The streets of Katmandu are lined with shops selling trekking gear. Knock off North Face trousers, coats and sleeping bags are everywhere. Arriving at our hotel we felt tired and ready for bed but knew we had to eat, book our bus ticket for the next morning and buy some last minute trekking essentials.
Arriving at check in we had some bad news. Our hotel had double booked us...'Our booking system is down' they told us, 'unless we acknowledge your booking we have never received it'. Unfortunately for them they had emailed us and tried to earn themselves more with a non-complimentary airport pickup (!). Bad news for them, they had to sort it out.
Nearly an hour later we were too tired to argue, we settled for a Nepalese 1 star hotel with no air conditioning. Our room was on the 5th floor and there was no lift. There was a partition wall to the next room so we listened to a father coo-ing at his one year old in the flat opposite all night whilst our next door neighbours had a rave. Relaxing.
Up at 6am the next morning we had to rush to get on the bus to Pokhara. The road from Katmandu to Pokhara is traditionally tough to travel and the journey may take anywhere between 7 and 12 hours. We were lucky and after just 8 hours we arrived in Pokhara. This was our starting point for the Annapurna Base Camp trek.
I had planned a very tough walking schedule starting at 6am the next morning. However it turned out that Nepal was mid-festival and the office that issues the necessary trekking passes was closed until the next morning at 10am. However our hotel put us in touch with a guy who not only helped us out, but took Chris into town on his scooter!
Drama, issue and delay aside (and now resolved) we finally set off the next day from Kande at 12. Midday sun, 2hr steep ascent. It was a tough start....
Jane wrote this first bit.... Chris continues....
DAY ONE
Stairs up for about two hours, then a nice trek through a forest and our first experience of walking in the mountains. Stopped after 5 hours, having been joined for 2 hours by a dog (who we named Domino). The owner of our lodgings in Landruk had to shoo him away, and as basic as the room was, it cost £1 a nite! Ate some great food and got our first glimpse of Annapurna!
DAY TWO
We found the first of many bridges. These were initially fun, and then as you noticed the frayed cables, shaking sides, broken boards, and possibly most importantly, the previous bridge that was now smashed at the bottom of the ravine.... They became terrifying.
There are many people to chat to along the way, but the most inspiring are the porters; One of whom let me try their bag. These guys carry up to 40kg using their back and neck, moving faster both up and down the mountain than we did...oh...while wearing flip flops.
We set off at 6.30am and walked for 6 hours, stopping for a great lunch at Chomrong at the top of a killer 2 hour staircase. Both tired, but eager to continue, we decided to push on to the next village, which we could see across the valley.....
That turned out to be a soul destroying 1 hour down and then 2 hour climb. We fell asleep after dinner at 6pm.
DAY THREE
The previous day took its toll on us and we decided to have an easy 3 hour walk to our next sleep. We found an awesome waterfall and stopped to cool down on route, where we actually met some new friends, who joined us for an afternoon of cards.
I found a stick to walk with.
And we only just made it to the camp below our target (Annapurna base camp) as the weather started to close in around us... We spent a VERY cold night there under sleeping bag and extra blankets provided by the tea house in which we stayed.
DAY FIVE
Woke up at 3.30 and started walking up the mountain to Annapurna base camp just before 4am. The moon was incredibly bright, so didn't need torches to follow the path, and when we arrived at 5.30, it was spectacular seeing the moonlight on the peaks.
After about 40 minutes the sun started to come up, which completely changed the area (also lots of other people started to arrive). We were actually wearing EVERYTHING we had brought with us, as it was well below freezing. We were slightly concerned at one point that Jane had frost bite, and a doctor had to intervene. This is in contrast to 2 hours further down the mountain where I was once again in shorts and a vest!
We set off on our return journey, going 6 hours back down during the rest of the day. Along the way we met lots of friends we had made on the way up, which was nice!
In our tiredness we had a mini - 'discussion' about who had lost the loo-roll...but turns out we still love each other....Annapurna is tough!
DAY SIX
Another short day, we stopped at Chomrong this time, and I got to put my feet up and eat nice food.
However after 3 hours I grew restless and with two Americans decided to start a football game with 3 locals, ....which ended up turning into a 3 hour, 5-a-side, bare foot, Tarmac football game. Amazing fun, but ironically I got my first blisters of the trip.
It's hard to say who won, but it wasn't my team.
DAY SEVEN
We set off on the last long day. Trekking 7 hours, and stopping at a hot thermal spring along the way, we were destroyed by the time we arrived at our lodge.
As we ate dinner that night, there was a power cut. And then it started to rain a bit. We went to bed with it still raining.
DAY EIGHT
We woke up and it was still raining, and the locals were worried. We had a couple of South Korean guys join us for safety and set out on the final four hours of trekking. However after an hour we realised that the rain wasnt going to stop, and that some of the paths were now flooded. We got to the first car accessible village, hired a driver and jeep, and started the 3 hour drive home. Along the way we had the football playing Americans join us (they had pushed ahead the day before, and got stuck), and several times were very glad we had a jeep.
It had been an amazing adventure, and while we had got out via a car, I'm very glad we did. It wasn't until two days later that we started to hear about people trapped on the mountain (though this was at a slightly different part of the area), and it's easy to see how at the high altitudes this would have been impossible to get out from.
THE DAY AFTER
We were due to fly from Pokhara to Kathmandu (instead of taking the bus), so that we could catch our flight towards Japan, but the rain and cloud threatened this plan. After a four hour delay, we finally got airborne, and then after a similar wait at Kathmandu we were off!
If you get the chance, do this walk, we would be so happy to give you advice on the route, timings, and the actual logistics. We have soooo many awesome memories (and a spreadsheet on our trek times etc).
Chris
Not Chris' fault.
Glad the loo roll has been safely located! Really enjoying reading about your trip! And congrats on the engagement! x
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