Annapurna Teahouse Trek, Nepal (3/17/99-3/31/99):
Despite connecting with three carriers (America West, Korean Air, and Thai Air), we eventually arrived in Kathmandu. Unfortunately, one of our bags didn’t. All of our camping gear arrived, but very few clothes did. Our hometown airline, America West, blew it somewhere between the Phoenix departure counter and the Los Angeles arrival luggage area. With only 2 hours between flights in LA, we wasted precious time waiting for everyone’s baggage to clear from our flight and then filing a lost baggage claim form. In the process, we nearly missed our outbound Korean Air flight since it was in a different terminal at the opposite end of the airport. With a lengthy run between terminals, pushing 120 pounds of luggage, and another run to the boarding gate, we hopped our flight just as they closed the doors. Was this to be the trip from hell?
The weather in Kathmandu was great when we arrived, with 70-degree days and 40-50 degree nights. We acclimated quickly to the 12-hour shift in times. Everyone we met had great trekking stories to tell so we crossed our fingers and hoped the good weather would continue. It had been an extremely dry year, no rain for several months according to the locals. Unfortunately, this made it hazy at times. We found a low cost Internet connection close to our hotel ($3.60 per hour on line, $1.20 per hour for computer use off line). Using a Hotmail account, we were able to email frequent reports of our experiences to travel friends and family in the States. We spent most of the first week in Kathmandu sightseeing, trying to locate our lost bag, and arranging for the Annapurna Teahouse Trek. The Thamel restaurant food was excellent and varied.
One day we went to Swayambhunath, the monkey temple, which was a little over a mile from our hotel. As we walked back, we often thought we might have to call a taxi to find our hotel. Kathmandu has almost no straight streets, or street signs for that matter, so we used dead reckoning and the sun’s position to determine our direction. We went to Durbar Square another morning and watched the Holy Cows, humping goats, street vendors, pigeon feeders, fakirs, street sellers, taxi cabs, motorcycles, pedicabs, tourists, and who knows what else, mill about without a single fatality. Another totally unremarkable, normal day for Kathmandu residents.
Since our clothes had still not arrived, we began shopping. Knockoff rainjackets, packs, fleece clothes, money pouches, and just about anything else made by the major outdoor equipment manufacturers, with appropriate brand names of course, are available at a tenth the US price. Zipper quality may be questionable and they might not last as long as the primo article but some of it seems to be quite well made. Out of reading material, we bought Maurice Herzog’s account of his 1952 ascent of Annapurna. This climb was significant because it was the first successful ascent of a major peak above 8000 meters. It is well written and a must read for people interested in high elevation climbing. In addition, we bought a mindless fiction book called “Escape from Kathmandu” which was topical and fun to read.
The rest of our group arrived early. We were all looking for some unplanned thing to do, so we traveled to Nagarkot hoping to see the sunset and sunrise on the Himalayas. Unfortunately, a stable, high-pressure weather system coupled with the burning of fields before the approaching monsoon season caused sufficient aerial haze to limit visibility significantly. However, the temperatures were wonderfully cool at the 6000-foot plus elevation. Returning to Kathmandu, we were somewhat dubious when told our lost bag would arrive the following day. Thanks to the efforts of Blue and Charlotte, it arrived the day before we left for Pokhara and our Annapurna trek. Susan took that day off from sight-seeing and retrieved it while Bob and our friends took the city tour. Never has one airline caused so much confusion on a trip. They cancelled our Thai Air flight to Nepal while we were flying into Bangkok and later decided we were returning a month earlier than our tickets indicated so there was no point in forwarding our bag to Kathmandu. We were hoping that our return flights were still valid. We don’t advise flying America West with more than a carry-on.
