Posts Tagged With: Annapurna Circuit

After a good night’s sleep, we were greeted with the warm glow of the sun shining onto the mountains outside our window. It was still very, very cold, but we’re starting to get accustomed to this. Freezing cold in the morning (literally, the water pipes would freeze), sweating beads while trekking and freezing cold in the evening before cuddling up into our sleeping bags.

Today we’re headed out to Lake Tilicho, the supposed highest lake in the world! While packing our stuff, we went to gather our clothes that we left out on the clothesline to dry. The day before, I managed to wash one pair of socks, but as the water was freeeeezing cold I couldn’t muster up the strength to wash Jiajia’s socks, but we hung both pairs up to dry. By morning, my wet socks have turned into a pair of sock-popscicles, while Jiajia’s socks were GONE! SOME ONE STOLE HER SOCKS WTF? Granted, they were comfy merino wool socks, but we think the thief is in for a big surprise when he pulls it out of his/her pack and realize it ain’t smelling right =P Continue reading →

Checking the temperature outside my sleeping bag at 530am, it was only 1C! Strangely, our sleeping bags have recovered to their warm and cozy state after last night’s shivering cold. Looking outside though, the mountains just begun to show its peak under the warm glow of the dawn. Time to wake up!

Today was supposed to be a ‘rest’ day, since it is recommended we acclimatize to the altitude. And so, we chose to take a short day trek up to the Ice Lake. Not really knowing how high it was, we just knew it was about a 3-4hr hike up to the lake. Boy were we in for a treat. With the skies clearing up after yesterday’s cloud cover, the mountains were glowing in an almost translucent white. The views were spectacular, but the hike was torturous. By the time we got to the top, we’ve ascended 1200m vertically and sore in all places possible. We kept thinking we’d reach the lake, but instead it was just another plateau before another crazy ascent.

Reaching the Ice Lake at around noon, we were amazed at what lies before our eyes, not so much because of its beauty but rather the lake’s utter ugliness. It was merely a dirty pond with a layer of ice cover half of it. W T F? Disappointed indeed, but the surrounding panoramic landscape made up for it. We didn’t hike 1200m from farmland past the tree line and into the ice for no reason, the views (other than the lake) were definitely stunning. Glad the weather was in our favour! Taking a cookies and Cadbury chocolate picnic, we snapped a few pics before heading down so we won’t be too late for the 5pm cutoff for showers.

Hiking up was hard, but hiking down wasn’t any better…. it seems like another set of muscles get sore from the descent, and blisters are starting to kick in after all the walking we’ve done. It also didn’t help that we somehow got lost on our way down, and almost walked to the wrong village!! And on our way down, the winds really picked up speed and we were blasted with 40km/hr winds. Steep trails, high winds and drop-off cliffs really really don’t mix well….. we were pretty darn glad we made it back to the main roads.

So, after stocking up with some cookies and chocolate for the next couple of days, we ate well, downed a refreshing beer and are now off to bed at 7pm. =)

It was a cold and chilly night, as it probably dipped below freezing during the evening. Our sleeping bags, although rated down to -12C, it was definitely outside the ‘comfort zone’ of the bag and it got so cold, Jiajia couldn’t even sleep. It was difficult just trying to climb out of the relative warmth of the sleeping bag and into the 6C temp inside the room. The view from our window though, was definitely one to admire…

Huddling downstairs around the stove once again, the hotel felt more like a homestay than a hotel, with locals walking in and out, the owner making cups of hot tea for the elders. This was a typical day in the life amongst the hills, and with the kids still wearing slippers it put into perspective how unadapted we were to the frigid realities of nature. And to put us to shame, a few days back that punk kid stole our chapstick, now up in this high-altitude area the wind is picking up, dehydration is kicking in as the air is cold and dry, so our lips definitely need some chap! Stupid kid….

Heading out later than usual per the recommendation of the rhasta Nepali from last night, the sun did warm us up a bit for the trek but the winds were bone chilling. With our trek out, we say goodbye to Annapurna II and watch as a sea of clouds drape the mountains and follow us as we trekked forward. By lunch time, the winds picked up with the clouds blanketing the sky, and it even snowed a bit! A slight sign of civilization, there was a bakery within our lunch spot which sold of all things, peanut butter cookies and apple pie! We stocked up on some goodies and were on our way to Manang.

Manang is the last place before the trek towards Thorung-La pass, the highest point along the trek and most definitely the coldest. At 3600m, Manang is no slouch either so people usually stay here for acclimatization. We got into town at about 1:30pm, just in time for the 2 o’clock viewing of Into the Wild at the ‘theatre’!! Without going into details, the movie was great in both screenplay and directing, and to a lesser extent draws certain similarities with our surroundings. We’re by no means as philosophical nor anti-establishment, but we do want to go to Alaska! By the time the movie ended, we headed outside into another horse race! We quickly headed back to the hotel, put on an extra layer of clothes and when we got back out, the horse race was over. W T F? We missed it two times in a row! Didn’t matter though, we were just in time for the 5 o’clock showing of Into Thin Air, which was one of the books we just read and also by the same author of Into the Wild, haha. This movie was about a disastrous ascent of Everest back in 1996 in which the author actually took part in. The book was REALLY good, but as usual the movie was lacking. Definitely makes you think twice before climbing a mountain….but the allure is definitely there.

