Hariharalaya Retreat Day 3…

Sun setting just before evening meditation x

I have broken out in a rash! What else Asia? Seriously. I’m surround by very young, yogi type, beautiful people and looking like a blotchy, pimply red sweat bag and it’s doing nothing for my chakras/chi/ying/yang etc.

With this in mind I have decided it’s my bodies way of telling me I need to relax MORE so I take today’s relaxation regime to the extreme and read about how to recharge my chakras (all of them need doing), drink coconuts and serenely, or at least in my head, practise yoga at sunset.

All is going well and we are both really getting into the groove of this place until mid-meditation I nearly throw up from an uncontrollable coughing fit that just descended from nowhere. The room was pitch black as I launched myself up from my mat and leapt for the door. The room was at total peace, all deep breathing and relaxed faces, until I charged through trying not to trip over peoples hand woven yoga shawls, tiger balm and mosquito spray. At least it was dark and nobody could see it was me.

It’s about 9.30pm, Chinese New Year and I’ve just sat down to write this as ‘Who let the dogs out’ has started to play at another wedding near the retreat. It’s Chinese New Year so I have no doubt it will carry on until the early hours.

Tomorrow we are all meant to be completely silent – nobody is allowed to speak. I am really looking forward to it for some reason. Sometimes it’s tiring making friends and asking the same questions all the time. I am looking forward to just being.

10.20pm -the dogs in the village are actually now howling and the two geese that live in the pond behind our hut have just decided to take a very splishy splashy bath. You’ve gotta laugh.

Night night

DW xxx

Goodbye Nepal, Hello Thailand

JG

It’s fair to say that the end of our time in Nepal was hampered by illness and strikes and we leave today feeling a little flat. Disappointing after such an amazing trek, but that’s all part of the traveling experience. You have to take the rough with the smooth and adapt your plans to work around the situations you face. It’s often the challenges that provide you with longest lasting memories.

Lets see what South East Asia has in store. Next stop Bangkok.

Flying to Pokhara

Starting Point: Jomsom
Ending Point: Pokhara
Altitude: 800m

The tiny airport x

We arrive at the airport bleary eyed. It’s crawling with army personnel who riffle through our bags looking for goodness knows what. The night before a lady advised me to put my underwear at the top and it would save me the rigmarole – she was right. He just prodded my bag and told me to go through. Yes!

I am marched into what feels like a wardrobe with doors each side and a women literally starts to search me/feel me up – I don’t know which? The same happens to John who is asked to stand with his legs apart and palms on the wall while he is frisked. ha! He comes out a bit paler than when he went in.

I see the plane for the first time – its tiny. 20 seats total. This is going to be interesting.

We board the plane and from where I am sat I can see the pilot picking his nose…..OMG I can see all the buttons, levers and flashing lights. I don’t know how it even manages to leave the run way but it does. The views are amazing – its well worth it just for that, but if you are a nervous flyer this may not be the option for you.

We arrive in Pokhara ready to relax and recuperate. We get off the plane and take a short walk to the Lakeside where all the hotels and restaurants are located. Along the way we met local who suggests a place to stay owned by a healer. That sounds right up my street so we set about finding it. We arrive, barter a price and dump our things. Its nice but John has that look on his face I know too well. A look that says he is unsure about this place. To be honest I am so tired I don’t care. I shower properly for the first time in two weeks – I am in there for at least an hour. I feel like a new born baby all pink and wrinkly when I get out. We sit on the balcony, venture out for food and generally chill out. We put our washing in so we literally have nothing to wear. John is sporting his swimming shorts, his cleanest thermal top and his walking boots – he looks hilarious.

Looking good Johnny Boy xxx

Its so nice to stay in one place.

DW xxx

Annapurna Day Fifteen (JG)

Starting Point: Ranipauwa
Ending Point: Kagbeni
Altitude: 2,800m
Hours Walked: 6.5 hours

It feels like the home straight now. The pass has been conquered.

We just came from there. That was the pass x

Aching and tired from yesterday’s monster trek, I feasted on a mammoth breakfast to set me up for the day ahead while Debs poked at a bit of toast. It’s another six hour plus of walking but we felt spurred on by the fact that it’s the last big one and we are dropping altitude. After this it’s a short trek to Jomson where a bus awaits to take us through to the hot springs of Tatopani.

View from the Teahouse balcony x

Just setting out for the day x

I have to give thanks to Andrees de Ruiter and Prem Rai. These guys were the creators of the NATT trail (www.nepal.dai.de) making it possible for novice, independent trekkers like me and Debs to navigate the circuit without a guide. This allowed us to experience a sense of achievement that far exceeded what we would have felt if we had taken on the services of a guide and/or a porter. The advice they provided was invaluable and was based on trekking the circuit many times over – I would recommend their guide to anybody thinking of doing the same. Today was said to be one of their favorite days on the circuit, taking us through to “their love” Kagbeni. They haven’t disappointed us yet so we were excited for what the day had in store.

Tibetan Village x

There is a more direct route to Kagbeni but the NATT trail takes you through a number of beautiful villages that feel like you are in Tibet rather than Nepal. Surrounded by stunning views of the Himalayas, today was the first day that Debs and I managed to walk (most of the day) together and we didn’t pass a single trekker, or should I say none passed us.

Foolishly though we neglected to pick up food supplies for the trip. Compared to other days, there is no opportunity to stop for lunch or pick up food of any kind on the way. I like my food. If anything is going to encourage me to walk faster it’s the need for food. Four and a half hours in and the views became a blur as we pretty much ran the last two hours to Kagbeni.

Kagbeni is beautiful – as you walk into the village you feel like you are walking back in time to the medieval ages. (I half expected Robin Hood to trot through on his horse with Little John handing out bread to the poor) Definitely one of the nicest villages we stayed in. We got a room in a lovely little teahouse and with the lower altitude (we have dropped another 500m) Debs appetite came back so we pretty much order one of everything from the menu. Bizarrely, yet again we were the only ones there. To say this is one of, if not the most popular trek in Nepal, we seemed to have stayed in a number of teahouses where we were the only customers.

Not sure if it’s us putting others off, or they know something about the teahouses that we don’t? We enjoyed it anyway. The food was good. The bed was comfy. We even treated ourselves to a couple of cheeky celebratory beers.

JG

Annapurna Day Nine

Starting Point: Ngawal
Ending Point: Menang
Altitude: 3540m
Hours Walked: 4.5 hours

The worlds highest football pitch! x

Another bloody hill x

Jumping Johnny, nearly there x

Today was a great walking day, with easy climbs and whole sections that were not vertical. What a treat. We stopped off for a Yak Special Sandwich at Hotel New Yak, which was the first time we had seen sandwiches.

Best Yak Special Sandwich EVA!

I felt my stomach growl with hunger for the first time in days. We ate merrily on a little balcony overlooking the mountains and got a bit of sun burn. We ambled into Menang feeling full and happy. It was a glorious day and we knew we could have a proper two day rest and acclimatisation, which all trekkers coming through here are encouraged to do.

Improvised prayer wheels made from paint tins. These contain precious prayer scrolls meticulously folded inside. Genius x

For some reason I loved this bridge – all worn out and gnarled looking from years of use x

Quick turn of the prayer wheels before we enter Manang x

Welcome two day rest at Manang x

The town seemed heaving when we arrived and all the teahouses seemed fully booked for large walking parties, but just as we were about to start panicking we found a tiny bakery that had five rooms and we managed to get the last one. It was run by a family of women, of varying ages and authority, who were always busy bossing, shouting, cooking and cleaning. There was never a dull moment. We ate cake and drank tea but I could feel the AMS still knocking on my door. Even when poorly I could just not say no to the Black Forest Cake that glimmered in the window.

We attend an AMS talk by a local doctor which they run everyday at the medical centre and it was well worth it. The dangers and reality of what we are doing started to hit home and all my symptoms are being described in perfect detail. It was nice to know that I am not alone and that others were feeling similar things to me. Just to put it into perspective, while we were there two people were air lifted to Kathmandu by helicopter and a guy we met was so oxygen starved he had to sit in an oxygen tent. You really can feel that the air is getting thinner and thinner.

There is an old projector house which is warmed by an actual gas fire (not Yak poo), you get free tea and popcorn all for 1.25p but we fell asleep in our room and could just not peel ourselves away from the delicious warmth of the sleeping bags. Everything pretty much shuts down by 8pm, but then again so do me and John.

