Its a little bit out of whack but I wanted to post some photos of the trek we did to the Annapurna Base Camp.

It was a great experience and we saw some amazing scenery. This trek was recommended to us by Casper who we met whilst travelling through Laos and to be honest if it wasnt for him we probably would have rode straight through the area in our usual fashion.  Trekking is such a big part of coming to Nepal and it would have been such a shame to miss this. Here are some of the hundreds of photos we took!!

 

After a few days riding up to Muktinath we’re back in Pokhara.

The scenery from Jomsom to Muktinath will remain a highlight of our time in Nepal, I haven’t seen such huge expansive mountain views since the Andes.

The riding was rocky and bumpy, but not very difficult, which was a bit of a relief after the accounts we’d heard from other travellers and a bike shop here, that actually warned us against going up there.

Having said that, I managed to fall over once in some deep sand, no damage done but Sal was covered in dust from head to toe, hence the funny pic 🙂

We took it relatively easy, usually stopping mid afternoon, which meant some long afternoons/evenings sitting on a rooftop soaking up the remaining sun or around an open fire in the restaurant talking about the ride or the spectacular views from the day.

Dave hired a Chinese 250cc trail bike, which while better than the alternative (an Enfield), was no match for Betsy on the rocky jeep track, it’s been a while since we did any off-road riding, but the way we could just eat up the rocks,  undulations and river crossings was pretty cool, Betsy just takes the hits and motors along happily, while poor Dave (and Sally!) was having the crap beaten out of him.

 

 

It was hard going and there were very sore bottoms and tired arms from holding on (Sally!) but it was so worth it! A big thank you to Jane for recommending this trip to us even though there were times I was hating her!

Dave is leaving tomorrow so that means we are back on the bike and heading back to India…! No more nice breakfasts in fancys places or endless cocktails in different bars… back to an occasional beer and dahl… and no doubt at lot of horns…!

Great ride today, arrived Muktinath at 2pm, drinking beer in the Bob Marley bar now.
Big smiles all round.  🙂

What goes up must come down, and in this case it came down with very sore knees and the desire to eat something other than Dahl and rice.

We did another couple of longish days to return to Pokhara, first retracing our path to Chomrong, then a new track back to Nayapul.

Arriving in Nayapul, our new friend, (hotel manager), Dilli, came to meet us with his driver, armed with cold beer and a big smile, it was a very nice welcome!!

Then back in Pokhara it was great to see DaveG again, and Dilli put on an amazing BBQ for us that evening.

More pics soon but suffice to say that the walk (hike?) was an experience we won’t forget in a hurry.

Eventually it took us 7 days to do the extended loop, walking from 8am to 4pm every day, mostly up or down steep  rocky paths, including a day above the snowline.

As is often the case, it was both satisfying and humbling. We made it to the ABC, but I’m left in awe of the people working or living up there, who carry 5 x what we did, every day from bottom to top, working fields with oxen, or kids riding to school 2hrs on a donkey, or carting firewood through the mountains on their backs.

Next adventure… On the bike to Muktinath.

As predicted last night, we’re all ready to leave but waiting for Dave to get organised.
He woke up this morning and realized he only has a 15 day visa, which expires in 2 days… There’s always something!
Dave’s at immigration now, hopefully we can get going soon!

Yesterday with some help from Dilli, (the hotel manager who knows everything and everyone) we found Dave a bike to hire, and this morning Dili found us 25lt of fuel to start with, now we just need Dave…

After a long cold night we ate a staple breakfast of plain rice, Dahl and boiled eggs (also relatively cheap).
We learned last night that today we’d be in 10cm of snow all the way to ABC, this was concerning as we’re both in sneakers… Not ideal.

To avoid wet feet and frostbite, we developed the genius plan to use our stuff sacks (compression sacks) over our socks inside our shoes, and tied at the ankle.

Looking rather unprofessional amidst the other serious North Face trekkers we headed out into the frosty morning looking like two lost tourists who somehow stumbled into the area. (8am start Paul!!).

It was supposed to be 6hrs hiking to ABC, and despite the snow, ice and mud, we hacked it out in 4 gruelling hours.

Stunning mountain scenery, snow covered mountains and fast running snow melt streams took our minds off the stuff sack failure and the thin air, so it was actually an enjoyable “walk”.

Arriving at the top we took some pics before the mid day clouds closed us in, and ate a lunch of… Rice, Dahl and boiled eggs (every Lodge here has an identical menu set by local government, except the prices which follow the altitude).

It was a great feeling reaching the top, and just as good to leave as were finally going downhill… in the slippery muddy melting snow.

” have you guys been to the top already?”
“Yep, we even stopped for lunch” 🙂
“Is she wearing slippers? They look like dancing shoes” commented another guy on  the trail.
“She’s a moving advert for Skechers” I cheekily replied.

