Tandem cycling in Australia, Backpacking in Tasmania and New Zealand, Kayaking in the Whitsundays, Eating Sushi (and going to Onsens) in Japan, Weddings back in Cali, Hiking in Nepal, Rock Climbing in Thailand, Scootering around Lao!!!
I think after you see these, you'll agree that everyone does...
All vids from Nepal... at either the "monkey temple" (Suwayambhunath)... or Pashputinath... both UNESCO world heritage sites worth visiting even w/o the monkeys... maybe.
UPDATE... we've been quite off the track in Laos, so internet has been hard to reach. From Bangkok we took the train over to Cambodia.. to Angkor Wat and Phenom Penh. From Cambodia, we went north up to Laos... where we've been motoring around on "Naughty" and "Nice"... you'll see Funk on them soon... we're meeting him in 2 days. We just finished motoring around for 4 days on "The Loop" in Central Laos, starting in Tha Kheak (google "The Loop, Lao", I'm sure you'll find something)... the highlight of the Loop was Kong Lo cave (actually a tunnel) that has a river running through it for 7 km!
This is specifically for those of you thinking about heading up there (obviously highly recommended!)... otherwise, I'd just skip this entry.
There are many, many options in doing the Annapurna Circuit... short, long, cold, or warm... it's up to you where you want to go.
What we did was the Annapurna Circuit plus the Annapurna Sanctuary (or Annapurna Base Camp) hike.This adds a few days to the Annapurna Circuit hike, but you get to head up to base camp where you get a pretty amazing view of Annapurna I.The first section takes 2 weeks… from Besi Sahar (a 8 hour bus ride from Kathmandu) to Jomsom, where a small airstrip ferries folks out of the area.This is a great option if you are limited in time… as you get amazing views, go past waterfalls, hot springs, and Throng La (one of the highest passes in the world).Also, from Jomsom for a few days you are hiking along a dirt road that buses and jeeps pass by.So this part really can be skipped… I’d hop on the bus if I went back there…The Annapurna Sanctuary adds another week to the trip, but you are rewarded with an amazing view of Annapurna I, which you don’t really get to appreciate from the Circuit hike.However, the villages on this hike are seasonal, compared to the ones on the Circuit which have been there for 100s of years… so the Sanctuary is lacking a bit of that exotic culture and temples you get on the Circuit.
Recommended options… If I were to go back, I’d love to head into Mustang.This would require an additional 10 days or so from Muktinath, and a spendy (500$) permit.However, the Mustang region is where traditional Tibetans live in their way.Tibetans come to the Mustang to see how they used to live… the villages in the Mustang Valley have been located there for 100s of years and the way of life has been preserved…
Things to Take:
SteriPen - this would have been grand. There are some refill stations, but for the most part you are drinking your own treated water, or worse, buying bottled water... I probably wouldn't take a filter... it'd be a pain.
A mouse trap - the worst night of my sleep was because a tiny mouse crawled over my face the whole night. I got it in the morning though...
Gore-tex socks - if you are going to wear running shoes (which I recommend)
Sun Screen, lip balm, sunglasses, sun hat - it's sunny, and harsh up high... (we saw plenty of burnt folks... and getting it on the trail becomes difficult...
iPod - obviously up to you, but I enjoyed listening to music, or audiobooks (into thin air) while walking... you have plenty of 8+ hour days, so an ipod is a savior. Most teahouses charge you a small fee to charge your ipod... so if you really want to get tech-ed out, you can bring a solar charger as well.
A book, or two... most folks get up early, and go to sleep early... but there's plenty of down time.
Gore-tex running shoes - would be nice...
flip-flops... or something to change into at night.
games (cards, dice, chess...) these things are nice... once again, you have plenty of down time.
Poncho - we took a sil-nylon poncho with us which was perfect. A full on jacket may be too hot...
Books to read
The everest books are better written... and are fun when staring at the 8000 m peaks above... like Into Thin Air, The Climb, Left for Dead... there are more too... but wait til you get to Kathmandu, it'll be much cheaper there than home.
Annapurna - was a bit dry.
In Kathmandu
you can pick up decent maps, cheap guidebooks (we had the trailblazer and the Lonely Planet... both came in handy), books, sunglasses, and all sorts of imitation clothing.
Get to the permit office early... like 30 min before they are open. Or just have a trekking company get you one for a few $ more.
On the Trail
Go through Upper Pisang
Spend a night in Braka instead of passing it by and doing 2 at Manang... Braka was one of my favorite places.
Head up to Tilcho lake if the weather holds
From Muktinath, take the high route through Jhong to Kagbeni (you'll have to ask around for directions)
Snickers, chocolate is plentiful on the entire route, don't worry about packing it all in.
Food is good... I'd stay away from the meat and dairy though.
From Kagbeni to Tatopani, you can take the bus... the trail isn't that great along the road here... but Morphe and Tukche are nice towns.
Guide?/ Porter? up to you... read the last blog on this issue. Cheap and convenient, but you may lose a bit of freedom. Though if you head to Mustang, you have to take one.
