October 29th, 2012 - Kathmandu, Nepal
Hello all!
It's Orion...attempting to cover the last two or three weeks of sheer excitement! Here goes....it's gonna be huge.
Kathamandu and the Indian visa situation worked out much easier than we expected. At the end of it all, we somehow ended up spending a week in the Thamel area, but we got a ton of other errands done too, which was fantastic, and lightened our baggage (literally). We sent a parcel home full of gifts and goodies, which we found out recently that it actually made it! Wonderful. The visa place wouldn't actually give us our visas, but they took our paperwork and told us to come back on October 29th to pick them up. It was easy going, especially with a few bribes to the officers so that we could skip the line. Sneaky!
In Kathmandu, we decided that we were going to do a trek. After a bit of research we decided on the Annpurna Sanctuary trek. It's slightly shorter than the circuit, and more endearing to me especially because I LOVE getting right into the alpine. Being at the base of Annapurna I, the 10th highest mountain in the world, only 800m less than Everest, seemed quite appealing.
We arrived in Pokhara with plans to leave the next day on a local bus to start the trek. We ended up leaving one day behind schedule because we needed to buy a bunch of mountain sanctuary climbing permits, and the office was closed on the first day. Regardless, we got everything sorted out and left without any issues.
Another note of preparation: we don't have boots with us traveling, because who wants/needs boots when you're going to such hot countries?! But regardless of how hot a country is, when you get up to 4000 meters, it's going to be cold and probably snowy. However, I don't have sandals, I have CHACOS. And Marina doesn't have sandals either, she has a toe protected open shoe made by Ahnu. So we weren't too worried. Chacos are the shit. I love them. And I'll be damned if I let a bit of cold and wet weather try to defeat my love for them! Anyway, we tried on a bunch of boots in Pokhara just to see what was available, and they were all the worst thing ever, and like $30 which would be a total waste, and my chacos had 10x better soles and support and EVERYTHING than all of them put together. So we asked an honest guy at one shop where Marina scored a real Mountain Hardwear 900 fill down jacket for $30 (another story for another time) what his opinion was, and he thought we'd be fine in sandals, as long as we had socks. I said, "They're not sandals, they're Chacos," and then we bought a bunch of wool socks from him and headed for the Himalayas.
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DAY 1: Pokhara ( - Phedi - Pothana
Hike time: 3hrs
We got up at a reasonable hour, checked out, left our bags of things that we didn't want to carry with us (instruments included, sadly), and hopped on a local bus headed to the trailhead we had chosen, Phedi. It was a little less than an hour, and we dismounted groggily from the crammed bus with difficulty to see a strip of a few restaurants in the middle of nowhere, with a steep stone staircase headed straight up the mountain. We took a timing photo (we don't have watches, but our cameras have clocks), fixed my trekking pole that had broken in the first five seconds of its use with duct tape, and headed up the mountain.
Over the course of the day we walked up, and up, and up, hundreds (or thousands) of stone steps. We rose from Pokhara's 800m altitude to Pothana's at 1900m. We began to feel the familiar symptoms of mild Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) when we stopped for the night. It was a good thing we didn't rise any higher. Crazy that we get affected so much. Marina's lucky because I always develop the symptoms first, and then several hours later it hits her. She gets a bit of a warning so she can hydrate herself and prepare mentally. But this was nothing like Leh; it was nice and mild, and we were acclimatized by morning.
"Trekking" in Nepal is definitely not roughing it! Contrary to the backpacking that we're familiar with in Canada, you can actually get your cravings for delicious food fulfilled by the villages that dot the path regularly throughout the day. No need to squat in the snow and stir a pot of gruel in the morning outside your frosty tent or igloo like we're used to. You can get delicious yak cheese pizza, fresh apple strudel, or the classic refillable dal bhat, for a price. And the prices keep rising. The higher your altitude, the more you pay. But everything's the same price, so you don't feel too bad about it. The view of Machhapuchhre makes you forget about money pretty quickly. Anyway, I'll get to the details in the summary of the next few days...
It was a short but fulfilling day. It sprinkled a little and we didn't get any views because of the clouds, but it felt good to get the muscles going. The trek had begun!
