For various reason (some of the above) it's been a while since my last post. So in the interest of public health, I should warn you that this will be a long one.
In my last communique, I was recovering from a bout of illness and preparing for the journey up into the Himalayas. Luckily, the anti-boitics did there thing and I actually ended up quite enjoying our last night in India. We spent it at the International Music Ashram, something I can definitely recommend to anyone traveling to Varanasi. The place is small and low key, but the music was amazing. We spent about 40 minutes marveling at the supreme Tabla and Sitar skills of.... well I'm not sure really, but these two guys were amazing and it was really great to leave India on a high note.
I won't bore you with the details of journey north, not because it was a particularly painful, more that the memory has become a rather mundane blur and I'd rather leave it that way.
Our arrival in Pokhara however, was nothing short of spectacular. After the heavy, smog filled air of India, the fresh mountain air was great. The general feel was also different, the place is less crowded, there was nowhere near as many touts and you don't get hassled nearly as much. It really was a breath of fresh air.
As a result, we were quite happy to spend two days in a fairly relaxed state of mind while we prepared our selves for the upcoming trek. Our choice of trek was pretty much decided when a dutch friend of ours, Simone, mentioned there was a Dutch Barkery in a town called Tukuche. Once James heard this, there was no arguing: we were going to Tukuche.
So there we were, two day later departing Nyapul with our bags packed and our new guide, Surresh, leading the way. This was the beginning of the Jonsom Trek: a 10 day hike which wanders around the balk of the Annapurna range and up through the Kali Gandaki, "the worlds deepest valley" before emerging at the town of Muktinah high on (the beginning of) the Tibetan plateau.
I found the first day of the trek the most difficult. We actually climbed a fair way and it had been a long time since I'd exercised, so it was a bit of a struggle. The reward at the end though was well worth it. An amazing lodge, with hot showers and a spectacular view of Annapurna South. Absolutely breath taking.
As an interesting aside, on the first day we also had our first encounter with the Maoist Rebels. In general, the Maoist situation is pretty complicated and hard to understand, especially for someone from outside the country. In the past, they've done some pretty abhorrent things, but at the same time they do have a lot of genuine support and a lot of the reforms they suggest, such as abolishing the caste system and strengthening workers rights, are drastically needed. All along out trek it was pretty common topic of conversation and it was great to talk to various people, both Nepalese and ex patriots about their views on the rebellion.
Their fund raising methods still do leave a lot to be desired though: we were stopped and asked to pay a "compulsory fixed donation" which all foreigners traveling through the Annapurna region have to pay. After a bit of haggling and some philosophical and political debate we settled on a price of 1500 NRP for the four of us. In reality, we could probably have just walked away, they weren't armed and there were only 2 or 3 of them. Then again, this is still an armed insurgency and it's not a risk we wanted to take.
Anyway, back to the Trek:
The next two days were similarly amazing. We continued to climb up through the valleys and I was amazed by the constant change in landscape: from the heavily terraced and populated hills of the first day, through the Rhododendron forests and jungle of the second on into the amazing snow and high alpine forests of the third.
After three days walk, we finally reached Ghorepani, one of the highlights of the trip. We got up early the next morning to climb Poon Hill. This "hill" is actually about 3200m high, so is infact half again as high as anything we have in Australia... but it only qualifies for hill status over here and you understand why when you get to the top.
From here, you have a spectacular view of some of the greatest mountains in the world. On the left you have the Dhaulagiri range (around 8150m) and on the right you have the Annapurna massif, including Annapurna I at 8050m, in the distance Macchapucchare and Mansalu (another 8000m peak).
This ended the first part of Trek and to anyone thinking of doing the Jonsom trek I'll make this recommendation: The slight deviation (maybe 1 extra day) from Ghorepani to Tadapani and Ghandruk is WELL worth it. It provided for some amazing scenery which I just don't think you get if you head straight from Ghorepani down to Nyapul.
The next few days were a bit of an emotional, geographical and physical downer. Problems began with the bone aching 1700m decent into the town of Tatopani, at the bottom of the previously mentioned "deepest valley in the world": it sure felt like it. This took it’s toll on everyone, especially Wooky and V. Wooky's knee blew out about half way down and at about the same time Nick succumbed to some pretty horrific blisters.
