The crew: (left to right below) Darrel Margerison, Alex Briggs, Brian Wallace (me).
The walk: The Annapurna Sanctuary (Annapurna Base Camp) trek starting at Nayapul and ending on the Gatte Khola (river) below Dhampus over 11 days.
Spelling disclaimer: Spelling of place names in Nepal is quite variable. Spelling used here is either taken from Nepa Maps 1:50K 'Annapurna Base Camp' map or is as spelt by our awesome guide Chandra Lama aka 'The Captain'.
Some men are blessed way beyond what any reasonable person could expect - Alex, Darrell, and I are such men. Thank you to our supportive and giving wives and children for allowing us the encouragement, time, and funding to make this wonderful trip.
27-29 Sept. Days 1-3. Kathmandu and Pokhara
After a few years of discussion, a year of fairly haphazard planning, and a couple of sleepless night flights, three ageing Aussie blokes arrived in Kathmandu looking for a beer. Jagat Lama, founder of the Independent Trekking Guide Cooperative met us at the airport and whisked us through the circling vultures (would-be over-paid bag carriers) to a taxi and off to our Hotel on the edge of Thamel. I had corresponded with Jagat over the course of some seven months after finding his name listed at the end of a YouTube video of another trekker's trip. We were staying at the Hotel Ganesh Himal to indulge a nostalgic urge of mine, as I stayed there nearly 20 years earlier (in early 1991).
In our first proper face-to-face conversation, relaxing with a beer (Everest Lager - excellent!) in the lovely garden of the hotel, Jagat introduced Chandra Lama who was to be our guide - and as it turned out, to become a firm friend - on our trek. Jagat and Chandra made an impressive pair, comfortably bouncing off each other's conversation as they explained the details of our trek. We had kept things pretty loose to date, really only pinning down a rough itinerary, but now it was time to get serious. As the three of us are office-worker-types on the ugly side of 35, and as we had brought all the essentials (such as a stainless steel espresso pot and 1kg of coffee) Jagat had booked us three porters - one each. In a rear-guard defence of my ego I'll mention that last time I trekked in Nepal I carried my own gear.
The rest of day one and all of day two was spent getting to know our way around Thamel, buying a few souvenirs and items needed for the trek, and seeing a few of the key Kathmandu tourist sites. I hired a local guide with excellent english and encyclopaedic knowledge to show us around Kathmandu's Durbar Square. Of course it's easy to get by without a guide, but his explanations of the history, architecture, and religious significance of Durbar Square were well worth the small fee.
Then Chandra turned up with a van and driver and took us to see Swayambhunath (the Monkey Temple), Pashupati (the riverside Hindu temple beside which funeral pyres burn), and the great Budhist stupa of Boudhanath. This was a lot to fit in but between Jagat and the local guide at Pahhupati we came away knowing a lot more than we would have if we had gone by ourselves.
Day three started with our flight to Pokhara. We were fortunate that all three of us had window seats on the RHS of the small plane so we saw all the mountain views that were available given the cloud and post-monsoon haze. In Pokhara we met our three friendly porters: Ellen (later nick-named Mischief 1), Manoj (later nick-named Mischief 2), and Bhim (later nick-named Mr Bean).
We had the afternoon to ourselves to check out the many shops, to walk along the lake where there were many brightly coloured boats for hire, and to have a couple of beers in the beautiful lake-side restaurant gardens. One of the things that really struck me was the stunning colours and cut of the clothes worn by the Nepali ladies we saw walking beside the lake and working in the fields.
A word on the Independent Trekking Guide Cooperative
If you are considering trekking, climbing, or any other activity in Nepal, please consider using this cooperative. Their story and philosophy are well documented here at their excellent web site, so I will only make a few brief points:
- The cooperative enforces a porter load limit of 20kg. My bag would have been very close to this weight and was half the size and weight of the loads we saw being carried by many porters employed by a number of well-known commercial trekking companies. I have poor knees from my time in the army and I cringe to think of the damage these huge loads must do to someone who is slogging up and down the trails of Nepal year after year.
- It's completely flexible - you work out the plan before you go, customise it so it's exactly what you want, then change it on the fly with the advice of your guide. So you gain the benefits of organised travel with the freedom of going it alone.
- It's much cheaper - As a cooperative the pricing is set to provide income and training for the members, not to produce a surplus (profit) for an owner or to support expensive sales and admin staff in western countries.
