence pocket the money, which was meant to cover this).

After a refreshing swim in the river, we had an excellent supper (I think all the food, save a few places, was excellent) and retired early to bed. Oh, just one more note on the rooms ... a thin board of plywood constitutes a wall.

Problem with going to bed early, is that you get up early, and the next day we were up and about around 06:30am, breakfast at 07:00am and walking around 09:00am (group inertia). The first town we passed was Bhulebhule (840m), where a lot of people start trekking from and where you are suppose to be able to see Himalchuli (7893m)... that is if there is no cloud cover and you can actually see a blue sky. Generally speaking however, blue skies only occur after Monsoon, when the rain gets ride of all the dirt and dust in the sky. So on we walked past Ngadi (930m), where we had lunch an admired a close by waterfall.

With lunch firmly settled in our stomachs, we tackled the first "climb" (sweaty slog) of the trek, up to a town called Bahundanda (1130m), which is a little ridge-top village. We bunked down in a cosy dormitory in a place called the "Hotel Mountain View". What this sleepy little ridge-top down did not realise when we entered, was that is was going to be the historical site of the first international cricket game between South Africa and Nepal, and I'm sad to say, we lost hopelessly. The Nepali team was proudly (and very enthusiastically) captained by the tea house owners son, who within a matter of a few minutes managed to round up a small team to fact us.

It was good fun.