Annapurna – part 3

May 14th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kruithof

Well, I’ve been trying to write this with as much speed as possible, but it seems I still only left off at the end of day 8. I think I need to hurry myself up a bit because tomorrow I was thinking of heading out for a couple days of jungle safari (don’t worry, I bought some anti-malarial pills from a sketchy pharmacy – read: tiny hole in the wall with random drug packages packed to the ceiling in an impossibly random order- at the end of the road today) and I’ll be without internet again. Enough of that…

Trek – day 9:

As I was packing up from the Tilicho hotel, I realized my black long sleeved hiking shirt was missing…or stolen after having fallen off the clothes line outside my room, to be more exact. I was peeved off to say the least (that shirt has come with me on every hiking trip I can remember). Hari helped me to find another long sleeve, as that was the only one I had with me, at a rip-off price of 350 rupees. The only bright side was that we were in Manang, which is a larger village and actually has a couple shops that sell fake North Face gear, and the like. We left the stoney village of Manang in the sun with a 7 hour climb ahead of us to Thorung Phedi. On the way out, we passed some men hauling rocks in a fireman’s line to build a burial site, with a monk sitting beside them chanting prayers and burning incense – life (and death) is all around you in Nepal, not hidden in the least. About an hour later we hit a small village and sat for a moment on the rooftop of a restaurant to admire the incredible views of Gangapurna mountain behind us. We continued on the gradually inclining, snaking path along the mountain side, and although I climbed slowly, I was surprised that the lack of O2 was not making me as short of breath as I thought it would. I definitely felt I was winding my way through the Himalaya now, with consistently gorgeous views. All day we had views of Thorung Peak, a rounded peak sitting to the right of Khatung Kang (a very pointy peak that I mistakenly thought was Thorung Peak the day before). At the beginning of the day it seemed impossibly high and distant, but by the end it seemed slightly less insane to think we’d be going over that pass tomorrow. Stopped for lunch in Yak Kharka (where I naturally saw my first yak) and then pressed on for another 3 hours, having excellent views of Chulu West (I think I may have actually gotten a photo worth enlarging of this mountain). Just before we reached Thorung Phedi, we had to cross a part of the trail that had been swept out by a rocky landslide. The loose gravel slid all the way down the cliff when I tested it with my foot (looking down the cliff and seeing a badly angled, mangled, dead donkey at the bottom didn’t do much to help my confidence either). Mike helped me across as the hillside slid out from under me. At Phedi (which is a very scant village, existing mostly for trekkers making the pass) we got some extra blankets (our door didn’t actually shut) as it started to hail and then snow. Nothing grows here at 4450m, so the lodges only exist in the peak trekking season. Splurged and got a hot chocolate before bed time at 7pm.

Trek – day 10:

I think the altitude kept me awake last night, as I noticed myself breathing deep and fast in our dark room. We got up at 3:50am, packed up, had some porridge and were out the door wearing 3 layers, full rain gear, gloves, toque (a word totally foreign to the 2 Americans….weird!) by 5am. There was just enough light off the fresh snow on the mountains that we didn’t need our head lamps. The hike up to High Camp (consists of one lodge, looking fairly deserted) took an hour, steeply uphill on the rocky, snowy, switchbacks. Took about 3 more hours slowly and more gradually up, crunching through the fresh snow as the sun came up and lit up the mountains. We came over a hill and saw the path to the pass, hidden behind a hill in the valley between Thorung Peak on the left, and another peak to the right. We trudged along until suddenly a mound of prayer flags emerged with a sign announcing we made it to the Thorung La pass at 5416m. It got freezing fast in the wind and we huddled in to a lone tea house sitting frigid at the top of the pass…how some one can actually live up here, I have no idea. We each had a huge mug of lemon tea in the little stone structure, and with all our layers put back on, started our 1616m descent to Muktinath. The other side of the pass had even drier mountain air and my nose and lips continued to crack and bleed. The landscape quickly started to look more like a desert valley bewteen two mountains. Just as we crossed, we were lucky enough to see a small avalanche tumble down in a wave of white powder on the peak to our left. The descent was very steep, through endless rocky switchbacks, and soon my knees got sore…and soon they were very painful, shaking with every jerking step downwards. The rest of the group soon disappeared in front of me as I slowly hobbled along, with Hari behind me. Soon I felt on the brink of tears as a couple hours of down went slowly by…and finally I was in tears (thank god for sunglasses) by the time we reached our lunch spot. Going steeply uphill for nearly 1000m verticle meters was mentally challenging and exhausting…but downhill was just pain. When we arrived in Muktinath at 3800m an hour later my whole body and mind was toast. I really wished Brandin had been with me today (since I know he’d happily have been hiking with me at the back)…and I think he would have been proud to see me cross the pass.