We took a fancy, air-conditioned tourist bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara, arriving late in the afternoon. After walking uptown for dinner along Lake Fewa, we returned to the hotel early to pack our backpacks for the upcoming trek. The prop plane flight into Jomsom was a white knuckler for some of us. Once away from Pokhara we enjoyed beautiful views of the Annapurnas and flew low over blooming Rhododendron forests. Apparently, this is necessary since they don’t pressurize the plane. It buzzed rooftops flying over the pass near Poon Hill. The abrupt landing onto a short, hard-packed mud runway at 9000 feet surprised us all. We were mobbed as soon as we walked out of the gate by young men trying to sell us guide services and accommodations. This was a daily occurrence in Nepal and we mindlessly switched into our “no thank you” mode. It should be noted that we flew on “Cosmic Air”, stayed at “Om’s Home” and our host’s name was “Krishna”. We felt like we had been transported back to the '70's. After settling into our hotel, we packed up a trail lunch and took a hike up a near-by valley to try to acclimatize.
The next morning we started out early hoping to beat the wind and to reach Muktinath late that afternoon. We stopped briefly in Kagbeni, the entrance to the rarely visited Mustang area and an architectural treat that featured old style mud buildings. Between heavy packs and lack of acclimatization, we were lucky to struggle into the Fortress City of Jharkot that first day. The accommodations were some of our most rustic but we were too exhausted to care. We ended up staying there at about 11,000 feet for two nights. Since it was quite cold, they put a brazier of coals under our long table at dinner and breakfast. The heat was held in by heavy, draping tableclothes. We were a little concerned about melting our boots or polypro, but neither suffered a casualty. After a visit to the local monastery the next morning, we dayhiked up to Muktinath, one of the most holy spots on earth for both Hindus and Buddhists. We lunched just above Muktinath and tried to hike a little further towards the pass Thorung La. Some of us made it to about 13,500 feet but our hearts weren’t in it and we retreated to Muktinath to view the temples and the famous “Eternal Flame” before heading back down to Jharkot.
An early start on a shorter trail got us to Jomsom before the afternoon winds howled. We found that we had to wear sunglasses and bandannas over our faces in this area if we were hiking much later than 10 AM. The two Susans sneaked off after lunch and ordered a custom-made birthday cake for Gary. Nepali cakes seem a little heavier and not quite as sweet as ours. In the afternoon, some of us explored the Mustang Eco Museum, which was quite good. There was a film production company shooting some ridiculous Gurkha movie in the lobby of our hotel both that night and the next morning. We decided after watching for a few minutes that it was as much as we wanted to see. It was quite a big deal for the locals though and when we left we noticed the Yaks were groomed and placed just so for street scenes. A late night rainstorm cleared the air for us to have glorious views of Dhaulagiri and the Annapurnas as we set off for Tukuche.
Marpha was a pretty, little town known primarily for its orchards. We would have enjoyed staying there but it was too short a day. Our rooms in Tukuche were rustic. The good thing was all the rooms were together in a line on the roof near a dining solarium where our crowd retreated for beer drinking and card playing. We heard a band go by on the street below and learned that the locals were greeting Japanese tourists who helicoptered in and were staying at the adjacent hotel. We envisioned a huge group because of the fanfare but later found out that it was just four of them. Frankly, we were a little disappointed that the welcoming committee hadn’t greeted us.
We kept expecting the days to get easier since they were supposed to be downhill, but it never quite worked that way. We arrived in Ghasa, fairly pooped again. Beer drinking and card playing on the patio was about all we could manage. The shared bathroom at the National Guest House got a chuckle out of a few of us. It featured an Asian toilet up on a platform in front of a window. Every time Susan hopped up there, she took a quick look over her shoulder to see if she was mooning the local woodcutter, whose back yard it overlooked.
While we were making this trek downhill away from Muktinath, we started passing large groups of pilgrims from both Nepal and India going the opposite direction. Horse packer traffic also increased. Apparently, all Hindus try to reach Muktinath once in their lifetime. Some of these pilgrims had been traveling for days and were struggling up hill, some of them with elderly family members on their backs, to reach Muktinath for a Hindu holy day. Pilgrims aside, some of the loads porters carried were unbelievable. We met one resting with his tumpline in place and an enormous beam sitting upright on the ground behind him. Bob tried to hoist it but couldn’t budge it. To start up again, this man simply leaned forward and tilted it onto his back. He was all of about 130-140 pounds and the beam must have weighed 250-300. It was simply amazing especially considering he was probably paid about 100 rupees ($1.50) per day for his efforts.
