Travel Stories - Nepal

I always wanted to do a multi-day trek and what is a better place than the Annapurna circuit in Nepal to do this?! Untrained but reasonably fit through the long journey I was making, I wanted to try to walk around the mountains of the Himalayas. Pokhara is the city where you can arrange everything for making a trip like that; I would, among other things, buy a permit here, but also, for example, my water purification pills. It was also important to get un update about the weather conditions and the situation with the rebels (Maoisten). I left my big bag in the hostel where I had slept and went with a small backpack to the starting point "Besisahar" where the checkpoint is and where the actual hike through the “Annapurna’s” starts.

The first steps are easy but even though the difference in height (between Pokhara and here) is not that big yet I can feel it. I walk with a Canadian lady, I met in the bus here but she hikes regularly and it shows. The landscape is green with lots of trees, the path a kind of mud- and sometimes gravelroad and there are many local people living here. Small villages with smoking chimneys, hill tribes that live here from livestock and agriculture and we see the first hostels, eateries and internet cafes. We take our map out of our bag and continue our way up the first real mountains. After about 5.5 hours of walking we arrive in "Bahundanda" and I feel my legs. The shower is luckily very hot, the room is noisy and the food takes forever but I am glad that the stove is burning and I can get my feet out of those miserable shoes. However, I decide to go at my own pace tomorrow because I feel that I I’ve blown up myself today. The following days I come into my own rhythm, find people on the "trail" who walk the same pace and can enjoy the walk much more. Every day we go higher into the mountains and the landscape changes. The trees become shorter and less numerous, the villages smaller and more spread out and the greenery is exchanged for pebbles, rocks and stones. The menu in eateries becomes monotonous and more expensive and the gasping for breath becomes stronger.

After a week there are almost no more villages left; I come above the 4000 meters border and there are patches of snow along the path. Bushes, trees and grass have been exchanged for a landscape full of stones, pebbles and rocks. The wind is blowing considerably but the view is breathtaking. A lunar landscape where you feel alone in this beautiful world. There is a clear blue sky, the sun is bright and yet it is chilly because of the altitude. Where you have long seen hordes of horses and donkeys trudging past, it is empty here. I have spent the last night before the high pass on "high camp" but I did not sleep very well. I sat upright to ease the pain in my head because of the gigantic height difference. Very early in the morning I picked up my stuff and started walking to get warm towards the "Thorung Pass" at almost 5000 meters. I have been walking for a few days with a Dutch woman who is walking at about the same pace as me. She has a guide but he doesn’t help her at all. He walks hundreds of meters in front of her and it’s very difficult to get lost here. We are walking now for a week and it’s time to cross the highest snow pass on our entire trip here. On top of the pass you’ve got a breathtaking view over the various Annapurna peaks. Via numerous Tibetan flags we walk down into the valley where we drink something on a terrace before we try to find a place to stay overnight. 

From the high pass the path slowly lingers down again to the valley which is about 800 meters in altitude. Again this will take about 5 to 7 days hiking. There is always that strange feeling that if something happens to you here a helicopter should come to pick you up due to the lack of roads and traffic to pick you up. You live back in time. There is also always the threat that you encounter "separatists" who, as you hear during the trip, can take your money and stuff away. I think I have encountered a number of Maoists but they left us alone. Because you’re walking the second part of the trip vice versa – from the high pass down into the valley – it’s recognicable. The greenery is increasing, the villages also, other mountain tribes, but also the number of people and villages gradually increases once you cross the tree line. The temperature goes up every day. After 12 days it is the last night; tomorrow I will go back to Pokhara by bus. I am still walking with the Dutch woman and we meet another Dutch person. On the last day we drink a glass of beer to celebrate what we have achieved and how wonderful this experience has been. There is nothing to be compared with our conclusion. Back in Pokhara I report to indicate that I am back in one piece and check in at my hostel. That day I take it easy, repack my bag and check my e-mail. I let the world know that I am back safely.