Trek – day 11:

Every time I rolled over last night my quads burned like no tomorrow. We decided to walk only to Kagbeni today (3 hours and 1000m down) as a bit of a day to recover from yesterday. Even walking down the stairs at the hotel was pathetically difficult that morning. It’s amazing that just yesterday we were freezing in the high Himalaya, and today it’s hot enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt. We walked most of the day on the motor road (which I think is a relatively new encroachment of urbanization on the villages of the Western half of the circuit), going gradually down in to a couple villages that were green oases in the surrounding desert mountains. Looking back, we had a view of the unassuming Thorung La in the saddle between the peaks of two mountains. The wind really started to pick up today when we arrived at a cliff’s edge looking down on to the bright green wheat fields of Kagbeni in the valley below. The fields rippled gracefully in the wind, with the Kali Gandaki river snaking beside the village. Hari says Kali is a powerful female Hindu goddess. The steep descent to the village didn’t help the situation with my knees/quads. We reached the lodge to find our room had an attached bathroom with a flushing toilet (!!). Life is much different on the road half of the trail…it’s much easier to lug a proper toilet up to 3800m when you have a Jeep, I guess.

Trek – day 12:

Woke up in the night a few times feeling sick…almost didn’t make it to the bathroom on time waiting for Laurel to come out. If possible, my legs were even more sore than yesterday. All I could manage was a few bites of porridge for breakfast and then I hobbled painfully down the stairs and we were on our way. I felt a bit nauseaus and my quads just couldn’t seem to warm up…a leg would occasionally almost buckle beneath me and a shot of pain like the fibres in my quads were ripping would take over every time I took a descending step. By the time we reached the larger village of Jomosom after walking over the rocky river bank of the low Kali Gandaki, I was trudging along by myself with sore feet (and not particularly loving life). I didn’t know why it was taking my body so long to recover. I had a piece of bread for lunch because I still wasn’t feeling well, and we left Jomosom hiking through winds that were actually blowing me side to side. I forced myself to keep going along the river bed and when we finally reached Marpha, I felt spent. Marpha has cute whitewashed brick streets filled with Tibetan souvenir shops (apparently there is a Tibetan refugee camp nearby), surrounded by apple and apricot trees (unfortunately not in season). But there were dried apples and apricots, brandies and ciders everywhere. Today I really started to miss home.

Trek – day 13:

