Annapurna Trek (21 December 2007 - 4 January 2008)
On a freezing Friday morning, Eon, Simon and I met our porter, Rem, and set off in a taxi to Pokhara Airport. We had to wait outside the airport for it to open and this gave us the opportunity to get to know our porter a bit better. Rem made it clear that he was actually a guide, not a porter, but seeing that it was off season, he needed the money and settled for a job as porter. Being a porter meant that Rem would have to carry our bag (about 16kg) - he did not have to help out with directions or advise on accommodation. I remember so clearly how Rem said: “Today is not far, only four hours hike to Muktinath”. And this was the first of many similar lies…
I have taken many flights in my life, some better than others, but this flight from Pokhara to Jomsom was the most terrifying of them all! We had a small plane that had a problem with releasing the brakes on take-off and it rattled like a baby toy on steroids. It is fantastic flight between two over 8000m Himalayan range. The 30 minute flight felt like an eternity, elevating from Pokhara at 620m above sea level to Jomsom at 2710m. It felt a bit like a Harry Potter scene, swerving through the mountains, trying to dodge the snow-capped peaks. At least we were invited to see the magnificent view from the cockpit, meet the pilots and have a look at the ‘state of the art’ control panel.
Once safely on the Jomsom airstrip, I said a little prayer in relief and marched on to have breakfast. We could feel the difference in temperature immediately - this was going to be a tough two weeks. At least I knew that all the money we spent on the snow gear would not go to waste. We had oats porridge and tea in a small restaurant with a lovely heating system - a huge hole in the floor under the blanket-covered table, filled with red hot coals. What a lovely invention! Little did I know how dependant we would get on these babies…
And so the trek began…
Day 01
Jomsom to Muktinath (21 Dec)
Duration: 8 hours
We walked from Jomsom to Kagbeni (2800m) where we had lunch - home made pasta with some veggies. Kagbeni is an interesting village and the quite old town has a 500 years old monastery. Rem told us that it is only another two hours walk from Kagbeni to Muktinath. We walked north through the arid plateau lands that stretch up to Tibet
The trail is quite barren with craggy rocks and sand and is mostly flat, which makes it very easy going. This enjoyable start was at the same time picturesque, with views of big peaks all around such as Dhaulagiri (8167m), Tukuche (6920m) and, in the west, the awesome mountain above Kagbeni - Nilgiri. Over to the south and southwest the entire Annapurna Massif was lying stretched out on the horizon. After walking for about 3 hours, passing through interesting Tibetan style villages Khingar and Jharkot (3550m), Rem said: “Only 30 more minutes…” This carried on for about two hours! I was so upset with him - he kept on telling us “only 30 minutes more” and it turned out to be 5 hours from Kagbeni (not 2 hours!!).
When we finally arrived at Muktinath (3800m) we were exhausted, dehydrated and suffered from altitude sickness (really bad headaches and Eon had a nosebleed). We took a quick break and headed up to the temple which holds great religious significance to both Buddhist & Hindus and it is famous for its ‘flaming water’. When we got to the temple (on the highest hill in town) - it was closed already!!! We walked back to the guesthouse to take the coldest shower I have ever had. The water was not that cold, but the floor tiles could just as well have been ice cubes. The three minutes I spent in that shower, felt like an eternity. It must have been quite a sight: me dancing around so that my feet limits its contact time with the floor, struggling to breathe, sucking in air like a woman in labour (you know that typical sound one makes when someone throws ice water on your back - only this time it was non-stop, excruciating sounds). At least we got to enjoy a mushroom pizza in the heater-under-the-table dining room. We went to bed at eight and slept right through until the following morning at 7am - a well-deserved 11 hours sleep 
Day 02
Muktinath to Marpha (22 Dec)
Duration: 8 hours
Day one had brought on a new realisation for us: this was not going to be an easy trek! We had planned to get up at 6am, go up to the temple and then start walking at 7am. Rem offered to wake us, so when I woke up at 7am, I was in a flat spin. My first thoughts were that Rem had abandoned us, seeing that I gave him a good piece of my mind the previous day, and this would mean that we had to carry that 16kg bag by ourselves! I rushed out of the bedroom looking for Rem (yesterday a pain in the butt, today a precious commodity). The guesthouse owner told me he was still asleep (apparently he had too much apple brandy the previous night!).