DAY 2: Pothana - Jhinudanda
Hike time: 6hrs, 40mins
We woke up on mountain time, aka just after sunrise, feasted, and hit the trail. We had garlic soup and lemon-ginger tea, which the locals claim is good for AMS, and we both agree 100%. Several times over the course of our trek we felt the symptoms of AMS, had the faithful tea and soup, and felt immediately better.
The day was an epic journey of up and down savage staircases, with relative flats in between. We stopped for an hour long lunch in Landruck which was a nice break for the knees and we enjoyed an amazing pizza. The end of the day was that hardest, when we went alllllll the way down to the bottom of a valley, crossed the river, and then hiked straight up steeeeeep stairs for over an hour. We felt triumphant at our pace setting skills when we crested the top of a staircase and saw the first guesthouse with the subheading, "Jhinu," in proud lettering.
Jhinu, or Jhinudana, or Jhinudanda, is famed for the natural hot springs that are a 15 minute walk away. We decided to skip them that night as our knees couldn't take any more pain, and hit them up the next morning right before heading out.
The descent from Pothana was grueling, but we were rewarded with our first views of the mountains! We only glimpsed them before it clouded over for the rest of the day, but the views brought shouts of, "Epic!" and, "Look at how BIG it is!" to our throats. Through the ever-changing clouds, a savage snowy rock face rose impossibly high to an epic peak. It was humbling to know that the peak that we were craning our necks to see the peak of was at least five kilometers higher than we were standing. We were in awe at the simple HUGENESS of it. Amazing.
We also crossed several cable suspension bridges over rushing glacier rivers throughout the day, and saw many cascading, majestic, fountain-like waterfalls misting the picturesque rice fields. The relative flatness was a gift to our knees at the river bottom.
It was a successful day.
DAY 3: Jhinudanda - Bamboo
Hike time: 6hrs, 30mins
"The third day is always the worst."
I told this to our new friends from Seattle / San Francisco, America, Mindy and James over breakfast. We had originally thought that they were from Vancouver, based on their accents and slang, but we were wrong. Apparently the whole north-west coast time zone has pretty much the same manner of speech. Makes sense.
We were all sore, and had an even "sorer" day too look forward to, based on my statement above. But in my experience, the new muscle starts building up on the third night, so the next day we had fresh legs to look forward to. We parted ways, fully expecting to never see each other again, as is common while traveling. Little did we know that we would spend almost every day on the same schedule through the rest of the trek and beyond, and would become good friends! They started the hike to Bamboo after our unintentionally late breakfast, and Marina and I jogged down to the hot springs.
The hot springs are really more like warm springs, but in every other way they are ideal. The symphony of jungle sounds along with the rushing river would make for a perfect "yoga-relaxation" CD. As you sit in the beautiful slate tiled pools, it is easy to get lost in the peace. The water wasn't hot enough for a life risking jump in the rushing glacier river a few steps away, but it was pleasant and infinitely soothing to the sore "day 3 muscles."
And humans aren't the only ones who get to enjoy the natural heat! A big pack of black-faced langur monkeys roam nearby. We noticed them from a distance, and they approached at a gallop when signaled by their leader. At first we were frightened and stood up to fight them off, but then we realized that they were totally wild monkeys and weren't dangerous; they just wanted to share the pools with us. We retreated to the pool farther uphill so we could watch them, and they approached one by one and licked the green algae off the rocks in the warm water. Most of them were too afraid to come close, but one big monkey, perhaps the leader, was brave enough to come within a few meters of us. He kept looking up sketchily at us as he ate, but he was calm enough, and we took the opportunity to take a ton of photos. Another monkey had a super young baby hanging on her belly, and the baby kept looking at us and screeched in such a terrified way. "Mommmmyyy! Run away! Scary humans! Wahhhh!" It was quite cute. The mom ignored her baby of course; she knew she had nothing to fear. Luckily people are nicer to animals in Nepal (unlike India) so they are protected by the locals at the hot spring, yet they stay wild. It's really nice. We enjoyed a private bath with the monkeys, then set out on the road again.
The hike started with the Chomrong stairs, a gruelingly steep uphill staircase straight up to the top of the mountain where the village of Chomrong sits. It is one of the steepest parts of the trek...perfect for day three. However, Chomrong is famous for its apple pie and chocolate cake, so we were rewarded handsomely when we reached the top. We had a super long lunch and then, realizing that we still had four hours of hiking to go and that sunset was near, we set off at a fearsome pace. Straight down again to the valley bottom, then straight back up, and three hours later we were at Sinuwa. We almost stopped there, as we were quoted another 2+ hours by a few different people. Instead, we kicked it into high gear and practically jogged the whole way to Bamboo. We made it in one hour, helped by a family of seriously epic goats who allowed us to herd them for the last twenty minutes, and happily collapsed on our beds (we had four in this room for some reason, haha).
