Mountains and Maoists: Annapurna Base Camp trek.
I’m bruised, blistered and very, very sore, but I made it!! Arrived back after 9 days of trekking in the Himalaya’s, we did it in 9 days rather than 10 cause we were so fast (well that and I was over it by day 6).Anyway the Annapurna region is the most popular trekking region in Nepal, even more so than around Everest, because it’s a bit easier and there are lots of different options, from the whole circuit taking 3 weeks, base camp, and any other number of days.So yeah we did the trek to Annapurna base camp via Ghorepani and Poon Hill, we planned on 10 days but managed to do it in 9 after a big day that happened to be mostly down hill.I ended up going with Hom and Manu’s (the people I’m staying with) brother Chitra. Guides are pretty expensive when you’re by yourself so this worked out to be a lot cheaper as I just payed for his food and accommodation. Was also kind of funny cause he’d never actually done it before or even been trekking before (maybe that explains the dress pants and shirts), but it was fine as lots of people around to ask directions. The best thing about trekking around this region is that there is no sleeping in tents or eating freeze dried peas as all along the way there is guest houses and restaurants with hot showers and heaters! Ironically the only hot showers I’ve had in Nepal were way up in the mountains. So overall the whole thing was pretty amazing, the views were incredible and the base camp is 4200 meters in this mountain amphitheatre, along with monkeys in the tree’s, rivers, valleys…it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. It was pretty tough at some points, lots of up and down hill and fitness not being my strong point some parts I was not happy! But, dare I say it, it did get easier as the days went on and I found that I could in fact walk up 3000 stairs without taking too many breaks. I think walking up hill is all about mind games, so had a lot of arguments with myself! 9 days was definitely enough….especially once we got to ABC on the 6th day and then had to walk back out the same way for a couple of days. So don’t think I’ll be doing the circuit any time soon. And as much as I like being by myself sometimes trekking is really made all that much better by the people your with, so I did hang out with some cool people quite a bit but I think in a group it would be a bit more….fun, I guess would be the word, as it stands though it was incredible. As in Peru there are porters willing to carry your stuff and did see some guys with 4 or 5 packs strapped to their backs, but I just feel so bad paying some one to do that, and its not like you have that much to carry without food/tents. Always a good way to make yourself feel useless to see these guys running around in flip-flops while you are struggling up the hill! Did happen to stumble upon Anton Oliver (All Black, yeah I didn’t know until some other kiwis pointed him out) filming a documentary, very random….So what follows is my day by day summary from my journal I wrote while away, did a lot of thinking and journaling and thanks to a few conversations before I left (thanks Duane) stressing about life decisions, had way too much time to think about life.
Tags: Adventure, blogsherpa, Nepal, Travel
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