Although chilling in Pokara, waiting for the strike to end was great fun, Nicole was interested in trekking and we had nothing better to do. We all decided to do the Annapurna Base camp trek. This trek was shorter than the Annapurna Circuit and we were able to walk right out of Pokara to do the trek. This was important because there were no taxis or buses to take us to any other starting point.
The night before the trek, we were organizing. We needed to ensure that we all had warm clothes as it would be cold at the top. Since there are so many tourists trekking in Nepal, the price for food in the villages along the way is astronomical (compared to the rest of Nepal). We brought muesli, mixed nuts, and raman noodles for the whole trip.
The night before, after we were all ready, I overheard a local man talking about how the strike had ended. The night before we left! The trek was initially organized BECAUSE there was a strike. Now that the strike ended... We decided to continue on the trek and also walk right out of Pokara instead of taking a bus to cut out a days walk.
An important piece of the puzzle is our desire to do the trek without a porter or guide. Not having a guide is no big deal as the trek is well established with mostly obvious routes (certainly not always). Anyway, the toughest decision was going without a porter. We minimized our bags as much as possible but the warm clothes and food we brought added some back-breaking weight.
Day 1 - Naudanda
The first day consisted of walking through many villages on a road suitable for a car. It was not the wilderness we were looking for. We walked up to Serenkot again but it was too cloudy to see the great views again. The road was somewhat boring but nice to see some villages. It was a good start day as it wasn't too difficult and we were able to get used to the weight of our rucksacks. My back was sore once we got to our destination and we were all exhausted. The nicest part of the day was the end.
We arrived in this place Naudanda looking for a guest house. All the guest houses were surprisingly expensive as we weren't even on the trekking route yet. It started raining so we found shelter at this small convenience store type shop. I decided to ask him if they could make us some food. He was initially reluctant but he decided to ask his son if he was interested in making some money. His 16 year old son cooked a fabulous Dal Bhat (rice, lentils, veg curry) for us. It was a yellow curry with lots of cabbage and a nice amount of spice. We ate with our hands which always brings a big smile to any Nepali's face. We also asked for a place to stay. The children were kicked out of their room and joined the parents while we took the beds. Despite the beds being hard, it was a great experience. We paid them, of course. It was a lovely house and the family was very friendly.
Asking for a place to stay at a regular household was a original experience for us. It really emphasized why I like Nepal so much. It was pretty simple to arrange everything and make some new friends.
Day 2 - Tolka
We woke up early and had some tea and noodles for breakfast. Not the best breakfast but it was fine. It took us awhile to find the right route as the place we were going had recently changed its name and people referred to the town with both names. Eventually, we started our ascent which we found to be very tiring with our big bags. We took many breaks for rest and water. We finally made it to the start of the Annapurna Sanctuary where we showed our permit and had a lovely lunch of Muesli and water. Probably, the worst lunch we had the entire time. We continued the trek through some nice forests and arrived in Tolka where the Didi (older, female owner) of the guesthouse offered us free accommodation and some free tea if we ate dinner at her guest house. Dinner was nice and ample. They give you refills for Dal Bhat and Randy mistakenly took two full helpings and ate both plates.
Day 3 - Chomrong
We discussed the route the night before and it seemed to us that the days route would be long but easy. We were completely wrong. It was the most physically demanding day of my life. As we started the day, we realized that Tolka was much bigger then we thought. We were staying at the outskirts. This tended to happen with most of the villages. These little guesthouses want to get customers so they put the town name on the guesthouse. It works well when you are exhausted.
Anyway, The town was situated on top of a hill so we had to walk down into a valley next to the river and walk next to the river for awhile. This river turned out to be next to the path the entire way up into the mountains. The beginning of the day was secluded despite walking through many farmers' fields. We stopped for a break at a nice waterfall and continued on these rolling hills for awhile. Finally, we found or point of ascent. We still had 1000 metres to climb that day and we spent most of the morning going down into the valley. The ascent was mindbogglingly long. It just kept going. We really felt the heavy bags at this point. When we came back down on the way back, I was shocked by how long we walked up. It was just stairs which was a bit disappointing. It makes sense because of all the people living in the villages a long the way. Chomrong was the biggest village along the route and, it seemed, the hardest to get to. We decided to stop for the day which turned out to be a great idea when we saw the route the next day.
We had walked for a good 8 hours and were rewarded with a great Dal Bhat that came with these local ferns that had a delicious bitter taste. This was our guest house.
Day 5 - Duerali
We woke up to a clear view of the holy mountain, Machupachare (Fishtail) and ate breakfast. The picture is above. Fishtail is named that because it supposedly looks like a fishtail. I don't really agree but nobody asked me. We continued walking and again discovered we were staying right at the beginning of the Town. Chomrong was huge and we had to walk down the other side of the mountain to cross a river. It was extremely tough on the knees and we tried to put it out of our minds that we would have to walk back up on our return.