The price of food just kept on rising, but it's hard to put a price on a hot meal that will heal your pleading muscles. We had dinner with Mindy and James and hit the hay early. Tomorrow we'd be headed to much higher altitudes.
DAY 4: Bamboo - Deurali
Hike time: 4hrs, 15mins
We rose 900m on this day! We went from 2300m in Bamboo to 3200m in Deurali. Pretty sweet. The hiking time itself wasn't that long, but we were feeling the altitude symptoms a little again when we got higher, so we took it super slow and took a few breaks for GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts - but embellished of course). The path basically followed the valley and rose "slowly" up. We were done with stairs pretty much! We rose steadily, but it didn't feel as strenuous as the days before, partly because of the path and partly because of our new muscle, as I predicted. Everyone said they felt stronger in the morning and throughout the day.
We broke the tree line and entered the alpine, which was a treat. We crossed epic rivers originating from the snows above that shot off the huge cliffs as amazing waterfalls before crushing their way down to meet the river below us. The flowers adorning the meadows were wonderful as always, and most of all, the sheer, insane, hugeness of the mountains around us blew our minds. We could rarely see the big glaciated one because we were in such a steep valley, but even the "small" ones are gigantic and incomprehensible in their magnitude and power.
Thought from the day: "Why haven't these countries learned about insulation?! The houses are concrete bunkers just like in Kathmandu or South India. NOT ideal."
That night I went outside and blocked out the lights from the guesthouse and was blown away by the hulking black silhouettes ascending so high into the sky. It seemed as though the mountains around me would meet at the top and enclose me in a giant cave. To top it off, a sliver of a moon peeked out from wayyyy at the end of the valley. Beautiful.
DAY 5: Deurali - Machhapuchhre Base Camp (M.B.C.)
Hike time: 2hrs, 15mins
We got to "Destination #1" on this day, the first base camp, and it made all the fog and sore muscles worth it a million times over! The hike continued up the valley and we rose to 3700m at M.B.C., where we were rewarded with stunning early afternoon views (we took the opportunity of a short hiking day to sleep in and hang out for a while in Deurali). The hike was beautiful as always, but uneventful. At the top we found our friends Mindy and James waiting for us, who hadn't been so lazy in the morning, and we marveled together at the view. On one side, Machhapuchhre rose like an immense arrowhead piercing the sky. A sharp ridge descended from Fishtail's peak, crossing the sky and ending in a huge glacier. On the opposite side, the beast of Annapurna South rose like a guiding light drawing you to Annapurna Base Camp. The afternoon clouds were rolling in at this point and quickly obscured the views, but we caught mind-boggling glimpses of Annapurna South's peaks and ridges through the mist.
If we had had more time, climbing shoes would have been a necessity. Awesome boulders of every shape and size scatter the long stretch of valley from the M.B.C. area all the way up to A.B.C., and it was sad to look upon them with no way of enjoying their shapes to the fullest.
We broke the tree line and entered the alpine, which was a treat. We crossed epic rivers originating from the snows above that shot off the huge cliffs as amazing waterfalls before crushing their way down to meet the river below us. The flowers adorning the meadows were wonderful as always, and most of all, the sheer, insane, hugeness of the mountains around us blew our minds. We could rarely see the big glaciated one because we were in such a steep valley, but even the "small" ones are gigantic and incomprehensible in their magnitude and power.
Thought from the day: "Why haven't these countries learned about insulation?! The houses are concrete bunkers just like in Kathmandu or South India. NOT ideal."
That night I went outside and blocked out the lights from the guesthouse and was blown away by the hulking black silhouettes ascending so high into the sky. It seemed as though the mountains around me would meet at the top and enclose me in a giant cave. To top it off, a sliver of a moon peeked out from wayyyy at the end of the valley. Beautiful.
DAY 5: Deurali - Machhapuchhre Base Camp (M.B.C.)