He was very apologetic about oversleeping, trying to lie his way out of the situation: “I was awake at 6am, but I thought you were too tired to wake up.” I had no words….
We had our breakfast, decided to give the temple a miss, and started out trek all the way back to Jomsom and on to Marpha. It was quite an easy, descending walk through the beautiful villages to Marpha (2670m) also known as ‘Home of Apples’. It took us 7 hours to cover the 28 kilometres. On arrival, Rem took us directly to his preferred guesthouse (we did not mind this - we had no idea about the guesthouses in anyway). Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay there because “someone died in the hotel”. But the place we ended up staying at was charming enough - with a great shower! I felt so much better about the trek - we covered a great distance, had no (okay, less) lies from Rem and the next couple of days would be mostly short distances, all on a descend.
Day 03
Marpha to Lete (23 Dec)
Duration: 5 hours
This was quite an easy day of trekking, descending through apple fields, the landscape slowing starting to change from barren, dry hills to a more lush surroundings and the river meandering through the mountains. Well, I suspect it was not too easy for Rem as he reeked of brandy - if I walked four paces behind him, I could still smell him
We trekked for about two hours to Tukuche (2590m) when Eon realised that he had left his hat and sunglasses in Marpha. Simon had also forgotten to hand in his room key in Marpha and discovered he had the key on him just before we arrived in Tukuche. So everything worked out well - Eon got a lift on motorbike back to Marpha while we waited for him in Tukuche. Simon had developed a stomach bug overnight and was not feeling well, so this one hour break came as a blessing for him.
When Eon returned, we continued with quite an easy walk, passing through the beautiful villages of Kalopani (2530m) and with fantastic views of Dhaulagiri Ice fall, Mt. Nilgiri south, Bara-Shikhar (7647m) as well as Annapurna I (8091m) and descend to Lete. After dinner, we decided to try the local apple brandy. We ordered one glass, thinking that it would be one shot and Eon and I would share it. The glass turned out to be a 250ml glass filled with apple brandy (for about R5,00). It is custom to drink it straight up, but I just had to dilute it (with hot water!). I went to bed that night, with cheeks looking like two bright-red toffee-apples
Day 04
Lete to Dana (24 Dec)
Duration: 7 hours
The trek to Dana was very tough. It was a steep and never-ending descend over loose rocks that took its toll on my ankles (I suspect my up and coming 30th might be to blame). Ideally, we wanted to trek to Tatopani with its
Eon and I ended up spending our Christmas Eve, playing cards with Bart from Belgium, and two Nepali porters we also tried the local wine called Raksi. It tastes a lot like South African ‘mampoer’ - a taste I have yet to acquire.
Day 05
Dana to Tatopani (25 Dec)
Duration: 2 hours
Merry Christmas! Our Christmas presents to each other were that we could sleep in a bit. So we got up at 8am! (Yes, I know this does not seem as sleeping in, but on this trek it surely was!) We started the short trek to Tatopani (1190m). The trails passed through a narrow gorge regarded as the deepest and steepest in the world and then up to Tatopani with amazing waterfalls.
On arriving in Tatopani, we settled into our room and headed out to make a couple of phone calls to our family. Before leaving Pokhara, we asked where on the trek we will have mobile reception and we were told in Tatopani. So we planned our trek in such a way that we would reach Tatopani on Christmas day, we also bought a Nepali SIM card and Rs1000 in recharge vouchers. Surprise, surprise! There was no mobile reception! After coming to terms with the disappointment, we went to look for a landline. They were charging a fortune and the connection was horrible! I made a 30 second call to my parents saying: “merry Christmas!” waiting 15 seconds to hear my dad say: “Hallooooo? Chantell is dit jy?!” he could hardly hear me and then we got cut off! Eon made a one minute call to his mom, asking her to let everyone know that we are alright and that we will phone them when we have reception.
I was devastated and in serious need of some love and pampering. We walked back to the guesthouse and heard some people speak in Afrikaans. We were very surprised to meet up with a huge group of South Africans (we haven’t met a lot of South Africans travelling in the past 4 months) in a little town in the middle of Nepal and even more surprised when we saw Frans -who we know through Werner and Chanel and mountain biking. We could not believe our eyes! And then, this miracle happened. We were chatting away in the streets (the group had just arrived in Tatopani, doing the Annapurna Circuit trek) and we were talking about what we missed about home. I told them how I miss Oros and this guy, Santa Claus Frikkie Botha, pulled out three sachets of Oros from his backpack! I was ecstatic - could this be? I could not have asked for a better Christmas present! THANK YOU!!!!
We spent the rest of Christmas in the hot springs with our fellow South Africans, speaking Afrikaans and soaking away our aches and pains. That evening, we had a delicious lamb steak, cooked in rum served with veggies and chips. And we had some brandy and Coke! And then we played cards with Bart, Simon, Rem and another porter who seemed to be an undercover casino card player as he won just about every game! It was a surreal and lovely Christmas.
Day 06
Tatopani to Sikha (26 Dec)
Duration: 5 hours
After the usual breakfast of oats porridge, we started our trek to Sikha. It was quite long climb passing through the jungle and some villages. On the way to Sikha, Simon decided not to continue with the trek - he could not get his stomach bug under control and he was getting too weak to continue. So we bid him farewell, he took the road to Beni and we continued up hill to Sikha.
Rem kept postponing our lunch venue and before we knew it, it was 14:30, we were starved and we arrived in Sikha (1935m) where we had lunch. Another 10 minutes walk and we were at our guesthouse. The guesthouse owners decided to spoil their guests that evening with a chicken curry. From the dining room window, I watched one of the porters running after a chicken whose days were numbered. The taste of the chicken was not too bad, but I am suspect that they take the chicken, chop it up horizontally and then vertically, throw it in a pot, add some spices, boil it and then serve it up like that. I am sure that I had a sphincter, some lung and many, many bones in my serving…. To top it all off, that night Eon and I could hardy sleep at all seeing that we had a rat family constructing their house in the floor of our room - chafing and chewing at the wooden floor whole night through!
Day 07
Sikha to Ghorepani (27 Dec)
Duration: 4 hours + 2 hours to Poon Hill
We completed the uphill trek to Ghorepani (2750m), walking through the villages of Chitre (2390m) and big rhododendron forest. Ghorepani is an important crossroad for tourists and the numerous mule caravans on the Jomsom - Pokhara trek. It has amazing views of Annapurna south (7219m), Hiunchuli (6441m), Bara Shikhar,Dhaulagiri range and more. After climbing the never-ending steps, we arrived in Ghorepani at about 12:00.
We had lunch, took a shower and then took on the ascent to Poon Hill 3200m above sea level. This is one of the best view points in Annapurna Range. We had a spectacular sunset - with clouds pushing up from beneath, hanging between the mountain tops and the valley. And even better than the view was the fact that we had mobile reception and we could finally phone our families!
Day 08
Ghorepani to Tadapani (28 Dec)
Duration: 6 hours
Before we started trekking, we stopped at the local dealer and stocked up on some more snacks for our trip up to Annapurna Base Camp. The trek to Tadapani started out with a huge ascend through a beautiful forest. Once at the top of this hill, we had a good rest and then tackled the gradual descend down to Tadapani (2721m). on the way down, I had my first real encounter with snow! It was a little patch of old snow about 20cm deep, but nevertheless, it was snow
In the guesthouse in Tadapani, we met an English couple who have just moved to Nepal. The guy was a SAP consultant for the British Council, working in Nepal for the time being. Now this is a great way to see the world - Eon works as a SAP consultant and we travel from country to country on someone else’s expense
Day 09
Tadapani to Chomrong (29 Dec)
Duration: 7 hours
Gelukkige Verjaarsdag Oom Willie!
With the last three days walking mostly up-hill, I was hoping that my ankles would have heeled properly for me to take on the downhill to Chomrong (2210m), the last permanent settlement in the valley. I had high hopes - the small downhill from Chomrong to the river took me nearly three hours and I had to decide if I wanted to continue with the trek or stay in Tadapani and wait there until Eon returns from Annapurna Bas Camp (ABC). I took a Voltaren and some painkillers - these, combined with my determination to get to ABC, helped me to get to Chomrong.
