Trekking - Day 7

Today we had a leisurely breakfast and hit the trail for some more stair descent. My calves have been incredibly sore and I've been working hard to stretch them to try to avoid cramping up. I think it is cause by how I walk down the stairs on my toes to ease the strain on my knees. If it's not one thing, it's another, I suppose.

We had lunch with the Aussies, fantastic veggie burgers (the patty was basically a big veggie pakora) with fries and a salad. If we had veggie burgers like that at home I would not be opposed at all.

From there we took a detour to Jinhu, known for it's hot springs. I met of couple of Spaniards on the way down and we went to the hot springs together, joined later by the Aussies once again. They had the hot springs diverted partially into a couple of hot tubs, so we all just soaked our sore muscles for a couple of hours. It was just what my aching calves (and the rest of my body, for that matter) needed.

For dinner, more Dal Bhaat, this time another three helpings (large helpings). We also tried the local rice wine, called Kaleshi (I think), which was frankly terrible. It's like watered down vodka, so it's not enjoyable. Between four of us we drank about a third of a bottle, so it wasn't exacly a hit.

There weren't any triple rooms at this guest house so they gave us a double with three beds. It's...cozy, as you can see.

Trekking - Day 6

I woke up at 6 after a restless night. It's not as clear today, but it's not bad. The views are spectacular again, with more mountains in sight today. We admired the views, had breakfast and left camp at about 8. It's amazing how much easier it is on the way down. Maybe that's obvious, but once you get used to the altitude then the air just feels thick and easy to breathe as you go back down.

The 2 hour hike up to base camp was an easy 1 hour hike back down. We continued all the way to Sinuwa. We took two and a half days to get from Sinuwa up to Annapurna Base Camp, so that gives you an idea of how different it is.

The weather was pretty cold all the way down, much worse than when we were on the way up. It rained (pretty much a daily occurrence of course), but it wasn't a big deal. The guest house is entirely full, mostly people going up the mountain. We really did time this trip well, with small crowds and good weather at the important times.

For dessert today, a treat: a Mars Roll. It's a Mars bar, wrapped in Gurung bread (the local traditional bread, a lot like Native American fry bread), then deep fried. It was amazing.

Trekking - Day 5 continued

Now that I have time for a proper post, I'll start over for what was the highlight of the trek.

I woke up at 6:15 to see the sun rise over the looming mountains. After an extremely cloudy night I was worried we wouldn't be able to see anything. We got lucky instead. It was gorgeous, blue skies and just a few clouds. We climbed to a little weather station to see views of the Fish Tail and the valley we walked through, which was beautiful. Then we had breakfast and set off on a two hour hike to the final destination.

At first it was very cold but once I got into the sun I was pretty warm. At altitude the sun is so strong that you can't look at some of the mountains without sunglasses because it's so bright reflecting off the snow. Also even though it was near freezing I was down to just a shirt and light pants with no problem.

It was slow going, but I enjoyed every second of it. There are mountains all around, just towering over the valley, despite the fact that the base camp is at 4130 meters (about 13,500 feet). I took a short video to give everyone a little better idea. Once we made it to the base camp we had tea then I went a little higher, to about 4200 meters (14,000 feet) to see the view over a ridge to the Annapurna range. The mountains were covered by clouds at this point, but there was unexpectedly spectacular valley of rocks from avalanches below the ridge. I sat up there for about a half hour and heard about 5 or 10 small avalanches in the distance (I couldn't see any of them).

I came down from there and spent the afternoon and night talking to a couple groups of Aussies and a Tibetan guide. It was fun despite the cold. At night I was able to get some decent pictures of the mountains due to a nearly full moon, as well as maybe my favorite picture that I've ever taken.

Rain...

It had been raining hard non stop since my last post up until last night, so the river is very high. So high, in fact, that all the camp sites are completely flooded and the rafting trip is postponed until the 11th. So I've just been sitting in tea houses eating, drinking tea, and meeting people. I've also met up with people from the trek for food and drinks, so it's been fun despite the rain.

I went to a meeting for rafting to explain what we need to bring and meet the guides and all that a couple days ago. It was then that I realized I was a bit of an outsider. I should have realized that before I went to the meeting, but I didn't put two and two together. On the trip it will be me and ten Israelis. They all seem to know each other and it's non stop Hebrew all the time. Of course you would think I would put together that is was recommended to me by an Israeli, the place is called Shai Rafting, and there is Hebrew writing everywhere, but sometimes I just don't catch on very quickly. It should be an interesting experience - an Israeli rafting trip in Nepal.