We luckily avoided falling over on the ice, which turned to mud then sludge, so no. 1 priority at the lodge in the afternoon was drying our shoes…

“Are they your trekking shoes?” Asked a sherpa… He was actually laughing at us!

Now we’re tucked into bed in all our clothes, sleep sheets, sleeping bags and three blankets. It’s freezing.

Tomorrow we hope to have a dry day and a hot shower!

The guys in Pokhara told us it would take 9 days minimum to do the circuit we’d chosen, but we forgot that we only have enough money for about 7 or 8 days… There are no ATM’s up here, so we’re having to double time it.

Today we hiked from Cuilia to Himalayan camp, rated as ten hours walking plus breaks, but we made it in 6 and a half total. Pretty tired now!!

The two places to stay up here are both really tight, they charge extra to sit near the heater (it’s freezing inside, snowing outside), extra for a shower, extra to charge your phone and extra for WiFi that doesn’t work…

So as a result of our rather tight budget were going to bed dirty, cold, and this post will be uploaded some other day.

The walk has been really great though. Amazing high mountains in the distance and all the trees are flowering, stunning.

Tomorrow we reach the Annapurna base camp at 4100m, take a picture and get the hell out of there before the temp drops in the afternoon.

I’m carrying a very sore knee so wish me luck keeping up with Sal, she just doesn’t stop… 🙁

Today we hiked from Uleri to Chuile, that’s supposed to take 2 days or 10hrs of hiking, but we did it in one day, 6hrs.

At that rate by 1pm we were totally exhausted, as in almost vomiting, head spins, wheezing etc. We stopped to eat and warm up by a wood fired water heater, then did a couple more hours before it started to rain.

We sheltered under an abandoned guest house’s verandah for a while before an old lady and then an 11 year old girl arrived (carrying what looked like 50kg of firewood on her back!). They told us there was another place to stay 5 mins further down the hill, so here we are.

It’s a tiny guest house with two bedrooms but most importantly a woodfire cook top so it’s cosy and warm.

We started the walk (trek?) yesterday afternoon, walked for 5 hours to get to Tikhedunga.
It’s so quiet in all the villages that they offered free accommodation with dinner and breakfast! Although the food is so expensive that we’re going to run out of money before we get back at this rate, (Sally suggested that we stop drinking beer… Ridiculous).
Today we have a harder day, starting at 1500m altitude, ending at 2500m in Gorepani.
Time to head off!!

I realise that Dean and I have not been the biggest advocates for India but I still can’t say that I don’t like the country or the people…its been an experience that we don’t regret having  and are hopeful that the remaiaing 3 weeks that we have upon exiting Nepal are going to be better. However, its been a big sigh of relief being in Nepal 🙂 We have been able to take big breaths of air without fear of poisoning our lungs and the sky has been blue… its been a long time since we’ve seen this much blue sky and it really does something to your psyche. It makes you smile! The change between India and Nepal happened as soon as we crossed the border. There were vertially no horns, nobody stood and stared at us and there were restaurants where you could have a beer (or a glass of wine!!) with dinner and the wine was actually pretty good!

After a beautiful ride through the mountians from the border we arrived in Pokhara. We have spent the last few nights here whilst we’ve been waiting for Dave to arrive from the US. Pokhara is a touristy little town on a  lake and surrounded by mountians. On a clear day you can see the snow peaks of the Annapurna mountains of the Himalayas, its really beautiful.

Our days have been spent getting a few things organised for the ABC trek which we are about to embark on. Trying to find the best quality fake North Face sleeping bag in town has been a 3 day challange but we feel we got a reasonable deal. The people here are really lovely but its evident that there aren’t as many  tourists as usual and they are all very desperate for our business which does get annoying! Not only has Nepal had the fuel crisis recently but they also have an electricity shortage which means some days they have 16 hours with no electricity, so with all this bad publicity, it’s keeping much needed tourists away.

Dean is currently cooking some pasta to have ready for when Dave arrives. The food so far in Nepal has been simillar to Indian food only a little lighter. We have been living on momos as it feels like the lightest, less Indian option but today Dean finally cracked and ordered a vegie burger which was served with chips and coleslaw…and fresh tomato… it made him so happy… I didn’t know a burger could make a man so happy! We always eat the local food wherever we are but after about 2 months of heavy oily food, we just needed a day out,  so pasta and red wine it is 🙂

Dave has just arrived after a very long journey to get here so its time to crack the wine! We leave for the ABC trek tomorrow which will take between 7-10 days and we will have no internet or service the whole time…I’m not sure if this or the walk will be the biggest challange!

Love to all xxxx