The time has come to leave Nepal and even though I was annoyed that my Indian visa issues kept me from my to yoga course, it still meant I had some extra time to spend in Kathmandu. The icing on the cake was that I got to hang out at the best hostel in Kathmandu - Alobar1000 where I met some really amazing people in the past week. I have stayed there over and over again throughout my time in Kathmandu and have an amazing experience each and very time.

I am sad to leave Kathmandu and all the people there but I know that I will be back again some day to do heaps more trekking and revisit friends. Nepal is somewhere I hold dear to my heart and I love everything it had to offer- the sheer kindness of the people, the absolute beauty of the scenery, the amazing food, the history and of course the feeling you get trekking deep in the Himalayas. It is somewhere I am wondering why I never came before, but now know that I was meant to about at this time in my life. As I was writing this blog, I had just been seen off at the airport by a few of my new friends from Alobar 1000. We grabbed a bunch of beer and packed ourselves into the cab only to arrive at the airport and notice my flight was delayed even more. We spent an hour or so drinking, laughing and having fun outside the airport (we weren't allowed in unless flying) until I finally left and went through security. My friend Om who we had just missed on the Annapurna circuit had given me a special good luck gift before hand and I had spent the night before in the company of some very awesome people, drinking, playing silly games and laughing like I haven't laughed in ages! The sequence of events went down very nicely and it will encourage me to revisit Nepal and Alobar once again, sooner rather than later.

There is no doubt in my mind that I will return to Nepal and continue trekking the worlds highest mountain ranges and I just hope that every traveller out there makes the time (as much time as possible) to visit this wonderful country. It has a special kind of air about it and it is most definitely up there with some of thebestcoingriws iv ever seen. Nepal, Dhanybhad for everything, I will not forget my experience there.

Annapurna- Day 18

Today we did feck all! Literally! It was a funny morning because we slept until about 9:30/10 and the atmosphere of the group blatantly said, nope there's going to be no 1700m ascent today. I kind of knew it, considering how much whiskey we drank the night before and how late we stayed up. There was no chance of us making it all the way up to Poonhill. One by one a few people left for the bus to Pokhara and wth Alex now joining our grow we all decided to spent the first day of the new year in the hot springs, chill out and then tomorrow we would leave for Beni/Pokhara by bus. This meant our trek was over. I was happy with that though considering I was out of relatively clean clothes and more importantly - money!

The morning was spent faffing around the lodge, eating breakfast, using wifi and chatting about plans! We then heard to our favourite local momo house for some variety of momos before we left for the hot springs! We spent a few hours wrinkly in the hot springs and then we headed back for some dinner! It was funny being the only girl with 3 guys now in the group because it always seemed to work or like that wherever id travel! No drama which was great!

I had a great idea to get some goodies in the shop and we would all watch a movie on Alex's IPad! And that we did! With the electricity going on and off, there we were crammed into our triple room watching 'I'm not here' the Bob Dylan movie which none of us understood! We munched on snacks and sat in the dark for a good 90 minutes trying to figure out the movie which we could barely hear anyway! It wasn't long before we have up and retreated to bed. I was knackered and I was looking forward to Pokhara tmro to do some laundry and finally be settled in some way again near civilisation. The next morning called for an early start at 7am to prepare for the bus at 8am to Beni where we would change buses to take us to Pokhara!

Sitting here in my new comfort zone, eating delicious food, drinking delicious coffee and feeling the heat of the sun beaming down on me as I sit on the balcony, I reminisce about the past few days. It's not been that long since we finished the trek- maybe a week or so iv lost count, but so much has happened that have changed things for me. I returned to Kathmandu from Pokhara a few days ago and since then Iv had my ups and downs. The ups have definitely been the vast amount of great conversations and new friends iv made at Alobar 1000 (my favourite home from home) and my downs have included missing my flight to Delhi due to a log processing time for my Indian visa. It's funny though, the problems or worries I have travelling that seem so huge at the time, are in fact very very minor, and I have to remind myself of that.

A good friend of mine recently said something a little like this 'Maybe missing your flight and the start of your yoga course because of this visa situation is an act of practicing yoga in itself'. It made sense. The fact that id not given myself enough time to process my long, tedious Indian tourist visa application meant that I would miss the flight I had booked, my airport pick up and the first few days of my yoga teacher training but yet maybe this was supposed to happen. I had to tell myself, the worst that can happen is that I have to change my flight, arrive a but late to the yoga school and at the end if it all I'm in Kathmandu, it could be worse.

