Just a quick update to let everyone know that we got back safe and sound from our trek to the Annapurna Base Camp in the Himalayas. We weren't quite sure what trek we'd be able to pull off, getting a later start than we intended and having visa deadlines to get out of the country, so we decided to scrap our plans to do the three week Annapurna Circuit, in favor of the shorter Annapurna Sanctuary, which ended up being a nice eight day jaunt.
The trek was amazing, the highlight likely being the sunrise at 13,500 ft at base camp, where we were surrounded by raw and jagged white peaks, lit up at their summits in impossible pink. The hiking was brutal, as the trails in this area were originally made to connect villages, not to get you to the base camp efficiently, meaning there's plenty of steep ups to get to hilltop villages, and steep downs to cross the valley below--making our 10,000 ft elevation gain closer to 15,000 ft. By the end our legs were aching and burning like mad. But the views were awesome, the company was great (many a dinner was spent playing cribbage and sharing half-remembered Simpsons episodes), the food was indulgent (a regular dish on the menu which tastes INCREDIBLE after hours of trekking is a pile of fried potatoes with cheese and two fried eggs on top, complemented nicely with ketchup), and the overall experience was unmatchable.
Now we're back in Pokhara, trying to figure out our further plans. Hope fall is treating everyone well. We mysteriously saw what looked identical to cherry trees in bloom on the trail, and very few yellowed leaves, making it hard to realize it's really November.