Contact Jagat, Chandra and their team by email: info@independent-trekkingguide-nepal.com
30 Sept. Day 4, Trek day 1. Nayapul to Hile
We found the best (only?) full-on coffee machine in Pokhara! So we had a lovely breakfast at the Olive Something-or-other before meeting up with The Captain (Chandra) and the three porters.
Mr Bean (Bhim) drew the short straw and got my bag which was a large, round, waterproof, tote bag with no harness rather than a rucksack. I specifically bought it and left my rucksack behind as my trekking book said that porters prefer these to rucksacks. The book proposed that porters would put whatever bag we had into a basket and carry the basket on their back, suspended by a strap over the top of their head. I think that was quite out-of-date as from my observations the porters much preferred to use the harness, even if they supplemented it with a head strap.
We took a nice, new, air conditioned minibus from Pokhara to Nayapul which appears to exist only as a drop off point for trekkers. Beside our bus, which stood among about 30 other such buses, we stretched legs and tried not to look like we hadn't walked a decent distance in half a decade or so. At least that's what I was doing. The various small groups of us soon-to-be trekkers seemed to be trying hard to ignore each other, while sizing each other up to see who looked the part and who looked like a fish out of water. Or maybe I was the only one doing that - I don't know.
Our walk started at 10.45am and we were immediately treated to views of the beautiful Bhurungili Kola. This powerful river showed off the most amazing colours, sometimes a chalky grey-green and sometimes looking like wet and streaky green marble.
We followed this river all day passing over large and unstable scree slopes, through small patches of cool rainforest, past water buffalo wallows, and through quiet, small villages surrounded by terraced rice and millet paddies. The Captain told us that today was the easiest day of our trek, being relatively flat and only 3 hours long. Over coming days we would discover that "relatively flat" means only hundreds of metres rather than kilometres up and down, and hundreds rather than thousands of stone steps. We often had to step aside on the narrow trail to give way to trains of the brightly adorned mules which are the principal form of goods transport at these lower altitudes. Chandra advised us to be wary of the mules as they sometimes kick as the go past. I took this very seriously as when I was young my lovely cousin Barbara was killed when she was kicked by a horse. I hadn't thought about her in years and I was grateful that this chance comment from The Captain brought her back into my mind.
Our lunch stop was a track-side tea house with a shaded veranda and good food - I had a "spring roll" which I can only describe as a cross between a vegetarian pasty and a calzone. As we arrived I exchanged small-talk with an American woman from Philadelphia whom some days later we would get to know better. She was just leaving, having finished her lunch, and her name was Allison. After lunch we had the interesting treat of watching a lady trekker's guide repair her boot which had blown a sole after only half a day on the trail. He obtained a large needle and strong thread from the tea house owner and carefully sewed the sole back on. A few days later we saw the same guy sewing her other sole on and his repairs held up for the whole trek - impressive. It was a sunny day and I sweated like a pig and smelt like one too by the time we stopped for the night in the small village of Hille (pronounced Hilly) at 1470m.
The Sushma Guest House had a simple but comfortable common dining room with views of the river valley with it's steep sides terraced with rice paddies. The small paved courtyard had a garden of vivid green and purple hues growing over a stone wall. And to really set the trek off to a great start the place had hot showers and cold beer. After showering and changing cloths we sat in the common room writing in our diaries, exchanging inadequate exclamations regarding the beauty of our surroundings, and drinking a couple of cold 650ml Everests each, as was to become our nightly routine.
Also staying at the tea house were a nice Indian couple who spoke English with a strong English accent, and two young Aussie sisters-in-law named Nikki and Angie. We would run into both these pairs regularly during our trek.
1 Oct. Day 5, Trek day 2. Hile to Ghorepani
We gave the espresso pot a workout this morning, then sat in a haze of delicious aroma drinking coffee and eating banana pancakes - a perfect breakfast. By 7am we were on the trail, crossing the various wooden, concrete, and steel cable bridges which span minor tributaries of the powerful Bhurungdi Khola (river). I noticed that one of the better constructed bridges had a plaque saying it was donated by the British Gurkhas. This walk was an easy warmup before crossing the final steel cable bridge to the bottom of the 3000 steps which lead up to Banthanti and our morning tea stop. The steps are steep and relentless, but I found a rhythm and decided to run with it. So I reached the top about half an hour before the others and was able to have a nice rest. During this climb we got our first glimpses of the Annapurnas - Hiun Chuli and Annapurna South I think - through a gap in the foothills we were walking on.
