It's been a really long time! I've been on the most fantastic trip over the last month. Starting in the lovely town of Pokhara with the rest of the volunteers and then starting a 21 day trek through the Annapurna Circuit. Our group of four (Nina, Jan, Germ Anne and I) decided that we would do this trek on our own and also carry our packs ourselves instead of hiring porters and guides. If you see the amount the porters carry on their heads for others, it makes one feel guilty for making them do such grueling tasks. Anyways, it's more of an accomplishment when you say you've carried all that weight for ~220 km for 21 days!!The first part of the trek was quite tropical in climate and involved (too) many hills and descents. I have to say, I am the least fit of the group and many times, the other three had to wait up for me. We met a few people along the way but I'm proud to say the nicest ones were Canadian!! We kept of bumping into the same people along the way and even bumped into another by chance in Kathmandu when we got back! The name "tea house trek" certainly applies to this trek because all the lodges we stayed in were really nice, with relatively comfortable beds, clean sheets, fair sized rooms and all you can eat daal bhat which the boys loved.
As we ascended towards 3000m I started to get short of breath so I had to take more stops. The scenery became more evergreen resembling parts of Canada in the fall. It really made me a bit homesick. We had decided on a side trek to Tilicho Lake
the highest lake in the world at about 4900m. We made the trip in 3 days but it was a hard long walk along many landslide areas, snowy areas, hills. The lake was worth the hard work though, the waters were a deep turquoise and it was so quiet up there, it seemed like the area was just insulated by the mountains. As we continued to ascend towards the pass, the land became colder and more arid. There were also more and more people on the trails (some were in groups of 50 including porters!!). The pass day was made much easier as Jan decided to relieve me of my heavy backpack for the day and I carried his much lighter pack. Note to self: will not pack so many clothes next time as I only really wore one set of clothes for 21 days (yes, I was THAT disgusting and THAT stinky)The pass was much easier in my opinion than Tilicho Lake, but for some others it was probably quite difficult as we heard that one French woman had died 2 days earlier while attempting to reach the pass. There were others that had to ascend with horses because they had acute mountain sickness. On the other side of the pass, you could see the differences in the trekking routes. The Jomsom trek is much more commercial, mostly because it's accessible by plane and there were fabulous hot springs and the more "luxurious" accommodations. All along this half of the trek, we ate great pastries, mostly chocolate rolls and apple pie hence the second nickname of this route, the "apple pie trek". We stayed in a lovely medieval town called Kagbeni where we came across many surprising and interesting statues and walked the old streets. Within a few days we reached Tatopani, literally "hot water". I had no expectations for this town because I heard the springs were a bit disappointing, however, it was the best therapy for us after 17 days of trekking. We stayed in the springs for about 2 hours in the morning and decided to stay there an extra day. We then headed off towards Ghorepani which took us 2 days. From Ghorepani (about a 30 minute walk), you should definitely go to Poon Hill, even though it's so touristy but it's that way for a reason. The views of the mountains are incomparable and just so beautiful at sunrise.
All too soon the trek was over and the best way to round off the trip was a few days back in Pokhara. We had great times, with great food (a great French bakery near Lakeside, called the Real Baguette), great weather, great time on scooters (I almost crashed one, no good can come of me on a motor vehicle), great views... ahhh, I love Nepal.
