A Little Bit of Solitude

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 12

Day 12 - Mon 20 Oct 2008

Trek Day 10 - Thorung High Camp (4925m) cross over Thorung La Pass (5416m) trek to Muktinath (3760m)

Finally, the day had arrived. We would be crossing Thorung La Pass, the highest point of the trek, on this day.

We got up at 3am. Uncle George didn’t look any better, and I didn’t think he could make it. But he decided to give it a try. I was concerned, but a man knows himself best, so I didn’t argue. Uncle George also assured that he would turn back if he felt worse.

The dining hall was crowded. We were supposed to have breakfast at 3.30am, but the food only arrived at 4am. After the meal, Gopal distributed our lunch packs, which were boiled eggs and biscuits. At 4.45am, we set off for Thorung La Pass.

Corinne, Jonathan, Mun Yew and I walked together, with KL leading the way. It was a very relax and consistent pace. We started out in the dark, gradually came dawn, sunrise, and we reached Thorung La Pass at 7.40am. Hoorah!

at Thorung La Pass (5416m)

We took photos and enjoyed the beautiful views. At 8am, Corinne and I decided to move off. Jonathan and Mun Yew said they would wait for a while more before setting off. Lucky we didn’t wait, because as I understand, the rest did not reach the Pass before 9am.

The trail to Muktinath was like never ending. And it was all the way down. For once, I was struggling to keep up with Corinne, who flying down the trail. My knees were suffering on the way down.

We eventually reached Muktinath at 11am. Muktinath is a big town/village, and has a lot of landmarks which I thought was worth visiting. And since we had an extra day, I was thinking if we could stay here for another day to check out the area.

At Muktinath, Corinne and I did not know which guesthouse we were going to stay. But one thing we were sure, it would probably be at the end of town. So we strolled through Muktinath, and taa-daa….we saw our porters resting out a guesthouse, Hotel North Pole. Boy, were they fast.

I was hungry, so I went into the guesthouse and had lunch. Corinne went exploring the town. After my meal, our porters told us that we would stay at this guesthouse. So we settled in, and had our hot, hot shower. It ran on gas, so this day, everyone would have hot shower. But there was one bathroom in the guesthouse, so later in the afternoon, it was a long queue for the showers.

The rest gradually arrived in the afternoon. Uncle George had made it! And he was looking good. Everyone had reached and crossed Thorung La Pass. The trek is a success. Hoorah!

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 11

Day 11 - Sun 19 Oct 2008

Trek Day 9 - Yak Kharka (4018m) trek to Thorung High Camp (4925m)

This day, we trekked to Thorung High Camp. The original plan was to go to Thorung Phedi (4450m). Usually, most trekkers will stay at Thorung Phedi, but will hike to Thorung High Camp and back for acclimatisation. Another reason is that Thorung High Camp has only one big guesthouse. You have to reach there early to get rooms.

We decided to trek to skip Thorung Phedi and trek to Thorung High Camp for a couple of reasons. One, we would reduce the distance to Thorung La Pass, thus giving us more time. Two, when crossing Thorung La Pass the next day, we could start slightly later and also avoid the crowd.

The team was very supportive of this. During the early days of the trek, I had proposed this to Gopal, who was quite insistent then that we should rest at Thorung Phedi. I am not sure why Gopal changed his mind. Perhaps he had begun to have doubts over the team’s pace.

We started at 8am. We knew it was going to be a tough day, especially the last part, from Thorung Phedi to Thorung High Camp. Still, the plan was to go straight to Thorung High Camp and have our lunch there.

Corinne and I led the way. The weather was sunny, but the strong winds made it rather cold as well. The trail before Thorung Phedi was quite gradual, but there were sections of steep ups and downs. We were also passing a long stretch of landslide area. They had a “landslide area” sign erected right in the middle of that stretch. Thanks a lot!