The second half of the morning started with a steep descent back to the Bhurungdi Khola before following the river valey through stunning oak and rhododendron forest. The diffuse light and occasional pockets of mist in this forest made it seem mysterious and sometimes spooky. The mottled autumn colours of the leaves, lightly illuminated by the subdued light, was a visual treasure that our cameras were not up to capturing. I was also treated to one of my favourite outdoor pleasures - as an amateur mycologist - of seeing and photographing numerous beautiful examples of the local fungi.
We arrived in Ghorepani (2860m) at about 12.45pm just before the arrival of light rain and enveloping mist. I did my first load of washing in the freezing water at the outdoor washpoint, then hung it - amongst the dripping clothes of about 20 of my fellow trekkers - around the wood-burning stove in the centre of the tea house common room.
2 Oct. Day 6, Trek day 3. Poon Hill, Ghorepani to Chuile
After a very poor night sleep - initially interrupted by a party downstairs involving a bongo drum and lots of singing, and then troubled by vivid and violent dreams - we rose at 4.15am to make the climb up Poon Hill (3210m) to take in one of the iconic Nepal views. The previous day mist and dense, low cloud prevented trekkers from experiencing the Poon Hill views, so we were excited to see a clear star-filled sky when we left the teahouse. I recalled that last time I climbed this minor peak it was freezing cold and blowing a gale, so this time I wore thermals under my pants and fleece jacket. It never occurred to me that it was now a different season and I paid for this mental mis-fire by becoming drenched with sweat by the time we arrived on top.
After abandoning modesty and stripping off my drenched under layer, It was time to settle down and watch one of the most breathtaking sunrises anywhere. As off to the west the sun rises over the southern shoulder of Machhapuchhre (6997m) it strikes with blinding force the faces of the entire Annapurna Himal, stretching from Dhaulagiri I (8168m) and Tukeche (6920m) 30km to the nor north west, through Nilgiri (6940m) 30km due north, and Annapurna I (8091m), Annapurna Sth (7219m), Hiunchuli (6441m), and Tarke Kang (7193m) 20km north east. Of course with such astonishing sights available, Poon Hill offers no opportunity for solitary contemplation, but there is the chance to experience the palpable sense of awe radiated by the 100 or so trekkers one must share the small summit area with.
The Poon Hill round trip left me knackered so a huge breakfast was required before we set off for today's leg of the trek. Big ascents and descents were the order of the day. Our first big uphill push took us through more misty and mysterious forests of moss-draped rhododendron, pretty purple wild flowers, and intriguing fungi. I wished I had a field guide to Nepalese fungi (and I later purchased one in Kathmandu). Having gained all that elevation we were immediately rewarded with the chance to lose it all again. The descent was via thousands of rough slate and shale steps following fast-flowing waters down a plunging ravine.
Before reaching Tadapani (2630m) we would have to do a few of these vertical half kilometre yo-yo walks. The Captain (Chandra) said that rather than the Tadapani lodgings he prefers a particular tea house "just half an hour past Tadapani" in a village called Chuile (2170m). And so was born the "Chandra Half Hour" which can be anything from 30-60 minutes. Of course The Captain was right and the tea house he led us to was lovely - with it's large half circle of flat (yes, flat!), green grass perched clinging to the steep side of the hill, with vast views up and down the Kimrong Khola valley, and with a warm and spacious common room. The 'Mountain Discovery Lodge' in Chuile was worth the extra few kilometres.
At this tea house we made one discovery that had us fascinated: wired to the walls of the common room were bee hives made from hollowed logs with the ends plugged with hardened mud. The owners cultivate these bees to pollinate their crops and to provide a supply of fresh honey.
A word on 'Mothers' Groups'
Over a few days I had a number of conversations with Chandra about Mothers' Groups. They are a powerfully influential force in Nepal - especially in the country-side - and seem to act like de facto local councils. They organise works such as the repair and maintenance of the trails between villages, many of which have hundreds or thousands of steps. We passed one group of men constructing a new section of track through the shale left after the side of a hill slipped away. Chandra spoke briefly to the men and then informed us that, "the Mothers' Group sent them to fix the track".
