Annapurna Trek - Week 1
3/22/05 - Day 1
From: Besi Sahar 823m
To: Bhulbhule 790m
The day started in Kathmandu at 6:30 am when Sappa, our guide, showed up to take us to the bus station. It was raining, so instead of throwing our bags on the roof of the bus, they let us take them inside. The trip wasn't too different from the one from Sonauli to Kathmandu: many stops, people jumping in and out along the way and army checkpoints. Besi Sahar, the destination of our bus and the beginning of the trek, was 6 hours away. We stopped for lunch around 11 am. It was our first real contact with the Nepalese culture. Nepalese usually do not have breakfast, but lunch will be no later then 11 am. We ate the national dish called dal bhat - rice and lentils - served generally with vegetables and spicy pickles.
Once in Besi Sahar, Sappa got us some fruits since in the mountains it is harder to find and, of course, it is more expensive too.
Right at the beginning of the trail we could still see some motorized vehicles ...
... but as you go further, walking becomes the only way to move around.
The terraces dominate the landscape where you start to see the hard life of farming in the mountains.
We walked for only 2:15h since the trip from Kathmandu to Besi Sahar took a good part of the day but, even though, we made it further than planned, getting to Bhulbhule.
Many bridges along the trails in Nepal were built by Swiss people or at least financed by them.
The lodge was nice and by the river. The restaurant had the dinning tables on a balcony from where we watched the night falling over the Annapurna I mountain (because there are actually several Annapurna mountains). Not bad for the first day!
Before we had dinner Angie had her first shower of the trek, cold water. I passed. :D
The food was good and Angie started her first Nepalese class with the cook with 'thank you', 'good morning' and 'good night'. For dinner, we tried veg momo which are steamed Nepalese dumpling filled with spicy vegetables, very good.
We spent the rest of the evening chitchatting with our guide about the Maoists and the Government, about his village and how his parents, farmers, only survive from what they plant. Also we learned how hard their life is, the few options of food they have in the mountains and how the young generation don't want to follow the same life anymore.
The first night of sleep was with the relaxing noise of the river.
3/23/05 Day 2
From: Bhulbhule, 790m
To: Jagat, 1314m
The second day was much harder than the 2-hour walk from the day before. Here, we started to feel the load of the backpack. We had 7 hours of walk under a steaming hot sun and gained 500m. There are lots of villages along the Annapurna trail. Every two/three hours we crossed one and our attention was alternating between the landscape, the amazing mountain views and the life of the locals.
The terraces are larger at the lower altitudes where the inclination is not too steep.
Their farming techniques and tools are very ancient and electricity is luxury in the some of the villages. So manual work is the rule...
Living here is not always easy, but the scenery can make you think twice. No crowd, no cars, no noise, just peaceful mountains...
We came across caravans of mules, which are all along the way. Since it is not possible to use vehicles in these trails, the only way of transporting goods is to use mules or porters.
Since there are many villages on the way, it is very pleasant and easy to have a cup of tea during the breaks before resuming the hard path. On that day we stopped for a tea around 10 am and for lunch around 1 pm. At the end of our first long walking day, we were really tired and Angie collected five blisters.
During dinner we continued our chat from the night before getting to know better our guide. He is studying management at the university in a 5-year course, because he has realized that trekking would not always be fun and easy when getting old. So, he is wisely preparing an alternative future now. In a quick estimation he told us that the university costs around 1700 US dollars for the 5 years and that it is very expensive for a regular Nepalese income. He received some help from a Swedish client that became his friend.
Also he explained to us how he started as a porter and became a guide later. Guides are submitted to training in mountain and they have to pass a government test. They must carry a trekking guide id to be allowed to take people around.
3/24/05 Day 3
From: Jagat 1314m
To: Bagarchap 2164m
The 3rd day started earlier. From our room we could hear that the Nepalese people are already awake and getting ready at 5 am.
Sappa, seeing our struggle on the day before, offered to carry some of our stuff, so we gave him both sleeping bags and some other items.
The view was just astonishing and changing every time we were going around a hill.
As we gained altitude, it got colder. Also, when we entered the Manang district, it started raining.
Over the Himalayas is a hidden valley. Surrounded by the 8000m Annapurna Range and the great peaks of Pisang and Chulu, the valley is wild and wonderful. Tibeto-Burman people who followed the nomadic tradition of moving across the mountains, hunting and searching for food, found the valley and settled in it centuries ago. Today the upper Manang or Nyeshang Valley is home to an age-old, relatively-unaltered way of life, evident in the valley's many monasteries, its numerous festivals, and the hardness of is people skilled itinerant traders who call themselves Nyeshang. Also, it is the place of the world's highest lakes and where endangered species like the elusive snow leopard and blue sheep hordes at yak roam
The villages started to have gates like in Tibet. Terrace fields were not so common anymore. The vegetation changed to rock and pine trees.
