Namaste from Nepal!

Last time I said it was going to be a long blog entry...well...this might be longer! I'll start where I left off (which seems like ages ago)!

My second day in Pokhara was definitely better than my first. Although I still had some Sinusitis, I felt well enough to walk around the town. We stayed in Lakeside which is basically where all the tourists and trekkers tend to stay. Endless shops lined the streets either selling Nepalese trinkets to foreigners or trekking supplies. If you came to Nepal without anything at all, you could fully outfit yourself at Lakeside in Pokhara.

Truth be told, the scene in Pokhara isn't THAT much different than what you'd see in Seattle. There are hippies everywhere, and people wearing North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Marmot, etc. It was actually pretty funny; right across the street from where we stayed, a cover band would play popular American music every night. I heard "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams and multiple Red Hot Chilli Peppers songs multiple times. We ended up staying in the trekking town for something like 3-4 nights.

On our last night, we met a thanka artist by the name of Lama Summer. He used to be a monk and learned the art of painting thankas in a monestary near Kathmandu. Grant and I had enquired about the price of thankas a couple times and his was the third shop we visited. He was super nice and seemed to be willing to really negotiate on the price. He said he could sell the thankas for a better price because he was the actual artist and not just a dealer. After some really easy/fun negotiations, Grand and I decided to buy three thankas. The entire exchange was really enjoyable and on top of that we were about to own three beautiful pieces of artwork! What's interesting is i've that noticed that dealing with native Nepali people is much easier that dealing with some of the Indian people who've come to Nepal to do business. The Nepali seem to be more willing to joke around, talk and come to a compromise on the price. By the time we were done at the thanka shop, it was late and we had to wake up early the next morning to start our trek in the Annapurna Sanctuary.

DAY 1

We woke up around 7am and took a taxi to Phedi, the start of our 9-day journey! The trail zigzags up the hillside and is full of stairs. We climbed all the way to the first village, Bhame (a part of Dhampus), where we contributed to the local economy by buying some jewelry. It's really hard to resist when the locals seem so willing to lower the price so you will buy something. After succumbing to the pressure to buy jewelry, we were back on the trail towards our destination for the day: Tolka. On the way, we passed many small villages with guest houses and restaurants, trees covered with lush green moss due to the monsoon season, cows and goats grazing lazily, open meadows with little purple flowers, local residents, as well as guides and porters. The trail climbs and the irritatingly loud sounds of bugs (similar to cicadas) fill your ears and threaten to burst your eardrums. Dragonflies and butterflies of seemingly every color are everywhere.

Just before we hit the village of Pothana, we stopped at a very small family run restaurant. We met two people from North America: Sandy, a middle-aged woman from Massachusetts and David, a middle-aged man from Ottawa. We talked to them for a little while and ended up seeing them on the trail all the way to Tolka. We ordered fried potatoes with cheese and two cups of Masala tea...it was freshly made on the clay oven (which was packed with wood) and it tasted outstanding!

By the time we reached Tolka we had ascended about 7200 ft and descended around 5000-6000 ft. The next day we would have to climb back up...aargh.

DAY 2

We started our day around 7:45am and as usual, it was clear. You could see Annapurna South and the air was crisp, but not too chilly. I had a breakfast of tibetan bread, boiled eggs and tea, then we were off.

There was a lot of going up and down. After leaving Tolka, we began a long descent all the way down to the raging river at the bottom of the valley. We saw terraces stacked upon more terraces of rice and millet. Sometimes an entire hill face is made up of only a handful of houses and terraces. The view is beautiful and i'm not just talking about snow capped mountains. The overlapping valleys, the clouds, and the waterfalls made for amazing scenery as we walked the day away.

The descent lead us into a pretty much tropical climate. Trees were covered in thick moss, plants were a lush green, the leaves on some trees were huge and reminded me of banana tree leaves. When we got to the botytom of the valley (where we had to cross the river), there was a LONG suspension bridge that we had to cross. It was probably something like 200 ft long and wobbly. It's definitely the coolest bridge i've ever crossed! The part you walk on is made of wooden planks and the bridge itself bounces with every step you take. Looking left or right, all you see are raging rapids that i'm not sure even a decent river rafter would want to tackle. It's pretty amazing to think that most of these bridges hold up ratyher well considering the number of people who use them and the porters who carry really heavy loads across.