“Landslide Area”

We reached Thorung Phedi at about 10.30am. After a short rest, we started the steep 475m ascent to Thorung High Camp. For me, this was the toughest part of ACT. As I trekked up, I was running out of breath. I had to consciously regulate my breathing.

I reached Thorung Phedi at 11.40am. Corinne reached shortly after. KL was there to welcome us. KL had managed to get five rooms for us. Therefore, Uncle George will have to bunk with Daniel and me this night.

While waiting for the rest to arrive, I decided to hike to a viewpoint, sort of as an acclimisation hike, since I had missed the one the previous day. From the viewpoint, I could see a spectacular 360 degree view of the many peaks around the area. I could also the trail leading to Thorung La Pass.

from viewpoint at Thorung High Camp; our guesthouse below; and able to see the trail path to Thorung La Pass

The rest gradually arrived. We all had vegetable fried rice for lunch. And Mun Yee brought out her secretly kept-away packet of chilli ikan bilis & peanuts. It was a big packet she brought from Singapore, but we finished it all.

During lunch, I had noticed that Uncle George was showing signs of AMS. And Gwen was definitely having a slight AMS headache. After lunch, both of them went straight to their rooms and rested. Some of the rest went to the viewpoint to enjoy the beautiful sights of the area.

By dinner time, it was obvious that Uncle George was having a severe AMS headache. Gopal got Kitap Singh to take of him, while we had our dinner. He also shared his contingency plan with us; that if by early morning Uncle George was still not well, they would evacuate him down to Thorung Phedi, while the rest of us will continue our journey. We would then stay at Muktinath and wait till Uncle George is better and cross over to meet up.

After dinner, everyone went to bed early, because we would have to start the trek to Throung La Pass at 4am.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 10

Day 10 - Sat 18 Oct 2008

Trek Day 8 - Manang (3540m) trek to Yak Kharka (4018m)

I had forgotten to give an update of my dear porter, Pema. After his “disappearing act” on the Trek Day 2, he got less and less popular with the team. Everyday since, he has been moving very slow, and very often when everyone has reached the overnight guesthouses, he would still be behind. Most frustrated was Gwen and Airin, whose luggage he was carrying. Ended up, Gopal has to get the assistant guides to take turn to help with his load. This meant that the assistant guides were also doubling as porter at times, which led to my decision to tip them more at the end of the trek.

This was another short day. It would take us half a day to reach Yak Kharka. My boots continued to be a concern, but I was still hopeful it would make it through Thorung La Pass.

The trail today was okay, gradual, with some short steep climbs. The scenic views got more beautiful and spectacular as we trekked higher. But there were minor sandstorms and the wind was very chilled. So much so that I abandoned Corinne as well, and trek alone to Yak Kharka.

I reached Yak Kharka at 10.40am and Kitap Singh was there to welcome me. He has booked six standalone huts for us, instead of rooms at the guesthouse building. A lot of other trekkers that reached later asked the landlady for the huts, but too bad, we got them first. Hahah.

our huts at Yak Kharka

I didn’t sleep well the night before. So when everyone arrived and Gopal asked that we go for a acclimatisation hike, I declined. The weather was too cold for me to have a shower, so I cleaned myself with wet wipes, followed by a powder bath. Then I went to sleep.

For dinner, I had a Yak burger, which was surprisingly very good, and had garlic soup too.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 8 & 9

Day 08 - Thu 16 Oct 2008

Trek Day 6 - Lower Pisang (3200m) trek to Manang (3540m)

This day we travelled to Manang. Gradual trail. I just realised I have mentioned gradual trail many times in my journal. No wonder I didn’t feel that this trek was very tough.

This day, we would gradually lose sight of Annapurna II. But we would still see Pisang, Annapurna IV from different perspectives. And we would start to see Annapurna III, Gangapurna and Tilicho peaks.

A very relax trek, because there was no animals or vehicles along the trail. Mostly open, sunny but windy as well.

