Nepal.

Please note that this is a rather than blog post, so go and make a cup of tea before you start. We have split the last month of activity into three parts: Vietnam to Nepal; the Annapurna Circuit; and post-trek Pokhara. I have written the first and last parts and Sarah has written about the trek. We have also, at great pain, uploaded all the photos onto flickr. The photos of the trek are really nice and you should check them out. Enjoy…

Hanoi to Kathmandu

To be blunt, after 2 months in Vietnam, Sarah and I were most excited to leave. I think 2 months is probably too long a time to spend in Vietnam, at least for me. There is a belief amongst travellers, most of which I am sure have never visited this beautiful country, that Vietnamese people are overly friendly. This was not our experience. In the entire time we met only a handful (less than 5) that were genuinely nice. There are, unfortunately, far too many people only interested in your money. So when travelling through Vietnam, and you should because it is amazing, be grateful for the kindness of those you meet and try not to get too hung up on those that aren’t.

On top of that, we were really excited to be heading to Nepal for a new adventure. But Miss Saigon wouldn’t let us leave without a few last experiences to remember her by. Our taxi to the airport was an interesting experience. In my opinion, taxi drivers have always been excited by the opportunity of taking someone to the airport, so I was surprised that my request to be taken to the international airport was met with a blank stare. A stare that I had become all too familiar with.

I knew something wasn’t right when he started to drive off very slowly talking on his 2-way radio. The only words I could catch were ‘airport’. When we made it onto the ring road highway, and he continued to drive at 20km/h while talking on his phone, I had had enough. So we pulled the cab over, gave him a few thousand dong, and hailed another taxi. The new taxi immediately pulled off the highway and started heading in the other direction. So being the cool headed, calm under pressure type, I lost it. “Where are we going?”, “airport” he said. “Do you know where the airport is?”, “Yes. Airport? Yes.” Faaark. So without being able to do much else, I took solace in the 2.5 hours still remaining before my flight, and tried to relax and enjoy the journey.

I have been to the Hanoi airport twice before but on neither occasion was I sober. I knew that I needed to go across the Red River on a massive bridge, so I reassured Sarah and waited impatiently for this bridge to appear. Eventually, it did. This cabbie knew where the airport was, but the other clown had no idea. I am still dumbfounded as to how he didn’t know where the airport was, and even more, why accept a fare to an unknown destination. Just like the mechanics that will ‘fix’ your bike without knowing how to. But then, that is my experience with Vietnam: the locals cannot say no to a chance to take your money. And if you are travelling through here, it pays to remember that.

My last act in Vietnam was to donate my Gerber multi-tool to the Customs officer because I had stupidly left it in my hand luggage. I was bitterly disappointed with this, not only because it was a very thoughtful Christmas gift from my little brother (sorry Cam), but I loved it and it had proved more than useful on this trip, particuarly with roadside tinkerings with the Minsks. You won’t be surprised to hear that when the plane’s wheels left the tarmac, Sarah and I both gave a little cheer. We were off.

Bangkok was a surprise. It is a beautiful and modern city, with better road infrastructure than in Sydney. It was a shame the town was in lock-down with the Red Shirts protesting in the streets. All the shops were shut, the feared Bangkok traffic was nonexistent, and streets were fenced off with armies of Red Shirts milling about. Apart from the violence, Red Shirt demonstrations are my kind of demonstrations. They all just seemed to be hanging about drinking, playing music and having a great time, some even posing for tourist photos.

The entire city was shut, except for a two-block tourist section around Khao San Rd, the back packer district. I didn’t think much of this area, it is full of bars, restaurants, souvenir shops, and peons milling about that all look like they are auditioning for the sequel to ‘The Beach’. Food was good though.

The next morning we headed back to the airport to fly to Kathmandu. Where in a fitting farewell I lost my pacsafe wallet containing all the funds from the sale of the Green minsk bike. Thanks again.
Kathmandu is mental. The smog, the traffic, the rubbish, the rolling blackouts, the lack of running hot water. I loved it. The streets are tiny, only a few metres across, and they are choking on the cars, trucks, buses, and bikes. It took us an hour and a half to get to a few kilometres to our hotel.