After the suspension bridge, known as "New Bridge," there is nowhere to go but back up. Stairs, stairs, and more stairs awaited our already tired legs. Even on the map, the section is labeled as "Steep Trail." The goal of the day was to end up at Jhinudanda, a slow, unrelenting climb of about 1000 ft above the river. My calves, quads and knees were feeling the strain of the climb; I wasn't used to climbing so many stairs!

Once at Jhinudanda we decided to set our stuff down and take a side trip to the natural hot springs. There were a lot of people enjoying themselves and relaxing in the hot, semi-cloudy water. The water comes out of tubes that fill large rectangular stone basins. The huge bathtub-like structures are right next to the frigid river, so some people would take a quick dip in the freezing water and run back to the warmth of the hot springs. It was very cool!

On the way up from the hot springs, Grant got "leeched" twice! He felt a prick and discovered a leech had attached itself to the webbing between his fingers. Another leech tried to attach, but he pulled it off before it could really sink its alien-like jaws into him. As we climbed back up to Jhinudanda the leech grew fatter with Grant's blood. It was so gross. Leeches look very similar to slugs and like slugs, you can put salt on them and they won't like it. So once we reached the village, we salted it and it fell right off. After a hearty dinner of chicken chilli and potatoes and cheese, we fell asleep early trying to prepare ourselves for the endless stairs we'd have to climb again the next day.

DAY 3

We climbed about 1500 ft to Chhomrong, stopped to peep the awesome view and have a bite to eat, and we were back on the trail. It turned out to be a pretty rough day. It was full of ups and downs, climbing lots of stairs and descending back down. It was lots and lots of sweaty work.

We arrived in Bamboo just befor 1pm and discovered that all the lodges were full due to the numerous (and large) trekking groups. We ended up taking a couple spots in the dining hall of one guest house. However, situations like these aren't uncommon, it actually happens all the time. We slept on cots that were already in the dining hall. All we had to do was roll out our sleeping bags. The next day we were going to head to Deurali, about 2700 ft above where we were staying. Little did I know it was going to be the start of a series of illnesses.

DAYS 4-8

We left Bamboo early hoping to sleep in a room rather than the dining hall again. The trail lead us through sections of muddy jungle, some areas with beautiful views and waterfalls. Machhapuchhare loomed majestically ahead of us, calling us forward towards it. As we got closer to Deurali, breathing became a little more difficult due to the smaller amount of oxygen in the air, but it wasn't too bad. When we reached the village, surprise suprise, all the lodges were completely full, so we took another spot in a dining hall once again.

It was almost instantaneous. Once we set our stuff down on our "beds" I became very cold and tired. I put on all the layers I had with me, put my gloves and beanie on and bundled myself in my sleeping bag and I was still cold. All I could do was sleep. By the time dinnertime rolled around I wasn't hungry at all, and the last time I had eaten was 6 hours previous. I forced myself to eat and drink, but soon after I had to go outside because I was scared i'd throw up all over the table where everyone was sitting. As I stood in the cold night air, I vomited. There was no question, I had Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). A number of locals came up and asked me if I was okay. Once I told them my symptoms they recommended that I chew on a clove of garlic to alleviate some of the symptoms. I tried it, and it didn't help. Grant and I made the decision that if I didn't feel better in the morning, we would have to head down. The sleepless night passed and I still had a headache, my balance was off, and I had no appetite. It was terrible because we were only a few hours away from Annapurna Base Camp, but we had to turn back because of my AMS. If we had continued, it might have gotten a lot worse and I may have lost consciousness. So, we headed back down to Sinuwa, a 3300 ft descent.

*I'm really using a lot of minutes at this internet cafe, so i'll continue this post later tonight at my guesthouse where there is free WIFI...it won't be fun because i'll have to do it on my iTouch...but i'll do it.*