Trekking to Humde for lunch.

Had lunch at Humde. After that, we (this usually mean Corinne and me) reached Manang at 2.20pm. Manang, like Chame, is a big town/village. There are a lot of facilities. And this is where almost every trekker will spend an additional for acclimatisation before they go on to higher altitude. There are also a lot interesting day trips for acclimatisation walks. From here, one can also trek to Tilicho Base Camp and Tilicho Lake. Some people I met later told me that it is a very beautiful lake.

At Manang, we didn’t go the hotel that Gopal wanted because it was fully booked. The alternative was Hotel Tilicho. Very big, very cosy, plus we have toilets in the rooms. Hoorah!

Since we were staying another day to acclimatise, so after shower, I washed all my dirty laundry and hung them out to dry. After that, a few of us went to the guesthouse bakery for tea. We shared various types of breads, buns and cakes. The apple pie was pretty good. Later, Uncle George and I went to get some postcards. I got two to send one to my colleagues, and another to Chee Wee.

For dinner, I had Yak steak. This cost me 595rs, which is about S$12. Not bad, but a little chewy. Some of the folks had Yak burger, which looked nice and tasty too. I also had garlic soup; I heard it aids acclimatisation.

Day 09 - Fri 17 Oct 2008

Trek Day 7 - Manang (3540m) Acclimatisation Day

This was a very short trek day. We just went for a morning hike to a viewpoint at about 3800m. There, we saw many beautiful and scenic views of Pisang, Tilicho, Gangapurna, Annapurna III and IV.

Viewpoint at Manang

I also ate quite light on this day. I had apple pancakes for breakfast and apple salad for lunch. In the afternoon, we visited the bakery again and tried some more variety of breads, buns and cakes. Dinner would be tomato sauce macaroni, as Huimin had it the previous night and strongly recommended it.

I also went to the post office and sent out the postcards. It cost 25rs per card to reach Singapore.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 7

Day 07 - Wed 15 Oct 2008

Trek Day 5 - Chame (2670m) trek to Lower Pisang (3200m)

This was a rather short day, although we had to ascend about 670m. The trail was rather gradual throughout. I cannot remember any steep slope at all. And we were beginning to see very beautiful views of Annapurna II and IV, and Pisang peaks.

Corinne and I reached lunchpoint, Dhikur Pokhari, 11am. There were a number of construction works going on to build new guesthouses and restaurants. A few of the restaurants were really very new. Along the way to Dhikur Pokhari, we had saw workers cutting down trees. I am worried that this may lead to deforestation and who knows what repercussions there would be later.

This day, there were a lot of people at Dhikur Pokhari. Dhan Rai felt that the restaurant that we were supposed to eat at was a bit crowded, so we switched to another.

At the restaurant, we spoke to a French elderly lady, who was trekking alone, with her guide. I think she is over 60 years old. But boy, could she walk. She had no porters, carrying all her stuff in a 30-35 liter backpack (or perhaps her guide did help out with some load). She would be taking the Upper Pisang route, so we could possibly see her again on our acclimatisation day at Manang.

On the way to Lower Pisang. Left-side route leads to Lower Pisang, right-side route leads to Upper Pisang.

We left lunchpoint at 1.30pm; Corinne and I reached Lower Pisang just 40 minutes later. That was 2.10pm. The rest would all arrive by the hour’s mark. Uncle George was very angry, questioning Gopal why then he didn’t think of bring us for an excursion to Upper Pisang and then to Lower Pisang. Since I have reached the guesthouse, I had no intention of going out again. Only Jonathan and Mun Yew went up to explore Upper Pisang.

There was only one bathroom at the guesthouse. And there were another guests there. So it was a long queue for shower. After a while, there wasn’t any more hot shower. Fortunately, that was after Daniel, Corinne and I had our nice hot shower.

This day my tummy didn’t feel quite well. I took some poh chai pills. Diarrhea is always my biggest concern during any trip, so I was a bit worried.