We spent the whole afternoon and the next day buying the gear we needed for our trek. Nepalese people are lovely. Very friendly, and brilliant shop keepers. They are willing to let you browse, and even better willing to let you leave their shop without buying something!

Also, April 13th was New Years Eve. Our third for 2010. But in Nepal, it is now 2067. It was pretty cool, with the whole town going mental. We behaved though, as we had a 6am bus to Pokhara. Our
base for the trek.

Pokhara is a nice little town on the shores of a small lake. Unfortunately, the postcard views of the white-topped mountain peaks looming over the lake were completely greyed out by the smog. It was an awful shame that these beautiful views are destroyed. The smog is thicker here than in Vietnam. The locals are really destroying the country side, mining the rivers, littering, burning garbage, it is very sad. I am not sure what Nepal is going to be like in 10 years. It is unsustainable at the moment. Nepal is such a poor country and needs to do whatever it can to try develop but doing so has been at the detriment of the environment. With the economy so reliant on tourism, they need to have a better think long term.

When you are living under the blue skies of Australia, I think it is easy to feel that the world’s pollution problem is only the scare mongering tactics of a few pompous hippies. But in Nepal, you are really faced with the unsustainability of the human way of life. The rooftop of the world is dirty. Before I came here, I imagined Nepal as only stunning vistas, a remote and unspoilt civilisation. As naive as that may have been, the reality is disturbingly dissapointing.

In Pokhara, we met a guy named Sam who is an officer in the British Army, and is in Nepal commanding the Gorkhas. The Gorkhas are still under colonial rule and are apparently ruthless fighters. Their army motto is “It is better to die than be a coward”, and they have had an interesting history. When the British Empire was expanding the East India Company north from India, they went to Nepal and met with fierce resistance from the Gorkhas and were repelled. So in true Bristish fashion, instead of more fighting they respected their adversaries and recruited the Gorkhas into the army and used them as border guards. They were treated so well under the Brits that when all of India was rebelling against the Colonials, the Gorkhas fought on the side of the British. And they have enjoyed a fruitful relationship ever since.

Sam had recently returned from a tour of Afghanistan with his Gorkhas and apparently they performed amazingly. On the trek I met a U.S Marine and told him my story and he said he had seen 3 Gorkhas who had been driving a convoy, be attacked by 20 Taliban and not only did they survive and repel the attackers, they also chased after them. Lunacy.

We spent New Year’s day drinking with Sam and we had a great time. Sarah had too good a time and we had to go to bed before midnight. Sam gave me his email address and invited us to the Gorkha mess after the trek. Unfortunately Sarah misplaced it in her ‘state’ and I never saw him again. Sorry mate.

The next morning, we were off.

Love,
Marty.

The Trek

We, well if we’re being honest, I decided to do the Annapurna circuit trek while in Nepal. Having done a bit of trekking in Australia and New Zealand, I’d had my eyes set on this trek for quite some time. Hailing from Australia’s bush capital, I spent quite a bit of time bushwalking growing up, first with my family and then later with friends. Marty on the other hand, being from near the beach in Newcastle, grew up with better things to do and had not. This meant that the Annapurna circuit would be his first trekking experience. It’s like having your first scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef, or learning to ski at Whistler. I’m sure it has ruined him for any future treks. Because not only do you get to walk through some of the worlds most stunning and beautiful scenery, but it’s SO easy.

When I say easy, I don’t mean the walk itself. Although it’s not a particularly difficult trek in that it doesn’t require any technical skills and you don’t have to be incredibly fit (lucky), it’s a bit of a long slog. It takes 17 days and is a long way uphill, climbing from 800m to 5,416m above sea level. The thing that makes it easy and really great is that it’s a ‘teahouse trek’. This means there are little guesthouse/restaurants every hour or so along the trail. So no tents and no two minute noodles. Teahouse trekking is truly awesome and we loved it.

Day 1 – Pokhara to Nadgi (800m)

We got up early and jumped on the bus to the start of the trek. It was a typical tourist bus – Nepali people lining the aisle on little stools and heaps of wanker tourists. After five long hours we got off in the dusty town of Besisahar. From there we caught a bumpy local bus that stunk of B.O. to Bhulebule. From here the walking began!