Hike time: 2hrs, 15mins
We got to "Destination #1" on this day, the first base camp, and it made all the fog and sore muscles worth it a million times over! The hike continued up the valley and we rose to 3700m at M.B.C., where we were rewarded with stunning early afternoon views (we took the opportunity of a short hiking day to sleep in and hang out for a while in Deurali). The hike was beautiful as always, but uneventful. At the top we found our friends Mindy and James waiting for us, who hadn't been so lazy in the morning, and we marveled together at the view. On one side, Machhapuchhre rose like an immense arrowhead piercing the sky. A sharp ridge descended from Fishtail's peak, crossing the sky and ending in a huge glacier. On the opposite side, the beast of Annapurna South rose like a guiding light drawing you to Annapurna Base Camp. The afternoon clouds were rolling in at this point and quickly obscured the views, but we caught mind-boggling glimpses of Annapurna South's peaks and ridges through the mist.
If we had had more time, climbing shoes would have been a necessity. Awesome boulders of every shape and size scatter the long stretch of valley from the M.B.C. area all the way up to A.B.C., and it was sad to look upon them with no way of enjoying their shapes to the fullest.
DAY 6: Machhapuchhre Base Camp (M.B.C) - Annapurna Base Camp (A.B.C.)
Hike time: 3hrs
This was the longest it's ever taken me to hike such a short distance. We stopped to take photos practically every ten meters, so by the time we actually reached A.B.C., the clouds were already setting in. Along with the amazing views, I tweaked my knee clearing Annapurna I in one of the jumping photos about halfway up, so after that the going was even slower.
Wow... What can I say? We were totally blown away by the surrounding peaks. Up at A.B.C., you are actually fully surrounded by the hugest snow and rock walls imaginable; every direction you look there is another testimony to the puny-ness of humans and the sheer, indisputable power of nature.
It snowed that night, and we were rewarded for our efforts at sunset by clear skies (it clouded over from 12pm-5ish as usual) and amazing golden red streaks of colour touching the tip of Machhapuchhre.
I stayed up late that night and took some night photography of the white mountains against the black earth, with the starry vault as a backdrop. It worked out pretty well, considering that I was using random piles of rocks as a tripod. Night time is one of my favourite times in the mountains, when the snowy faces glow against the dark background. So beautiful.
DAY 7: Annapurna Base Camp (A.B.C.) - Himalaya
Hike time: 5hrs, 15mins
We woke up super early on this morning to see the sunrise at A.B.C., which is one of the "things you have to do!" while you are there. It was amazing, and cold, and we filled our camera cards and killed our batteries quickly. We ended up staying up there until 11:30am, when the clouds rolled in, before we resigned to hiking down. It was a wonderful morning to chilling out, enjoying the INSANE views and getting a chaco tan in the alpine meadows. We took a little VLOG in the morning showing the full panorama as well. It's on youtube here http://youtu.be/cBqF_9dvDT4 .
The hike down was grueling as usual, and especially brutal because of my still injured knee. Luckily Marina reikied me every 30mins or so, which helped SO MUCH. My knee healed perfectly from an injury that normally would have taken 4-5 days in only 3. I'm sold. I decided that I'll probably get reiki level 1 as well so that I can treat my knee every day and help it to heal once and for all. I'm stoked.
DAY 8: Himalaya - Chhomrong
Hike time: 5hrs?
We got up early and descended out of the alpine into the jungle. It was another joint-killing day, but we made it okay and collapsed at the Chhomrong Cottage, where Didi (the owner) is famed for her chocolate cake (it was written up as "the best chocolate cake" in Time Magazine). We met Mindy and James there, and when we saw the rooms and had some cake, we decided to stay an extra day. Why not? We were both ahead of schedule, and Chhomrong was such a nice place with amazing views of Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Annapurna III, and Machhapuchhre, from left to right. It was definitely a good call. We had hot showers and three of us agreed that it was actually the BEST shower we had ever had in our lives (Marina and I hadn't showered in a week due to being freezing cold all the time). James wasn't as thrilled as the rest of us, but he had had a shower the night before, so his opinion wasn't from the same viewpoint. It was a glorious occasion.
