Journey to Annapurna

Our arrival to Nepal was unexpectedly delayed when I somehow managed to lose my passport in a taxi on the way to the Manila airport. This led to some stress, forfeited nonrefundable plane tickets and two extra days in Manila getting an emergency replacement passport and new entry stamp. Rich was a saint throughout the process and the US Embassy was very helpful and quick. The new passport only has six pages for visas as so on I may run out of space. Hopefully not.

We only spent one day in Kathmandu.  We got our trekking permits and booked a bus to Pokhara.  Kathmandu reminded me of India. It is completely chaotic, your senses are overwhelmed and it is just fascinating. And crazy.

We took a tourist bus to Pokhara which was hot, cramped and took two hours longer than expected- so a typical Nepali bus trip. Every place we’ve been in Nepal has regular (daily) power outages. You just kind of have to go with the flow here.

Pokhara was a nice change from Kathmandu.  Smaller and more atmospheric due to the lakeside. We spent a day and a half here preparing for our trek including buying knock off trekking gear which is found in abundance.

April 18 we took the 7 am bus to Besi Sahar to start the Annapurna Circuit. The bus ride made the bus from Kathmandu seem luxurious. People were packed down the aisles on benches and even hanging out the door for the whole ride.

We got to Besi Sahar about 11:30 and started walking. We missed a trail sign almost immediately and ended up hiking on the road instead of the trail the first day. About 90 minutes into the hike it started to pour and a nice lady put chairs out for us to wait the storm out. It looked like more rain was coming when we reached Bhulbule an hour later so we decided to spend the night.

Some info about the Annapurna Circuit. The route goes around the Annapurna mountain range. In 2010 a road was built through much of the route making some sections loud, dusty, and full of traffic. The “full circuit” takes 16-21 days but most people seem to skip at least some sections. We hiked for 12 consecutive days (Besi Sahar to Jomsom).

The trail passes through traditional villages every few hours (at least). Accommodation is in simple guesthouses which are incredibly inexpensive (free to $5 per room) with the expectation that you buy dinner and breakfast at the guesthouse. Prices for food and drinks rise as you gain altitude. And luxuries such as hot showers (or running water), western toilets, wifi and outlets become scarce as you go up the trail.

In Bhulbule,  we stayed at the basic Heaven Guest House and we met our first trail friends Ryan and Lucy from England and Heidi from SF. I had my first dal bhat, the typical trail meal consisting of lentil soup, rice, and veggie curry.

Day 2 on the circuit we walked for nearly five hours and did some significant climbing. It was brutally hot as we were still at lower elevation. We ended the day at Ghermu and stayed at the Rainbow guesthouse which is perched on the outskirts of town with awesome waterfall views. We met Bob from the Philippines who gave some good trekking advice and Lola and Dieterich from Germany. The real standout though was the pizza we had for dinner. As a rule don’t expect much from Western food on the trail. This pizza however was amazing! Better than Atomic in Portland!

Day 3 was kind of brutal. We walked for nearly six hours with lots of climbing in serious heat and some rain. On the positive side we saw lots of blue footed lizards and a group of monkeys playing in the trees. We ended our day at Tal and just showered, ate and crashed.

On Day 4, many people push through to Chame which takes 7+ hours. We decided to break up the trip. We still walked for over 5 hours but we stayed in Timang at the end of a 1500 foot climb over less than an hour. We were the only people in our guesthous that night. I think we may have been the only people who stayed in the town! This was our first night of free accommodation.  The “hot shower” was a bucket of hot water and a plastic scooper to use to throw it on your body. The amazing views that the circuit is famous for had thus far eluded us in a cloudy haze but at sunset the clouds parted for just a few minutes to give us a glimpse of the snow capped peaks surrounding us. The view coupled with the solitude made it a pretty incredible moment.

Day 5 was a short day. Just 2.5 hours walk to Chame. It was a good day to cut things short as it poured all afternoon.  I did laundry that day which didn’t dry.  We were starting to get into higher elevation (nearly 9,000 feet) so the air had cooled significantly. Again we were the only people in our guesthouse. By now I had a full blown tea addiction going. Tea tastes amazing on the trail!