After having a shoddy lunch (that made Marty a little sick) we walked 90 minutes to Nadgi.

Unfortunately we had picked up an annoying Austrian girl on the local bus who would end up walking with us for the next two days. We walked through a valley to the town of Nadgi which is very green and very rural. We checked into our room (a shed), had a shower and some dinner before going to sleep listening to the torrential rain outside.

Day 2 – Nadgi to Jagat (1300m) 12kms

We learnt today why it would be an absolute waste of time to have hired a guide. Not only is the road really easy to follow, on the one or two occassions we strayed off the main trail, it was a matter of seconds before a laughing local corrected our error.

It was a hard mornings walk and after lunch we met the road which is being constructed around the circuit. It’s a massive shame for trekkers that it is being built as its dusty and the area will change completely when its finished. It was horrible to walk up and completely exhausting. We were so glad to reach our nights stop at Jagat. Our Austrian friend had stayed with us all day but at dinner we were secretly glad to hear that she was going to head off super early the next day. I’m not usually a mean person at all and will be friends with just about anyone, but she is one of the most annoying people I have ever met.

Day 3 – Jagat to Dharapani (1,900m) 15kms

In the morning we woke to find that our Austrian friend hadn’t left early and was going to follow us out. However, after she saw the look on Marty’s face she headed off about 15 minutes before we finished breakfast. We caught her after about 30 minutes and she was stopped for tea. Marty was ecstatic and there was a spring in his step to put some distance between us.

We really enjoyed the trek up to Dharapani. I remained surprised at just how much ‘up’ the trek was. I really shouldn’t have been surprised given that we were heading to 5,416m, but I was. We did much better today and I complained a lot less. The sky has started clearing up and we walked past a lot of gorgeous waterfalls that made the walk seem worthwhile.

When we stopped for lunch we were held up for over about 3 hours as they were blasting for the new road. This caused a Nepali traffic jam consisting of mules, trekkers and porters. The worst for Marty was that this delay allowed our Austrian friend to catch us.

The trekkers who were also completing the trek at the same time as us were an interesting (if not annoying) bunch. There were two large groups complete with porters and guides, one Korean the other French. The French were by far the most annoying and rude people we met on the trek. The worst thing was the frenchmens’ insistance on wearing bike pants (ewww). The Koreans were mostly nice and provided amusement as they had a lucky porter whose whole job was to carry a massive pack full of only Kimchi noodles. Other than that there was a big group of Israeli’s and lots of independent trekkers.

When the blasting finsihed and the road reopened, everyone was off racing! We got poked by a few keen Korean poles, eventually making it to Dharapani and finding a great guesthouse. In the hustle we had also lost our annoying Austrian friend. We both had hot showers (a lovely novelty by this point) and were just walking downstairs to enjoy a couple of tea, when Marty spotted the Austrian walking into our guesthouse – nooooooooooooooooooooooo! We all had dinner together (again) and then went to bed, determined to get up early and lose her!

Day 4 – Dharapani to Chame (2,710m) 16kms

We left bright and early (the best trekking was in the morning as it would get cloudy in the afternoons ruining the views) and started the long walk up to Chame. We went round a bend shortly after leaving Dharapani and got our first view of the snow capped Annapurna’s – beautiful!

Then the climb started, we went 600m up in a very short distance, zigzagging on rocky switchbacks up a massive ridge. By this point we were really regretting our (read my) decision to bring the laptop and all the other useless junk we really didn’t need. But our fitness was improving each day.

We eventually made it to Chame and stayed in a really nice little cottage with views of Annapurna II. It was also the start of the cold and so like the bogan I can be, I put some socks on with my thongs. We kicked back, had some tea and beers, celebrated losing our Austrian friend and met a lovely dutchman called Evert. A really good day.

Day 5 – Chame to Upper Pisang (3,310m) 15kms

It was a much easier walk today through pine forests and it was absolutely stunning. We soon came to the towering Paungda Danda rock face. It is the local gateway to heaven, and the belief is that the deceased must ascend the wall after passing. It was really amazing and I can understand why the Nepali people attach so much significance to it. The sight was one of Marty’s favourite of the entire trek, and he was moved to purchase a small Buddha box for his Mumsy from a small souvenir stand at its base.

We came out of the pine forests to the town of Pisang, which has great views of the massive Annapurna II – our favourite mountain. The peak of Annapurna II stands at 7,937m. Marty convinced me to climb the extra 150m to Upper Pisang for a better view. I spent the afternoon having cold showers, washing socks and reading while Marty spent the entire afternoon looking at the mountain. The lady running our guesthouse was an absolute nut, laughing sporadically for no real reason all the time. We loved her.

Day 6 – Upper Pisang to Manang (3,540m) 19.5kms

Day 6 was the day of hard decisions. There were two options; the easy, relatively flat but unexciting low road (3 hours), or the arduous high road with beautiful views (8 hours). To be honest, I was all for the low road. The trek was really hard and I was finishing every day exhausted. But Marty (who had taken to trekking like a duck in water) was pretty keen to do the high road and I didn’t want to be the wuss who wouldn’t. We (I) made the right decision of the trek and did the high road.

It was absoultely worth it.

The views were spectacular and the villages were amazing, it was just like stepping back in time.
It was a ridiculously hard day, with a massive ascent and descent but one of the best days of the trek. Hardly any other trekkers did it (not even the ones with porters) and we ended up becoming friends with the ones that did!

We eventually made it to Manang, which is talked up as this great town but it is really a little dingy. By this stage we were both looking forward to the next day being a rest day (for altitude acclimatisation).

We spent the evening playing cards with the some other high-roaders and eating fun Nepali versions of mexican food.

By this stage it was getting seriously cold so we were thrilled to have a room with an ensuite (a nasty little concrete room with a squat toilet and cold water tap – but better than going for a walk in the cold dark night to a communal one). Life was good.

Day 7 – Manang ‘Rest’ Day

On our rest day, we decided to go on a walk, which was hard but actually really fun. We trekked up to see the ’100 Rupee Lama’ at the Prakan Gompa, which is at a whopping 4,000m. It was a REALLY RIDICULOUSLY hard walk up!

After some initial difficulties finding the track up we finally found it and zigzagged our way up the hill which took about two hours. It was well worth it though. Once we reached the top we visited with Lama Tashi who blessed our upcoming crossing of the Thorong-La pass, hit us on the head with a prayer peice of wood and placed a ‘sacred thread’ around our necks. All for the bargain price of 100 Rupees. He was really old (94 years) and after the blessing we sat and had an nice cup of tea with him before scaling back down the mountain. Marty really liked it. Perhaps not a very restful day, but a really good one nonetheless.

Day 8 – Manang to Yak Kharka (4,050m) 9kms

A very short walk today due to the altitude. They recommend that once you reach 3,500m you only ascend around 500m per day. And seeing that we both come from very low altitudes we thought it best to stick with that. We saw our first yaks which was great and we ended up reaching camp at around 9am! We found a nice seat outside, sat down, had a nice cup of tea and some cake and planned to spend the afternoon enjoying the views.

However, at around 2pm it became bitterly cold, the clouds rolled in and it started snowing! It was too cold to do anything so we just went to bed for a few hours sleep before dinner. We awoke to the sound of the yaks being herded through the town in the snow (which was still falling thick and fast).

We spent the evening playing cards with a lovely South African couple from Cape Town (John and Joane) before going to bed wearing our beanies! Brrrrrr.

Day 9 – Yak Kharka to Thorong Phedi (4,450m) 6kms

Another short day. By this stage I know my fitness had improved amazingly. 500m seemed like an easy ascent and luckily the altitude didn’t really affect either of us at all. We were the first ones to start trekking (we had become seriously early risers) so we got to walk through the virgin snow, stopping only to eat a quick breakfast of Snickers bars and water mixed with Tang – YUM!

We walked through a herd of Yaks playing in the snow which was really really nice. They are very sweet and the baby ones are absolutely gorgeous.

We arrived at around 9am again and had a similar day to the day before (it started snowing again at around 2pm and we played more cards with the South Africans). We went to bed early and nervous as the next day was going to be a killer!

Day 10 – Thorong Phedi to Muktinath (3,800m) 16kms

The dreaded ‘Pass day’ had finally arrived. All along the trek, we knew the massive day over the pass was coming, involving a 1,000m ascent followed by a 1,600m descent. And you needed to get up and over the pass early before the wind gets up. It had been on my mind from the start and I was nervous about how I would do. I’ve never been at altitude and am in no ways tough, so the steep climb up to the 5,416m pass was daunting.

In the end, it was really hard, but perhaps not quite as hard as I had imagined. We got up at 4:30am, downed a couple of chocolate bars and more tang and hit the trail at 5am just as the sun was rising. It was a pretty hard walk for an hour up to the High Camp along some very steep switchbacks, but after that it wasn’t so bad.

We trekked up through the snow for another three hours before reaching the top. The views were pretty good (perhaps not the best we’ve had) but the feeling of achievement was great!

We had a cup of tea, posed for some photo’s and then started to make our way down. Now, I had been really worried about the walk to the top, but it turned out I should have been more concerned about the walk down! I am not good at downhill normally, and in the snow it was 10 times worse. I fell over twice and was constantly being hassled by rude annoying Frenchies.

It amazed me how much the scenery changed over the pass. The green valleys and snow covered hills we had been seeing were replaced by the brown hills of the Mustang region. After what seemed like a million years, we finally made it to Muktinath, where we had some celebratory beers with our trekking friends Gavin and Sunmi (Yank and Korean), Evert (Dutch) and Mike (Yank). A massive day but a great one.

Day 11 – Muktinath to Kagbeni (2,800m) 10kms

We woke up with very tired legs and extremely sore knee’s, but decided with our newly formed trekking group to continue walking rather than catch the tempting jeep downhill. Gavin took us on a ‘short cut’ to escape the jeep road and like most of life’s shortcuts, it ended up taking a lot longer than the normal way. We walked past what can only be described as a ‘goat killing field’; a strange dusty landscape with dozens of dead, half decomposed goat carcasses.

We eventually walked into a deserted town, which was almost as strange as the goats. There appeared to be no-one living in it, but there were a couple of well fed farm animals in pens. It was a little blair witch and I was glad when we saw the road (and some living goats and people).

After a little more walking downhill through some punishing wind we made it to Kagbeni – home of YakDonalds, a shameless parody of the American chain. We all sat down and ordered the Yak meal deal and a little over two hours later enjoyed our first meat since Pokhara. I felt a little guilty eating the burger as I really loved the yaks we saw on the trail, but it was really really good.

The wind had picked up and so we settled in for the night. The boys went out and found a nice Tibetan guesthouse which we got to stay at for free! Another enjoyable night was spent playing cards and celebrating the end of the trek with some ‘Everest’ beer.

Day 12 – Kagbeni to Marpha (2,670m) 15kms

After enjoying a really nice breakfast (eggs, fried potato’s, toast and coffee) and being given a ceremonial Tibetan silk scarf to bless our trek from the guesthouse owner, we set off for Jomsom, one of the larger towns on the trail.

Just after leaving the hotel we met a really nice local who had a little baby goat that would scream when she kissed it. I was thrilled to bits when she let me hold it – it was so sweet!

After that distraction we set off quickly to try and beat the strong winds that apparently kicked off everyday at 11. Unfortunately, we had lost a member of our group (Mike) so waited for him for 45 mins before deciding to go on without him. He’d actually ended up in front of us so it was a bit of a mistake waiting because we got smashed by the wind again.

After a couple of hours of walking down the river we made it to Jomsom, which was really quite average. We went to a German bakery for a quick bite to eat (in Nepali, ‘German Bakery’ stands for overpriced and crappy) then left for Marpha.

Marpha is a really pretty town. It’s surrounded by apple orchards and all the buildings are white washed with red tiles. We checked into a nice guesthouse with a pretty garden and hot showers (YAY!) and headed off to the towns main attraction – the apple brandy distillery! Unfortunately, they were alledgedly all out of brandy (wtf?!?) so we had to settle on going into a local shop for some. It was really disgusting and I couldn’t really drink it, but Marty in typical style got stuck in. It was an early night for him!

Day 13 – Marpha to Lete (2,535m) 17kms

Being slightly sick of the road, we followed the river for most of the day down to Lete. Following the river was kind of like being in a maze. With the water levels down, there stream wound its way haphazardly and you had to figure out where the little bridges (which were actually just planks of wood most of the time) were for you to cross. This proved very difficult so we were often forced to improvise bridges by throwing rocks in, or leaping a narrow section.

Unsurprisingly, we did get stuck once and had to wade through. Marty, being the complete gentleman we all know he can be, carried me across! It was definitely appreciated as the water was very cold (and
I am very uncoordinated and surely would have fallen). It was all part of the adventure and much better than trekking along the road with the buses and jeeps.

Unfortunately, before we reached our destination it started pouring with rain so we arrived in Lete sopping wet. We were able to stay at a guesthouse for free (on the condition that we ate two meals each there – easy!). It not only had a hot shower – but also a WESTERN TOILET! WOO HOO! The food was also really really nice and they a cool table that they put coals under to warm up your feet. We had some beers and local rums to celebrate the end of the trek (again).

Day 14 – Lete to Tatopani (1,190m)

In our usual style, we avoided the road again by travelling on strange and difficult alternative tracks.

We spent the morning going up and down, up and down. But it was through really nice tropical green forest with scenic waterfalls everywhere so definitely worth it.

The whole time since crossing the pass, we had been expecting to catch a jeep to Tatopani from somewhere rather than walk. So it was with some surprise that we finally made it there!

As it was Mike’s last night with us we celebrated the end of the trek again, this time a little too hard with Marty and I having to go to bed before dinner!!! It was the last night the team was together.

Day 15 – Rest day Tatopani

Tatopani famous for its hot springs. They are meant to be wonderful and I had been looking forward to them the whole trek. What the guidebooks don’t mention is that the hotsprings are actually just two concrete pools full of annoying frenchmen (sorry Timcois if you are reading this – I know not all French people are horrible). At the risk of sounding whiny, the water was also too hot. So after enjoying them as much as we could we just relaxed for the rest of the day. Marty and Gavin preferred the coll water in the river.

Again we celebrated the end of the trek and enjoyed the dinner that we hadn’t had a chance to enjoy the night before!

Sarah’s Day 16 – Tatopani to Pokhara

Rather than go to Poon Hill (read below for Marty’s story), Sun-mi and I decided that we would head back to Pokhara from Tatopani for some shopping and massage action, leaving the others to a ‘boys trip’ in the hills. So we waved them goodbye in the morning and headed down to the bus park.

Unfortunately, we were then told that there was a strike on and there would be no buses running! Oh no! We weren’t that keen to stay in Tatopani for another night so we asked around and eventually found one bus driver who would be driving a local bus full of supplies that was willing to take us to the large town of Beni, which was on the way.

So after waiting for four hours, we got on the most crowded bus I have ever been on (Sun-mi and I both ended up with kids on our laps) and made the journey to Beni. Of course when we got there it turned out that there were no buses running in Beni either. We eventually convinced one of the taxi drivers to take us to Pokhara (Beni is seriously the crappiest looking town I have ever seen). It took a long time and cost us quite a bit more than it should of but I am so glad we managed it.

As it turns out, the strike was going to last another 7 days and at best we could have been stuck in Tatopani, at worst Beni. We checked into what would be my favourite guesthouse of the trip in Pokhara, the Little Tibetan, before heading out for dinner. What a day!

So that’s about it from me. The trek was wonderful and I loved it. My knee’s hated it. I complained a lot. Marty was annoyed by my complaining a lot. But I wouldn’t change a second of it. The Nepali people are truly some of the most lovely and generous people in the world and made the best hosts.

The towns we went through were wonderful, and I loved seeing the farm animals everywhere each day. The vista’s were amazing, I still can’t believe that mountains can really be that big. Every turn offered something different; stunning waterfalls, snow covered peaks, snow covered yaks, bleating goats, beautiful Gompas. The trail was always bustling with interesting travellers, from porters carrying up to 50kg loads in sandles to crazy muleteers throwing stones to steer their trains.