So tonight, we sleep in a cabin with a view of the clouds, which have put the mountains out of sight for the time being. It’s a bit cold, and getting late at 9:15pm so we’ll call it a night!

Waking up in the early morning, it was extra difficult to climb out of our sleeping bag as it’s gotten ridiculously cold as we trek further into the mountains. Checking the temperature, it was only 6C in the room! Brushing and washing is now a freezing cold chore as the water is probably colder than 6C. That’s life in the mountains I guess!

The morning walks are usually the easiest, as you’re well rested from last night and you have a belly full of breakfast (which has been massive pancakes almost everyday!) to keep you going. Before you know it, you’ve walked 2hrs and hit a stop. This stop was slightly different, as the town was actually only 1 hotel instead of the 5-6 you’d usually see, but the best part was this village has an apple farm! It’s been a while since we’ve had fruits, and we need some vitamins. It also helps that the apples were crispy and delicious. Yay.

We continued to trek higher and higher in altitude, and you can feel the vegetation change. The trees become taller, and evergreens start to dominate the landscape, and glaciers slowly come into view. Think so far, this part of the trek has been the nicest, most “in-our-element” kind of trek, until we realized “Oh boy, this looks totally like Canada eh?”. And for lunch, we ate at a hotel built out of wooden logs, and one tourist made a loud remark “Wow, wooden log cabins, now we’re really in Canada!”. Turns out she was Australian. Continue reading →

As we get deeper into the circuit and higher in elevation, it gets cold real quick once the sun sets. Dining close to dawn at 6:45am, we had some corn flakes with apples. I’m not quite sure how it works, but corn flakes in the middle of Nepal’s mountain ranges seem pretty impressive to me. Problem was, I got pretty hungry pretty quickly.

Today’s walk required an elevation change of about 1100m, and knowing this it made every descent twice as painful, as you know later on you’d have to make up for it! After a steep climb up hill, we stopped at the top of the section with a rest stop for porters. Built out of several wooden wooden logs put clumsily together, it looked like those drug manufacturing sites you see on Discovery Channel with a wooden fire burning some blackened pots and selling what looked like to be Nepalese donuts. The craziest part though: they have Snickers for sale. Whoever is the sales guy for Snickers, they sure are doing a good job, considering there’s nothing else remotely recognizable or appetizing that you’d want to eat after gasping for air in the middle of a mountain trail.

Snickers seems to be the food of choice in the hills, along with Red Bull. Talk about a sugar high…. Continue reading →

Wanting to make distance today, we wanted to leave at 7am, but problem was our porter was still nowhere to be seen. A bit upset at the lack of commitment, we left about 45mins past our scheduled departure.

Despite the early morning, the trails were already full of people. Today was an uphill climb, and the trails have turned into a dusty, rocky road. As the tourism industry continues to grow, that also increases the facilities and goods needed and the infrastructure must follow suit. Before long, roads will probably be connected around the Annapurna Circuit, relegating trekking to a less popular alternative than the 2-day scenic Jeep ride. Why would anyone want to walk 6hrs a day for 12days to see some you can see in 2 days?

We stopped at 10am for a rest and some tea and biscuits (how English, I must say!), while being harassed by clucking chickens and a drunk man. Again, this was 10am. Right now, it is the biggest festival of the year in Nepal, Dasain, which is equivalent to CNY or Christmas, but getting drunk at 10am is just too crazy for any standard. Continue reading →

Waking up at 4am to the sounds of people creaking their doors open, and wandering about outside past the paper thin walls, we fell in and out of consciousness for another two hours before succumbing to the noise. Also, we ordered breakfast to be served at 6:30am so we needed to wake up anyways. Breakfast was a delicious apple pancake, omelette and a type of Nepalese naan bread while sitting atop a verandah, with clear views of a snow-capped mountain far off in the horizon. Compared to other hiking trips we’ve had, this is luxury! Continue reading →

Too excited for our trek, we barely got 3hrs of sleep before waking up in a daze at 530am. Our porter met us at our hotel, and a short taxi ride got us to the bus station which was already jammed pack with people. As the Dasain festival continues, workers in Kathmandu begin the journey back home.

The bus station was hustling and bustling, and it felt like we were at the heart of it all, weaving between locals yelling for tickets and carts selling bananas. So far we’ve seen two fruits available for sale, bananas and apples. We were glad we had a porter to guide us through this as all the signage was in Nepalese, if there were any at all. The buses don’t have any specific numbers, or signs telling you where they’re going, but people hopped on and off, paying the bus attendants whenever they were asked.

Bus attendants have earned our respect. Hopping around in flip flops, he’d climb to the roof of the bus to pack people’s baggage, and the bus would just drive along at a slow speed. He’d climb down the ladder and hop onto the ground continue calling for more people to get onto the bus (no tickets required). Once full, and we don’t mean all the seats were full kind of full, but that every nook and cranny was filled from end to end and people were literally standing at the doorway, before the bus would start moving. The bus would reverse out into the nightmarish traffic while the attendant helped leading the way with rhythmic pounding on the sides of the bus. And once the car starts moving forward, the attendant would hop onto the moving bus and stand at the doorway, with his body being outside of the bus. All of this was done in a natural, fluid motion like a dance of sorts. Hop off, run around yelling for passengers, and catch the forward moving bus if nobody would come. Continue reading →