My Trekking Experience

Jess has already done a great long blog about our trek around the Annapurna mountains. As usual I havent been blogging as much and am playing catch up.

I know Jess didn't entirely enjoy our trekking experience. I realised on the first day that, really, she was doing it for me rather than for her, and that she might find it really difficult.

We had planned to do 10 days up to Annapurna South base camp that included a diversion up to Poon Hill, where we got up early and took all those great pictures.

In going the scenic route, we had already covered over 3000m of ascent and about 2000m of descent over 4 days by the time we got to Chomrong, where we could decide to carry on up, or turn back.
If we had carried on, we would have had 3 more days of ascent, including the final day ascending 700m to base camp, at 4300m.

This would have been really hard. Our reserves of energy and sleep were wearing thin, and ascending and that much in a single day and sleeping at that height would have put us at risk of altitude sickness. As it was, on the way down I got a killer headache, which I think was from the altitude.

Things might have been fine, but I don't think the two of us would have had a good time. I'm glad we decided to head back early. We had a really nice time up on Poon Hill, and the way back down was and once we'd decided to change the route, we could take things easier, and enjoy it more.

My Own Personal Everest

As many of you know (through the wonders of Facebook) Martyn and I went for a trek into the Annapurna Mountain Range. We originally had planned a 10 day hike up to the base camp where real mountaineers start their journey up to Annapurna South. For those of you who've counted, we're back early. This is because we changed the trek halfway to a 7 day journey.

I am not a mountaineer. This is somewhat of an understatement. As my parents will tell you, when I was little I would have much rather sat in the car reading Harry Potter than walk up a 600m hill in the North of England, actually I think that's probably still true... However, here I am in Nepal and I'd agreed to follow my husband up to 4300m, with no Harry Potter in sight! 

By halfway through the first day I realised what a mistake I'd made. Day one was comprised of 3100 steps ascending 800m, it was not nice. We trudged on all day with Tilak our guide showing us the way, Tilak himself was actually one of the reasons day one was even less enjoyable. When we met him and he only addressed Martyn we thought that as he was asking specific questions it's easier to ask one person, but as we went on through the day we realised that he was just ignoring me. Completely. He hadn't even learnt my name, just calling me madam. Eventually Martyn had had enough and took him to one side to tell him to talk to both of us. It eased up a bit and he actually knew my name but it wasn't much better. To give him credit, him and I swapped bags for the duration of the trip, which did make the walk much easier.

We slogged to the top of the steps, with many a stop along the way, and finally made it to our first guest house in Ulleri. I can't really tell you what the villages are like as we went straight to each guesthouse along the way and just stayed there. However, we did see a young girl and her best friend playing. Her best friend was a goat, he was quite happily letting her cover him in banana leaves even on his head! Once she'd decided he had enough leaves on she grabbed him into a tight bear-hug (goat-hug?) and he nuzzled her head. AWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! CUUUUUTTTTTEEEE!!!!!!

Day 2 started early and off we trudged up even more steps... After a good nights sleep I felt refreshed and the steps were punctuated with more and more gentle slopes so it was a generally much easier day. Along the way we met a (very loud) group of Israeli people who had also come along to climb to base camp. They were in good spirits and were even slower than me so I perked up too!

Just before we left I'd sent a postcard to my Nan telling her that her Rambling days inspired us to go on a walk and low and behold, along the way we found a Ramblers sticker!

We stopped for a tasty lunch of momos and noodles with 2 tabby cats looping round our ankles and their kitten playing with our shoelaces (more cute!), and trekked into the Rhododendron forest. It was a pretty easy stroll through the dappled shade and we met an Australian girl who had volunteered for a year with the UN in Bangladesh, and yet she was jealous of our travels...

By the time we got to our guest house we were in good spirits and I was starting to feel like a mountaineer, although I can't exactly say I was enjoying the trek I was tolerating it more than I thought I would.

Wherever we went we were encouraged not to buy bottled water. Not only was it increasing the amount of un-recyclable rubbish in the area but a poor porter or donkey had to trek it up the mountain! Every stop had safe drinking water that had been boiled and filtered and was half the price of bottled water. We really hope the initiative works.

Day 3 however was a very very hard day. We rose at 430am to leave at 445, for a side visit to Poon Hill. This is a spectacular view point that is circled by the Annapurna range and at sunrise on a clear day you can see the peaks of 6 mountains. However to get there you have to climb 400m worth of steps (half the ascent of Day 1) in about 45 minutes! We did make it to the top before the sun and so got a few minutes to get our breath back in time for it to be taken away again by the views. We were stood at 3210m above sea level watching the sun rise over the Himalayas on a clear day. It was spectacular.

Modelling the knitwear!

