Nepal called out to us as it's known for its spectacular scenery. The country has pretty much everything, topographically at least, starting almost at sea level and peaking out with Mt. Everest. We came primarily for some trekking to see some of these majestic Himalayan mountains. Our trekking company, Mountain Monarch, came highly recommended by our friend Ali. She also highly recommended our guide, Dawa, an easy going, charismatic native of the Everest region. Our plan was to head to the foothills of the Annapurna mountain range and do a five day loop.
We arrived in Nepal, via Kathmandu and spent a night there getting oriented. Heather was especially glad to have that extra day in Kathmandu to recover from the wrath of Bangladesh. One dose of antibiotic, though, seemed to fix things up just as our trek was starting. Not a moment too soon!
The next day we flew 25 minutes out to Pokhara, a beautiful city next to a lake, near our starting point. We would get a chance to enjoy the city later, but we were immediately whisked off to Nayapul by car to start our trek. (For those that are interested, our trip led us to the towns of Ghandruk, Tadapani, Ghorepani, Tikhedhunga and back to Nayapul.)
The first day began with a gradual climb along wide paths hugging a raging river. As we would soon learn, the water came from snow melt and rain - lots of it. The weather was warm and clear to start, although there were ominous clouds across the valley. After a couple of hiking hours, we stopped for lunch at Syauli Bazaar. On the trek, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of "tea houses" along the trail, which offer accommodations and meals. The room rates are set by the government but equate to about $4/night. The food menus are all the same, too! They actually have lots of options and can be surprisingly tasty, but must get old if you go on a 2 week trek. We had fun trying a little but of everything - momos (local dumplings that were our fave), daal bhat, spaghetti, fried rice, fried noodles, ramen, popcorn (excellent after a day of trekking) and of course, black tea (about 5 times a day).
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| My favorite item on the menu- chicken! |
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| Momos! Local dumplings that were our staple |
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| This was simply awesome. Freshly picked corn and grilled. The kernels were chewy and dense like a much softer version of an uncooked popcorn kernel |
After lunch, we began our serious trekking, climbing "slowly" (for Dawa) straight up for a couple of hours. I paused often (really to catch my breath) to enjoy the beautiful rice paddies we hiked through and the view of the valley we had left below.
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| Rice paddies on our hike up |
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| The only clear view of the valley we would get |
Then came the rain.... 4 days of it. No joke.
It started with a light shower that first day, basically a casual introduction "Hi, nice to meet you, see you tomorrow." For the next 4 days, we were almost completely shrouded in either a cloud mist or rain. Trails were water-logged, making rock hopping a necessity not necessarily to keep shoes dry (they were already wet) but to avoid getting stuck in mud or something else that looked brown. To make things more interesting were the aforementioned leeches - lots of them. We were checking constantly to see if any had latched on or even burrowed through shoes and socks to find its meal (it is possible as Heather had one in the web of her toe). We had a handy salt pouch which caused them to curl up and release within seconds. Fortunately, we were diligent enough to avoid any deep blood suckers!
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| Hopping across streams. Note the water cascading down the steps |
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| Beautiful flowers... Except on the left you can see a dark elongated object (out of focus)= leech |
The rain made the experience unique to say the least. I can't say that's what I wished for, but there is something special anytime you go out in the wilderness. Something that we don't do enough at home. Anyway, the clouds unfortunately obscured the towering Himalayas our entire trek. I guess this is not the perfect time to go trekking. On the other hand, there weren't too many other people on the trails, and we often had whole tea houses to ourselves. We had a great time hanging out with Dawa, chatting, learning his card game "shit head," and watching Olympics on the one TV we found.
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| Me, Dawa and our porter drinking "mustang" coffee, a seriously wicked concoction of butter, coffee and rice wine. I'll try anything once, and sometimes only once |
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| Trying to carry our bags like the porter did. I lasted about 5 seconds. |
As a final parting goodbye, the rains really unleashed on our last day as we hiked out. We all decided to just wear sandals and slosh our way through it - easily our best decision of the day.
Overall the trek was strenuous but not like Machu Picchu. (Our peak elevation was around 3,200 m, compared 4,200 m at Dead Woman's Pass in Peru.) We'd like to do it again sometime but perhaps in a drier season.
We headed back to Pokhara for the rest of the day. As insult to injury, the rains stopped but that meant the Nepal gay pride parade could go on! I think something was lost in translation or perhaps the culture is different, but it was mostly transvestites who showed up. After the surprise parade, we walked around the lake and rested our weary legs.
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| Gay pride parade |
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| Nepalese men in cross-dress |
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