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.

Kathmandu on Foot

First day in Kathmandu... first item on the agenda was to organize a Trekking permit. Though it was quickly decided over a hearty breakfast (all important decisions, should be made over a good meal) that it was a lot less hassle to just get one of the local folk, who of course graciously obliged (for a small fee of course, an additional Rs 200 per permit), to organize. Also a we needed to decide if we wanted to organize a guide at roughly an additional cost of about $40 a day ... it did not take long to scrap that idea (wisely so, as quite honestly, you don't need a guide for the Annapurna circuit). Did however opt for a "private bus" to take us to the start of the Trek...

So free from the apparent "hassle" of organizing a permit, we had the day to export the busseling sights and alleyways of Kathmandu. Regardless of what some folk seem to think, the city is quite pleasant to walk around, yes it's busy and you need to watch out for taxis, motocycles, bicycles and any other form of transportation man has conceived.


On foot, there is quite a bit to see. Starting with the Kasthesimbhu Stupa (I think that is the right palace), where I had to step carefully avoiding a flying piece of meat, which someone decided was going out the window (not even the dogs, that sniffed at it, found it particularly appealing). Then on to the very crowded Durbar Square, where amoungst other buildings, we visted the Kumari Palace. What is so special about this particular building ... not much apart from the fact that it houses a "living goddess", the "Kumaru Devi" (and no, it's not Miss Nepal). The Kumari Devi is a young girl, whom has not yet hit purbety. She is believed to be the bodily incarnation of the goddess Taleju (don't ask), though only until she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her body and she reverts to common status (quite a step down) and a new Kumari is found.

Onwards, to Swayambhunath temple (after a good lunch of course), which sits on a hill overlooking Kathmandu. We did however miss the memo, that said there would a bit gathering at the temple that day.... was wondering why Kathmandu seemed a empty. This temple however is considered to be amoungst the oldest in Kathmandu. A note on the symbology of the temple design ... The dome at the base represents the entire world. When a person awakes (represented by eyes of mercy and self knowledge) from the bonds of the world, the person reaches the state a bit higher. After that, the person has to cross thirteen stages represented by the tiers before attaining Nirvana. - Swayambhunath

Till next time ...

For more information try Wikipedia - Kathmandu or Wikitravel - Kathmandu.

Finally an update...

So finally an update... though it is very, very late (already finished Trekking) ...

Oh, so we finally arrived in Kathmandu (sometime ago.. ok, a long time ago), though the trip was not without it's incidents, or should I rather say Delays. The flight to Bangkok was suppose to depart promptly around 13:45 ... but after being called for departure, sent away, recalled, sent away again, we finally took to the sky's sometime after 16:00. Apparently there was some technical issue with the on board computer, which loosely translates to "we have no clue as to what the problem is, but we going to go anyway, after all the engine is still attached". .. at least it gave us lots of time to drink duty-free beer.

Thai airways, is really not bad at all, the staff are friendly and helpful. Fellow passengers however are not always, they like family, you can't choose them, but have to live with them. In this case thankfully only for 11 hours. Had quite a character in the seat next to me, some bloke from the DRC, who was apparently doing a PHP in "science" through Unisa, what "science"... he could not tell me. Now, I can handle a lot things and generally speaking I can be quite patient, but what really almost drove me to strangle this guy with his seat belt, was not the music at highest volume, nor the snoring or occasional fart or 101 other irritations, but rather the constant sound of grating teeth... after a few minutes, it really got to me .... Finally landed at Bangkok airport (the place is massive) and found out that the connection flight to Kathmandu was also delayed.

The flight to Kathmandu was awesome, got to sleep a bit and sat next to a really friendly and nice Nepalese lady, whom use to run a tea house on the Annapurna trek. Kathmandu airport is pretty small and if the bodies of a couple of old aircraft lying to the side of the runway don' tell you, you are in the third world, then the tiny, low roof airport, which takes about 2 hours to process one flight of about 100-200 passengers, with an advert display looping a total of 5 adverts, will (luckily there are only about 2 flights into Nepal a day).

So finally in Kathmandu ... after the almost fist fight at the airport, between taxi wallies (smells like India), we finally got dropped in the middle of Thamel (Katmandu's tourist trap area) and left with the task of finding accommodation for the night, which we finally found... a whopping $6 a night for a room (actually by backpacking standards, this is very expensive, but a lot of the cheaper places were already full and it was getting late).



First impressions of Kathmandu ... looks and works like India and there are A LOT of gear shops, selling knock-off North Face products and other cool gear (fake of course, but cheap).

More to follow ... supper calls.