Fortunately, by lunchtime next day, the symptoms subsided and everything was fine then.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 6

Day 06 - Tue 14 Oct 2008

Trek Day 4 - Dharapani (1860m) trek to Chame (2670m)

This day’s breakfast, we had plain porridge, omelette and luncheon meat (brought from Singapore).

We moved out at 8am, and surprise, surprise, the trail was free of donkeys on this day. I wondered where they went. The trail was getting tougher, there were a couple steep ascends, especially just before lunchpoint, Thanchok. There, Kitap Singh welcomed me with an apple, which didn’t look nice, but tasted very good.

After lunch, we proceeded to Chame. From Thanchok, the trail was relatively flat. Corinne and I reached Chame at 3.10pm. During lunchtime, I had already asked which guesthouse we would be staying, so we went straight to that guesthouse, Marshyangdi Mandala Hotel. It was a rather big establishment. Instead of rows of rooms, they have individual huts. But basically each hut is just a standalone room, but it felt unique to me.

Nepal is divided into 14 zones. Within the Gandaki zone, there are six districts. Manang is one of them. And Chame is the district headquarter of Manang. Therefore, Chame is a rather big village/town. It has a lot of facilities, like hospital, schools, and even internet access. But it costs a premium to access the Internet there.

After my shower, I noticed I had two blisters forming, one each on the inner side of the heel. But I was more concerned with my boots, instead of the blisters.

We played cards while waiting for dinner. Some of the folks went to buy and stock up their Snicker and Mars supplies.

Dinner was vegetable-egg fried macaroni. Very dry, but still edible.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 5

Day 05 - Mon 13 Oct 2008

Trek Day 3 - Jagat (1300m) trek to Dharapani (1860m)

This day’s trek was also quite gradual, except for a steep stone trail about 30 minutes before Tal, our lunch location. The route was mainly gravel trail. A lot of open space, could get quite windy along some part of the trail. Some beautiful views, but as we get higher, I would expect more spectacular ones.

There were still a lot of donkeys on the way. They were the same herds we met on previous days, because I had come to know from the herdsmen that they also follow a typical schedule of ACT. So where we stayed overnight, they were there too. And in the morning, they always start earlier, so when we catch them up later, we would get stuck.

At the beginning of the steep stone trail, there was a restaurant. I didn’t see anyone eat there, but many stopped and bought drinks from there, and rested before going up the steep trail. I also enjoyed a Coke there. The trail upwards seemed very steep and long. I was a bit worried, as this was really the first steep test. But as I walked up, I realised that it was not as steep as I had imagined, and quite a short distance too. I think it took 10-15 minutes to reach the end of the slope, and I walked on to Tal.

Corinne, Daniel and I waited at the entrance of Tal as we do not know which restaurant we would lunch at. One of assistant guides reached Tal later, and he brought us to the restaurant. We soon noticed a pattern here. So far, all the restaurants (for lunch) and overnight guesthouse were always the ones at the end of the village/town. It would be the same for many days to come. This pissed Uncle George very much. Gopal got an earful from him regularly on this.

Beginning from Tal, there would be Safe Drinking Water Stations at various places along the ACT trail. They provide ozonated water at reasonable price. This is to encourage trekkers to do without bottled mineral water. Jonathan and Mun Yew were keen supporters of this. They would get water from them wherever possible. Some of the rest bought water from there occasionally. I still stick to boiled water, bought at the guesthouses.

After lunch, it was another two hours trek to Dharapani. Learning from the lunch location experience, I had asked Gopal during lunch which guesthouse we would be staying this day. So once Corinne and I reached Dharapani, we went looking for the guesthouse.

KL had left early in the morning to book rooms for us at Dharapani. This was necessary because ACT being a popular trek, it was possible that guesthouses could have been all taken up for the night. At the guesthouse, we didn’t see KL, so we asked the landlady. She told us she was expecting us, and went to get KL, who was napping.

I had a nice, hot shower. Then while I was cleaning my boots, I realised the sole at the heel was breaking up. I had my first doubts whether they would last the trek.

The rest gradually arrived. Some was in time for a warm shower, the others got cold ones.

For this day’s dinner, we ate some of the food Uncle George brought from Singapore. Canned braised pork trotters, and bah kut teh ingredient to make the soup. We ordered plain rice and fried cabbage from the guesthouse. Unfortunately, all the dishes were very salty. But we still quite enjoyed dinner.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 4

Day 4 - Sun 12 Oct 2008

Trek Day 2 - Blulbhule (840m) trek to Jagat (1300m)

I mentioned before that the original plan was to stay at Besi Sahar the day before, and trek to Ngadi (reads Nadi Bazar on the map) on this day. Then the next day, we would trek to Jagat. But this has changed. Gopal announced that this day, we would trek to Jagat. This meant that the three-day itinery has been reduced to two days and we would have another spare day. Gopal also said that due to some uncertainties along this day’s trail, we would have late lunch at Syange.

After breakfast, we moved out at about 8am. The terrain was gradual, not very tough. There were some beautiful views along the way, but not all that spectacular. My other disappointment of this trip also set in on this day. Animals. Specifically, donkeys on this day, and the next as well.

One cannot actually complain. This is the main mode of transport for delivering the goods to various locations along the ACT trail. What we eat and drink at the guesthouse, these donkeys carried them there. But it is frustrating to get stuck behind the donkeys and trying to overtake them.

Donkeys everywhere!

Gopal wasn’t kidding about late lunch. It was a long trek to Syange. When Uncle George reached there, he complained to Gopal about the long morning trek. What made him more agitated later, was to find out that Jagat would be just less than two hours away.

We had lunch at about 1pm. I ordered dhal bhat, as did Jonathan and Mun Yew. Three of us agreed that this is the best dhal bhat we had so far. It would later prove to the best along the trek.

After lunch, we carried on with the trek to Jagat, not knowing that one of our porters, Pema, was not with us at lunchpoint.

Corinne and I reached Jagat at about 3.30pm. The rest would gradually arrive. We washed up, showered, did some quick laundry and settled down for a chat.

By dusk, we noticed Pema and KL had not arrived yet. Gopal had earlier instructed KL to stick with Pema, who seemed struggling behind. As times passes, the guides all went to search for the missing persons. By dinner time at 7pm, there was still no news. We proceeded to have dinner, and stayed in the dining hall, chatting while waiting for news.

At about 9.30pm, Gopal, Dhan Rai and Kitap Singh were back. They were carrying Airin’s and Gwen’s duffel bags. They had found Pema and KL ‘resting’ far behind and not trekking to Jagat. Uncle George was unhappy and concerned if Pema could handle the load and complete the journey. Pema and KL reached the guesthouse at around 10pm.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 3

Day 3 - Sat 11 Oct 2008

Trek Day 1 - Kathmandu drive to Besi Sahar, trek to Blulbhule (840m)

Gopal arrived at the hotel at 8am. Deepak and Sarkee were also there to see us off.  And we got to meet Gopal’s entire team of assistant guides and porters for the first time.

For assistant guides, there is Kishor or KL, who was in my Langtang trek last year; Kitap Sinh, Jas Raj’s elder brother. Jas Raj was the chief cook during my ABC trek; and Dhan Rai, who is new to me.

We have five porters. One of them is Pema, who was an assistant guide during my ABC trek. He is porter for this trek to earn more money. Porters are paid higher wages than assistant guides, but they work harder, as they carry most of the travelling load. The other four porters are new to me.

After loading up the luggage onto the bus, we left for Besi Sahar at 8.20am. Glad to leave Kathmandu, the polluted city.

