Over the hills and far away

The Dashain festival gave my friend and me the time to go trekking to Annapurna conservation area for five days. Because of the limited time we didn’t have the chance to trek a very long route, so we decided with help from my co-worker the following way: Nayapul – Hille – Ghorepani and Poon Hill – Tadapani – New Bridge – Nayapul. Though the loop from Tadapani to New Bridge was decided on the route.

So what would you like to hear? About the sweat, the never ending stairs, the five am wake ups, the slimy leeches, the muscle aches, the rains in the afternoon, or perhaps about the moon stones, or the flirting porters (and no we didin’t have a porter or a sherpa, we wanted to carry our own stuff and find our own way).. 

Well here is something to share with you: one day the rain started earlier and we were exhausted by the altitude differences, the ups and downs, of that day. We were so happy to get to Tadapani and change to dry and warm clothes and just lay on the bed easing our tired muscles. That day we had descended for hours and then climbed the stairs back up again in a pouring rain. Though the coming up had been almost fun, because there where some porters climbing with us and cheering us up. After a bit of rest we went outside, where the darkness had already descended. The air was crisp and clear; no clouds in the sky so the stars had come out, and the almost full moon was so bright.  There in the light of the stars and the moon in front of us stood the snow peaks, so glorious and beautiful against the navy blue sky.  The sight made it feel as though the time had stopped and you were staring to eternity. The aching muscles, the tiredness and the cold were all forgotten.    

The whole trip was filled with these beautiful sceneries. It’s amazing how the nature around you changed from stony hills, to rain forests with small waterfalls, to fields, to northern scenery and all the time the tall mountains were staring down on you. But I must say it is rough, especially when your time line is limited, but you still want to see as much as you can. It’s all the time going up, descending and up again, with breaks of only few minutes to get your heart beat into a tolerable level. But it’s worth it for the scenery, but also for the feeling of outdoing yourself. Even though the monsoon time brings out the leeches in the forests and in some areas, mainly on the Jomsom route, there were so many tourists! Herds of Chinese walking in line. But then again it’s fun sometimes to chat with the other trekkers, but I do recommend try to avoid the trekking season, which hadn’t even started yet!

And no, there was not really moon stones, but a lot of shining silvery stones, because of some minerals. And the porters and sherpas, well many of them are great, know a lot and are social. But at the same time some of them are interpreting the western culture through their own culture and sadly through the Hollywood movies. So the western culture and two alone travelling unmarried women can come off in a bit distorted way. The route was fairly simple, so we didn’t really need a sherpa, though we got a bit lost twice. But I would recommend a guide if you stray from the most travelled parts – the maps we could find weren’t very detailed. 

I can’t share with you all the beautiful scenaries, the funny moments, or the exhausting ones… I can just say that I would most definitely do it again, and I hope I have a chance to return to the area sometime in the future. Though the tourist area of Pokhara makes me want to think twice, but luckily you can try to escape the tourist atmosphere to the hills.