Many villages nowadays have micro-hydro systems providing them with electrical power. Installation of these systems is often organised by a local Mothers' Group, who may obtain financial support from an NGO, or may simply raise the money over some years by selling things to (or taking donations from) passing trekkers. In this and other ways Mothers' Groups help develop the country while protecting the environment and the natural beauty which is the basis of the crucial tourism industry.
The Mothers' Groups also regulate norms of behaviour among the local people. For instance if someone is regularly indulging in too much alcohol, the Mothers' Group will take what Chandra describes as "firm action" to moderate this potentially socially destructive behaviour.
These examples of the (perhaps not so) amazing power of women to organise whatever resources are available for the betterment of their families and communities made me think of one of our family's favourite websites: Kiva. This wonderful site provides us the pleasure of lending small amounts of money to borrowers in developing countries. Most of the entrepreneurs on Kiva are women and it is a joy to be able to assist in funding their ventures. Please have a look at the Kiva website and share in the pleasure of micro-lending.
3 Oct. Day 7, Trek day 4. Chuile to Chhomrong
We awoke to amazing views of Machhapuchhre with diffuse morning light behind it. The detail of the mountain's famous fluted 'fish-tail' face was much better discernible than when we saw it from Poon Hill - evidence of our progress yesterday. After taking a few photos we had a lovely breakfast in the common room. I had a cheese and veg omelette, a chapati on which I spread Vegemite (which I had brought from Australia), and of course our fresh coffee. My god, there's nothing like Vegemite!
Today was a short walk in warm sunny weather with an occasional lovely cool breeze. We started with a steep descent from
Chuile to the Kimrong Khola then crossed a long steel cable suspension bridge over the river. On this bridge we encountered the interesting Nepali practice of repairing broken steel cables by tying the cable in a knot and then screwing a U-bolt clamp either side of the knot. I'm sure this produces a sound repair, but I still found it quite disconcerting. On the other side of the river we completed a short (20 min) ascent of stone steps before contouring within a vertical range of about 200m to reach our lodgings for the night in the large village of Chomrong (2170m) before lunch. Along the trail we saw various methods of drying and storing corn, including hanging under the eaves of houses, stacking in large wooden racks raised above the ground, and sun-drying the individual kernels on a woven mat.
The Panorama Point Lodge had a large comfortable common room which jutted out from the side of the hill to give excellent views of Machhapuchhre to the north east and the Chhomrong Khola to the south and east. It also had hot showers, a good wash-point, and clothes lines, so we were able to get ourselves and our laundry clean. The mountain views were mostly obscured by cloud but we could see that in the morning's clear air we'd have another great photo opportunity.
During the afternoon spent sitting in the common room eating and drinking beer Chandra - with back up from Ellen (one of our porters) - sung us a song called Ankha le ankha (eyes to eyes). This love song, about strangers who see each other and have that wonderful experience of emotional communication via eye contact, was composed by Chandra's brother who is a popular but struggling Nepali composer with words written by a good friend of Chandra's. Darrell and Alex both videoed the impromptu performance.
Later in the afternoon I phoned Mikarla (my wife) and our kids using Chandra's mobile phone. It was lovely but quite overwhelming to speak to them.
4 Oct. Day 8, Trek day 5. Chhomrong to Bamboo
Annapurna South, Hiun Chuli, and Machhapuchhre were all magnificent this morning as they bathed in the rising sun. For breakfast I had fruit and oat porridge, for a change, and washed it down with very strong fresh-brewed coffee from our espresso pot. Today was to be another relatively short day at only about four hours, so there was no rush to turn our eyes from the majestic peaks to our north and north east.
As we passed through lower Chomrong, on our way down to the suspension bridge which crosses the Chomrong Khola, we stopped at a relatively large local store to change some money. The store sold everything that is for sale at tea houses but at much lower prices. The Captain explained that this was the wholesale store that the tea houses in surrounding villages purchase from. We also made a brief stop at a store where Chandra knew that the owner had a guitar. He borrowed the instrument and we sat in the shade while Darrell played us some blues. Not much later Chandra was concerned that the porters were hungry this morning so we stopped early for lunch (about 10.15am). The Captain is tireless in his attention to the wellbeing of his team which is gratifying to observe.