We discovered these delicious and dirt cheap coconut biscuits what go very well with sweet milk tea. These quickly became a 10am tea break habit on our trek. We walked passed beautiful paddies and we could finally see the snow-covered mountains that we were aiming for far away on the horizon!
It was a long and painful day, but I was so proud of myself for not giving up! There was an English guy at the guesthouse that was attempting to walk to ABC, but picked up a stomach bug and was now too weak to continue. He had some gear that he would not use and decided to be the Samaritan and gave it away. Eon inherited a silk balaclava and the most awful pair of snow glasses that makes one look like a horse (although Eon is very chuffed with them!) and I got hand warming sachets.
Day 10
Chomrong to Doban (30 Dec)
Duration: 6 hours
My ankles were still very painful, but my dad’s advice to take a Voltaren before playing golf, seemed to work for trekking as well. From Chomrong, the trail drops very steeply down to Chomrong Khola (the river), and then climbs all the way up again to Sinuwa and on to Kuldi (2470m). It is quite frustrating to know that you are killing yourself to get down to a river just to walk all the way up again! The trek from Sinuwa entered the upper Modi Khola valley, taking us through many different landscapes including dense forests with ferns and small streams running down from the mountains, to bamboo forests and moss-covered trees with millions of birds.
We continued on to Bamboo (2310m) where Rem suggested we spend the night. But it was only 12:00 and we wanted as much ground as possible. With an unhappy porter (we suspect he would have received some form of commission if we stayed where he had planned), we continued on to Doban (2540m). It was 14:00 and we were still feeling strong and wanted to move on to Himalayan Hotel (this is actually a settlement with a couple of hotels) but Rem told us that the entire town’s hotels were filled up by a Korean group of 30 people. We had seen this big group earlier on our trip and decided to believe Rem and so we stayed in Doban.
Being this high up in the trek, things were starting to get very expensive. In the beginning of the trek we would pay about Rs75 for oats porridge and now were had to cough up Rs115.
Day 11
Doban to MBC (31 Dec)
Duration: 6 hours
We started out trekking to Himalayan hotel at 2840m and here we met Paul and Jim - two English guys that was also on their way to ABC. They told us that they were spending New Years Eve at Machhapuchhare Base Camp (MBC) and it would be great if we could join them. Machhapuchhare Base Camp at 3700m isn’t really a base camp since climbing the mountain us not permitted, but it is about two hours walk prior to ABC. This would mean that we would only need to do a two hour trek on New Years day to get to ABC. Rem did not agree with this at all. He wanted us to sleep at Deurali, about two hours walk before MBC. But we were ‘the boss’ and insisted that we try to reach MBC.
This stretch of the trail passed several avalanche chutes, but we had great weather and we were in no danger. The natural surroundings started to change to the barren, dry hills that we also saw in Muktinath. And the snow-covered mountains were getting closer and closer. I could feel the excitement build within.
We reached Deurali (3170m) at around 14:00 and were certain that we could get to MBC by 16:00. Rem was seriously protesting against this. At some stage he said that the porter that just passed us came from MBC and he said there was no accommodation in MBC. Jim decided to race ahead to find out if this was true and if so, we would return to Deurali and spend the night there.
Turned out there was more than enough accommodation in MBC and so we spent our New Years Eve in a small guesthouse in MBC with two hilarious Englishmen. We had some beers and the other small bottle of brandy that we (or rather Rem) carried all this way. There was little patches of snow scattered about and Machhapuchhare Mountain (also known as Fishtail) leaned magnificently over our guesthouse.
We tried to stay up until midnight the previous night, but we were a bit too noisy for our Korean counterparts who do not celebrate New Years on 1 January. So we decided to do the honourable thing and quite down early and went to bed at about 22:30.
Day 12
MBC to ABC (1 Jan)
Duration: 2 hours
We treated ourselves to a sleep-in and dragged our sorry bodies out of bed by 9:00. We had breakfast and started making our way up to ABC by about 10:00. We only had to climb 400 meters in elevation, but still had to keep a weary eye for signs of altitude sickness. We reached ABC (4130m) at noon, had lunch and then went playing in the snow. The boys managed to build a snow (wo)man. I stood on the side, filming the process and dodging the flying snowballs coming my way.