When we reached the luxury of the Dhaulagiri Lodge at Tatopani (Hot Water), we had to make a big decision. Should we follow the original plan and make the steep 5000-foot climb up and over the pass near Poon Hill or take the softer route downhill through Beni. Once the softer route was voted in, we had an extra day, so we opted for a layover. Their lovely garden rooms and excellent bakery reinforced this decision. The 108-degree hot springs were about a city block away, on a path through the garden. Some of our group took a day hike up towards Poon Hill on the rest day, hoping to see Rhododendrons but never got high enough. Others hung around and rested. The softer route, as usual, turned out to be pretty wearing and we reached our guesthouse at Galeshor quite late in the afternoon. A fire was burning slightly out of control when we arrived and by the time we gathered in the courtyard for dinner, it was quite a spectacle. The whole mountainside across the river from us was ablaze and the locals were trying to beat it out with blankets. In the morning, the entire hillside was charred and smoking. A section of the trail we had come into town on the day before was scorched.
With less than an hour’s walk to Beni, we didn’t rush off in the morning. We arrived there only to find we’d just missed the local bus. No matter, we trudged over to the bus area and chartered an empty one to drive us exclusively back to town. The bus was filthy and a clunker but we made it. There was some doubt along the way, when we had to squeeze between a rock wall and a wood hauling truck that was hanging precariously over the edge of an embankment. We scraped the side of the bus on the rock wall and at one point the driver had all of us move to one side to balance the weight. The rest of the ride seemed like a picnic in comparison, even when our seat dislodged and flipped Susan onto Gary’s lap and Bob onto hers.
The Annapurna trek went extremely well, though the daily trekking mileage was much longer than expected. The food and accommodations were much better than expected. We were more tired than expected as we were carrying emergency items like tents and a few days food that we ended up not needing. The accommodations ranged from basic bed and a roof to a room in Jomsom that had TV, with CNN, most of the day. The power and hot water is turned off in many of these places during daylight hours, which takes a little getting used to. The only rain on the trip was at Jomsom and Tukuche, which didn't matter to us since we were indoors when it occurred. Below Jomsom, the lowlands pre-monsoon field burning can severely limit visibility and obscure the Himalayas from view much of the time. After rainfall, the morning air was always sparkling clear and the views superb.
Back in the relative luxury of Pokhara, we had one of the larger hotel vehicles drop us about a third of the way up Sarangkot the following day. We grunted the remaining 1500 feet to the top, had lunch, and worked our way back down 2500 feet to Lake Fewa. Unfortunately, aerial haze was present, so we didn’t get any views of Machhapuchhare (Fishtail) but everyone enjoyed the hike. Trudging back to our hotel on the flats, we were forced to take an extended beer break at one of the many Lakeside bars. After rehydrating and playing a few games of straight pool, we were able to carry on to our hotel.
The next day the rest of our group left to see wildlife at Chitwan. This jungle tour was to include a couple of days riding buses and elephants, taking guided walks, and canoeing. They hoped to see tigers, rare birds, and other jungle denizens. We planned to visit a couple of weeks later, on our way back to Kathmandu. After all of the trail miles, we were happy to rest and recover in Pokhara for awhile. One day we rented mountain bikes and another we canoed on the lake. After a couple of days, we paid $50.00 each for three days of rafting on the Kali Gandaki River; river trips are cheap in Nepal. It was hot and dry before the summer monsoon and the river flows were low. The Kali Gandaki River is a class III-IV raft trip at this water level and primarily technical (lots of rock dodging in paddle rafts).
The raft trip was an excellent experience with an oared raft, two paddle rafts, and a safety kayak. It was staffed by four guides, a cook, and an assistant. There were 15 turkeys (customers in boatman parlance): the two of us, a young Swedish couple, and the balance Israelis between the ages of 22 and 25, all freshly out of the army. The all vegetarian menu was excellent and required no ice or live chickens. The first couple of days included several class IV drops with technical channels to negotiate. The rapids were Salt River or Middle Fork intensity levels for the first day and a half but mellow by the end of the trip. Because the water was so low, we encountered one rock-strewn ledge rapid where the raft stuck for a time and we had to push, shove, and pry it off rocks to continue downstream. The guides were skilled but didn't seem quite up to US standards. Perhaps hiring only Nepalese guides limits their exposure to other techniques. It was tough for them to build a working paddle team with all of the languages spoken and their difficult-to-understand English. A new dam is being constructed now and the lake it impounds will shorten the length of this run. As usual, the ride in and out was Class VI on old buses, taking six hours to return 50-60 miles to Pokhara. We had a great time but were happy to get back to our “luxury” hotel ($12 a night with cable TV).
