After a few days around Pokhara, I finally got organised to head up into the Himalaya for a bit of a walk. I had met a friend of a friend (Rami) who was a trekking guide & we decided to do 10 days, hiking up to the Base Camp in the Annapurna Sanctuary (4130m!!), then coming back via some natural hot pools :) Julie & her Dad were heading off on the same day on almost the same route, so we started off together. And damn i was excited!! I may have overdone the stupid grin and general excitement a bit, cos I got the nickname of 'tickle-me-Elmo' thanks to Julie. But I can live with that :)
The trail didnt take us straight into waist deep snow or anything unfortunately. But we did get to walk by some beautiful clear rivers, through different forests and up & down a few too many stairs. I think its impossible to describe it in few paragraphs really - you just have to do it yourself! But il try to give you a taste....
The skies had been very grey for the first couple of days, but that all changed as we got higher... We arrived for lunch at the Machapuchhre base camp (at a similar altitude to the summit of Mt Cook!) and I was amazed by how close we were to the west face of Machapuchhre (literally 'fish-tail'). It seemed to reach up & up into the sky, like Jack's giant beanstalk. A few puffs of cloud were brushing by its slopes, just to give the mountain an air of mystery and majic.
After another couple of hours slowly making our way uphill through the mist and past a deserted shepherds hut, we found our goal - Annapurna Base Camp (ABC), at 4,130m. Higher than anywhere in NZ!! And the surrounding montains still towered 3 or more km above us! Its just wierd. But defintely worth the 4 days of slogging away step after step :)
Dawn at the ABC was without a doubt one of the best shows that nature could possibly put on! Perfect clear skies slowly transforming from starlit black to cool, clean blue, with the cresent moon staying on to see what was happenning too. Every way we looked there were massive snowy peaks, slowly being illuminated with bands of orange light as the lazy old sun sneaked up and poured golden light down into our valley.
Of course all the tourists (including me!) were busy ooohing and aaaahing and snapping photos of everything that glowed.
It was very sad to head back down the trail after that spectacular dawn show. I felt like I was leaving one of my favourite places before I had a chance to get to know it properly. I'll just have to go back I guess :)
The next few dawns brought us different scenes of Himalayan peaks flecked with clouds and towering above the nearer green slopes and valleys. On day 9 we started stupidly early (before 5am), to get up to the top of a nearby hill (Poon Hill, ~3,100m) which commanded another spectacular view of the Annapurna range and also Daulgiri (8km+) and his neighbours. We were actually the first ones to the peak of the hill, after the industrious tea-stallers of course. But at least it was a bit warmer there than the sub-zero dawn at ABC :)
The show was again amazing, but different because of the kms of empty space that separated us from the peaks, compared to the intimidating closeness at ABC. Theres a few photos online here
By early that afternoon we had made it down the 2 million steps to get to Tatopani (literally 'hot water'). It was a very well-deserved rest i think, after 9 days clambering around some of the most beautiful landscapes on the earth. And the glacial river right next to the hot pools was great to dip in when the heat got a bit too much :) Very good for tired legs and shoulders I think :)
Heading back into Pokhara was quite depressing and boring after all that. But my visit to the Annapurnas is just on hold, I'll be back before too long.... Who wants to come with me?