It's a few days later since this happened and I have sorted it out, having paid to change my flight, informed my school of my late arrival and extended my Nepalese tourist visa (for a fee of $30 grr). I have met some lovely people at my hostel and spent most evenings chilling in the huge common area reading, drinking tea and chatting about everything with fellow travellers. It's so refreshing to meet someone and have a great conversation, a great meal or even a great few days with them and know that even though we will go or seperate ways, this is the art of travelling and it is so special.

The past few days I have become friends with new people from all over the world, met up with old friends and spent time by myself enjoying my new novel- something I never really do to be honest. (And I am obsessed with mountain adventure stories right now). Iv spent time laughing so hard, planning my future, relaxing and have even been overwhelmed by the news that my Canadian work visa has finally been accepted after months of processing. My life is falling into place- it always does but yet I let little things get me down. Everything will work out and everything does work out if the universe wants it to, but until then you can't intervene and be mad about change of plans.. Just accept them!

It's a beautiful sunny day in Kathmandu and I am sitting opposite a total stranger on the balcony of this atmospheric coffee house and we are both enjoying this time we have doing or own thing. It's a beautiful world and I wish everyone could experience this.

Annapurna- Day 17

It's day 17 and you know what that means, two things- yes I'm wearing the same clothes for 17 days now and also it's New Year's Eve! Our aim was to leave Ghasa and walk 4hrs to Tatopani (meaning hot water in Nepali) where we would spend New Year's Eve with friends in the local hot springs we couldn't wait for. It was day 2 trekking in my sandals and it proved rather tricky as the rocky trail went up, down and around the cliffs. Still, I managed to pass the group who left an hour before us, which was nice! We passed by a few villages and by early afternoon I was the first to reach Tatopani. We got a triple room in Dhaulagiri Lodge which was recommended to us and after a cold shower (didn't cafe at this stage, water was water), I got ready for the hot springs! We met a few there Trekkers there and after having some yummy cheap veggie momos nearby, we had a beer at the local Bob Marley restaraunt for their happy hour.

It wasn't long before we necked our beers and free popcorn before heading to grab our towels and spend the evening in the hot springs. It was 100rps ($1) to enter the hot springs and we spent a good few hours there chatting to all the other Trekkers and drinking local beer! It was so relaxing! We bumped into familiar faces from days passed and we planned to party the night away for New Year's Eve!

After the hot springs we went back to the guests house, drank some whiskey and a bunch of us decided to gab or flashlights and break out of our locked guest house through the fence in order to find a party. And sure enough we did- A camp fire party with our trekker friends from earlier! The porters danced around the hot fire, while we all sang and passed a bottle of whiskey around. When it struck midnight we all drunkingly wished each other a Happy New Year! It was so random but so incredibly nice to be spending New Years in the Himalayas with these bunch of awesome characters from around the world! We laughed and had fun for a wee while after that until we one by one retreated to bed! I wondered how our plan to hike 1700m up the mountain tmro would go... Or would it!

Happy 2015 wonderful Worldtravellerz, thank you for everything!

Annapurna -Day 16

This morning we had breakfast with the two men before we all headed off on our journeys. Dave and I left just after the two guys and Rik followed later on. After a while, Willy the shaggy dog from the guest house, had stopped following the two guys and instead followed us all the way to Larjung where he met his girlfriend (we think Willy was a boy) and left us while we ate lunch. The wind wasn't so bad today and the trail was quite steady and flat that I was fine wearing my socks and sandals today (to give my Achilles a rest). We had an amazing array of scenery today passing by some incredible views that reminded me of Canada with the pine trees dotted under the snow capped mountains. The scenery kept changing and we saw the biggest glacier fixed in between the mountains. It was amazing! We took some short cuts through the wide and stoney river bed and hopped stone to stone when we came to the flowing river parts. At one point it was too awkward to get across so I had to take my sandals and socks off and walk through the chilly water. Refreshing and not as cold as up in the mountains last time I did it.