Spend a night or two in Muktinath or Kagbeni
Plan for extra days... weather, injury, altitude all add up and most folks need an extra day or two. And even if you don't, you can just use it and relax at Muktinath, or Kagbeni...
Look for lightening bugs at Tatopani
if you are a single female... join a group, or find some partners before you take off in Thammel... we felt completely safe, but we did meet a lady who was attacked when some folks tried to steal her bag.
Here we are sitting on top of the bus along with a dozen other passengers... very common if not the rule in Nepal... a much nicer alternative to suffering in the heat like you have to do in India... you get a nice panorama the whole time and wind in your face.
But this is the bus ticket collection boy climbing out of the window and on to the roof to collect our fares...
Taken at the end of our Annapurna Circuit hike... on our way to Pokhara.
We did it... after 22 days of hiking; traversing the highest pass in the world (17,769 ft... in snow... and the highest point Kimbo and I have ever been!); soaking in a few hot springs; visiting numerous Tibetan villages; Buddhist monasteries; old Gurkha hideouts; and listening to many Korean men snore though the walls... we're back in civilization.
We're in the very backpacker friendly city of Pokhara... much quieter, prettier, and nicer than Kathmandu.
We arrived last night, after a 1 hour ride on top of the bus ("very busy due to festival time..." probably the most dangerous part of the journey) and had our celebratory beers after our first nice shower in 3 weeks.
I'd say the majority of the folks we ran into on the trail either had a guide, or a porter, and usually both.Porter-ing and guiding are very respectable ways to make a living in Nepal, and although they make more money than the average worker, they are very affordable… And you shouldn’t have too many qualms about having a porter carry your gear… just don’t overload them… be considerate, they're still just human.
Many of the hikers just assume that they paid for a service, so they can bring along their extra pair of expedition boots, some comfort food, and whatever else they would otherwise leave… but since a porter costs as low as 8$ a day… why not?
But there are reasons to not get a guide or porter as well… some guides aren’t very cool… that’s the main one.And flexibility is another one.Since you pay for a guided tour, you are on a schedule.You have some flexibility, but not total flexibility like we did.Which was nice.
And as a side… people just use “sherpa” as a synonym for porter, but the Sherpas are an ethnic group in Nepal.In the Khumbu region near Everest is one of the locations Sherpas live, and due to the necessity of large expeditions to transport large amounts of gear the sherpas have become synonymous with porter…
If you do decide to get a porter, we have two recommendations from ones we became familiar with on the trail.Snow Leopard Trekking (ask for MB), and Three Sisters (in Lonely Planet… but they train female porters and guides… a male dominated profession… pretty cool).
This guy's carring a baby cow for some reason... We saw lots of chickens being transported.
These were pretty comical... comical enough to share... don't know what it is about the Annapurna Circuit. A surprising amount of folks speak good English there, but no body knows how to spell.
We loved these pics that accompanied the menu to serve as a visual of what we were ordering.
Macaroni explosion!
Have no idea what the "Deserj" is supposed to be.
And our favorite... all the foods were scribbled on paint, but the room pic.
...
Whenever we saw the "ROLL" section of the menu we were stoked. This meant that we could have a deep fried snickers for desert for an extra caloric consumption. Sometimes they even came with custard on top!.
Musty (Manu's favorite adjective)... we think they meant Muesli...
The literal translation of "Annapurna" in Sanskrit is "full of food"... but more often translated as "goddess of harvest" (I like the literal meaning more). And despite what we had heard from others that had done the hike several years back, the food was quite excellent. I must conclude that trail cuisine has been revamped.
Start off with some brekky... and not so exciting foods.
Tsampa porridge... the food of the sherpas, and sometimes called the national food of Tibet (Sean loved this stuff... we thought it tasted like soggy cardboard).
... was found only on few sections of the trail... very acidic but is supposed to have lots of anti-oxidants as well as 12x the amount of Vitamin C compared to oranges.
All places serve Dhal Bat, fried rice, and pasta. The Dhal Bat quality differs significantly from location to location... while the fried rice remained consistently good.
Now to the more specialized dishes... On the "west side" pizzas were also common... served very thin... but surprisingly quite tasty.
In Chhomrong... you have to get the enchilada... I was very skeptical when Kim ordered it, but it was quite amazing. This was my main motivator for getting up 100s of stairs that you have to climb to get here...
An attempt at "Okonomiyaki" on the circuit! Yeah, not quite up to Lopez's snuff... actually it was pretty bad.
Ginger potatoes... mmm... I think this was in Muktinath.
We did carry our own Tapatio sauce (to heed some of the warnings about the food on the trail) ... but hot sauce and condiments are found at most places on the trail... though we found it interesting that the second ingredient for this green chili sauce was potato.
You may be surprised to find this outside of the Santa Cruz pier or Scotland...
But this is what they call a "Twix Roll" (they also have Snickers or Mars Rolls as well). This, my friends... is a deep fried twix bar. And after 10 hours of hiking, how can you feel guilty. If you ask me, the hike is worth every step just for this amazing reward...
Chocolate Pudding... served at most locations... also very good, as Durbo would say.
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