Went to bed around 6:30pm last night and had an 11 hour sleep. Still felt sick when I woke up, but my legs finally felt less sore. Could only eat a few bites of porridge, but did manage to get down a whole glass of delicious home made apple juice. When we reached Tukuche we sat down for another glass of real apple juice (out of beer mugs, of course) and watched a parade of children in school uniforms march down the road, chanting and collecting offerings of food as they went. Hari explained that it was the Buddha’s birthday today. I found it very interesting that all the children were wearing red tikkas on their foreheads (the classic sign of Hinduism)…just another example of religions blending together peacefully in Nepal. The scenery quickly changed to hills covered in evergreens, fruit trees, and green shubbery along the roadside and valley holding the river. We hiked 5.5 hours before reaching Kalopani where we had lunch, and despite still feeling nauseaus, I was hungry. As we were eating it started to rain, and we briefly entertained the idea of hopping on a Jeep to our destination…until it drove right by us and said there was no room. The rain stopped soon enough and we walked the last downward 2 hours to Ghasa, where we stopped at the Golden Inn. I think my body is getting tired, and less and less able to tolerate long days of hiking compared to when we started. (Note: man, I sound like a complainer, don’t I?). At dinner I still lacked an appetite…forcing myself to eat food that is totally unappealing to me is definitely a new experience…usually I have no trouble packing a meal down (just ask Anna).

Trek – day 14:

The note that I wrote at the top of my paper journal today reads: “Are we done yet??….I miss Brandin” (haha…probably the best description I could come up with). Woke up with the same sick feeling I’ve had since Kagbeni. There was a fair amount of climbing up boulder steps today and then soon there was a long section of down, down, down, with my legs bracing at each pounding down of my boots on the large boulder steps going steeply down to the river. I felt very slow today. By the time we reached Dana, a very green, wheatfield and flower covered village for lunch, my body felt like I just couldn’t push it any further. I had delicious lemon juice and real popcorn for lunch (which somehow tasted better than any popcorn I’ve had at home…even with nothing on it) and that gave me some energy. Suddenly there was thunder and wind, so we got going and my pace was much better. Luckily it was only one more hour to Tatopani (translation: hot water) where we put our bags down at the Himalayan Hotel. We walked down to the river where there are two square, stone pools built and filled with water from the natural hot springs. I let my feet soak (again, annoying to be female and have it be inappropriate to strip down like the boys) and chatted with a Canadian couple from UVic…then went back to my room and slept till dinner…woke up feeling like crap again and forced down my soup. I don’t know how much more I can push my body, and I’m unsure about tomorrow (a 900m climb steeply up). I miss home a lot right now. Laurel had decided to leave the trek early tomorrow by Jeep to Beni and the bus to Pokhara (because of an aching body). I went to bed really wanting to complete the last two days of the trek so I could see Poon Hill (one of the great view points where you can see some mountains not seen along the rest of the trek).

Trek – day 15:

Woke up in the middle of the night feeling very sick again – then tossed and turned the rest of the night wondering if it was smart to push through to the end. By morning, I decided that I probably would not enjoy the rest of the hike, fighting nausea and not having eaten nearly enough the past few days when you’re burning so many calories in a day. I also knew that there was a very steep and long descent on the last day that I was sure my body was not going to be able to handle without more pain and tears. So, with regret, I told Hari that I would also be leaving early with Laurel to Pokhara. No Poon Hill for me. Hari arranged us (and the Canadian couple from yesterday) a taxi to Beni – a very slow, cramped, and bumpy taxi. In Beni, we boarded a local bus that jolted us up and down the green mountainsides for 4 hours to Pokhara, a lakeside village that is a much more relaxed version of the tourist center in Kathmandu. I had a shower at the hotel and put almost all my clothing (wasn’t even wearing a bra or underwear when I wrote this journal entry on May 11) in the hotel’s laundry service, since I think they are all well beyond the salvation of hand washing. I bought a used book and sat down alone at a Canadian-Nepali run restaurant for a grilled chicken salad (the first salad I’ve had in Nepal, which I devoured and funny enough, something as simple as a salad eased my homesickness) and two scoops of ice cream (also for the first time since I’ve been in Nepal).

Well, this had been an exceedingly long entry…and I’m pretty tired of writing! Caught up to May 11…but still behind. Whew, I’ll get there eventually! As of right now, I’m safe and in much better spirits (just so Mom and Dad don’t worry)…but I’ll leave the details of the last few days in Pokhara to another day when I write the next entry. I miss you all so much!!