Because of the rain we had lunch at our actual tea break time hoping that the rain would stop after we had finished eating. Unfortunately it didn't and we resumed at 1 pm and walked in the rain until 3:30.
After the rain stopped we saw that not only mules and porters are carrying load.
The houses that we saw along the trail are very simple; the first floor is just composed of a little room with a stove and there is usually a ladder to go up to the bedroom. That's it.
After 6:30 hour of walk we arrived at the lodge at 2164m which had a nice view of the Annapurna II mountain.
For dinner Angie tried a Tibetan dish called Stukpa (noodles with vegetables and spices).
3/25/05 Day 4
From: Bagarchap 2164m
To: Bhratang 2919m
We started the 4th day a bit late, only hitting the trail around 8:15 am.
Angie, in her gastronomical tour, tried another Tibetan dish, champa, a kind of porridge made of barley wheat.
The scenery changed to a pine tree forest and the view was breathtaking.
Crossing a village ...
... can always reserve a surprise and in this particular one there were lots of kids running around...
We had completely forgotten about the Color Festival but, some locals celebrating it and reminded us in a way that we won't ever forget.
Not even the army, where we had to stop to present our trekking permits, escaped the tika powder.
We stopped for lunch in a lodge with a view to the bridge. Butter tea was Angie's drink. (blargh)
We got to Brathang at 4:50 pm. We rested
the rest of the day. For shower we had a bucket of hot water and the temperature of the bathroom was not higher then 5C, it was The Shower. It was so cold that we spent as much time as possible with the cook in the kitchen just to stay close to the wooden oven, only leaving it to go to sleep. It was full moon and the white snowcapped mountains reflecting the light at night is a view that my simple English finds no adjective to describe.
3/26/05 Day 5
From: Bhratang 2919m
To: Manang 3351m
We didn't gain much in altitude but we walked a lot on day 5, stopped in Hungde for lunch where life goes slowly. It was chilli, so people are outside in the sun to do the everyday tasks like washing and pealing vegetables for lunch.
They are always receptive but, older people usually don't want to be photographed. Exceptionally, Angie got a yes for a picture from these two lovely ladies while we waited for lunch.
Approaching Manang less and less pine trees composed the view. At the end of the day thee were only rocks and bushes left.
Manang is a 'big' village on a 3351m plateau. It is all made of stones, since trees are not an easy material to be found around here. We went straight to the lodge to rest and didn't do anything else.
For dinner, Sappa ate a local dish made of buckwheat called Dero. It looks really weird but tastes good. They often joke with the tourist telling them that they are eating Yak shit since it looks quite similar to it.
3/27/05 Day 6
From: Manang 3351m
To: Manang 3351m
This was our acclimatization day, so we only hike around the village. Wandering around without a heavy backpack was a weird sensation after five days of hard walk.
Locals were working in the fields, probably the same way they have been doing it for the last 200 years.
The village is quiet and the view spectacular.
Among the terraces and fields there were bluesheep -an endangered specie- roaming around. And of course, the bluesheep isn't blue at all. It is called like this because the owners often paint their horns in blue.
We tried to visit two monasteries but both were closed and we walked more than an hour to get to them but all we could see was the outside.
In many villages that we crossed, walls with stone inscriptions like the one from the picture below were pilled in the middle of the path. Sappa explained to us that when somebody dies, the family brings a stone and puts it there to help the person in the after/next life. Curiosity: all the stones have the same text, they don't carry the name of the person or anything else.
Then we went to the turquoise Gungapurna lake at the bottom of the Gungapurna mountain. The water comes from melted ice and the lake is getting smaller each year.
Manang has even theaters showing movies like 7 year in Tibet, Kundu or Into thin air and Caravan.
Hordes of yaks, were also roaming around.
3/28/05 Day 7
From: Manang 3351m
To: Yak Kharka 4150m
Here we started to go slowly due to the altitude, a short 4-hour walk was the mission of the day. Since we were getting higher and higher, we had to allow our body to acclimatize to the lack of oxygen, otherwise we can have AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) which can, in rare cases, lead to death. We stopped in Yak Kharka at 4150 m. It was very COLD and snowing.
From: Besi Sahar 823m
To: Bhulbhule 790m
The day started in Kathmandu at 6:30 am when Sappa, our guide, showed up to take us to the bus station. It was raining, so instead of throwing our bags on the roof of the bus, they let us take them inside. The trip wasn't too different from the one from Sonauli to Kathmandu: many stops, people jumping in and out along the way and army checkpoints. Besi Sahar, the destination of our bus and the beginning of the trek, was 6 hours away. We stopped for lunch around 11 am. It was our first real contact with the Nepalese culture. Nepalese usually do not have breakfast, but lunch will be no later then 11 am. We ate the national dish called dal bhat - rice and lentils - served generally with vegetables and spicy pickles.
Once in Besi Sahar, Sappa got us some fruits since in the mountains it is harder to find and, of course, it is more expensive too.
Right at the beginning of the trail we could still see some motorized vehicles ...
... but as you go further, walking becomes the only way to move around.
The terraces dominate the landscape where you start to see the hard life of farming in the mountains.
We walked for only 2:15h since the trip from Kathmandu to Besi Sahar took a good part of the day but, even though, we made it further than planned, getting to Bhulbhule.
Many bridges along the trails in Nepal were built by Swiss people or at least financed by them.
The lodge was nice and by the river. The restaurant had the dinning tables on a balcony from where we watched the night falling over the Annapurna I mountain (because there are actually several Annapurna mountains). Not bad for the first day!
Before we had dinner Angie had her first shower of the trek, cold water. I passed. :D
The food was good and Angie started her first Nepalese class with the cook with 'thank you', 'good morning' and 'good night'. For dinner, we tried veg momo which are steamed Nepalese dumpling filled with spicy vegetables, very good.
We spent the rest of the evening chitchatting with our guide about the Maoists and the Government, about his village and how his parents, farmers, only survive from what they plant. Also we learned how hard their life is, the few options of food they have in the mountains and how the young generation don't want to follow the same life anymore.
The first night of sleep was with the relaxing noise of the river.
3/23/05 Day 2
From: Bhulbhule, 790m
To: Jagat, 1314m
The second day was much harder than the 2-hour walk from the day before. Here, we started to feel the load of the backpack. We had 7 hours of walk under a steaming hot sun and gained 500m. There are lots of villages along the Annapurna trail. Every two/three hours we crossed one and our attention was alternating between the landscape, the amazing mountain views and the life of the locals.
The terraces are larger at the lower altitudes where the inclination is not too steep.
Their farming techniques and tools are very ancient and electricity is luxury in the some of the villages. So manual work is the rule...
Living here is not always easy, but the scenery can make you think twice. No crowd, no cars, no noise, just peaceful mountains...
We came across caravans of mules, which are all along the way. Since it is not possible to use vehicles in these trails, the only way of transporting goods is to use mules or porters.
Since there are many villages on the way, it is very pleasant and easy to have a cup of tea during the breaks before resuming the hard path. On that day we stopped for a tea around 10 am and for lunch around 1 pm. At the end of our first long walking day, we were really tired and Angie collected five blisters.
During dinner we continued our chat from the night before getting to know better our guide. He is studying management at the university in a 5-year course, because he has realized that trekking would not always be fun and easy when getting old. So, he is wisely preparing an alternative future now. In a quick estimation he told us that the university costs around 1700 US dollars for the 5 years and that it is very expensive for a regular Nepalese income. He received some help from a Swedish client that became his friend.
Also he explained to us how he started as a porter and became a guide later. Guides are submitted to training in mountain and they have to pass a government test. They must carry a trekking guide id to be allowed to take people around.
3/24/05 Day 3
From: Jagat 1314m
To: Bagarchap 2164m
The 3rd day started earlier. From our room we could hear that the Nepalese people are already awake and getting ready at 5 am.
Sappa, seeing our struggle on the day before, offered to carry some of our stuff, so we gave him both sleeping bags and some other items.
The view was just astonishing and changing every time we were going around a hill.
As we gained altitude, it got colder. Also, when we entered the Manang district, it started raining.
Over the Himalayas is a hidden valley. Surrounded by the 8000m Annapurna Range and the great peaks of Pisang and Chulu, the valley is wild and wonderful. Tibeto-Burman people who followed the nomadic tradition of moving across the mountains, hunting and searching for food, found the valley and settled in it centuries ago. Today the upper Manang or Nyeshang Valley is home to an age-old, relatively-unaltered way of life, evident in the valley's many monasteries, its numerous festivals, and the hardness of is people skilled itinerant traders who call themselves Nyeshang. Also, it is the place of the world's highest lakes and where endangered species like the elusive snow leopard and blue sheep hordes at yak roam
The villages started to have gates like in Tibet. Terrace fields were not so common anymore. The vegetation changed to rock and pine trees.
Because of the rain we had lunch at our actual tea break time hoping that the rain would stop after we had finished eating. Unfortunately it didn't and we resumed at 1 pm and walked in the rain until 3:30.
After the rain stopped we saw that not only mules and porters are carrying load.
The houses that we saw along the trail are very simple; the first floor is just composed of a little room with a stove and there is usually a ladder to go up to the bedroom. That's it.
After 6:30 hour of walk we arrived at the lodge at 2164m which had a nice view of the Annapurna II mountain.
For dinner Angie tried a Tibetan dish called Stukpa (noodles with vegetables and spices).
3/25/05 Day 4
From: Bagarchap 2164m
To: Bhratang 2919m
We started the 4th day a bit late, only hitting the trail around 8:15 am.
Angie, in her gastronomical tour, tried another Tibetan dish, champa, a kind of porridge made of barley wheat.
The scenery changed to a pine tree forest and the view was breathtaking.
Crossing a village ...
... can always reserve a surprise and in this particular one there were lots of kids running around...
We had completely forgotten about the Color Festival but, some locals celebrating it and reminded us in a way that we won't ever forget.
Not even the army, where we had to stop to present our trekking permits, escaped the tika powder.
We stopped for lunch in a lodge with a view to the bridge. Butter tea was Angie's drink. (blargh)
We got to Brathang at 4:50 pm. We rested
the rest of the day. For shower we had a bucket of hot water and the temperature of the bathroom was not higher then 5C, it was The Shower. It was so cold that we spent as much time as possible with the cook in the kitchen just to stay close to the wooden oven, only leaving it to go to sleep. It was full moon and the white snowcapped mountains reflecting the light at night is a view that my simple English finds no adjective to describe.
3/26/05 Day 5
From: Bhratang 2919m
To: Manang 3351m
We didn't gain much in altitude but we walked a lot on day 5, stopped in Hungde for lunch where life goes slowly. It was chilli, so people are outside in the sun to do the everyday tasks like washing and pealing vegetables for lunch.
They are always receptive but, older people usually don't want to be photographed. Exceptionally, Angie got a yes for a picture from these two lovely ladies while we waited for lunch.
Approaching Manang less and less pine trees composed the view. At the end of the day thee were only rocks and bushes left.
Manang is a 'big' village on a 3351m plateau. It is all made of stones, since trees are not an easy material to be found around here. We went straight to the lodge to rest and didn't do anything else.
For dinner, Sappa ate a local dish made of buckwheat called Dero. It looks really weird but tastes good. They often joke with the tourist telling them that they are eating Yak shit since it looks quite similar to it.
3/27/05 Day 6
From: Manang 3351m
To: Manang 3351m
This was our acclimatization day, so we only hike around the village. Wandering around without a heavy backpack was a weird sensation after five days of hard walk.
Locals were working in the fields, probably the same way they have been doing it for the last 200 years.
The village is quiet and the view spectacular.
Among the terraces and fields there were bluesheep -an endangered specie- roaming around. And of course, the bluesheep isn't blue at all. It is called like this because the owners often paint their horns in blue.
We tried to visit two monasteries but both were closed and we walked more than an hour to get to them but all we could see was the outside.
In many villages that we crossed, walls with stone inscriptions like the one from the picture below were pilled in the middle of the path. Sappa explained to us that when somebody dies, the family brings a stone and puts it there to help the person in the after/next life. Curiosity: all the stones have the same text, they don't carry the name of the person or anything else.
Then we went to the turquoise Gungapurna lake at the bottom of the Gungapurna mountain. The water comes from melted ice and the lake is getting smaller each year.
Manang has even theaters showing movies like 7 year in Tibet, Kundu or Into thin air and Caravan.
Hordes of yaks, were also roaming around.
3/28/05 Day 7
From: Manang 3351m
To: Yak Kharka 4150m
Here we started to go slowly due to the altitude, a short 4-hour walk was the mission of the day. Since we were getting higher and higher, we had to allow our body to acclimatize to the lack of oxygen, otherwise we can have AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) which can, in rare cases, lead to death. We stopped in Yak Kharka at 4150 m. It was very COLD and snowing.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 8:59 AM
3 Comments:
Great pictures! You both look like having a great combat with all the paint color on your faces, & definitly healthy living on rice and lentil.
Doris
I so love reading your blog.. looking forward for the next places on your journey....
--Prasanna.
jaime bien le contraste entre le mois de mars et le mois d'avril .
J'aime aussi la photo du pont qui est très interessante.
Il y a 2 oui 3 trois jours je t'ai envoyé un e-mail qui disait que j'étais désolé de ne pas tavoir prévu plus tôt que je faitais ma confirmation le 4 juin 2006,et je me demandais si tu l'avai bien reçu.
Salomé
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