DAY 9: Chhomrong - Chhomrong
Hike time: 0hrs
This day we just relaxed! Wow. Not having to wake up super early to hike was wonderful. We spend the day hanging out with Mindy and James, watching Didi and her crew cook their AMAZING food (They make the BEST lasagna, pizza, burritos, and cake of course. And probably everything on the menu we didn't try. They even make the noodles for the lasagna! And they do everything so creatively, without needing an oven! Ex: They steam the lasagna to cook it. And the cake. Crazy.) and trying to learn what we could. We loved every minute at Didi's cute "little" cottage (she has 30 rooms or something, but it feels like just a few).
DAY 10: Chhomrong - Ghandruk
Hike time: 3hrs, 30mins
This morning we woke up intending to go back the same way we came in to the Sanctuary, through Phedi, but Didi wouldn't allow us! She basically said that we had seen that view before, can showed us another route. Pretty cute. Then, just as we were about to leave, she came out with a piece of cake for us to share as a farewell gift. She's so nice! We were already stuffed, but split between the four of us we had no trouble getting it down. It's such good cake.
The hiking day was easy enough, because the trail was less used, which meant that it was less stairs. It was more like a washed out trail in BC, and went down to the valley bottom, then straight up the other side, then down again to Ghandruk. It rained on us as we were going up the big switch backs which was actually really nice. Ghandruk is a huge village, and we were quite culture shocked! We found a nice guesthouse for a third cheaper than everything so far, which was nice, and had a chill evening.
DAY 11: Ghandruk - NyaPul - Pokhara
Hike time: 4hrs?
Bus ride time: FOREVER
We woke up this morning to amazing mountain views and soft Tibetan music drifting lazily from the nearby monastery to our room. The sunrise was worthy of a photo-sesh, even after having seen the mountains up close in all their glory.
The hike down wasn't anything special, and we ended up hiking on a dirt road for a lot of the way. At least it was flat; our knees were grateful.
When we arrived at NyaPul, we hopped on a local bus that ended up being the craziest and longest ride EVER to Pokhara. At first we were standing on the inside of the bus, but after no time at all the bus stopped for a food break for way too long. We headed for the real local ride - the roof. Finally the bus left again, with all of us "securely" sitting on the roof. It was hilarious. We had beautiful views and fresh breezes, and the cherry on top was a group of insane village women whooping and yelling throughout the entire journey. They had some kind of bizarre mating ritual going on; whenever they saw men working in the fields around the bus, they would call out in this screechy blend between baby birds begging for food and squawking seagulls. At was so weird. At one point we stopped as we went around a super sharp corner and a guy was standing at a tea shop; the girls went crazy. As we left, the guy threw his entire remaining packet of cookies at the bus. In a cacophony of squeals and laughter, everyone tried to catch the cookies as we sped away. It was so funny. Marina and I scored a cookie and enjoyed it along with the cool breeze.
I took a video of the madness. It had died down a little at this point, but it gives you an idea. Here's the link http://youtu.be/OG5bzdfoofA .
We finally made it to Pokhara after more bus madness involving the police kicking the girls off the roof (everyone else had complied earlier when the bus guy told us that we were going through a police checkpoint) and holding us at the side of the road forever. It's one of the many experiences traveling that you'll never fully understand. I have no idea what really was happening... BUT we made it finally, got a hotel, got our bags that we had left behind, and collapsed in the garden of Hotel Elia, Pokhara. We were back!
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The mountains were so amazing, and despite stretching our budget, it was worth it a million times over. I feel so at home there, and being right in the midst of those gigantic beasts was so humbling and powerful. I'm making a resolution to spend as much time in the Rockies as I can when I get back home. Sometimes I take the Canadian mountains for granted, and I intend to change that.
Sorry if this email is too long. Take a few days to enjoy it fully. It also might not make total sense all the time because I wrote it over the course of several days, so forgive me if some of my descriptions are too similar or something! Wow, I have to say I'm glad to have it done. We'll definitely try to be more consistent from now on (although we had no choice, being in the mountains)!
Now is a time for hanging out with friends! Mindy and James are meeting up with us again in Kathmandu tomorrow, and then our friends Shauna and Daniel from our home town in Canada are coming the day after, and then my parents arrive a few days after that! And during this entire time, Jazzmandu is happening here, which is a huge jazz music festival. Life is good! We had some complications with our Indian visa so we're going to leave India after one month with my parents to a totally new country! We're thinking somewhere where there are beaches and surfing....... Bo pen yang!
Peace and love from Nepal!
Orion (& Marina)