I'm planning to see pretty much everything I've left in Pokhara. Today I'll be visiting a Tibetan village to have tea with a Tibetan guide I met on the trek, then I'll be hiking to a vista point with a Brazilian I met at the tea house.

Trekking - Day 5

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and since I'm running out of computer time, I'll go for a that. Basically it was amazing, as you can see.

I'll finish with the trekking maybe tomorrow, maybe when I get back from rafting. There may or may not be enough people to go rafting tomorrow so either be leaving for rafting tomorrow morning or the morning after that. I'll find out tonight. It's a 3 day, 2 night trip down the Kali Gandaki river, in the same region where I trekked (but a different valley, and it doesn't go as high).

Trekking - Day 4

Today, altitude became an issue. At about 2800 meters (about 9,200 feet) I started getting out of breath a little quicker. We went steadily up, but it was a little slower than previous days. All of our muscles are sore as well, so it's becoming a little more of a challenge.

Midway through the morning Dan dropped his camera off the trail. It bounced and rolled off of some plants and appeared to be lost. I stayed on the trail to try and guide them (I had the best view of it falling), while Dan, Gali, and then 3 Nepalis looked for it in the forest. After about 20 minutes it was found, working, and we went on our way.

There were a whole bunch of monkeys in a group on our way up, so that was some added excitement. You might think I wouldn't be impressed by monkeys at this point, but you'd be wrong. There's something about seeing them just hanging out in the wild that's very cool to someone who had only ever seen them in the zoo.

We had lunch at Derauli (3200m or 10,500 ft). The forest is getting a little less dense and the cold is becoming, well, colder. We reached MBC (Maccapuchre - aka Fish Tail - Base Camp) in the late afternoon after a slow ascent. The elevation here is now 3700 meters (12,140 ft), a climb of 1,100 meters in a single day. There are only shrubs now, and it is really cold.

We got to base camp and soon afterward the clouds came in. Soon visibility was pretty minimal and it was windy and freezing cold (Ram, the guy running the lodge, estimated it was 1 degree Celsius - 34F). I basically sat there in the dining room with a blanket and tried to stay "warm" (meaning not as cold). After some tea and dal bhaat I felt better. Luckily the blankets up here are very heavy and warm, so after a little while I fell asleep okay.

Price Check: Water: Rs 100/Liter, Dal Bhaat Rs 400

Trekking - Day 3

Today a treat: pizza for breakfast. It wasn't half bad, either. We hit the road at 8:30, with more stairs down and up, then repeat. My left foot is still sore from hitting a rock at the bottom of the lake in Pokhara, but it's not too bad so I just continue on. My hiking shoes are fantastic so that has really been my only pain besides aching muscles.

I've been carrying my own bag this whole time; no porters or guides for us. It's very satisfying to go up and down these mountains seeing people have their stuff carried for them, then to know you're doing it all on your own. My load is lighter than most, but it gets to feeling pretty heavy at the end of a hard day of climbing stairs.

On the way out of town we found some buffalo in our way (not exactly uncommon), so I fed one some bamboo for a photo op. They're very used to people, although you would think I would have learned my lesson with that whole bull incident in Jaipur.

We got to Bamboo (a village) for lunch at 2, then on to Dovan, where we slept, at about 4. This area is full of bamboo forests, as you can see from the picture it's pretty cool. There are some sort of insects that make all kinds of buzzing noises and waterfalls along with the river to add some sound to the pictures.

We're up to about 2600 meters elevation now (8,530 feet), so tomorrow should be when we really start to feel the altitude when we're walking. The altitude also means that it's getting cold at night now. I brought only a light fleece, my super thin rain jacket, 2 long sleeve and 1 cut off t-shirts, and a pair of convertible pants (and my new hat!), so cold isn't great for me. I could see my breath by the early evening so I wasn't exactly warm.

Tonight I learned a new card game called 5 cards. It's a Nepalese game (and of course has a Nepalese name which I couldn't understand). I played with some Spaniards and their guides and porters. It's like a fast version of gin rummy, so I'll be teaching it to anyone that wants to learn when I get back.

Price Check: Water Rs 70/Liter, Dal Bhaat Rs 330