Annapurna Circuit Trek

My mom is telling me this post is a little overdue.  And I'll agree.  But being super sick and then having to move hasn't exactly helped either.  Those are my excuses, now I'll try to write.  WARNING: Get ready to read an entire journal.

Guess what?  We went trekking!  And no, I haven't developed multiple personalities while I've been here; Jeff came to visit.

September 1 - Jeff arrived.  Really late at night.  First time going to Kathmandu in a car, first time going to Kathmandu with no traffic.  Sajjan, Santosh, Ujit and I went in Sajjan's brother's car.  We even listened to American music and it felt like we were a bunch of college kids going on a road trip.  It was fun.  Oh, and it was Jeff's birthday.  We didn't celebrate, whoops.  But he did bring me an entire suitcase full of food, so I felt like it was my birthday!

September 2 - We went to bed.  We got up.  We packed our backpacks and took the worst bus to Kathmandu and it felt like it took twice as long as normal.  We got Jeff's TIMS permit - it cost 7.5 times as much as I thought it would.  I'm local - I don't need silly permits.  I asked the permit lady how much it would cost to catch a microbus to another bus station and she told me 10 rupees.  So when we got on that microbus, I refused to pay more than 20 for the two of us.  They were angry and wanted 50, and may have dropped us off in the wrong place, but I refuse to be ripped off.  By this point, we were so late to the Gongabu bus station that we were told we couldn't make it to Besi Sahar, that we needed to go to Dumre first, then catch another vehicle from there.  I wasn't sure if it was the truth, but I didn't feel we had any other choice.  But I'll tell you what, this guy was the BEST driver I've had since coming to Nepal.  Felt super safe.  The problem was....we spent most of the drive stopped dead in traffic.  Turns out landslides and accidents can turn a 3 hour drive into a 7 hour drive.  We got to Dumre long after dark and had to spend the night there.  At a guesthouse where this other guest kept on coming to our room and asking if we needed anything.  Jeff of course fell fast asleep and left me to continue answering the door.  I don't know how many different ways one can tell a guy, "No, we don't need anything.  We have no problems."  Are you wanting my money maybe?  The last time he says, "Do you need anything?  Food, water?"  "No, we are trying to SLEEP!" I'd lost all concern for being nice and I think he finally got the point.  "Ooohhhhh, sleeeeeep."  "Yeah," and I shut the door again.

Not stoked about getting ripped off.

September 3 - Found a bus to Besi Sahar.  I ask the guy how much.  250 rupees.  I gave him a look like, are you kidding me??  "Okay, for you, 200 rupees."  I wasn't in the mood to bargain, but I made it 150, even though I knew that was WAY too much.  We got on and they made us pay before anyone else got on, and I figured it was so we wouldn't see how much everyone else was paying.  Sure enough, everyone else was paying about 70.  Go figure.  After we got going, the money collector finds a student who speaks English and together they approach us.  "You need to pay money." No, I already paid back there, I say, pointing back towards Dumre.  "No, for your bags, they are taking up 2 seats."  No, we'll hold them on our laps if we need to.  (The bus was still considerably empty.)  "You need to pay more money."  Look, we already paid twice as much as everyone else is paying, I'm not paying anything more.  (The money collector looks slightly embarrassed, but continues pressing for money.)  Finally, I say, "Hey, I live in Nepal, so don't even worry about it."  That's not exactly what I meant to say, but it worked and he left looking quite sheepish.  Yes! another win for Jenny!  We finally made it to Besi Sahar and walked about 3 hours to Bhulbule.  We had planned to go further, but the rain that came right at that moment made us reconsider and we ended up spending the night there.  We met 2 Norwegians, 4 Israelis, lots of Nepalis, and a bunch of Canadians who insisted our Steri-Pen (for water treatment) was witchcraft.

September 4 - We tried to wait for the rain to quit, but it wouldn't, so we spent most of the day walking in the rain.  I did meet lots of kids who wanted a pen, chocolate, or 5 rupees.  I came up with a new technique of saying no.  When they ask for chocolate, I say something to the effect of, "I'm sorry, I don't have any chocolate, do you have any?  I'm really hungry, I've been walking all day."  It never produces any chocolate for me, but it does leave them quite confused.  We trekked to the town of Syange, where we met up with our 4 Israeli friends again and lived like a family in a small guest house that had a gas hot water heater.  Man, that was the best shower I had all trip, and it even had a wonderful view.  Maybe the view went two ways??  I wasn't concerned.  We played card games with the Israelis and began putting numerous bandaids on our numerous blisters.  A great way to start out!

"Give me chocolate"

Sept 5 - We trekked from Syange to Karte.  Nepal is a land of a million waterfalls.  We even managed to negotiate a creek crossing in front of about 20 hikers who had just gone to all the work of taking off their boots.  Yeah, we're stars.  That was the last day we saw those Israeli friends, sadly.  This was also the day I got sick.  Not from the food, nor the water, nor the altitude, just plain ol' sick.