Once we got down to the river, we had to walk up the other side. This day was extremely long and tiring because we kept walking up and down hills. steep ones. We did manage to take some breaks.
We ate lunch, raman noodles, at a place called Bamboo. The days walk was great and not as difficult as the day before. It turned out to be the most hours walked. It was about a 10 hour day with our bags on. We decided to skip the standard route and continue a bit further to another village. This part was a semi-steep climb that ended at the huge over hanging rock that could serve as a nice shelter. We could see Duerali (the place we were staying) from this cave. From the cave, we walked down to cross some rivers. This valley we were walking through had huge cliffs on each side with waterfalls all over the place. Many would cross the path. We were forced to jump from rock to rock to cross them. There was one very rough river which, with the wrong step, could have been a dangerous fall into the rocky waterfall.
Since Duerali was at a high altitude and far in the mountains it was more of a tourist village so all the people working there were young, seasonal workers and they did not know how to cook like the real villagers. Dinner was disappointing.
I also want to mention that along the walk near the top were many workers carrying huge pieces of wood probably to build a new guesthouse.
Day 5 - Annapurna Base Camp
Since we walked so far the day before, the final ascent to the base camp was shorter. We took our time stopping a lot. Since we were deep in a valley with high rock walls, it took the sun awhile to get in leaving the beginning of the walk cold. It was a great walk as we slowly began to see more and more of the mountains. We made it to Machaputchare Base Camp within a few hours. We didn't stay long but continued into this other much more open valley. It was only 1.5 hours more to Annapurna base camp and the route was easy with just some rolling hills to cross. The 4,000 metre altitude was a bit harder to walk in. In this valley, we were able to look back at Machaputchare which was spectacular and huge. It felt like it became this wall right behind us.
By the time we made it to the Annapurna base camp, everything was engulfed in clouds. On our other trek, when we reached the final point we were rewarded with beautiful views of the mountains. This time we were rewarded with indifferent guesthouse managers who would not compromise. It was the most expensive night and the food was expensive and bad as well.
Also, soon after we got there, it got extremely cold. We had got there at 11:30 AM and it was freezing by 2PM. We were bundled up in all our clothes and basically hid in our rooms under two blankets each. It started raining in the evening and quickly turned to snow.
We woke up early to see the sunrise and were greeted with a blanket of snow. The difference from the night before was astounding. It felt like a different place without the clouds. It felt like we were right in the centre of many enormous mountains that felt really close. Even Machaputchare felt like it closed the circle. It was really cold until the sun came out completely.
Day 6 - Sinewa
Once the sun came out it got a lot warmer and the snow started melting. The melting seemed like a daily occurrence. As we were leaving, we saw this weird Israeli girl we had met standing up on the rocks with one leg up playing the didgeridoo into the mountains. This image will forever be sketched into my mind.
We returned along the same path at a much faster pace. Nicole had a bit harder time on the down hills going at our pace because she didn't have proper hiking boots. This resulted in a bit of an accident. Nicole slipped and fell on a little bridge. Luckily she didn't fall into the water. She seemed okay and we continued to Sinewa. It turned out to be a long day but we got a really nice guest house with three walls completely windows. Also, for the first time, it rained so the clouds disappeared at night and we saw the mountains in full force at night from our beds.
Day 7 - Jennudundra
Jennu has hot springs. We were extremely excited to soak our aching bodies. We only had a little way to go to get there and planned on spending the rest of the day in the springs. It took us a bit longer then we though it would. We started late and Nicole found that her leg was in pain from her fall. The hot springs were soothing.
There was this American guy on vacation in the springs who wanted to be a Navy Seal. I guess to practise, he would get out and go stand in the freezing cold glacier river for as long as he could then come back. it was a bit humourous.
It rained while were in the springs which was nice and also cleared up the sky for the evening. This allowed us to go sit outside and stare up at the sky full of stars. It was amazing.
Day 8 - Pokara
This final day was a bit different. The route was on the other side of the river and was much easier then if we went the same way back. It was through a lot more villages. The scenery was a lot less inviting because they were building a road. This eliminated a lot of the shade and made the walk feel completely like we were just trying to get back and less enjoyable. We made it to the starting city, Nayapul, and caught a bus back to Pokara.
It was a great trek through and through. It was very rewarding having carried our bags the entire way. Personally, the trek in Sikkim was more beautiful and more rugged as we stayed in tents. I had a lot of fun with Randy and Nicole and loved the experience.
Avidan
