Nepal: Annapurna Base Camp (3rd October 2009)

We woke early this morning, had a brief breakfast and would soon be met by our transport, guide and porter.  Having been away from home for some time now, it was necessary to do some careful repacking to ensure that we only took essentials for our travels as everything we needed except food and water had to be carried up and back.  Had we not acquired the services of a porter I would have probably considered this for slightly longer than I did, but I'm confident that I didn't over pack too much.  We were now ready for our 7 day trek up to the Annapurna Base Camp and back.

Pokhara sits at about 700m and our starting point was closer to 1km above sea level.  We had a drive of just over an hour to get to our starting point.  The drive up through the hills was typical of Nepali roads with under powered cars racing to get to where ever they were going with every one needing to be where the car in front was....except our vehicle had more grunt than most on the roads, so we had a real need to be in front, after all, the hills weren't getting any younger.  Lots of horn tooting and dodgy overtaking on blind bends (by everyone else) later, and we arrived at where we expected to start walking....except, our driver hadn't taken his vehicle off road for a while and rather fancied the experience, so we had the first 20 minutes of our walk shaved off for us.  He had got a little too excited and drove straight through a police check-point causing them to become somewhat over animated.  We bid farewell to civilisation, watched our porter get laiden up and set off for the top. 

Day 1 was a steady climb from Birethanti up to Ghandruk.  It took about 5 hours and we went steady so we could warm our muscles up slowly and break in our walking shoes once again.  I was better prepared this time than last, where breaking in my boots had consisted of going to the shop and trying them on.  I had been very very lucky and the boots had turned out to be perfect.  Any injuries or hot spots caused by boots in the first couple of days could have caused us to turn back.  We did get one scare about 3 hours in when Mick couldn't find his ganster style wadge of rolled up notes.  Fearful he had left them in the hotel there was a frantic searching of bags, nooks and places too impolite to mention until the wad was discovered amid some clothing.

After a pleasant wander up it was time to find a bed for the night.   We stopped at a tea house recommended by our guide.  It was by far the nicest tea house I have stayed in and came complete with ensuite bathrooms and boasted 'hot shower'.  In this region, a hot shower is the stuff the legends are made of, so to have hot water and your own shower is a real luxury.  Once again, the Nepalese ability to inaccurately advertise their wares came bounding through and we enjoyed our showers whilst doing the impression of a soaked dog after falling into a partially frozen pond; at least the legends survived intack.  The Napali's do have an amazing ability to stay disconnected from reality and seem to believe that if they've done something, even if its not what was asked for, then you should be happy.  In the same way that a cat can't understand why there is 6 feet of air between it and where the ground used to be after trying to climb the Christmas tree and destroying it in the process.  Still, they are a very friendly and humble people who I am glad to have spent time with.

That night we sat down to our first culinary experience of the foot hills.  In these parts, what isn't grown in the hills has to get carried up the hills.  It quickly becomes second nature to notice what livestock is present in each village when arriving as this helps inform us as to what is safe to eat on the menu.  However, there are still significant risks for western digestive systems eating meat in the hills, so we stick to rice, bread, potato, fried vegtables and eggs.  The more adventurous might opt for something with 'cheese', but there aren't any cows in these here parts, but there do appear to be an abundance of yaks..........

After a not particularly satisfying or inspiring meal we settle down to a game of sargeant major till the night draws in.  I'm convinved Mick invented this game as a joke - I don't seem to do very well at it, but apparently it takes days to complete - at least we have plenty of spare time ahead of us.

[Pictures to follow shortly.........]