Sept 6 - We went on to Chame.  Walked from the jungle into a more normal forest, one including pine trees and maples and things.  By the time we stopped for lunch, we'd just climbed a hill that put us at roughly 8000 ft and we were starved.  We ordered two plates of dal bhat and a pizza and ate it all.  Jeff followed the Nepali culture of belching to let the cook know it was delicious.  When the entire kitchen burst into laughter, and so did we, Jeff said, "I thought you told me that was appropriate!!"  By the time we reached Chame, Jeff had developed a nice allergic reaction to something.  He stole the last hot shower before the electric heater broke, then locked me out of the room to go find someone with allergy medicines.  Long story short, Jeff got the fine opportunity not only to visit a foreign hospital, but a foreign "hospital" in the middle of nowhere.  And he got the shots and medicine for free.  I guess he made sure he didn't get AIDS, but we still don't know what the shots were.  The worst part of it really though, was the part about my cold shower and sitting outside shivering.  I ended up playing cards with some other Israelis for an hour or so before he came back, so I guess it wasn't that bad.  Did I mention the Nepalis call this Israeli season?

Sept 7 - We went from Chame to Upper Pisang.  The trees started to get a little more sparse, it was more arid, and it rained on us again this day.  We stayed at a little guesthouse up the hill with a nice little couple.  We pretty much hung out in their kitchen the whole time (it was the only warm place).  Once they found out I spoke some minimal Nepali, we began speaking in Nepali English, which was quite fun.  They have a 10-year-old son who goes to school in Kathmandu, and we got to talk to him on the phone.  He even sang the Nepal National Anthem for us, which I was very proud of myself for being able to recognize.  (Coincidentally, I've only heard the first few lines once.  A kid who looks like Jon Spracklen sang it to me while he was in PT one day.  Random, eh?  How often do you get sung to at work??)  The husband also pulled out a de-feathered rooster which they hung above the fire.  Maybe sometimes it's better not to know what's in your host's kitchen?

Sept 8 - Trekked to Manang.  Got followed by this ridiculously stupid looking dog for 2 hours.  He even picked up a friend who followed us for 20 minutes or so, until we stopped to take some pictures of some even more hideous looking horses and the dogs disappeared.  Here the air was finally dry enough that we got our clothes dry.

Sept 9 - Acclimatization day in Manang.  We were at 11,000 feet ish, and were glad for the rest day.  At this point I really was sick, and at about 5:30 am I woke up incredibly feverish.  The fever was forgotten, however, when I looked out the window and said, "Wow!  Mountain!"  Jumped out of bed and ran up to the roof where I began taking pictures of all the mountains around us.  Beautiful!  We hiked up to a small gompa on the hillside to take more pictures.  We returned to our hotel, starved, and found out the best deals for breakfast all include eggs.  Gross.  We ate well, and then went across to the bakery and ate again.  We took a short hike up to visit the '100 rupee lama' who will bless your trip over Thorong La Pass for just 100 rupees.  We enjoyed the view and figured we could better spend the 100 rupees at the bakery.  We also took another walk with some different Israelis to Gangapurna Lake.  In the afternoon, we took use of their solar showers.  Somehow, my shower was lukewarm and Jeff's was so hot he almost had to turn the cold water on.

Annapurna III

Sept 10 - Hiked up to Letdar.  I tried to convince Jeff to ride one of the midget cows, but he wouldn't.  We got really bored at our lodge and considered combining the next two days - this would include an elevation gain from about 13,700 to 17,700 ft - and we weren't sure if that was smart, since we'd never been to 17 thousand ft before.  We debated it for maybe even 2 hours, but finally decided we'd stick to our schedule.  It was a good choice.

Gangapurna

Sept 11 - Hiked first to Thorong Phedi, which is basically the last town before the pass.  It was really a happening place - the guy who took our order for lunch was even blaring oldies from his Mac.  We watched 3 guys cuddle on a bench and were relieved when we saw there were others headed up to High Camp - so we wouldn't be the only ones there and get bored again.  We slowly labored up the hill and arrived at High Camp just as the fog set in and it began to rain a little.  We hung out in the lodge, which was relatively full surprisingly and it was by far the most fun night of the trek.  There we met lots more Israelis and even Mr. Singapore, who'd trekked in 5 days what we'd just done in 9 and most everyone else had done in 11!  Okay, so we were taking it pretty easy and some days we didn't even start til 10 am, but still, this guy was nuts!  He'd skipped any kind of acclimatization days and was eating like he hadn't eaten in days.  The rest of us were wondering if we had an appetite at that elevation.

