the Annapurna/ part four

Same day, we had to make 1400 altitude meters down. Aa lot work on the knees. But the views, were worth everything! We celebrated that day with beer, good food and whiskey. On that side it was clearly autumn. The trees were covered, with golden leafs.




On the way down we often heard men singing, but we couldnt see them, and were wondering, what it was about. When we were wandering around a village we found it out: Farmers on the fields were controling their bullocks with the singing. When they sung the refrain of the songs the bullocks made an u-turn.

some of the small villages on the way down...

there are many places where you find those colorful prayerflags...

The entrance to the kingdom of Mustang.
In the year 2000 you had to pay entrance fee: 700 us dollar for ten days. You were forced to go with an official travelagency. We decided not to go.

the Annapurna/the pass

Next we headed for Manang (3540m) the last big village before the pass. We stayed for three days, mainly because I needed to get used to the altitude. Altitute sickness is a big problem in this region because many tourists are going up too far without thinking about it. (I remember an Israelian guy I met at 4500m who was totally confused and desorientated - he couldn´t tell up from down). Almost everybody had some kind of AMS (altitude mountain sickness) with symptoms like headache and lack of appetite.
Fortunately the last one didn´t affect me - I was given a yaksteak which was very good (much better than the yak butter tea - a taste I never got used to).

The next days we tried to climb less than 300 meters in altitute.

The last camp was at 4800 meters .Food became more and more expensive because everything has to be carried up by foot. It was terribly cold - much too cold for my equipment which was just a wool jacket and jeans.And the acommodation was... um.... see for yourself

Our "hotel room" at 4800m. It had no windows therefore it was a really cold night. I put on everything that was in my bag but it wasn´t enough at all. I could barely sleep.

The next day my reactions were very slow. One small step after the other, I hated myself for my bad stamina. But how happy I was when I reached the Thourang la Pass (5416m): the weather was beautiful, the sight over the 8000meter high mountains awesome, the awareness, that I did it unbelieveable !

the Annapurna/ "Lama Disco"

We reached that village in the afternoon and found a good place to sleep.

We went to the wat of the village right in time. Lamas (Tipetan buddhist priests) with colorful clothes and impressive red hats were dancing around - a little clumsy - maybe because of the lack of practise. But maybe it was also the whiskey the local women gave the men. We also got some.. and yeah, in that altitude alcohol has a tremendous effect. Unfortunately i didn´t see what happened in the temple, we stayed in front of the crowded entrance. The villagers were standing in line to get their "blessings".

After that it got really funny. Men with huge wooden penisses were running after the screaming and laughing women to put the wooden thing between their legs, while the women got their revenge by tweezing the men between their legs. We tourists became also part of that "ceremony". Meanwhile half of the villagers were quite drunken. But the ceremony didn´t escalate like you would expect it. Everybody between 10 and 70 years was part of the happening. After that a second more official cermony took place. It was really a pity, that we couldn´t figure out what that celebration was about, but I assume it was kind of celebration for fertility.

the Annapurna/Part One

Last tea in the morning near the busstation of Kathmandu




After some days in Kathmandu I was ready for the trek. I headed for Phokara, the town where you usually start the trek around the famous Annapurna (a mountain, more than 8000m high). It was not easy to resist the hotelmangers in this town who were trying to convince you to hire a guide and a sherpa (and for your best: three donkeys, two cooks, a nurse and a doctor).
I bought a guidebook instead.

Busstation in Pokhara

At the busstation I met Ian from England and we decided to travel together. The bus trip to Besissahr (760 m) was quite rough. I had the honor to sit underneath the only working loudspeaker in the whole bus. Of course it was used to let the whole bus know, what an excellent taste in music the busdriver had. I was close to kill the last working loudspeaker in that bus with my knife but i decided to take a different route to avoid the noise.... and sat on the roof of the bus.

on the top of the bus

Seems like there were more people with the same idea.

The roof was my favorite place in public transportations. Maybe it´s not the safest way to travel because you always have to watch out for electricity cables and branches. But the wind and the 360 degree view is worth it.

the entrance to the Annapurna region

The first days walking was enjoyable: It was not too steep and clouds protected us from the heat. We walked a lot and went to bed soon. Not only because we were tired but also because there was no electricty. The first five days we mainly walked through rice fields and forests.

Those porters we met were amazing. They carry an unbelivable amount of weight, most of them wearing flipflops, some of them barefoot. Watch out for upcoming pics!

Meanwhile we reached 2600m: hinduism was vanishing slowly and more and more buddhist influence was obvious. Also the weather and the vegetation were changing. The rice fields laid far below us, like most of the clouds. The sun could warm up the air only at midday.

waterpowered prayer wheel

dont try this alone ;)

Ian was a great help on that trip. He had a far better stamina than me.

We reached the Manang Plateau (3200m). At that altitude we left the main route and took a side way up to 3760m. There my breathing problems began. It was hard work for me to go a few meters further up the steep way. I had to take a break every now and then to calm down the breathing. Ian was great: He always motivated me and waited for me. Thanks a lot!
The detour was worth every step and every heavy breath. Ian got his first view on 6000 to 8000 meter high mountains and I explored two small villages. There were rarly any tourists around - it was great!

at school

When we went to the second village the natives told us (grinning form ear to ear ), that we were very lucky. We arrived just in time for the annual "lama disco".

to be continued....