Love DW xxx

Annapurna Day Eight

Starting Point: Upper Pisang
Ending Point: Ngawal
Altitude: 3,680m
Hours Walked: 5 hours

After a nice rest in Upper Pisang and a little lie in, we headed off for Ngawal.

Last look at the views x

Leaving Upper Pisang easrly in the morning x

Local collecting fire wood for her morning cooking. She took a shine to John an wanted her photo with him x

Not a long walk, but a tough one. The trek up to Ghyaru, the first village on route, is two hours of non-stop steep, steep climb. It’s a good job we had a rest day yesterday.

Nearly at the top x

I made it x

From the first day of the trek we agreed to take the hills at our own pace. I say agreed, Debs’ pretty much ordered me to do one. My pace is a little faster than Debs’. She’ll be the first to say that most people’s pace is a little faster than hers. At one point I think she was going that slow she started to go backwards. Ha. Only kidding.

Considering Debs has taken this on with little or no preparation she is doing amazingly well. Debs didn’t want to feel under pressure to keep up with me or feel that she was holding me back so we will tackle the hills at our own pace. We might be the slowest on the circuit, but that doesn’t matter one bit. We’ll walk our own walk and get over the pass when we get over the pass.

Off we go again x

The good thing about the big climbs on this trek is that at the top you are often greeted by a view that makes the climb seem soooo worthwhile.

If you weren’t already out of breath it would take your breath away. We toasted this climb in style, with a brew and an overpriced pack of Oreos.

Stunning x

The walk from Ghyaru was a lot easier going. The scenery was stunning the sky was clear. Just a beautiful, beautiful day’s walking. Probably the nicest on the trek so far.

Once again it seemed we were a little slow off the mark in getting the best seats in the communal areas of the teahouse. The fire was surrounded by French folk and the main dining room was packed with Germans. We had to settle for the upstairs dining room. We were the only ones in there. It was freezing so we got our sleeping bags and spent the evening wrapped up warm and playing our usual numerous games of shithead.

John

Annapurna Day Four

Starting Point: Chamche
Ending Point: Dharapani
Altitude: 1900m
Hours Walked: 6.5 hours

We started off with a gargantuan climb in the scorching sun and it felt totally relentless. We set off early in the morning to get a head start but as soon as we hit the hill inevitably all the people we had stayed with the night before trotted past us…smiling, ergh.

Beautiful bridge x

Smile. x

I kept reliving inspirational moments to help me along…a favourite was supplied by the film Aliens where Sigourney Weaver goes back to blow up the alien and she says something like “I’m going to blow this bitch up”… well, that is a little bit how I felt about this sodding mountain.

So after a steady 3 hour climb and lots of comments on my Ugg boots, my favorite one from an American guy “Yo girlfriend, what yo got on yo feet” we finally reached our lunch destination where we filled our boots. We happened to set off behind a large hiking group (I will not name their nationality) but they were all carrying day packs which is nothing out of the ordinary apart from the fact that their Sherpas were carrying, I kid you not, those huge suitcases on rolly wheels, you know the ones you take when you go on a beach holiday. I have never seen anything so ridiculous in my whole entire life.

Can you see the sherpa carrying a suitcase in front of me?

Unbelievable! and this was just one. There was about 10 – 15 of them for the group all with bags like this or bigger strapped to their heads. x

I think its good to support the local tourism trade and hire sherpas to help you but if you are going up a mountain then please have some commonsense. It was like they had come expecting to dine out every evening and maybe take in a show or two – total madness.

Walking behind them I felt myself getting steadily more angry so as soon as the path opened out we were off like speed lightening – there was no stopping me. After speaking to them for five minutes I needed no other motivation but to get away from them as soon a physically possible.

We were so tired so we just fell into the first Teahouse we came across. It was not the best one I have stayed at, but we were so tired all we wanted to do was eat and sleep and get ready for another big day tomorrow.

Its getting cold. x

Typically as soon as it was time to sleep I was wide awake -damn you Nepali waterfalls – they are bloody everywhere.

DW xxx

Chillin with my homie

Having a few beers with my oldest friend Mr D Factor. Love him to pieces.

DW xxx