After crossing the river we walked a few kilometres of steep ascending and descending stone steps. Today's leg took us through rhododendron forest with diverse fungi and orchids and thick bamboo forests with ferns as undergrowth. I'd guess the trail crossed 20 or more minor streams, via bridge or ford, before reaching our destination of the village of Bamboo (2310m). For all our up-ing and down-ing we had ended up with a net altitude gain of 140m.
We quickly discovered that the Bamboo Guest House - not to be confused with the Bamboo Lodge, which is next door - had an
instant gas hot water system, which provided the best shower I'd had since Kathmandu. Another discovery we made in this village was the custom that trekkers should eat and drink at the tea house where they are sleeping. Apparently it causes trouble between the lodge owners when trekkers break this rule as most of their profit comes from food and drink rather than from renting accommodation. We made this discovery the hard way - by doing a pub crawl. Darrell and I started at the top end of the village (the opposite end from our tea house) and stopped at each establishment for one beer each. By the time we'd made it halfway back to our lodgings The Captain had heard what we were up to and came to give us a quiet lesson on local etiquette. oops!
5 Oct. Day 9, Trek day 6. Bamboo to Deurali
This morning was quit cold, the first time we've woken to condensation on the inside of the windows. So far the nights have not been cold enough to sleep inside my sleeping bag so I have been zipping it open, inserting my feet into it (it's a mummy bag), and using the top half as a blanket. We seem to be sleeping longer and longer - last night was about 10 hours - and I have been dreaming a lot. Breakfast was again warm fruit porridge followed by a boiled egg - very filling and sustaining.
The walk today was another relatively short one, at about 4 hours, and had no really steep ascents or descents. The trail made a comparatively gentle (for Nepal) ascent beside the Modi Khola, initially through rhododendron forests with bamboo and fern understory then as we got higher this gave way to shrubs and low scrub. Micro-hydro installations are a regular site in Nepal but today we passed one with the windows open which allowed us a peek at the setup. They are a remarkably simple arrangement, fed by only a single pipe no larger than 100mm, and given the bountiful supply of flowing water are an excellent example of intelligent local resource use. Lunch was again fairly early (10.30am) and as it took quite a while for my egg and vege noodles (2 minute packet noodles with egg and chopped local veges added) I had a lovely snooze in the morning sun.
Again the forests provided ample opportunities for me to play amateur Mycologist and snap photos of the diverse fungi.
However the dominant scenic feature of todays walk was waterfalls - one could barely find somewhere to look without taking in yet another beautiful high cascade. Of course waterfalls must have a supply of water and we crossed numerous fast flowing creeks and streams, some by shallow fords, others by stepping stones, and the wider ones via locally constructed wood pole bridges. All of these crossings need constant maintenance and regular rebuilding and we passed a group of men building a path of stepping stones by hauling together the heavy-looking rocks in a stream. Perhaps this was another crew sent forth by a local Mothers' Group to maintain the trail so that trekkers can continue to enjoy the region and support the local economy.
We arrived in the small cluster of teahouses named Durali (3200m) in the early afternoon. The ShangriLa guest house had no
hot showers but for 100Rs they would heat a bucket of water. This turned out to be just divine. The water was piping hot and came with a plastic jug for scooping up the hot water, mixing in some cold, and pouring it over oneself. Effective, and a great luxury so high in the hills. Shortly after our ablutions the cold mist rolled in so we sat with our fellow trekkers in the warm common room reading, writing, and drinking sweet black tea. Meanwhile some hearty Nepalis played volleyball on a court that barely squeezed onto it's flat perch. The game had regular timeouts as they chased the ball down the hill - it rolls a long way.
For about half an hour in the late afternoon the mist cleared and the sun broke through so we sat outside drinking beers and taking in the views - a foreground of spooky Tolkienesc mist-wrapped dark, bare, stone peaks and a backdrop of the intimidating and defiant mass of Machhapuchhre.
6 Oct. Day 10, Trek day 7. Deurali to ABC
ShangriLa Guest House, Durali, had the best cook of any teahouse we'd stayed in so far. Last night I had what in Nepal is called a Spring Roll (like a vege pastie or calzone) and we shared a tomato and cheese pizza (which had a perfectly crisp base and tasty topping) and a plate of nice, crisp, hot chips. This morning I had an apple pancake, a lemon pancake, and a boiled egg, all chased down with a lemon tea followed by a strong coffee from our espresso pot. Things can change of course, but when we were at ShangriLa Guest House, the food was awesome!
Durali is at only 3200m but this morning I noticed an interesting effect of the lower air pressure: plastic bags that were sealed at lower altitude blow up like a balloon. I had an unopened flat packet of hand wipes which was puffed up and round in shape when I got them out of my pack this morning, and it popped like a balloon when I opened it. It makes sense but it's not something I expected.
We stepped off at 7.45am with a temperature of about 5deg C, less a small bit of wind chill. I cannot get pants over my boots and didn't want to become hot once the sun hit us, so I was quite cold in shorts and a light cotton shirt. For the first hour or so my fingers - which are accustomed to the lovely warm Queensland climate - were unusable. Along much of the trail north of Durali trees had given way to low scrub and alpine heathland which, until the sun rose high enough to shine into the Modi Khola valley, created a feeling of chilly desolation. Adding to the drama of the scene were the massive, steep rock faces along the left hand side of the valley. The Captain informed us that in winter it is too dangerous to walk along this trail and trekkers must cross to the other side of the Modi Khola to be relatively safe from avalanche. However in contrast to the bleakness of the valley itself, the views of the mountains above the valley were magnificent and improved with each twist of the trail.
As we neared Machhapuchhre Base Camp (MBC) we began to have views of the great peaks in all directions rather than only ahead, and realised we were finally crossing into the Sanctuary. We reached the upper teahouses of MBC (3770m) at 10am and had lemon tea in the sun while taking in a strikingly different aspect of Machhapuchhre. From MBC it is a dramatic pointed spire of rock, too steep to hold ice/snow, and looks nothing like the famous 'fish-tail' shape seen from Poon Hill.
Walking from MBC to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) the views improve from beautiful to breathtaking. As we approached ABC cloud was closing in around Ganggapurna, Machhapuchhre, and the Annapurnas, adding an intimidating sense of the power of weather to my overall feeling of insignificance. On this section of the trail we met up with many of the people we had met so far on our trek: Allison, the accountant from Philadelphia, with classic blonde American good looks; Nikki and Angie, the lovely friendly sisters-in-law from Oz; the English/Indian couple, who were so friendly but whose names we never found out; the Israeli guy we had spoken to often; the two girls who we had nick-named the Euro-hotties, who we later found out were Czech; and the Lithuanian guy, who was travelling with a couple of beautiful women, and who cheerfully sped past us like he was born at altitude. Crossing paths with so many of the trekkers we'd met and had passing conversations with, was a nice treat. This is one of the things I love about trekking - the sense of loose, transitory community that builds among the people who are on the trail at the same time.
On the seventh day of our trek we arrived at our goal - Annapurna Base Camp. After finding our rooms in the Shadowland teahouse we had a quick lunch in the common/dining room while sucking in the kerosine fumes which seem strangely comforting - an assurance of heating and warm drinks.
Of course, having reached our destination we couldn't just sit still, so we rugged up for a walk north west along the south west side of the South Annapurna Glacier. The ice of the glacier is completely covered in crushed rock - moraine - and there are only a few small areas where the ice is visible. Chandra and I decided to climb up to the bottom of an icefield on the lower east slope of Annapurna South and Alex accompanied us about half way. From there he took some photos which capture the astonishing scale of the South Annapurna Glacier. Below is one of those photos and beneath it is the same photo with a red circle around a tiny red spec which is Darrell. If you click on the lower photo to go the original at Flickr, then zoom in, you can see Darrel quite clearly.
Almost immediately I discovered that I was way, way overdressed and would drown in sweat long before gaining even 100m in altitude.
So I stripped off the North Face down jacket, fibre-pile inner jacket, and gloves, then had to carry them. The ground was very steep and I had to stop every few steps to catch my breath - I guess I'm no mountaineer - but finally The Captain and I climbed over the lip and into the moraine at the base of the minor icefield which was our goal. We were at 4500m - the highest point of our trek - and Chandra and I were quite pleased with ourselves. Despite the relative modesty of our achievement we grinned at each other like two young boys who have just heard the school bell ring for the last time before holidays. I will always fondly remember The Captain smiling at me and saying, "Brian, we are two crazy guys!". 
We spent some time hopping from stone to stone around a small ice lake, hearing the constant rumble of avalanches as ice fell from the lower slopes of Annapurna way off at the top of the South Annapurna Glacier. Chandra and I were a very happy pair as we descended back to Darrell, picking up Alex on the way. On the way I was fortunate enough to encounter another opportunity to indulge my interest in fungi by photographing some mushrooms and alpine puff balls. As thick mist enveloped the surrounding peaks, then filled the entire sanctuary, we returned to the common room of Shadowland hotel for warmth, beer, and contentment.
