Tuesday, 11 May 2010
The people were pissed off with the Maoists’ strike. Not everyone was a Mao. They called off the strike for an indefinite of time. Although they did say they would strike for an indefinite amount of time. So I really didn’t know long how things will stay open for but it presented my chance to start my trek. A lot of people had this perception that trekking was hard physically and only for the fittest. In fact it really was like walking except everything was just epically more awesome.
I met plenty of kind fellows on the trek. There was the drunk hotel owner who offered alcohol to everyone of his guest. Due to the off season time, the trek was not crowded. There were about 5 trekkers who started on the same day as us. My Guide, Nyima and I trekked at our super pace and left at different time so we had the whole mountain to ourselves. We would end up at the same lodge at the end of the day and play Carcassonne. A german board game based on the french town, it was a really simple but an intensely strategical game.
There were other characters on the trek too. I met this guy who was on a ‘spiritual’ walk. He really lost me then. I hope he found the answer that he was looking for in the end.
The trek was really physically demanding. The picture above was myself trying to find my limit in high altitude napping. The sun was ridiculously strong due to less cloud at the high altitude. Hot sun and cool breeze gave me the ideal conditions for after lunch nap. My limit was 3800m. I was unsure about napping at 4000m because I struggled that day. And potential brain damage meant it was best not to nap at 5000m.
I actually had food poisoning at about 3300m. Luckily there was a health post and I had a really good guide. Another reason to hire a guide as opposed to buying a GPS. (costs are similar) The next four days was pretty tough, but luckily the second day was an acclimatisation day which gave me a chance to recover and hygiene myself.
I was so deep in the mountain, that the only way down was up. So the next two days I went from 3500m to complete the pass at 5416m then down the other end at 3800m with 4 hours sleep in the middle. Needless to say it was probably the toughest thing I ever did. By the end, I had a mammoth headache. And I will never try that again, the thin air may have impaired my judgement then but sweet to finish it. The descend was hilarious.
This is the Thorong-La Pass which is at 5416m high. Five thousand four hundred and sixteen metres above sea-level is a lot and according to some 30% less oxygen!!! Once you are up there in a reasonable condition which I was, the hardest part of this trek was done and I was not likely to die.
The feeling on the descend was relieved and a bit of awesomeness. High altitude sickness was off the menu. And the really long descent down to Muktinath (down by 1600m) to reflect on one of the few quests that I actually completed even though I hadn’t attempted many. The food poisoning took a toll on the body. I felt weak for a while but once my turd was solid, I knew I would be too. I might have lost some brain cells but it must be one of the better places to lose them. So they were not all lost in vain. My trek ended at Jomsom so in theory I did only half of the Annapurna Circuit Trek but it was the good half. I guess I just have to return in the future to checkout the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek, my guide’s favourite one.
The trek was amazing and I would strongly recommend anyone to do it. Road developments will make the trek worse in the next decade. CHECK IT ASAP!!!
Adventures of Delboy 