After a mug of sweet tea from a metal cup we walked back down the steps to the guesthouse for breakfast and to start again. I already felt like we'd done a days work and we hadn't moved anywhere! Faced with even more steps for the next section I'd had enough. Martyn had given me an out the previous day, there is a Poon Hill circuit that takes 6/7 days and misses out Base Camp at the time I said no, but there at facing even more uphill and only on day 3 of 10 I said yes. I found this particularly hard, I wanted Martyn to be able to get to the Base Camp but doing so I would have been miserable and tired. I think my pride stopped me from changing the route earlier. There were tears. As we trekked on I didn't realise that we were already going higher than Poon Hill to get to it's sister view point, the originally named, Poon Hill 2.

I sat on the stone bench at 3350m with the sun at my back, the Himalayas in front of me and my husband at my side and yet I felt like a failure. I couldn't stop crying, yet I'd already trekked the highest and longest I ever had in my life. I gave myself such a talking to up there on that hill. Ok, so I wasn't going to get to the Base Camp but that didn't mean I'd failed, I'd still climbed 3350m by myself. No-one can trek for you, you have to get yourself there and I did!

As this photo was taken a plane flew past, underneath us! 

After the epiphanies and tears of Day 3, Day 4 was pretty uneventful. The terrain was much gentler and we trudged on solidly to get to our end point for the day. 

Day 5 was hot, really hot. Even at 9am the sun was high in the sky and shade was hard to come by. We had to travel through Jungle type areas that were hot, humid and leechey! Every now and then we had to stop and check our shoes for wiggly things crawling up them! We thought we'd escaped but those buggers are sneaky and I had a bloody sock with 2 bite marks underneath. Eww. Poor Martyn looked like a colander with the amount of holes he had!

I didn't want to get out of bed a second day running for a sunrise, so I brought my bed with me!

This is Daal Bhat, the fuel of every good hiker. It's made up of  (going clockwise) rice, curry - this one is potato, dal - a soup made from lentils and spice, papad - or poppadom as we know it, a mahoosive cucumber slice, vegetables - like spinach.

Thankfully it was a relatively short days walk and we got to our guest house by 2pm rather than the usual 4.30. We met a couple of guys from Nottingham who were telling us horrible tales of the walk we had ahead of us as they'd come from the opposite direction, so of course we played top trumps with tales of woe! They were funny guys who didn't seem prepared for such a big hike, even though that was the reason for their travelling to Nepal! They put away 4 beers easily that night and definitely looked a bit worse for wear in the morning. I didn't envy walking and a hangover! We did treat ourselves to a plate of buffalo and mashed potato, it was absolutely delicious.

Poor porters/donkeys supplying us with pringles...

Contrary to the tales Day 6 was a walk in the park. At some points we were literally strolling through fields. We went so fast in fact that the village we were supposed to stay the night at was only a stop for lunch. At our eventual stop we decided to crack a couple of beers with Tilak to celebrate our last night. We had about a pint each, but we didn't realise what poor tolerance Tilak had to booze. His eyes soon glazed over and he started chatting nonsense. Oops, we broke our guide!

Day 7 was a 2 hour walk down a lot of steps (sigh) to Phedi, our final destination where there was a taxi waiting for us.

Overall, even now, I can't say I enjoyed it. Maybe endured is a better word. I'm glad I managed to complete a trek, even if it wasn't the one we'd originally chosen. I'm also glad that I never have to do it again!

Lakes, rivers and white water kayaking

On Monday we went on the lake in kayaks with a company called Rapidrunners. It was our warm up and teaching sesh before heading out onto a river the next day.

As it turns out, if you're a complete beginner, like I am, it's pretty common to not be able to steer. At all. All we had to do was cross the lake to a quieter bay so that we could practise manoeuvres. 20 minutes later I was still spinning around in the middle of the lake! We did get to the other side eventually and the actual lesson started.

We had to learn 4 different types of rescue in case we flipped over and ended up upsidedown in the water. 

1. Self rescue. Easy peasy lemon squeazy.

When you're in a kayak you have a spray deck on that blocks some of the water getting in. It's like wetsuit material. You put it on like a skirt, not the most flattering, and when you get in the boat it stretches over the opening. If you flip upsidedown all you need to do is pull open the spray deck and swim out.

2. T-rescue. Easy for Martyn. Not so easy for Jess.

When upsidedown, don't pop your deck(!) but instead run your hands along the sides of the boat out the water and wait for someone else's boat to come and get to one side. Then use the front of their boat to push yourself out the water.

3. Guitar/palata roll. Easy for Jess. Eventually easy for Martyn.

When about to roll get into position. Paddle on the left side, just under the water. Hold the back paddle with your left hand and right hand in the middle of the 'stick bit'. Flip underwater. Then pull the paddle from in front of you to behind you while at the same time lean as far back as you can go. Just as you reach the surface use your hips to right the boat fully.

4. Eskimo roll. Eventually easy for Jess. A bit trickier for Martyn.

The same technique as above but instead of holding the paddle itself, your hands are in the position they'd be in as if you were previously paddling.

Phew!!!

We spent the whole day in and out of the water. To say we were tired was an understatement!

The guys that were teaching us were obviously great mates and when we stopped for lunch they entertained us pratting around perfectly! There were tow boats on the shore from tourists so they borrowed them and had a race. When the tourists came back they thought their boats had been stolen!

As we paddled back to the other side we stopped at the temple in the lake. A little Hindu temple, overrun by pigeons. Martyn wanted to practise rolling a bit more so we chilled out.

On heading back to shore Proshant (our teacher) asked me to do one more roll. By this point I could do them every time I tried so I thought one more won't hurt. Hmmm... My body had other ideas. I was really tired from the whole day and just couldn't right myself. I tried 3 times. The guys were all a bit far away as they knew I could so it so there was no-one to 'T rescue'. I panicked loads and self rescued but I really did think I was gonna drown! There was no actual risk, but it was damn scary...

The next day we were taken to a local river for our white water kayaking. I was nervous as the last experience I'd had in the kayak wasn't exactly reassuring but the guys were supportive and their laid back charm helped to settle the nerves.

Bearing in mind that I hadn't mastered steering yet and the safety briefing comprised a lot of, "if my paddle is in this direction, go that way" I didn't hold out much hope for staying in the boat!

As we approached the first rapid the guys all shouted, "stay straight!" So of course I immediately spun round exposing my side. I paddled hard and managed to straighten up just in time and rode the rapid over rocks, into churning water and back out onto smooth river. I'd cleared the first one! Yay! I turned round with a big grin on my face to look for Martyn who was after me and was greeted by his upsidedown empty boat. Turns out he didn't clear the first one...

I'd like to say that we both mastered kayaking brilliantly and rode each rapid like a pro, but then I'd be lying! I wiped out pretty spectacularly over one particularly high rock. After another perfect rescue from the team I was back in my boat and ready to go, just to fall out again instantly! I forgot that as you head back to the current of the river you have to counteract it otherwise it will just topple you. Oops!

We worked hard for 2 hours and stopped for lunch under a beautiful waterfall. As hard as it was we could definitely get used to it!

After a total of 4 hours on the river we were both shattered. We started making silly mistakes and were out the boat more than in it! (from my previous comments that sounds impossible but I assure you we were pretty good!)

Getting out of the river we were greeted by water buffalo who were obviously confused as to what on earth we were doing in their river!

First week in Nepal

Already we've found life in Nepal to be very different yet reassuringly similar to India. Granted we are in a very touristy area, which will influence the local culture and feel but still things are different.

There is much less traffic, we can cross the road by looking both ways and then walking, without worrying a scooter will appear out of nowhere and mow us down.

There is a lot less staring and much more smiling.

It is not customary to say thank you here. This is a little odd to us, yet in India it is not normal to say please so if our manners are off when we get home, please forgive us. Thank you!

The women wear typically Indian dress, Salwar Kameez and saris.

Early to bed, early to rise. Sunrise is at 530am and sunset is 630 pm.

In our first week we've gently settled in to life here. 

Our first day here we had a mega lie in. It felt like jet lag from all the travelling we'd done! Then sauntered round the shops, popping in a few trekking and kayaking places for prices and had Chinese for lunch followed in the evening by the most delicious Japanese food we've ever had! The flavours were delicate and the presentation was spectacular. No photos I'm afraid though, we ate it too quickly!

The next day we spent a whole day on a row boat on the lake (Phewa Tal). Its not huge but there are enough pockets and bays to make it an interesting day. There's an island temple to Lord Shiva, as many Nepali people are Hindu, and a few cafes along the further shoreline.

That evening we had Korean food with names like Bibimbob and Yem bob. Tasty and amusing.

We've visited the international mountain museum, which showcased the different cultures of Nepal including languages, religion and local dress. Obviously there was a huge section on mountains. Did you know... Nepal has 10 out of the 14 highest mountains in the world? 

It was very interesting, if a little repetitive. There were quotes from famous mountaineers on their opinions on getting to the top of these great peaks. Surprisigly their views on mountaineering are very similar to mine, "Thank God it's the top, we can go back now!"

I breifly lost Martyn in the knot section, we were glared at by a yeti and there was an exhibit on the amount of rubbish brought back from Everest in one year alone.

I've also now tried my hand at kayaking, we rented them for a few hours on my favourite place, the lake. After about half an hour of paddling in circles I managed to cross to a bay on the other side in a roundabout way. I rewarded myself with a swim. It was brilliant! The water was cool but not cold, and although it was a little green it's still a clean lake. Laying on your back with blue skies above and mountains all around was just breathtaking.

We enjoyed kayaking so much that tomorrow we're doing a 'kayak clinc' to learn effective techniques and how to Eskimo roll, so that the day after we can go on a river and play in rapids! Woo!