I must admit - I have never in my life been this cold. I could not feel my fingers, toes or nose. Every now and then, I had to touch my nose to make sure there is no noe-noes on my lip luckily we had a lovely heater in the dining room, so we spent the evening in there, playing cards. I also had about four shots of rum straight up just to keep me warm.
The sleeping bags we bought in Pokhara passed their test with flying colours! I was so thankful that I took Eon’s advice on buying this. That night, both Eon and I had trouble sleeping due to altitude sickness. Luckily this was the only symptom we had, so we took some of the pills that we got from Chanel and voila!
Day 13
ABC to Sinuwa (2 Jan)
Duration: 9 hours
We woke up very early to watch the sunrise from ABC. This is the reason that so many people attempt this gruelling trek and what a good reason! It was a magnificent painting of colours. Reds pouring over the snow-covered mountains and then changing into purple, then orange and then brighter and brighter into yellow and then white.
Now it was time to start the descend back to Pokhara. We had to double back all the way to Chomrong and for this reason did not want to waste time. Our trek was already longer than anticipated, so we decided to cover as much distance as possible. We managed to trek al the way back to Sinuwa. It was a long and exhausting day! And here we were able to shower and wash our hair for the first time in four days - eeewwwy!!
Day 14
Sinuwa to Tolka (3 Jan)
Duration: 9 hours
This was a very tough day - descending from Sinuwa to the Chomrong Khola (river) then taking on the monstrous uphill to Chomrong and then all the way down again to Jhinu Danda where Eon went for a quick dip in the hot springs. From here we trekked to Tolka. On the way, we saw beautiful wild parakeets swiftly cutting through the air. We also passed a stunning waterfall and walked through paddies on the verge of the mountain.
All the locals who heard that we were attempting walking from Sinuwa to Tolka were shocked in disbelief. But we made it - we were tired but poor Rem was exhausted!
Day 15
Tolka to Pokhara (4 Jan)
Duration: 7 hours
Last day! It was truly only a five hour walk, but for some or other reason Rem tried to drag out the process for as long as possible. We ended up spending two hours at the lunch venue. It just really did not make any sense to me - why would he want to postpone getting back to Pokhara? Whether we arrived at 13:00 or at 17:00, it made no difference to his pay. And he kept on talking NON-STOP! He was telling us how he is actually a guide and not a porter and how it was actually embarrassing to him to be seen carrying our bag. Then he went on telling me how talented Eon is: “you know Chantell, Eon does not get angry when things go wrong…” I assume as appose to me who gets furious when things go wrong (like when Rem lies to us!). Then to also tried to impress me by saying that although Eon was talented, I was intelligent because I knew how long it would take to get from point A to point B (I call this survival when your porter lies to your face!). He told me about his children and how expensive it was to keep them in school and how he would never be able to travel because he is so poor. At some stage the poor man had me on a guilt trip and then it clicked - he was trying to work us over for a bigger tip! So, with me being intelligent and Eon being talented, I wonder why he did not try to impress from day one?!
It really started to get ridiculous when he was pulling out all the stumps as a guide, pointing to a tree and saying: “this is a tree” and pointing to a chicken and saying: “this is a chicken”! He was also trying every move possible to get us to take a taxi to Pokhara and not the local bus.
Eon took advantage of the fact that he had no pain in his ankles and scrambled down the million steps to Pedi, leaving me with the verbal diarrhoea Rem. By the time I reached Pedi, I was hanging on to a very, very thin thread of sanity. I bought each of us a cool drink and we waited for the bus to take us to Pokhara. When the bus arrived, Rem did not make any attempt to get onto the bus. Instead, he sat like a lord, sipping his Coke.
Rem saw himself in a higher class than the locals using the bus (or maybe he actually is) and so he deliberately made everyone wait for him. I was furious at him - how could someone be such a snob?! I told him to hurry up to which he replied: “Don’t worry, I am your guide” and before I could think of what I am saying, I heard my bitchy voice “you are not our guide, you are our porter”. I felt so bad saying that to him, because I knew how much that must have hurt.
To make a long story short - we got on the bus and two hours later we arrived in Pokhara. It was an amazing two weeks and I was thrilled to be back in…’civilization?’
Click on the image below to view our Annapurna gallery: