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....