We met some really good people on the trek, some that would become good friends. I ate a lot of carby food without feeling guilty which was oh so good. It was so nice to enjoy it all without the sound or smell of cars and pollution like the rest of the country. I am devastated that the new road is going to change all that and would prompt anyone who was considering doing the circuit to do it quickly.

We had forgotten about the smog by 2,500m and were saddened to find it again so quickly on the other side of the pass, where a road has been built for years. The Annapurna circuit was something I had wanted to do for years, and it really didn’t disappoint. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Sarah
xoxo

Mr Marty’s Wild Ride

With the girls, Sarah and Sun-Mi, safely on the bus to Beni Gavin, Evert (the little Dutchman) and I set off on the biggest climb day of the entire trek. Tatopani to Ghorepani (2,750m) is a climb of 1,750m and gets back in a few hours what, in altitude terms, and taken has 3 days to erase.

A lot of blame for the slow pace of our trekking was placed squarely on Sarah and Sun-Mi. So without them there was a macho-fuelled march to the top, and Gavin a young U.S Air Force punter set a mean pace up the mountain. The guidebook trekking time for this trip was 6-7 hours of pure trekking time, i.e. not including breaks. We did it in 5. It was a real struggle, and it was compounded by the fact that it wasn’t that pretty.

The Annapurna Circuit was magical, and so all of the hard work seemed worthwhile. Poon Hill, on the other hand, lots of hard work for not much reward. The climbing was relentless, always up. And at the top, the magical views? Clouded over.

Gavin hadn’t had a night away from Sun-Mi in over 7 months and so on arrival at Ghorepani, we were straight into the beers.

The next morning, with a 500m ascent to the top of Poon Hill followed by a 2,000m descent to Naya Pul ahead of us, we set off early. I was struggling a little bit after our evening festivites and so the 5.30am climb was the last thing I wanted. To cap it off it was the first morning of our entire trek that wasn’t crystal clear. The clouds from last night were still around and it was raining slightly.

Basically, our hard work was for nought. The mountain range, the goal of our trek, was covered over. To make us feel better, the trek down the other side of Poon Hill was horrible. It started out nice, through a lovely rainforest, but soon degenerated into an endless descent along stone steps. 3 hours climbing down uneven rocky steps. And the temperature was rising.

Poon Hill… what a joke. It is a trek that can be done in 3 days out of Pokhara, so people with not a lot of time do it as their trek. If this is all you can do then go for it, but if you are considering doing Poon Hill after your Annapurna trek: don’t. It sucks.

After the longest day of my trek, we finally made it to Naya Pul. Which can only pleasantly be described as ‘the asshole of the Annapurnas’. What a junkyard. It was here that we found out about the “bus strike” we had heard rumours about. In Australia a ‘bus strike’ involves no buses being on the road, you take a train, get a cab or whatever, no dramas. In Nepal, a ‘bus strike’ is not really a bus strike at all, but a civil revolution where the Communist Maoist party tries to remove the Prime Minister from power by shutting down the entire country. The same way they removed the King a few years ago.

So we were stuck in Naya Pul with absolutely no way of getting to Pokhara. There was not a car on the road, not even a bicycle, and everyone we asked told us to walk the 40 kms to Pokhara. After 8 hours of trekking this was the last thing I wanted, and I was now unsure of where Sarah was, if she had made it to Pokhara at all.

There was a lone taxi parked on the side of the highway next to some street stalls, and I was determined to get it to Pokhara. So we sat down next to the taxi and waited. Well, we drank beer and waited. One man offered to drive us for $150 USD. When I asked why it cost so much, he told us it was dangerous to go to Pokhara. Dangerous during a bus strike? WTF? We said we would walk tomorrow.

After about 6 hours of waiting, it was starting to get dark and a shitty, a beaten up Datsun came along being driven by a dodgy looking Nepali dude. He wanted 5,000 ($70) NPR to go to Pokhara, and we quickly agreed. After agreeing a price, the taxi driver we had been waiting on appeared and we negotiated 4,000 NPR for his nice new Hyundai. With that, we were off.

