We just arrived in the town of Pokhara after spending the last 14 days trekking around the Annapurna Himal. It's taken a few days to collect our thoughts after this trek but in general I think Brian and I can agree that spending time in these mountains, visiting small villages, having interactions with local people and spending time with their families has been a truly amazing experience. It has also been hard work and I must admit that I feel extremely fortunate to be sitting down at this computer after enjoying a cappuccino, fruit, and yogurt breakfast.
The trek started on the east side of the mountain range where the landscape was very dry, much like a high desert (i.e., the Eastern Sierra) with incredibly steep hills turning into dramatic snow covered mountains after just a few days of hiking. For the first 3-4 days we spent most of our time walking for the greater part of the day and in the evening we stayed in small guesthouses by ourselves with the family that owned/lived there. We have some photos of a Tibetan family that we felt very fortunate to meet and another young woman Maya, a woman close in age to us that we spent some time with – thankfully, she shared with us some tips for cooking Nepali (mostly Tibetan) cuisine.
We then reached Manang, a large town/district center on the fifth day and spent an extra day there to let our bodies adjust to the thinning air. From this town until we crossed the Thorung La (the pass between two mountains) on the 9th day, the hiking was a bit slower, the air much much colder, and there were few villages that were more than a guesthouse or two. We did, however, meet a handful a people from other parts of the world who were also doing the trek and we have continued to spend time with them since (we even met a guy from Lindenhurst – ten minutes from where Brian grew up).
The day we went over the pass was sunny and calm, and the landscape was beautifully covered in snow. We started later than almost all the other people going over the pass that day, but we made it to 17,769 feet around 10:30 in the morning (Brian is happy to say that this is the highest point he has ever reached, though he did have a relatively severe headache :~). After the pass, we spent the rest of the day descending about 6,000 feet to Muktinath (a very holy village for both Hindus and Buddhists). The descent wasn't too bad, and we passed several spectacular glaciers along the way.
It’s been a while since we have used the computer, so I am going to pass it off the Brian to continue…
After Muktinath, we basically moved through several large towns rather quickly…Jomson, Larjung, Dana, and Tatopani. The temperature rose quickly and there was tons of agriculture. The dry landscape from the east side of the mountain range turned into a lush green - many of the trees were flowering – apple, peach, and pear trees, rhododendrons, bottle brushes, oak and many other trees that we could not identify. There were also tons of birds and butterflies. It was very beautiful, but we were becoming a bit tired of walking.
We had thought about continuing to the Annapurna Base Camp (another 7 days on the trail), but in the end we decided to head to Pokhara to spend a few days in Nepal's second largest city. There are many creature comforts here and we have enjoyed the good food, access to computers, and mellow vibe of this tourist friendly city.
Tomorrow we are beginning a four day river kayaking clinic – it starts with a day of instruction on Phewa Lake in Pokhara, and then continues on the Seti River for three days of paddling (two of which will include class 2 and 3 rapids). We will fill you in on this part of our trip when we arrive back in Kathmandu.
Finally, we plan to spend nearly two weeks near Mount Everest trekking before we head back to South East Asia for the final part of our trip...needless to say, we both feel extremely fortunate to be exploring this part of the world, but we also look forward to seeing your smiling faces when we return to the States.
Sending BIG LOVE from Nepal…
Brian and Camille : )