7 Oct. Day 11, Trek day 8. ABC to Sinawa
I am 6'5" tall and my bed last night was about 5'6" long and had a wooden head and foot. So between the short bed and the diminished oxygen I had an appalling sleep. However waking up in the Annapurna Sanctuary swept away all dissatisfaction. This place was our goal and this morning's sunrise was the apex experience of the trip. After rugging up we stepped out of our
room and into a breathtaking 360 degree panorama of 6000 and 7000m peaks. Along with about 40 other trekkers we spent the next hour and a half taking photos of the mountains and each other, desperately trying to convince man-made gizmo's composed of plastic, glass, and silicon chips to capture the scale and beauty of one of God's most impressive displays (whatever God may be to each of us). My brain gave up trying to really process what I was witnessing - the sun creeping across the Annapurnas, setting them afire with orange radiance - and settled for simply letting this marvellous event wash through me. Months later, back in Brisbane, I would find looking at the photos a melancholy mix of pleasurable reminiscence and distressing disappointment. Cameras are woefully inadequate for the task of recording such an immense experience. As we walked back to the common room for breakfast I pondered how sad it is that "awe" has become such a cheapened word today.
To give us a couple of short days during our trek to ABC the Captain juggled our itinerary making today a long one. He predicted it would take us about 7 hours to reach Sinawa at 2360m. After a few final photos we set off, looking back often, on our walk out of the Sanctuary via MBC. Today's walk was a net descent of 1.8km but we probably climbed a vertical km along
the way, so I was rapt that my knees only grumbled mildly. Our small party whisked through our previous overnight stops of Durali and Bamboo with a lunch break halfway between at Dobhan. A great blessing of descending is the wondrous effect increased oxygen has. This longer day was tiring but not as much so as some of the much shorter days on the way up. Perhaps we were also enjoying the reward of having gotten fitter over the past week. About 1.5hrs out of Sinawa a steady, heavy rain began and I used my Goretex jacket as a hooded cape. This worked well in keeping me and my pack dry while still allowing me to stay cool. I'm a little ashamed to admit that until we reached Sinawa I didn't give any thought to whether our porters, who were some way behind us, had wet weather gear. However the porters I passed today gave me cause to again ponder the damage that must be done to the knees of porters employed by many large and well known commercial trekking companies. I saw men, young and old, carrying two logo-emblazoned tote sacks each at least the size of my bag strapped together, and with their personal pack then strapped on top.
On arrival in Sinawa Chandra yet again demonstrated his great worth as a host and guide by getting us a large four bed room. We showered, dressed in dry clothes, and set about draping the room like a washer-woman's balcony. It is certainly no easy job being a good guide. As soon as we arrive at whatever tea-house we are spending the night in Chandra transforms from trail master into combination maitre de and waiter. He immediately checks out the kitchen facilities and determines the best time for us to place our dinner order to ensure we don't get caught up in the rush when the other trekkers order their food. He is diligent, professional and a great companion.
The tea-house is quite full tonight. As I write in my diary we share the common room with a young couple (an Aussie and a Kiwi) who have been living in London; a young couple from Belgium who are travelling for a year having recently married; two
middle-aged French ladies who are friendly if a little reserved; a friendly and chatty group of Germans; and a Spanish speaking couple. While we sat in the common room eating, drinking, and chatting with other trekkers Chandra drew in my diary a panorama of the Annapurna Himal seen from the Annapurna Sanctuary. He says it is stylised and should not be compared to a photo panorama. It's a lovely gift and I am very pleased to have received it.
Still to come:
I have been very slow in completing this blog entry. However I have found that to be an unexpected bonus in that each time I begin writing up a new day I start by reading all I have written so far, reading my diary, and looking over all the hundreds of photos we took. Each time I do this it is a wonderful refresh of my memories. So...I'll be taking my time. :-)
8 Oct. Day 12, Trek day 9. Sinawa to Jhinu
9 Oct. Day 13, Trek day 10. Jhinu to Landruk
10 Oct. Day 14, Trek day 11. Landruk to Gatte Khola below Dhampus
11-15 Oct. Day 15-19, Pokhara and Kathmandu