We carried on for a while until we came to the sign for Titi Lake which was a side trip up the too of the mountain. Rik had carried on so we couldn't tell him our plan to go up and see the lake. We hoped we would catch him in Ghasa. We took the side trail up the steep hill for an hour until we came to the lake surrounded by marshlands. It was pretty cool and with the backdrop of the snowy mountains and desert scene, it made a perfect picture. We carried on through the pine forest which was really nice and had some amazing views, before heading back down through some small villages until we saw a sign for Ghasa which said 1.5hrs. We took the trail which led us across two bridges, more bamboo forests and eventually a main road which we knew meant we were close. It got dark and with our flashlights out, we headed towards what looked like Ghasa, before being greeted by a bright headlamp coming towards us which was Rik. What a coincidence! We headed to the guest house he had chosen and are some dinner. There we met a mixed country group including one irish girl which was random, all of whom were on what seemed to be a tour of the circuit. It was quite cringey to sit there and listen to them ask their guide every little thing as if being in school. One guy asked exactly how hot will the hot springs be and another girl asked for an itinerary for their time off in pokhara on a few days. Rik, Dave and I retreated to our room and bitched about then for a little bit, saying that we were glad to be individual Trekkers and to have the freedom to do what you want. The way then acted made me really glad I wasn't on a package trip, nor would I chose to go on one in the future if I had a choice. Here we were, three individuals all trekking together and having a great time but with the freedom to do or own thing too! Tomorrow we would walk to Tatopani -which means Hot water in Nepali, where we would spend the day in the natural hot springs! We couldn't wait! And weather the group decided to walk or take their jeep was another story.

Annapurna -Day 15

So today, after a nice breakfast at our guest house New Asia Trekkers, we headed on our way towards Marpha which was a nice quaint village just passed Jomsom. Rik had left just before us and we said we would meet him along the trail. We had read about the crazy winds that come in between the valley here in the mid morning time and it was this that we ended up being caught in. We walked for about 3 hours though ever changing scenery until we reached Jomsom, which we had heard a lot about! Jomsom wad the 'big smoke' where they had a bank/ATM, army barracks, guesthouses, travel agents and even an airport. A lot of tourists, if they are short on time, jeep back to Pokhara from here or even fly if they want to fork out $90 for the flight. When we showed up, we made our way to the end of the town to find the bank (I needed an ATM because Id ran out of money) but unfortunately the ATM didn't work and I had flashbacks of a similar situation on a trek in Peru a few years prior. As luck would have it, Rik appeared from the bank and told me that he would lend me some US dollars until we got back to pokhara. I was so thankful! I exchanged the dollars in the bank and was relieved that I had enough money for the next few days.

With hungry bellies we went to the closest eatery and ordered momos (stuffed dumplings) which took forever to come out. But they were delicious! After we ate, we got up and headed an hour South to Marpha through the wind once again. We had our hoods up to protect us from the desert dust blowing into our faces. At this point I felt my left Achilles' tendon acting up and I knew that I could feel swelling. My Achilles' tendon had been hurting since the beginning but on the right foot and now that it was ok, the left one was causing me pain. I hoped we would arrived quickly. When we got there, with a cute doggy we named Barry in toe, we walked through this beautiful cobbled village and chose our hotel carefully (the one with chocolate apple pie in the window). Dave went on one of his little expeditions up the mountain while Rik and I took the opportunity to browse in some of the local shops. We then headed back and together with an Austrian and a Chinese guy (and a cute doggy named Willy) we sat around the table and ate dinner. We chatted about everything from Buddhism to Chinese way of life and eventually we all headed off to bed. That evening I had a really great sleep and even had to take a layer off which was a first since coming down from the pass! It was nice not to be freezing cold and shivering all night. Tomorrow we would head further South towards Ghasa or however close we could get.

Annapurna -Day 14

Today marked two weeks since we began the circuit. The trek usually takes 17-21 days if you do the full thing considering nowadays with the new road, tourists are driving closer and closer to the pass and not walking as much. Then on the other side after the pass you can literally take a jeep back to Pokhara from Muktinath which means you can do the circuit in no time, but that's not really the circuit. Our aim was to start at the very beginning - Besisahar and walk the entire way. Here we were day 14 and we have arrived in Kagbeni this afternoon.

We left Muktinath about 10:30 having had a decent breakfast and set off on the high trail which would lead us through various small Tibetan style villages in this Mustang region including Jhong where we had milk tea with the locals before heading up to a beautiful hilltop Gompa (monastery). The path from Muktinath through to Kagbeni was unbelievable and u couldn't believe that people would skip this part of the hike and opt for a faster way out. The whole appeal as I mentioned before, of the Annapurna Circuit Trek is it's scenic diversity and having just come from deep in the snowy Himalayas to what we were seeing today as complete dry, barren desert. The whole journey took us through the last traces of snow down around the cliffs into the dry Mustang setting that we were expecting. The scenery was incredible because to one side you had an incredible view of the Snow White Himalayas and to the other side you had the desert, multi coloured in parts kind of like the Grand Canyon. It only got better as we reached the end of the dirt road and were met by a rocky canyon with a view through the gap to Kagbeni and the river running beside it. We carefully climbed down the trail on the loose rocks in between the canyon and eventually came to the bottom where the village began.

Kagbeni was awesome at first glance. It reminded me a bit of Bhaktapur with it's maze like streets and all the little hotels and restaurants. It felt like being back in civilisation again especially when we got a room at a hotel that had a hot shower, electricity (that you didn't have to pay for), carpet on the floors, a western toilet (my god this was so luxurious) and an actual painted and decorated room (unlike the mud houses we were used to up in the mountains. I couldn't help but think about my big backpack in Kathmandu and all the clothes I would have chose from after the trek was over. The thing is, iv gone 14 days so far with a tiny 15L bag, sleeping bag, down jacket, toiletries and a spare change of clothes and yet I didn't need anything. It just showed that wherever I go next or wherever I hike next I will know what I actually need to bring and what I don't. Still, I'm a little excited to get some laundry done and wear something other than trekking clothes.

(PS- they have a 'Yac Donald's' here and a '7Eleven' lol)

Today was our rest day in Muktinath, and well deserved after all our efforts over the past 12 days! Personally my body was exhausted and in pain so a good rest was what I needed. I woke up and had a lovely Rasta rock breakfast out on the balcony with all the familiar faces I knew from previous days. How could you resist this...?

We had planned to go to some temples today as Muktinath is a place of pilgrimage here in the Mustang region, but one by one as all the Trekkers packed and left for their next destination,I got lazy and sat in the blissful sun for most of the afternoon! We said our goodbyes to our friends who all set off and we promised we would see each other again soon, after all we were going the same route and here we were together again in Muktinath.I did some usual stuff on wifi (crazy to be on wifi in the Himalayas eh?), read through some trekking books and chatted with friends before the sun went down and we retreated to the open fire with a beer and some delicious food! We chatted around the fire and met some new Trekkers who al had differing stories. We spent a few hours listening to some Reggae on the sound system (this was the Bob Marley hotel after all) before making our way to bed to get a good rest before our hike to Kagbeni tmro which is apparently the only place on upper mustang you can visit without a ridiculously expensive permit. We had a few more days of the trek left until we were back in Pokhara and who knows where we would be for New Years.. Hopefully with some of our trekking friends 😀

Annapurna -Day 9

Today was yet another 'rest day' as I mentioned in the pervious blog. Today I got up and ordered yet another English Breakfast which had been delicious the day before. After chatting to some of the guys in the lounge, one of them said 'Oh you're Jade who out the ad online for a trekking partner' and he had also mentioned he had seen my name in the snow. It was so random. I also planned to buy some conditioner (the highlight of my day) because my endless knotty hair was driving me mad and as any girl knows, washing your hair with just shampoo just doesn't work. Instead of a rest day it was actually a pamper day for me. I headed down to the local shop (where I bought my chocolate the day before and spotted that they sold conditioner, which had been hard to come by) and bought some conditioner before heading back to ask for a bucket of hot water for a shower. Believe it or not, it's not as bad as it sounds and I felt great afterwards. I had been rotating my clothes and trying to keep them as clean as possible and even though I had a tiny backpack I seemed to have what I needed. I took the opportunity to sit by the warm stove to warm myself up and also dry my boots off one last time before the big trek.

Outside there was a party going on led by two middle aged Spanish men. Every half hour a beer was taken from the cabinet to be served to them all and it wasn't long before they joined the rest of us in the warm lounge to continue the party! We all sat around the hot stove and laughed as the Spanish guys got more and more drunk and when asking for a beer everytime would say 'one before the last one'. It was quite entertaining. We listened to Rick, a Belgian trekker's story about how he Hitchhiked from Belgium all the way to Everest and actually has a book about his journey. None of us could believe it. We laughed hysterically as one of the guides showed off his muscles and his double jointed abilities. It was quite an entertaining night. Dave, Rick and I all decided we would leave together the next day to go 4.5hrs to the next stop towards Thorong La. The weather was looking good for the next few days and we had heard that a few people had passed already. We were urged to get crampons for our boots (spikes to dig into the ice) for the descent from Thorong La, as we would be descending from 5416m to 3000 odd metres in one go and that the other side was rather icy. We joked that instead we would take frying pans or skiis and slide down but obviously that's not safe.

