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

Annapurna day 4

Writing these blog posts during the trek can be a tad hard sometimes, particularly when so much has happened in your day and the days are so long with so much change. We started out with a big breakfast this morning at our guest house before we left to go from Tal to Chame which would take us around 7 hours and would take us over 1000m in altitude. We had been following the Annapurna guide book that I had been recommended and had bought in Kathmandu which had some great information on the whole trek itself and the side trails to avoid the road. The only downside was that some of the details weren't exactly explained for substance the fact we would fave climbing hundreds of steps up the side of a mountain etc, which we obviously found out once we were on the trail.

The trek from Tal to Karte (where we stopped so Dave could super glue his rented boot back together) was fine and so were the treks to the next few villages. It wasn't until we came to the never ending steps and a very steep ascent that we realised this wasn't always gonna be the case. We followed the trail for hours and hours before we got to a waterfall which we had to cross and with the rocks being to slippy to hop across, I took my boots and socks off and made my way across through the ice cold Himalayan water. It was painful but in a nice way. We then came to Daneque where we stopped for a very late lunch and with the plans to go to Chame completely blown away (it was another 3/4hrs and it was already late afternoon) we decided to carry on to Temang. The road to Temang was one of the biggest challenges yet, and the ascent of over 300m straight up a steep cliff took us through our first glimpses of snow. I struggled up the hill, taking breaks in between and even managed to slip on a rock and soak my boots and socks, trying to pass a waterfall. I stopped to change them but the boots were soaked through. Neveetheless, we made it to Temang in an hour when it was supposed to be 2hrs. With the amazing mountains right up close to us and views to absolutely die for, we headed up and up until we passed Temang and decided to walk as far as possible until the sun went down (which was a spectacular orange/bright pink show for us over the snow capped mountains). We finally got to Thomchouk, a village with a beautiful mountain view, where we stopped at the first cabin lodge we saw. We once again got a free cabin room and said we would order meals there tonight and the next morning.

Lucky for me I got a double bed and extra blankets and they even had a fire going where I could dry my socks and boots overnight. I hoped that would work! We had an amazing meal while our feet warmed by the coal fire and we discussed tomorrow's plans. Today we had ascended 1000m which I was so bloody proud of! At times I felt so weak and thought I couldn't go on, but with a goal in mind and a few breaks to keep me motivated, I carried on and I made it to 2600m. Tomorrow will be a hard day and we will ascend another 1000m to 3600m where we will start to feel the effects of the altitude change.

Wish me luck and hopefully tomorrow I'll have reached Ghyuru and haven't given up lol.

Peace x (PS- the view from this high up is enough to keep me going, it's spectacular)

Today was Day 3 of the trek and our wait was to get from germ to a small colourful mountain village called Tal. We left our cosy guest house after having a substantial breakfast to keep us going for the day. We had a varied day of up and down cliffs, through very rocky terrain alongside the powerful river below, up uneven rocky steps and across dodgy suspension bridges. We hiked uphill on the main road for about 3 hours before reaching Chamje, another small mountain town with a view of yet another amaIng waterfall! We had met a Scottish man named Nick who we chatted to along the road. He had come down from Manang where there was too much snowfall to cross Thorong La pass (5500m). We had seen a few people turn back and we hopes the snow would be gone by the time we got there next week. Nick offered to pick up my headband which I had dropped along the way, and leave it for me to collect in Pokhara. He also mentioned the great natural marijuana which he had been picking along the way in the wild. In Chamje we took a break for lunch and stocked up on veggie fried noodles and some tea before heading on the last but of the trek to Tal.

The trek then took up tonnes and tonnes of steps, through rainforest terrain and through more small 'villages' and makeshift huts build into the mountainside and even under giant boulders. I wondered how they could feel safe living under these huge unstable rocks. But hey, it's Nepal. We walked and walked uphill and sweated and sweated as we gathered every ounce of energy from the noodles to get us up the never ending rocky stairs/trail that would eventually lead us up and out to a view of Tal situated below us. When we finally reached the top we then descended down, with our goats in tow (they literally stopped and started with us as we hiked, as if we were herding them). Tal was a cute and colourful town on a flat surface surrounded by huge mountains and a fast flowing river. We got a beautiful room for free yet again, with hot showers and free wifi once we are or meals there. I think she was disappointed when I only ordered an omelette but David are for both of us. After having a hot shower again (im afraid they'll run out along the way), I out on whatever clean clothes I had from my small stash and got cosy for the night. I was excited for yet another great nights sleep- they had blankets :)

Tmro we would head 7hours onwards to Chame. Time to let the feet rest and recover for that.