I had no idea how serious this strike was at this point but I was about to find out. Everybody we passed on the street was acting very aggressively towards the vehicle, brandishing weapons and trying to pull the car over. Our cabbie was dodging and weaving like a rally car driver. We even came across a 200m stretch of road that had been covered with boulders to slow the progress of vehicles breaking the strike. All our cabbie could muster at this astonishing scene was “crazy guys”. I thought the same of him as he refused to turn on his headlights even with the growing darkness. The nervous energy in the car was palatable and Gavin and I were often exchanging worried glances as we careened through the madness.

As we got closer to Pokhara the streets become crowded with Nepalis. It was 8pm and the streets were packed with Moaists, all carrying bamboo clubs or waving flags, and all were angry at the site of a taxi breaking the strike. It wasn’t long before the street was completed covered with people and the taxi could go no further. The cab was surrounded by Maoists, and the leader reached into the car and took the keys from the ignition. The cabbie was speaking very quickly, but it was apparent we had come as far as we were going to go. “You walk from here” our cabbie said, and that was it.

Surrounded, we quickly headed off down the street, hopefully in the direction of Lakeside Pokhara.
The atmosphere was electric, as only a civil uprising can be I suppose, punctuated by an intense lightning storm that illuminated the streets. Thousands of people chanting and running around brandishing clubs. And three backpacker clowns smack in the middle.

I have never been happier to be Australian than on this night. Every time a pack of Maoists stopped to question us, they would ask “which country?”, and I would reply quickly “Stray’a” and everyone would be happy. Better than letting the yank, or the dutchman respond. Nobody likes them.
After about 20 minutes of walking the Moaist’s numbers and aggression waned and we started to relax. We began worrying about Sarah and Sun-Mi. We arrived at the hotel we said we would stay at, but they had checked into a different hotel. A friendly Isreali informed us that the girls were staying down the road. But we couldn’t find them there either. We walked up and down the main street searching for them.

Eventually, they rolled in after a lesuirely dinner. “Oh, you’re here” Sarah says, “I wasn’t expecting you till tomorrow. Or the next day.” It must be love. I’m glad I worried.

The next 6 days was spent under the rules of the strike. All the tourist activities were closed, all the restuarants, the clothes shops, the souvenir shops, the supermarket, the BARS!! It was horrible. Some of the braver shops stayed “open” by leaving their roller doors about a foot off the ground. When no Maoists were around you would quickly knock on the shutters and the door would slide open and you would enter. Unfortunately, they would close the roller behind you and you would eat huddled inside. Ah, the ambience.

Our original Nepalese itinerary involved the Annapurna trek, some white-water rafting, visiting the national park (rhinos), and then a trek to see Mount Everest. But, with no end to the strike in sight and the threat of civil war looming, we decided it best to just pull up stumps and organise to leave Nepal. We cancelled our flights and booked to go to Kuala Lumpur and hang out with my friend and ex-lover Symmo.

One good thing came out of changing our flights: it ended the strike. With our usual luck, the very act of booking our flights caused the Maoists to give up on the strike even though NONE OF THEIR DEMANDS HAD BEEN MET. Can you beleive it?

At least with the end of the strike we could do something. The day after the strike ended we hired motorcycles and rode our to a swimming hole. It was a lot of fun, and it felt good to break the monotony of the strike (playing cards and drinking) with something fun.

I am concerned for the emrging democracy of Nepal. The Maoists used a similar strike, or Bandh, to oust the King. This time they are unhappy with the Prime Minister and the Constitution the Parliament is drafting, and so they are up to their old tricks by striking. The problem, for me, is that the Maoists hold 40 percent of the seats in the Senate and if they have a problem with elements of the Constitution as it is being written then surely the Senate is the correct forum for debating them. Not on the streets. What happens next time the Moaists are upset? A referendum? Unlikely. This Parliamentary system is one that they helped install, and yet they refuse to use it properly.

In any case, we had a beautiful flight out of Pokhara, flying along at eye level with the peaks of the Himalayas was amazing.

As sad as it is to be leaving, it is exciting to be going to see Symmo, and to spend some time in a modern city. Somewhere you don’t have to ask about hot water, or worry about blackouts. Or see buffalo in the streets. Still, I will be back. Nepal and I have unfinished business. Hopefully I can bring my mother next time.

I can’t beleive I didn’t see Everest…

Love,

Marty.