The way our driver drove was like an F1 driver, swerving in and out of traffic; except that this driver didn’t understand the meaning of haste. We would eventually reach Besi Sahar at 3pm.

In between, we had lunch at Mugling. And we ate what else, but dhal bhat! We got a punctured tyre as well, which was fixed at Mugling, but got to re-fasten again because it was not properly done the first time.

When we reached Besi Sahar, one would think that there was a carnival going on. They were a lot of people there! We were supposed to stay here for a night and start our trek the next day. But Gopal decided that there was enough time for us to trek to Bhulbhule. So the porters split up the luggage to carry, we got ourselves ready, and started our ACT. Hoorah!

At Besi Sahar, ready to go! (photo by Uncle George)

But just as the journey started, I had my first disappointment. We were walking mostly along gravel trails, where jeeps drive on as well. In fact, we found out later that we would walking quite often on such gravel trails, because now it is possible to travel to a lot places along the ACT trail by vehicle. So many times we were left eating dust whenever a vehicle drove past.

Anyway, I reached Bhulbhule at 5.30pm. And that’s just me and Corrine. The rest were still behind. This sequence would repeat very frequently throughout the trek; me and Corrine first, the rest behind.

Instead of six rooms, the guesthouse only had five available for us. So this night, Jonathan bunked with me and Daniel, Mun Yew joined Corinne and Huimin.

The rest gradually arrived. I predicted that Uncle George will curse at Gopal when he reached the guesthouse. Yes, he did.

We all had our showers, some warm, some cold; and had dinner at 7.30pm. Then off to bed we went.

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Annapurna Circuit Trek 2008 - Day 2

Day 2 - Fri 10 Oct 2008

The original plan was to fly to Nepal on this day. But because of issues with air tickets, we now have one additional day, and therefore flew to Nepal on the day before.

With one extra day, Deepak had planned for us to stay at Pokhara after our trek. However, the current schedule already includes three nights there. So while we love Pokhara, four nights seem a tad too much.

Therefore Deepak arranged a day-trip to Nargakot for us. I am not keen on this at all. I like the place. It is a village east of Kathmandu, where you are able to see a lot of scenic views, including the beautiful sunrise of the Himalaya. It would be ideal if we are staying there overnight and wake up to the glorious sunrise in the morning. So to have just a day trip, it made no sense for me. But I also understood the concern that Gopal had. If we stay here this day, then it will take a longer time to travel to Besi Sahar on the next day.

Nonetheless, since the whole team was going, I followed as well. Gopal came to pick us up at 9.30am. The journey took about an hour plus. He brought us to a viewpoint, where a small tower gives one a 360 degrees view. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, most of the peaks were blocked by the clouds. We left after an hour, stopped to have tea along the way, and returned to Kathmandu.

For lunch, we went to Fire and Ice, an Italian-style pizza and pasta restaurant. It is especially popular amongst travellers. The team shared a few pizzas and ordered pastas too. I must say that the standard of the pizza has dropped compared to last year, when we ate there also.

Bought some more stuff from the Supermarket, and returned to the hotel. Washed up, showered and watched tv while waiting for dinner.

This day’s dinner was on Deepak. But he did not join us, as he was still celebrating Dashain. Sarkee came to the hotel and brought us to the restaurant at Hotel Marshyandi. This hotel was where we stayed in Kathmandu last year. I am glad we are not staying there this year. They have refurnished the dining hall and it looks nicer now.

But what followed was the worst steak I ever had in my times at Nepal, if not my entire life. Most of us ordered steaks medium-done; they all came well-done. And it was so damn bloody salty. The fries were too crunchily hard. One other quibble I have; steaks in Nepal always have to come on a hot plate, they cannot serve it any other way. Ptui!

After dinner, we opted to stroll back to the hotel. I packed my stuff and went to bed. The next day, we will move out to Besi Sahar, where the ACT trail begins.

Like I had mentioned, I cannot remember if it was this night or the previous, some of the folks went to the casino.