The first night after our raft trip we dropped off our soggy, dirty clothes, enjoyed an elegant lakeside dinner, and crashed early. The next morning we obtained new trekking permits for the Annapurna Sanctuary and extended our 30-day visas. This took a little over an hour when the appropriate amount of baksheesh was paid. The alternative was to line up for a couple of hours, leave our paperwork (including our passports) and return at 3:00 PM to retrieve the completed forms and our passports. Our post-trek plan was to return to Kathmandu about 4/17 to catch our 4/19 flight to Bangkok. We hoped to fit in another raft trip on the Bhote Khosi, north of Kathmandu (Class IV-V), but time and trip scheduling prevented us from doing this.
The haze from burning and high humidity was thick when we taxied to Naya Pul (New Bridge) on the road between Pokhara and Baglung. We weren't sure that we were going to be able to see much at Poon Hill (local spelling Pun) but began the long 6000-foot ascent anyway. After climbing 1500 feet in 3-4 hours, we reached Tikedunga, where we stayed the night. This first day's trek was always beside a sparkling clear stream and our hotel was near a bridge crossing. The white noise of the running stream coupled with cool evening breezes made sleeping easier. A young Canadian couple stayed at the Tikedunga Guest House as well. They had been in Nepal for two years doing medical missionary work and were traveling with two young sons and a six-month old daughter. They had come from Jomsom with 2-3 porters and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The next day featured a 4000-5000 foot climb to Ghorepani (Horse Water). Eventually we reached the Rhododendron forests. The floral display increased as we climbed higher. Blooms ranged from almost white pink to brilliant scarlet. Photography and enjoyment of the surrounding rainforest eased the harsh physical demands of a non-stop climb. A brief rain shower awaited us at Ghorepani, so we stopped for lunch before proceeding to the Super View Guest House at Deorali (The Pass). A ferocious storm closed in during the afternoon; lightning and thunder accompanied a continuous downpour of hail on our tin roof. Lightning bolts struck trees on distant slopes, instantly cinderizing them in brilliant orange-red fireballs. This continued for 3-4 hours, much of it we viewed from the enclosed glass viewing room on the hotel roof. All of the guests were encouraged by the storm, as the weather is usually clear the following day. After a good meal, we fell asleep to Nepalese music supplied by a trekking group camped in tents below us. The next morning dawned clear. For 2-3 hours, we photographed magnificent vistas, which included Dhaulagiri, Nilgiri, and several of the other Annapurna Peaks. The whole day was a visual treat as clouds reformed in the afternoon.
The next day we set off on an arduous trek to Tadopani (Far Water). Starting early, we were astonished by the number of spectacular views through the Rhododendron forests as we climbed to another pass followed by a lengthy descent. The clouds closed in quickly but the rainforest was magnificent. Arriving at Tadopani early, we decided to continue to Ghandruk, which supposedly had better accommodations. Susan had not been feeling well for much of the trek so we were considering aborting and returning to Pokhara early for the Giardia medication. We eventually reached the Trekker's Inn in Ghandruk and took their last room. The next morning we decided to head for Birenthanti and Naya Pul. After another long, exhausting downhill and an even longer time trudging in the heat along the river, we reached the Baglung road. The ride back to Pokhara on the local bus was not as crowded as expected. The local riders found us quite interesting.
Susan recovered quickly after returning to Pokhara, so we left for Royal Chitwan National Park in the Terai lowlands of Nepal. Our friends who had left a week earlier told us in emails that it was a great wildlife viewing experience: crocodiles, rhinos, elephants, rare birds, etc. It all sounded like fun if we could avoid becoming some big beasty's lunch. We were picked up in Pokhara by another old Tata bus (manufactured in India) and 6-7 hours later reached the Island Jungle Headquarters. Apparently, we left early on the 6:30 AM slowest possible bus thus missing the 11 AM connection to the Island. Finally they stuck another late-arriving couple and us into a land cruiser. An hour later, long boats were waiting to ferry us to the island resort in time for the planned 1:00 PM lunch.
