RAW Collection

No Pain No Gain

Originally uploaded by wildxplorer

Being in the Himalayas is so overwhelming and contains so many photo opportunities it is easy to miss things. I was also so tired in the upper part of the Annapurna circuit that i chose to rest rather than rushing out and taking pictures. This was probably an unfortunate side effect of carrying my own rucksack.

One of the delights I tried in Manang was seabuckthorn juice. One of the places we ate at promoted it health benefits particularly the advantage it apparently gives to acclimatisation. The advert also reassured the reader that the juice was processed hygienically. Throwing caution to the wind Chris and I took the plunge and tried Seabuckthorn juice and found it very tasty.

Despite my own negligence to capture a picture of the Seabuckthorn plant I have stumbled upon a very good example on flickr taken by wildxplorer

Its all but over. The last week or so has been spent trekking back from Jomsom via Poon Hill, a view point of over 3000m. The trail from Jomsom follows a dusty jeep track for 3 or four days to a village called Tatopani. The name translates to hot water and the village does have some hot springs but they are not how you would imagine them. The two hot pools, made of stone and concrete are outside pools located just next to and below the dusty and bumpy road frequented by jeeps and buses.

From Tatopani our route climbs steeply (from 1100m to 2800m) to a Ghoropani. The journey took us all day and we arrived after sunset (6pm) exhausted and hungry. We had dinner and went to bed ready for a 4:30am start to get to the Poon Hill viewpoint. There is much hype about the Poon Hill sunrise and it is described as unique. The truth is you share the 45 minute walk and the view from the top with around 300 other people, all trying to capture the moment with as many cameras as there are people. There is no doubt the view is spectacular and is unique for so many who do the much shorter Poon Hill trek. However I must admit, after hearing so much I felt a little disappointed. I recall sitting on a balcony in Manang, to the north of the Annapurnas, watching the first rays of sun slowly reach the summit of Ganagpurna, changing it from a silhouette to orange tipped behemoth before my eyes as a more unique, gratifying and solitary experience.

From Ghorapani it was another log day. We descended a flight of 3280 steps to cross a river which we followed to our resting place last night. Today we had a very short walk of about 30 minutes to the road and bus stop. We traveled in a local bus which took 2 hours to travel the 42 km journey to Pokara, our resting place for a few days.

So the walk of 220 km over 19 days is over. Now its time to rest and there is no better place than Pokara. It is a town in the shadow of the Annapurna range, with 400 guest houses and many restaurants. Reaching Jomsom was a bit of a shock as it was a return to civilisation from the wilderness but there was no shock in reaching Pokara, only satisfaction.

We have made it! Well as far as Jomsom but the hard work of crossing the Throng Pass is over and it pretty much all down hill from here. It took us 12 hours to climb to and over the 5400m pass and down to Muktinath (3700m) and then 4 hours to Jomsom (2700m) which is a surprisingly large town, complete with airport.

The pass itself had a good covering of snow and took us from one landscape to a much more arid valley. The afternoon winds here are much stronger and therefore more noticeable.

I was hoping to upload some pictures today but the internet is very slow here, it seems much slower than dial up but at 2,700m in the heart of the Himalayas what can you expect?

Today (1st November) is a rest day and as we have passed our high point there is no need to go a day walk to ‘go high, sleep low’ to help acclimatization. Today really is a lazy day and the first chance we have had to wash clothes for a week or so.

From here we head south toward Poon Hill to view the Annapurnas from a distance then on to a relaxing few days in Pokhara.

All in the team are well although a little tired from walking 140km with the knowledge we have 60km remaining.

It’s been four long days walking in the Himalayas to reach Chame which is at 2700 meters. Day one was spent on various buses to get to the start of the walk and from there we walked, in monsoon rain to Khudi and a timber lodge. Day two we had our first view of an 8000 meter mountain and day 3 took us into a narrow valley where we stop in a settlement called Tal. It was a funny little place nestled deep in a valley. From there the path took us up into a wider valley, past rainbows and onto our lodgings for last night, Danaqyu.

I would love to write more but I must keep it brief as the cost soon build up, it is 600 rupees an hour. We have taken quite a few photos but it’s hard to do geology on such a large scale with photography alone.

We should be in Manang in two of three days where I should be able to write more.