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.

Annapurna- Day 11

Today was Xmas morning and we woke up to a white one (obviously we'r in the Himalayas). We had a decent breakfast and left around 9am to go to Thorong Phedi which would be our last stop before we we oils cross the pass. Some people opted for the High camp and hour further and closer to the pass although this was not recommended as you would be sleeping in extremely high altitude without fully acclimatising. Nonetheless, a lot of people did it to take an hour off their big adventure across the pass!

We walked to Thorong Phedi in a few hours but my gosh were they terrifying hours. Come 10am there was strong winds, strong enough to push me off the trail and onto the ground, I was thankful I wasn't at a cliff edge which a lot of it had been before and after. After this we passed through a known landslide area and had to take huge gaps between us when walking on the narrow cliff edge. I'm was almost tempted to hold the rocks for support but then last minute reflex told me .. hell no! After a lot of struggles and challenges with the wind, we finally got to Thorong Pedi, where Rick and myself took the opportunity to kick off the hiking boots, get into our beds and sleep for a few hours before waking up for 90 mins approx for a Dal Bhat dinner. Everyone was anxious for the next day considering it would be an extremely long day trekking (10-12hrs depending on speed and weather). We knew that the weather was on our side with it being clear for the next few days but yet we were told to be up and off the pass by 11/12 because strong winds cause big problems for Trekkers. This is what happened in October when the disaster happened, a cyclone came and the Trekkers were up there too late around 3pm which is not recommended. We would have a 4/5 hour steep decent from the pass 5416m to the town of Muktinath on the other side at 3700m and you would want to get there when it was bright. We had our dinner, ordered our breakfast for the next day and I even made a very expensive satellite phone call to my mam before I left for bed once again.

Tmro was the big day and even though it was Boxing Day and we had wanted to do the pass on Xmas Day, we figured it was still Xmas somewhere in the world.

Annapurna- Day 10

Today we planned to leave Manang having spent 3 nights there chilling out. Our next port of call would be Yak Kharka which our guide book and a local shop lady had told us would be 5/6 hours away! We decided to leave around 11am and have a sleep in/late breakfast because we had originally thought it was only 2/3 hours away. Rick left around 11 while Dave and I hung around the hotel trying to find the owner to purchase crampons for Daves crappy boots. The owner wasn't due back until later on as he was at a funeral so it was either go or stay, and neither of us really wanted to waste another day here although attempting to descend the pass with boots like Daves, was a death threat so we were torn.

After a lot of hesitation and asking around for anywhere open to selling crampons, we failed and decided to just be on our way. Needless to say we had not heard from Om at all considering we had no wifi, so we had no idea where he was. We headed off up and out through Manang which at first ascent, killed my lungs. I was breathing like an old age pensioner because the air was so thin up here. I had suffered from a severe headache a few nights before and had started taking Diamox pills to help speed up acclimatisation and my body was getting used to hiking again in this thin air. It wasn't long before my breathing regulated and it completely went the opposite way and my heart beat so slowly but yet I could ascend, even slightly run uphill without being out of breath too much. It was a relief!

We walked for about an hour before we met Rick and we all walked together before meeting a local man who told us Yak Kharka was only an hour away! So we went on our way, with the ascent over with and carried on straight along the snow trail until we reached Yak Kharka where we found our friends staying at the Gangapurna Hotel. We got cosy around the hot stove in the lounge and ate dinner, while chatting about tomorrow's adventure to Thorong Phedi 4400m above sea level. Right now we were up 4000m and considering 10 days ago we had started at 850m this was incredible. That night a few hours into my broken sleep I had all of a sudden woke up with a sense of nausea and also began to get the pre fainting symptoms ie loss of hearing and sight and intense dizziness with no co ordination. In the freezing room I m suddenly felt so warm and sat up trying to get our if my sleeping bag while taking my down jacket and hat off. Rick who was in the bed next to me, woke up and knew what was happening as he had climbed to Everest base camp before and was aware of Altitude sickness symptoms. Even though I was taking diamox, these symptoms still happen sometime just at a fast rate. I was so relieved to know that someone was there for me and telling me not to panic & that it would be over soon really helped. Thanks Rick!

Annapurna Day 8-

Today is our 'rest day' the day when everybody who arrives in Manang (the tourist hub of the circuit) stays for a day or two to pretty much.. Rest. Because of the altitude we will be reaching in the next few days -5416m at Thorong La pass, it is necessary for us to acclimatise and Manang is the place to do it! I decided to spend the day doing exactly that, as opposed to doing some side treks from here like a few of the other groups. I wanted to rest and so I did! I chilled out in the guest house lounge for a good few hours chatting with others before heading to a movie 'Seven years in Tibet' which was showing at the local 'movie theatre'. By this I mean, a small cold stone room with a few wooden benches covered in Yak hyde and a projector screen to show the movie on.

En route to the screening, I stopped at the local shop to stock up on chocolate for the next few days (as a lot of us had been doing) of intense hiking. I spent a fortune -$8, on chocolate but before this, I got talking to a guy who was also buying chocolate and heading to the cinema with his students. When he found out my name was Jade he replied 'Wow you're the Jade who wrote in the snow on the way here', which I had indeed done. I didn't think anyone would pay attention to my 'Jade was here 2014', amongst the other Nepali writing in the snow but this guy had. It wasn't long before we were all in the small room watching the movie, which cost 250rps/$2.50 and included a cup of hot chai and some popcorn. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, me in my sandals, wading trough the snow and ice with no headlamp.

Back at the hostel there were tonnes of people in the lounge drying their boots and socks, huddled around the burning stove. This was a common occurrence in most of the lodges. We all are some dinner and some of the groups chatted and planned for the next days departure. We on the other handy figured we would stay one more day, considering we were waiting for our friend Om from Kathmandu to join us here anyway. At least I had another rest day to look forward to.

Annapurna Day 6

It's 4:40pm and I'm snuggled up in bed feeling and smelling so fresh and so clean after a wet wipe shower. The days of hot showers at the lodges are well and truly gone, but it's ok. Today was a very adventurous day, a day where we acquired a group and shared this experience and just incredible scenery with them as we walked for hours from Upper Pisang to Ngawal. Our aim was to get to Braka by the time the sun went down but because of the amount of snow around, the normal trails were taking a lot longer. For this reason we stayed put in Ngawal.

We left the Annapurna Hotel this morning around 8am, a little after the other groups had left and we walked a long snowy trail before reaching another suspension bridge. We caught sight of two guys up ahead who were going in the same direction. We knew that once we crossed this suspension bridge, the steep and snowy ascent would begin, which we would later know as the second hardest ascent after the Thorong La pass which we were aiming for.

We took our time going up the winding trails, placing our feet in already made footsteps from the people before, but my body seemed to be able for this and I took on a bit of speed. No doubt we had breaks in between where we got talking to the two men (both who'd done this twenty odd years ago) and saw two guys from our hotel. We took a break and gradually made our way up the sheer side of the mountain. It was super challenging. My boots were constantly covered in snow and my feet and socks were soaked but I carried on.

One of the men caught up to me and asked how I was so fit, I couldn't believe it. I was just going at my bodies pace and it was letting me get this far. I was thankful for all the trekking I had done in New Zealand and all the times I pushed myself to reach a mountain summit or a goal in mind. This was when I needed the stamina and energy, in the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. Here I was a tiny human on the face of a cliff, surrounded by some of the worlds top highest mountains and I was conquering my own challenge. A group we had seen earlier had caught up to us and we all trekked together which was nice. There were people of all nationalities, ages and fitness levels which was great. We took breaks with them and had lunch with them in Ngawal before deciding to stay there.

You may wonder why I didn't chose to do the Everest base camp trek right? Most people do, although I had heard of the Annapurna region of the Himalayas from friends before, I didn't know what trek I wanted to do. I researched it and talked to travellers and it turned out that the Annapurna Circuit Trek (crossing through the Thorong La pass) was in fact one of the worlds best treks. This was purely because the trek takes 17-20 days and you are constantly surrounded by something different everyday. The Everest base camp was shorter, more expensive and it seemed to be popular just because of the name. I was happy to do the circuit.

I don't know if many of you heard about the natural disaster in the region, on the Thorong La pass in fact, back in October but a huge snow storm came in and heaps of Trekkers and porters were killed. They are very cautious now about this happening again and so I'm trying not to dwell on this until we see the conditions of the pass. I mentioned before about people having to turn around and come back having found out that the pass is impassable, but we are hoping that if the sunny weather lasts until next week, we should have a good chance of crossing it. It's my goal to do the full circuit and I hope we get to cross it safely.

But for now we have a few more days of acclimatisation and right now we are at 3850m with a goal to reach 5500m at the pass as I said before. A lot of sleep, food and water will help with that.

Peace out x

Annapurna day 7

Today you could call our 'rest day' we only walked for 4hrs. Having stayed in Ngawal the night before we had a well earned rest and knew we would have it somewhat easy for the next few days as we acclimatised. We had breakfast with the lovely lady owner at 9am and set out for 10am which was very late for us. We took the 'direct trail' in the book and ironically the 'trail' in question took us all over the place and not so direct after all. We walked through dense forest with barely there mimics of a trail and somehow ended up crossing a bridge and following two Sherpas to a town called Mungji which we mistook as Braga, where we had set out for.