The jungle experience was wonderful but the oppressive heat and humidity quickly sapped our energy. Susan joined the elephant bathing team the first day while Bob stayed out of the scummy water to take pictures of this event. She had a ball trying to stay on the elephant’s back while it rolled from one side to the other in chest deep water. It isn’t as easy as one might expect. The elephants love it because it cools them off and keeps the flies away. By the time the bathing session was over, Susan was cooled off too. It was so hot it was almost impossible to sleep the first night. Each bug-free day was enlivened by mosquitoes in the rooms at night. Bug coils were effective but much to our dismay the one supplied didn’t last all night. The second evening, we raided the dining room and requisitioned an extra.
The daytime experiences were exhilarating. While Bob slept in the cool of the morning, Susan joined a small group for an early, guided walk and experienced her first rhino charge. In trying to move two rhinos away from the trail so the group could pass, the guide provoked one rhino out of the bush by throwing sticks and rocks at him. After telling the group earlier that in case of a charge, we should run, scatter and hide behind trees; our guide came running back up the path yelling "don't run". After several broken off rhino charges, he decided to let the irate rhino have the trail; we turned around, and backtracked to the compound. We were all relieved, since there weren't sufficient trees to hide behind and being stomped by a rhino before breakfast didn’t seem like an attractive way to start the day.
The elephant ride on the first afternoon was much more sedate. Perched 10-12 feet above the jungle floor, being swatted by low tree branches in the cooler pre-sunset hours, allowed us to see 7 rhinos from close enough range, two mongooses, a peacock, a nest of misplaced chicken eggs in the tall grasses, and a variety of other birds. Although we crossed the river several times, a hair-raising experience as the platform we were sitting on tilted down over the trainer and the elephant's head, we saw no crocodiles. The morning canoe trip was unusually quiet. The 45-minute walk to the put-in yielded no wildlife sightings at all. We saw plenty of sloth bear termite digging holes but no fresh scat or bears in evidence. Apparently these critters are about the size of American black bears and are the most dangerous animals in the park especially when they have cubs. 15-20 of us piled back into the canoes and were paddled back to the lodge by two boatmen on each canoe. The only sitings along the way back were of curious children on the riverbank watching us drift down river and local women fishing with nets. Both live just outside the park boundary. The crocodiles along the river are fish eaters, so it is safe for people to be in the water playing or working.
Food at the lodge was good. There were no cold drinks, which was a killer in the 80-degree plus temperatures with 90% humidity. The big box the beer and soft drinks were stored in was supposed to be a propane refrigerator. Who knows when this “refrigerator” last worked? The bar drinks seemed as cool straight out of the storage room. Funny how you enjoy warm soft drinks and beer when they are the only things available; we drank 14 in two days. As Bob melted away, he was reminded of 1980's comments by then Interior Secretary James Watt on his first Grand Canyon raft trip. After a few hours of the first day’s drenching perspiration, Bob found himself wishing anything would come to take us away. Nothing did. After a night of being chased around our sweltering room by noisy mosquitoes, a helicopter would have been a welcome relief. The second day we were seeing lots of wildlife, acclimatizing to the jungle heat a bit, and it was slightly cooler, which helped the bar drinks by a degree or two. Life was still not good but at least endurable.
The third day dawned clear and cooler, the bus came on time and we escaped. After another all day bus ride, we reached Kathmandu. Gaining four thousand feet of elevation helped immensely. We had survived another Nepal adventure. We collected all of our belongings from the hotel and began organizing our stuff for the long trip home. We considered going to Thailand early so we would have more than two days to spend there but all the Thai Air flights were full with long waitlists. When we arrived in Bangkok, Susan negotiated an immediate flight to Los Angeles via Seoul, Korea and we blew off our planned two days in Thailand. We were burned out by travel and ready to return to the States.
