Trek The Unknown

Image via WikipediaAt Every evening in Kusadasi we went out of our hotel to down town. Down town is full of bars, restaurants and coffee shops. Also, there are many tour Agencies which open until late, so It’s possible to order a trip for the next day.

One of the sites that looked beautiful on the photos was Pamuckale. My girl friend also heard that it’s suppose to be a great place to visit. So, instead of paying to a tour company we started to search on how to get there by buses.

Our 2nd day in Kusadasi was very exciting. We heard about a local village called SIRINCE (pronounced: shiringe) which is very picturesque.

In order to get the “full” local experience and adventure we used the local transportation. a dolmush is running from Kusadasi to Selcuk (pronounced: selchuk) and it’s written on the front part of the dolmush vehicles. It’s a pretty short ride of around 25 minutes and costs 4 Turkish lira, which is about 2 Euro per person. You get off in selcuk at the last stop (you’ll see many dolmushes around) and then take another Dolmush going to SIRINCE, This ride is also not too long and costs 2.5 Turkish lira.

The Village itself is one of kusadasi tourist attraction and therefore it’s main strrets a re also very touristy like with stores and coffee shops. We decided to wonder around the village and get to it’s upper part where no tourists are preset.

A local woman who spoke no English grabbed us in one off the allies and took us in her house. It was a single room house and very modest. She gave us some Apricots and then suggested some of the crafts she makes for sale. We didn’t really want to buy anything, but she was very nice and we felt somewhat uncomfortable, not to mention that what we bought was really low priced. so, we decided it’s worthwhile buying.

later on we walked around some more and reached a church. This church has a good view point over the whole village.

Our next stop was Ephesus. We saw the entrance to the site right before selcuk. It’s situated on the road between Kusadasi and Selcuk. Ephesus ( Or efes, as the locals says) is really close to selcuk, just a few minutes ride with a local Dolmush.

Ephsus is a Greek archiological site. It’s well preserved and beautiful. Entrance fee for the site is 10 Turkish lira per person. vocal earphones guide is availble for rent also.

The site is huge and has a few attractions that worth seeing. there is a big Amphitheater, A magnificant wall of an ancient library. One of the most beautiful ones is the rich houses terrace. It’s partly rebuild with the help of the Austrain Government and has additional entrance fee (10 Lira). It’s worth that cost!

Since it’s a big site it’s recommneded for a 2-3 hour visit. The place doesn’t have much shade so it’s good to prepare for that. Take a lot of water, sunscreen and hats.

In order to leave you need to walk to the main road. It’s 10-15 minutes walk. From there you take a Dolmush back to Kusadasi. We decided to try and hitch hike. well…It worked! a car stopped with 2 nice girls and their mother. They were on vacation too and were locals from Ankara. They didn’t only take us to the main road but all the way to Kusadasi. They had a vacation house there. We exchanged phone numbers in order to meet later on.

on the whole we think it’s defently possible going to Sirince and Ephsus on the same day. They are pretty close and both are beautiful place. We even had time at the end of the day jump into to swimming pool.

We decided to leave early as we were worried there will be no accommodations available in high camp. High camp is the highest and closest camping place to Throng La pass. If you want the hardest day of the trek the be as easy as possible, try spend the night before crossing the pass at High camp.

High Camp has a accommodations for 110 persons, whoever reaches too late gets to sleep in the dining room. nobody get to be thrown out, don’t worry

Eventually instead of leaving at 7AM we left at 8:30AM. We knew we have something like 2.5-3 hour of walking till Throng Phedi (That’s the place to stay for the night before High Camp). Throng Phedi means, under the mountain or hill, which is of course under Throng La pass area, the highest place around.

We reached Throng Phedi at 9:50AM. This was a good start for the day…Walking there includes some uphill walking but a lot of it is also straight surface.

Throng Phedi was discovered to be a VERY nice place. We stopped there to get used to the height of 4450 meters.

At 10:30 we decided to go on. We understood that the hardest climb of the trek is just beyond us. The Climb is one hour long it’s slow hard to breath walk. Some people that want to acclimatize thmeselves get to Throng Phedi climb to high camp and then walk back down to Throng Phedi. Then next day they climb this again. we acclematized ourselves enough in Mananag and along the way, we stayed extra nights at some places and climbed a little every day.

Entering into high camp we found there are 2 camp sites. The 1st buildings you’ll see on your left are the old buildings. don’t waste your energy that you don’t have anyway to walk around there. Keep walking up a little more to the buildings on the left. This is the new camp.

At High Camp we took 2 rooms. it really didn’t seem the acoomodation there were too crowded.
After resting and settling out breath we decided to go for a walk around. there is a mountain right beside the camp which is 100-150 meters higher than the camp itself. There is a great view for there and it’s highly recommended.

At the Time of year we were there (end of October) the whole mountain side was covered with snow. It’s was great sliding on it using the plastic coats we had! Try not to slide accidentally to unknown places where only a helicopter can help getting you out of.

Since high camp is a almost the highest place around, if the sun is out there aren’t any mountains disturbing it’s way into the greenhouse like dinins room. It’s VERY plesent and warm (as long as the sun is shining), with big glass windows watching the whole area around.

pricing:
room for a night: 320 NR
Spaghetti: 190 NR
potato curry (recommended): 130 NR
Veg fried rice (recommended): 190 NR

Since high camp is an isolated place there is no meat in the menu, only veggie stuff.
also, There is light at the rooms (on some other guest houses on previous days there wasn’t) and an early dinner is served at 4:30 PM.

We went to sleep very early at around 6:00 PM , because our plans were to wake up at 4AM in order to cross Throng La Pass.

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.

After a few days of walking…it’s time to rest! So that day we decided to have a resting day.

Chame Is the largest village in the district and actually you can find some pretty cheap trekking gear or food that you might need later. Of course it all compared to the prices along the trek.

We bought some twix bar which were 50 rupees each. We also bought some trekking gear. A friend of mine bought a walking stick since his got broken. I bought another fleece shirt…(I thought I’m going to freeze when being closer towards Throng La (La means, pass).

Chame has hot springs! but….At that time of year which is the dry season ( We were visiting there at the end of October) the springs are actually a tiny pond you can either put in your hand or leg only.

On the other hand, I met some people taking a bucket, filling it and having a shower by the spring. The water are warm and great!

In order to get to the hot springs turn right, right after the last bridge in the village (when coming from Danaqyu village direction). Then you walk through a few guest houses courts down the river ( river on your right). After passing those guests houses you need to go down straight to the river, there you’ll see a concrete pool (which was empty at that time).

Our porter said that one or two month later there would be more water in the spring and the concrete pool would be full which would allow a splendid bath!

enjoy

oh! also, HAPPY NEW 2008!