It wasn't long before we went to bed one by one on this Christmas Eve eve and we would wake up the next morning to a white Christmas Eve in the himalayas, the first for a lot of us. Our aim to pass Thorong La on Xmas Day wouldn't happen but we would still celebrate Xmas together the day before and would pass Thorong La hopefully on Boxing Day.

Annapurna Day 12- The crossing

Today was the day I was nervous about most, because of the disaster that had happened, unsure if I was strong enough and also well equipped. After 11 days of trekking, my body had build up stamina and muscle and the only thing holding me back was the altitude. Taking baby steps in high altitude leaves me breathless in no time and I remembered this from being in La Paz in 2012.

We got up with the sound of our alarms at 3:45 in order to have breakfast, pack and be able to get up and off the pass on time. We packed hard booked eggs, extra water and Tibetan bread for the journey as there would be nothing until Muktinath on the other side. The scary thing was that even though all these days we had walked on some crazy terrain and had some challenges, the challenge of walking up the switchbacks of the side of a mountain in the pitch black with only an iPhone flashlight to enable you to see, best them al. To top it all off, there was heaps of snow and ice and in the first ten minutes I thought I would get frostbite on my toes and have to have them removed (seriously).

On the steep ascent to Ghyaru, we had been told that was the second hardest ascent on the circuit and here we were doing the most challenging. At times we would lose the trail and have to stop to figure it out, with us splitting up to check. (Not easy on the side of a slippery mountain). We carried on and made it to High camp after an hour or so. After filling up on water one last time and using the toilet, we said our goodbyes to two guides we had met guiding an Italian couple, who wished us look and safety. It was crazy to think that not long ago had we met people who were turned away because the pass was virtually impassable and here we were going for it. I was terrified of my own ability to get to the top and off by 11/12 and hoped for the best. The trek was challenging and you could certainly feel the air was thinner here and after reaching the top of a few mountains with flags and being mistaken for the pass, I finally knew I was there when Dave held up his hiking poles from up there. I tried not to get too excited and paced myself getting up there. Rick had been held back and so we waited for him up there while us and the bunch of students I had been to the cinema with, took pics of the famous landmark! Here we were at Thorong La Pass 5416m in the Himalayas I just couldn't believe it. When Rick finally ascended the mountain, he told us about his struggle with the altitude and his thoughts of giving up and dropping his backpack in the snow. He had said his backpack was too heavy and he didn't think it through. Lucky enough as I was in the middle of Dave and Rick on the way, I could look forward and see Dave and stop to wait for Rick to catch up. I knew it was common courtesy never to leave someone behind and I would never want that done to me especially somewhere as remote as this! We have him a hug and after a snickers or two for some energy, we left for my the 4/5hr steep descent which in fact was exactly that but to add in the fact that it was mostly ice and slushy snow, so yes, id gone 11 days without any falls and here I fell at least 4 times and in mud too! I was gross and extremely tired by the time I got to Bob Marley Hotel in Muktinath. Needless to say I took advantage of the scalding hot shower and put on my cleanest clothes while clutching a flash of hot water. I was woken up by Rick for dinner and luckily so, because I got to spend a lovely Boxing Day evening by the fire with good friends I had made and who had shared this experience too. We sipped on Jack Daniels, I wen tried a bit of Tak steak and we talked about the days gone by.

I forgot to mention a thought that ran through my head earlier. I was thinking about the trek and had I known about the challenges of doing this trek during winter before I planned to go would I have done it and I thought no I probably wouldn't. The reason being that well basically I have no faith in myself. I see things like this all the time and think no way could I do that and some of the things I have done in the past 12 days I am so proud of because I went ahead and didn't think twice about it. I guess that makes a great ending to 2014, doing something I never thought I could do. To be honest December Is the hardest time to do this trek because of the intense cold, the snow but for me it's also the best because there are hardly any people here, the sky's are incredibly blue and it gave me that extra challenge that I needed.

Now for the next few days trekking down the other half of the circuit through the Mustang region.