High Camp friends

Sept 12 - I slept a couple hours I think.  Mostly I developed a nice pattern of coughing, blowing my nose, and turning over - trying to avoid sleeping on my right side because the skin on my hip had long since been rubbed off by my backpack.  Pleasant?  We were basically the last ones to leave camp at around 6, and within 2 hours we'd reached Thorong La Pass at 17,769 ft and managed to pass everyone on the way up.  Yeah, we're stars.  Oh, except Mr. Singapore, but we had a faster time than him - he just left earlier.  haha.  It snowed on us, really wet snow, and our view was fantastically foggy, but it was exciting to reach the pass anyhow.  We hung out with our friends for the last time before we booked it down the other side.  Surprisingly, I had no knee troubles, and I'm going to account that to the number of squats I did prior to the trip.  I highly recommend it.  Partway down the other side, we stopped to shed a few layers and eat some bug infested crackers.  We wondered where Mr. Singapore was, and just then, he came running into view.  Crazy guy.  However, he also stopped to shed some clothing, and continued hiking behind us all the way to the next town, Muktinath.  When we got there at 11:30 am, we'd descended over 5000 ft and they were shocked we were there so early in the morning.  Yeah, we're stars.  We ate lunch there and then continued to descend into the desert.  It looked basically like Yakima, except all the hills were taller.  Yep, pretty ugly.  I recently saw a postcard of Muktinath and apparently there are great mountain views from there, which I suppose might have helped with the desert ugliness, but alas, it was cloudy.  We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked.  The wind blew sand in our faces and Jeff was forced to fill his water bottle from the nastiest little irrigation trickle.  I told him it wouldn't kill him, and refused to share my dwindling water supply.  I didn't fill my water bottle there because I thought I could make it last until Jomsom - some 2 hours later, but I know I was incredibly dehydrated.  We really were parched in the middle of the desert.  It was a very long day.  Actually, the truth of the matter is, we combined 2 days into one because we really just wanted to be done trekking.  So it was our fault it was such a long day.  Jeff and I got into a pretty bad argument at some point, but we got over it - I mean, what else can you do when you're stranded in the middle of a desert with one other person?  We finally made it to Jomsom and I took a hot shower and Jeff got an almost lukewarm one.  I felt justified.

At least the desert was beautiful in one spot.

Sept 13 - We bought a plane ticket to Pokhara.  After discovering I could've gotten the plane ticket for free (too bad I'm so honest) we went to the airport to catch the 2nd flight of the day.  When the first flight arrived however, we watched them load our luggage on that plane, so we ran our of the airport and hopped on that flight.  Convenient!  The plane had THE fastest turn-around time I've ever seen - less than 5 min.  We barely made it off the runway before the runway ended, and the pilot proceeded to fly with no instruments, just his eyeballs.  Sometimes we were only 300 ft above the hills below us.  Our marijuana-smoking Israeli pilot friend said maybe he'd like to fly in Nepal just for this view everyday.  In Pokhara we spent quite a lot of time looking into paragliding, but decided it wasn't worth the money without the view.  We ate well and then rented Nepal's worst kayaks in tandem with the world's worst paddles.  My kayak had no backrest and my paddle had obviously been broken and taped back together, incorrectly.  We really had an enjoyable time out on the lake, but I never was going in the direction I wanted to.  We came back and did a little of the bargaining/tourist shopping stuff.  Then we ate again (eating was often the highlight of the day!) and people watched.  At this point we were both so sick and miserable that we just decided to go back to my house the next day.  I highly recommend Pokhara however.  Especially if you want to smoke pot - I'm not saying that's what I did, don't read anything in here - but I am saying it is incredibly easy.  I've never been asked if I'd like to smoke pot as many times in my life as I have during one day in Pokhara.  Each time I'd just start laughing, I mean, com'on, really? NO! I don't want to!  Our Israeli pilot friend, though, he was in heaven :)

Sept 14 - Took a nice, hassle-free trip back to Kathmandu in a tourist bus.  And it was even cheap.  We got dropped off somewhere in Kathmandu and we managed to find our way to Thamel by asking directions every block or so.  We had lunch at Or2K, where Jeff overestimated his appetite yet again, and I helped him finish his food.  We uneventfully made it back to Banepa where we finally had real, consistent hot showers and comfortable beds.

Sept 15 - Jeff fixed or attempted to fix at least a half a dozen broken appliances I was blessed with here.  He even set to work trying to clean my kitchen.... then he realized the grime really doesn't come off the wall, so he quit.  While trying to diagnose the problem with my vacuum in the living room, he created a spark big enough to weld to pieces together.  In my living room!  Hilarious.  Later, after the heater sparked too, he said, "I think that's why America uses 110 instead of 220!"  We finally called our parents to notify them of our safety, and spent most of the evening at other missionaries' homes enjoying their company.

Sept 16 - Showed Jeff around lots of various places, and just before he left, my boss called me and said, "Hey, come on over to the office and we're gonna show you your new house."  Well, so much for Jeff fixing my appliances, but I do like my new place a lot better.  More on that later.  Dr. Cardona took us to the airport, and (stand back!) Jeff even gave me a hug before he left.  The last thing I said was, "Enjoy Walla Walla.  I'm really going to miss that place."  If that's not the truth.  I think Jeff made it home safely, and he started school a couple days later.

As soon as all 7 blisters on my feet heal, I re-grow some skin on my right hip, and I get rid of this nasty whatever sickness I caught, I'm sure I'll be kicking to go on some other trip.

Did you fall asleep?