Peace

Annapurna Day 2-

Waking up from the familiar sound of lashing rain still lingering in my head, I slowly got up and went out to realise it had been lashing all night. Our host Hari told us not to go because of the rain and urged us to stay at his one more night. 'Daughter' he called me! We decided to have our Nepalese breakfast, say goodbye to the family and head to the road to carry on our journey. Today we would trek from Ngadi to Ghermu which would take us 6 hours or so. We walked along the road until we finally came to a high ridge which we took up to small villages surrounding by paddy fields. We walked for an hour or so before arriving at the start of Bahandunda which we thought was the place we were supposed to reward ourselves with a nice cold drink after the hard uphill hike. Turned out it wasn't!

We stopped here for an hour to have some masala chai and after another hours walk we realised we arrived in main Bahundanda. We were checked by the police for our TIMS card (to allow you to trek) and entry permit (for the Annapurna conservation area). It was pretty funny when we were offered a small bunch of natural marijuana (Nepal allows you to possess an ounce) from a local mans garden. He said that it does Infact help with the altitude sickness and seen as we were going to 5500m in the highest mountain range in the world, we said yes! We bought it for 200rs/$2 and it smelled lovely.

When we arrived in main Bahundanda and after registering with the mountain police, we stopped in at a cafe where david and I threw off our hiking boots and took a seat. He had a chicken soup and I had a two snickers and a coke (energy eh?). We paid the lady and got ourselves organised while the rain lashed heavily outside the cafe shack. We had just read about the next part of the hike being steep steps and if they are wet, they're very slippery. Here we were off on our way through this stony area in the heavy rain! My new boots were treating me well and I was scared about doing a trek so big with non broken in boots. I protected my heels and toes with plasters and the more I walked the more the boots got comfortable. We walked passed a hamlet called Lili Bhir which had handrails along the cliff and which my guidebook had told me was about an accident that had happened before. It was very steep and a sheer drop down to the riverside, so the handrails were appreciated. After two hours of beautiful river and mountain views from a height and sometimes in the rain, we arrived in Ghermu. We stopped at the last lodge as we had read that this place had the best views of the waterfall across the road... And it did!

We discussed a deal to eat our meals there and get our room for free and as luck would have it, there was a great leaving, which meant they need the business. It was low season and this seemed like an easy thing to agree to. We got our beautiful curry dinners there, took a hot shower (luxury I thought) and got some warm blankets for my bed. I had froze the night before and was determined to get a good night tonight. After trying out some of the natural mountain marijuana with the sound of the waterfall in the background, I went to bed in my lovely clean clothes and down jacket. The next day would involve a 6hr walk to a beautiful town called Tal.

Annapurna day 1

It was only two days before I was due to set off on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, that I acquired a trekking companion by the name of David. We organised our permits the day before and gathered the last few essentials for our cold hike through the Himalayas.

The morning of the trek we dropped our excess bags to reception for storage and took our other backpacks with us to last us the 17-20 days. My bag was tiny (15L daypack) but I seemed to have the essentials and anything else I needed hung off the back of the pack. It sat comfortably on me and I was happy with having only this to carry on the long trek even if I did have to sacrifice a few things.

We took a cab to the Gongobu bus station and took a local bus for the 6hour journey to Besisahar where we would take the optional walk to Bhulebule instead of bussing or taking a jeep like a lot of tourists were now doing. We'r on a trek after all. We walked from Besisahar through rice paddys and small villages filled with smiling faces- typical in Nepal and eventually met a lovely local guest house owner by the name of Hari. He invited us to stay at his guest house 'The Hilton' in Nghadi which was 40 mins walk from Bhulebule and after chatting with him and how i reminded him of his recently deceased daughter we couldn't help but warm to him. We walked along muddy roads, down a long dark tunnel and up a 'steep' hill before arriving at Nghadi where his family welcomed us. We had agreed to eat all our meals at his guest house so our room was free in return (something pretty common on these types of treks and with it being low season it seemed very easy).

We were given a basic but cosy room with two beds and the lovely family which included Hari, his wife and their grandchildren were a joy to be around. We watched some TV and drank homemade rice wine (to help us warm up and sleep well) in the small makeshift lounge while Hari's wife cooked up a storm in the kitchen area even though she wasn't feeling very well (David gave her some medication for her cold & flu). We were then presented with a huge portion of Dal Bhat (Typical Nepalese dish of rice, lentil curry, pickles, potatoes etc) with more and more helpings to keep us full all evening. We enjoyed some more time with the family before heading off to bed to get a good rest for our big trek the next morning. We planned a 5/6hr hike to get to Ghermu which would take us up to 1130 metres above sea level and considering our trek would reach heights of around 5,500 metres we knew this would just be the start of it. Day one was done and dusted and it was such a great day filled with baby goats, chicks and an evening that just fell into place.