We had lunch in Mungji and headed off a half another further to actual Braga. On our way we stopped to take pics of groups of Trekkers (there seemed to be tonnes here in Manang) and once we got to Braga we dropped our backpacks at a store and took the 30 min side trail up the a 500yr old Gompa/Buddhist Monastery. We shouted for a monk to come and open it and considering we just bumped into two people from the group yesterday who had just seen it and urged us to go in.

The books advice helped, and a monk actually came out and opened for us. We took our soaking wet hiking boots and headed to into the beautifully colourful monastery in our wet socks. We walked around with the monk for a little while, taking in the amazing sights around us. It was beautiful and it smelled of incense all over. After we came down from the monastery, we grabbed our bags and went 30 mins further to Manang where we knew everyone would be. Plus we were meeting Om, a friend from Kathmandu who was doing the trek too but later. We finally got to Manang, the place where we had seen on signs from day one but seemed so far away and the place where everyone 'rests' before attempting to go further north to cross Thorong La. We checked in with the police there to show or permits etc and they told us that the weather was looking good for a few days ahead which meant high chance of crossing Thorong La safely or at all.

We then checked into The Turicho Hotel in Manang which obviously the tourist hub because we bumped Into a few familiar faces. Manang was a cool stone built village with windy, snowy streets, sitting in the Himalayan range at 3300ms altitude. We had seen signs for 'English movies shown all day' and things to do like play snooker. It was a Trekkers hub for resting up until the big climb of Thorong La. In the hotel we got. wifi, a hot bucket shower (felt so amazing after this, weirdest experience tho) a hot stove to dry our boots and socks and a view to die for. We sat around and mingled while our phones charged (for a price) and we met the group who's photo we'd taken earlier. Like trekkers, we talked about what mountains to conquer next and bonded over our exciting of the trek and the crossing at 5500m. After I heated up and charged my phone, I headed to my cold room for an early night and it was great to know I didn't have to do any trekking the next day. Movie day!

Annapurna Day 5

Today I felt like Walter Mitty or even Alexander Supertramp. I had the nicest day so far on the trek even though we trudged through snow, up/down/around cliffs, over dodgy snow capped suspension bridges and along never ending roads.

The night before when we had reached Tamchowk, we had noticed the first of the snow and we were at 2600ms or so, but today was our first day finally feeling like we are in the Himalayas. The scenery was outstanding and so surreal. Sometimes I had to pinch myself and say out loud where I was. It was strange to be right up beside those enormous mountains and the more we trekked the more into the heart of the Annapurna Range we would go.

Yesterday we had so much ascent which killed me but today as if my body was used to this routine it just did it. Music and thoughts kept me occupied and instead blocked my mind from taking over to tell me I can't do it. Ascents didn't seem too incredibly hard and walking through feet of snow and icy roads just became a rhythm after a few hours of it.

At this rate, I was speeding ahead of Dave, up and down cliff, through foot trails from people in the snow. We stopped at Bhratang when we both decided to stop and eat, unfortunately nowhere was open or functioning and so we would have to carry on 1.5hr to the next town Dhukurpokhary. Along the way I could tell Dave was dying haven not eaten in a few hours. The sooner we got to Dhukurpokhary the better. Unfortunately it took ages of hiking through snow trails and two meetings with people along the way to discuss trail conditions. We realised that it would take us a while to get there. As we slowly made it up the mountain and remembered the French guy saying 'Flat, Straight, Down, Flat (or something like that) we knew we were getting closer. Finally we made it to Dhukurpokhary and we ordered a quick late lunch before another 2hr stint to Upper Pisang, where we would stay that night at 3350m. I sped along and followed the trail to Upper Pisang and after a few hours I got there. I waited a bit for any sign of Dave and after an while i saw him peak in the distance. After about ten minutes of slipping up and down the slopes of Upper Pisang looking for Dave or The Annapurna Hotel. Finally two kids came and told me he was in the Annapurna Hotel. The evening ended with some dinner around the camp fire where everyone's boots were drying. We all mingled and discussed days ahead with some of us heading to the same places. I was looking forward to getting higher in altitude and closer to the Thorong La pass. We had met a few more people along the way who had to turn back because there was too much snow. They all assured us we would be fine in the next few days it would melt. Nervous as I am to cross the pass, I would be so disappointed if I couldn't cross it and make the full circuit. Only rime will tell. Oh and we didn't quite make it to Ghyaru tonight but from Thomchouk to Upper Pisang in the snow it was a good 8/9hrs hike which even the locals at the hotel couldn't believe.

Anyway shall blog again from 3650ms if I make it up there!

Peace xx