We struggled on though and finally made it to Tatopani. After a quick refreshing bathe in the famous hot-springs we felt slightly more invigorated and decided to stop in for some drinks and a feed at the “Bob Marley” bar. Bad mistake. We indulged a little too much and ended up waking up at 10:00 the next morning (we were meant to meet the guide at 8:00am…) every one in pretty bad shape, especially Wooky.
End result was that after another average day of hiking, V and Wooky decided to call it quits and jumped into the jeep up to Jonsom, leaving James and I to soldier on. I’m not sure I envy them their choice as they ended up spending 4 days in Jonsom… not the most happening place in the world. In fact it’s more akin to an extremely cold and windy ghost town. It’s only attraction is an airport, which unfortunately doesn’t operate that often, due to the high winds and cold…
Anyway James and I stoically continued on our journey. We smashed through the next three days of hiking in near record time (for us anyway). Again, this section of the trek offered another twist in scenery as we ascended to the high altitude desert that forms the Tibetan Plateau.
We also ascended to what was arguably the high point of the trip for James: the Dutch Bakery in Tukuche. We had heard rumors of this bakery and in our minds it had become an oasis of warmth and good food. Luckily, it didn’t disappoint. The apple crumble at this place was absolutely amazing as was all the food.
At this point it is probably worth mentioning the conditions under which we were trekking, they were verging on luxury. Trekking the Jonsom trek really isn’t roughing it. We were pretty much spoiled, for example: hot showers weren’t a luxury, they were a must have.
From Tukuche we headed to Kagbenni, an interesting town bordering the Forbidden Kingdom of Mustang. This isn't a joke, it's actually a forbidden kingdom: you have to pay $700US just to get in. Kagbenni is also the home of Tea House called "Yak Donalds"... we don't recommend it. We'd overheard people talking about the amazing burgers and fries and this set some serious expectations. The idea of a juicy meat paddy on a soft white bread roll with some salad was almost too much to bare. Unfortunately (unlike the Dutch Bakery), Yak Donalds failed to live up to expectations in almost every respect. I won't go into detail except to say (like it's namesake) you should probably avoid it at all cost.
Finally, we made it to our ultimate destination, Muktinah. This was the highest point (3800m) and to go any further we would have had to ascend the Throng La pass which is seriously discouraged if your coming from the Muktinah side. To do so involves ascending from 3800 to about 5400m in a very short space (both distance and time), which is both difficult and asking for a severe attack of acute in sickness.
Up here it really felt like we were at the edge of civilization. It’s an extremely harsh environment, very cold, windy and dry. In a word, spectacular.
Finally after 9 days walking we (James and I) had made it. Fittingly, Nick and Wooks also caught a jeep up from Jonsom, so we were reunited before returning to Jonsom and preparing to fly back to Pokhara.
Unfortunately, the next morning there were only 3 places in the plane back, meaning James was left to idle away another day in Jonsom, before completing possible the most outrageous and significant feet of mountaineering seen in this part of the Himilayas: His epic trek from Jonsom to Beni in a single day. Why is this amazing? Well firstly, James and Surresh's flights the next morning were canceled due to bad weather and, not wanting to waste any time, they decided to start walking. And walk they did, Jonsom to Beni is about the same distance as our entire trek, around 9 days walking. With the help of 3 hours in a jeep, these men of steel managed to completed in but a single day. My hat goes off to them...
Histrionics aside, this was pretty impressive and also, pretty important. Our 10 days in the Himalayas chewed up a fair bit of time and had James been delayed further it may have seriously affected our onward plans.
So here we are in Kathmandu, ready to embark on the next step of our journey… Tibet. Unforuntately, due to some changes made by those bastards in the Chinese government, it is now even more prohibitively expensive to get there. The official line is that THE ONLY way to get into Tibet is to take a fixed 8 day tour costing $450US. Luckily, after much hunting around and haggling we found a tour group which was happy to take the 4 of us on a private 4 night tour for a mere $328US. Still more than we wanted to pay, but that's just the way it is.
And so that's where we are. Tomorrow morning we leave Kathmandu (which by the way is an extremely cool place) and head up into the mountains and across the plateau to the forbidden city of Lhasa.
Finally, I've actually managed to upload some photos to my web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/healsJnr/Nepal
until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment