Trekking - Day 1

NOTE: I actually started September 28, but I'll just post these as if they're happening now.

Today I set off to trek to Annapurna Base Camp. The trek is called the Annapurna Sanctuary trek as well, because at the top you're surrounded by mountains, hence it's a sanctuary. I met Dan and Gali at a German bakery and restaurant overlooking the lake for breakfast. Chocolate and banana pancakes were a good final luxury before starting the adventure. It is their most important holiday today so prices for transportation are about doubled. We took a taxi to the bus stand and the bus from Pokhara, to Nayapul, a small town where the trail begins.

After some noodle soup we started hiking around 1 o'clock. It was hot for a few hours, and we were slowly going mostly uphill (for a total of over 1000 meters, to about 2000 meters elevation), working our way to Ghandruk, our destination for the first night. At about 3:30 it started raining, which was okay to cool us down. At 4:30 we came to a fork in the road. We chose incorrectly. After following a small trail for a half hour or so, it was clear we were off the main path. We asked a bunch of villagers for directions and they kept telling us "go up". There wasn't really a trail up, but they just walk on the rocks on the sides of their irrigation paths, as well as in the actual water. That was interesting, and after a half hour of hiking straight uphill we came to the path. From there it was another hour to Ghandruk, and we arrived just at dusk.

It was a decent enough place, a room was only 255 rupees ($3.40) for the 3 of us. What we didn't know at the time is that you're expected to eat there, and the prices are much higher than in town. So basically they make their money from dinner and breakfast. The dining room was full and we were hungry so we went to a different place for dinner. I had 3 helpings of dal bhaat (lentil soup, rice, vegetable curry, spinach, papad, and pickled vegetables), which was quite good. When we returned to our place the guy in charge pretty much just yelled at us that it wasn't alright to do that. We argued that there was no room and nothing telling us not to go somewhere else. We just went to bed at 9:15 with him angry and all the Nepalis outside, loudly celebrating their holiday.

Price check - Drinking water: Rs 30/Liter, Dal Bhaat: Rs 240 (Rs=Rupees, Rs 75=$1)