Trek The Unknown

We started the day at around 8:15 in the morning walking from Ghyaru. remember that we are way up over the valley at that day so there are magnificent views from the top.

Walking starts with a few short climbs and there are a few great view points along the way. Suddenly on the way we saw some vultures ( I’m not an ornithologist, but it looks like it ). So for the 1st time I had a good excuse to use my 75-300 mm lens I carried with me the whole time.

On the way it’s possible to see Homde airport ( If we were walking the straight easier way the previous day we would have walked through Homde). If you are too tired or can’t get used to the heights, one of your options is taking a flight from Homde to Pokhara, but you might have to wait a few days for a flight and an available seat.

We had the chance to see a small airplane landing and taking off, it’s weird to look down on it, instead of looking up to the sky!

The next village coming up is Nagwal. There are many alleys in that village so you have to ask people which is the right way to cross it.

After Nagwal the trail goes down , back to the valley. Then it’s an easy 2 hour straight walk to Manang. On the way there is another small village called Braga ( or Braka) so don’t get too excited that you arrived to Mananag, it’s another half and hour walk….

We reached Manang pretty late, at 14:30. Our porters mentioned it would take only 4-5 hours to walk until Manang, but the girl in our group got hurt in her foot, so we had to find a horse for her that would take her to Mananag. All this waiting and logistics took quite a while.

All along the trail and especially at this part of the trail there are many people renting horses or yaks ( which are more expensive) in order to carry tiered or hurt trekkers.

This was the end of that day. There is a clinic at Manang that is there for a reason, but it deserves a special post.

That would be my next one.

Many people I’ve told I’m traveling to Nepal said to me: “You are very brave. I don’t think I can do that”. now, I know from many young Israelis who went to Nepal that it’s safe and there are no problems going there.

Nepal is dependent on tourism and since 2001 tourism has dropped down because of the political situation. After spending 2.5 months there, I can say say for sure Nepal is safe at least in the parts I was in. I just had the chance being on the most touristic parts.

The Maoists that everybody are afraid of are a political group which causing the “trouble” in the country. At the same time they are very aware of the mess they are making and that it’s hurting their main economical engine. Therefore their policy is NOT hurting tourists.

If you are a tourist in Nepal you’ll probably meet them in 2 occasions: street demonstration. I saw a few of those In Kathmandu. Walking and shouting down the street never hurt anyone…they are walking in large groups not causing any harm ( well, except of the traffic jams…)

The other place would be while you trek in the mountains. They have booths on the train, which is actually a small table and a flag. Usually there are a bunch of them and they oblige (or as they say:”Take donation” ) you to pay them some fee. It’s very safe they are not shootings anybody and not hurting. Just do as they want. I’m not in favor of what they do but I’m in favor of safe tourism.

This tourism helps this poor nation. unfortunately large sums of this money goes to Swiss bank accounts and not staying in this country and for the people, but that’s another issue.

The “Annapurna circuit” AKA “around Annapurna” is one of the most popular treks here in Nepal. Being around here in Nepal, everybody are talking about the “around”. It’s a pretty hard trek, but more because of it’s length and not because of the climbing skills you are required for (no climbing skills required!).

It can be done in 15-17 days, depends on your pace. I heard of people doing it in 10 days (nowadays, it’s possible to get a jeep and drive some of the way and save a couple of days) and older groups of people doing it in 24 days.

Views in the trek are magnificent, it’s surrounding one of the Himalaya beautiful ridges.

The starting point of the trek is in a town called Basisahar (can be spelled in some other ways, depends on the map you are using) and ends in either one of 2 places, Beni or Nayapool. It’s all depends on how much walking strength you have

Basisahar is in the middle way between Kathmandu and Pokhara, so you can begin your ride from either of the two cities.

These 2 places are where it’s possible to take a bas back to Pokhara after finishing the trek.

In each and every day of the trek you have the possibility to sleep in a guest house, so camping is really not necessary and there is no need to carry a tent with you. If you do want to do some camping, you are most welcome. Tent, stove and all other additional equipment is then required , of course.

Many people say that living costs on the trek are very expensive. well, if you did stay in the Thamel for a couple of days, costs would be around the same.

Room charges are relatively low and gets to their pick almost at the pick which is high camp guest house at high camp after throng phedi. it’s the same price you will pay for a a guest house in the Thamel area in Kathmandu (320 rupees). The deal is that you pay almost nothing to the guest house for sleeping but in exchange you buy your food and meals from them. If you decide to eat your own food, room charge will be higher and sometimes double.

Get ready because this trek is going to be one of your major life experiences! not every day you get a chance to be out of civilization for 2.5 weeks.

One very important thing, these days a road is being built to most of those villages around the trek. In 4-5 year most of the circuit could be done buy driving and not walking. I’ve been told that the trekking committee or other Nepali organization are looking for new trekking routes in order to overcome this problem.

So…go now!

If you have some more questions on this trek, just add the questions on the comments, I’ll add it up to this post. I might be forgetting some points you are pondering about.

After trekking for a few weeks it’s time to relax. So I’m taking the time to explore Pokhara and it’s surroundings. I went with a friend to the world peace pagoda (or stupa , as they call it here). This stupa was built by Buddhist monks in order to promote world peace.

We combined 2 activities in one and started our visit with sailing in Pokhara’s lake. We took a rowing boat from the lakeside area. The aim was to row the stupa’s bank and from the to climb up to the stupa.

Renting a boat costs around 350 rupees for 4 hours. 4 hours would be enough time for you to row one way, climb to the stupa, going down the hill and row back. rowing to the stupa’s bank would take 30-60 minutes. It’s not an easy task as it seems. If you don’t feel like working hard, (or if you are not to many people on your group), hire a driver too. That will cost an extra 50 rupees.

Climbing is not to hard. It took us 40 minutes to climb. The view from up there is amazing, although we had a cloudy afternoon. If sky are clear the view from there is breathtaking. A whole chain of the Annapurna range is seen! I just saw it in photos though…

going down is easier of course, takes around 30 minutes. the problems was we had to row back, and we didn’t really feel like after that mini trek.

A different option for a visit at the stupa would be, taking a boat with a driver from the lake side bank. Rent the boat just for an hour, since you won’t need it on the way back. The driver would take it back. Climb the hill and later take the trail leading to the main road of the lake side in Pokhara. I haven’t done it but talked to people who said it’s pretty straight forward, so don’t worry about this.

here’s for world peace!

hey!
Last Thursday I came back for a 2.5 weeks of trekking at the annpurna circuit trek.I’m currently in Pokara resting This trek was absolutely amazing. Everyday I wrote about the happenings that day, so I can update it in my blog. I will update all the info later , so you can get it from 1st hand and can plan your own trip to this great trek!