When the day came to set out for the town of Besisahar at the beginning of the Annapurna Circuit trek in Nepal, I was a bit apprehensive, as I knew it would be the beginning of up to a month or more of continuous walking. As a person who generally tries to keep his daily walking [read more…]
Who Says Trekking in Nepal Has to Involve Lots of Walking?
In the first part of this series I covered our record-setting start on the Annapurna Circuit Trek in Nepal, in which we became the first non-wheelchair-bound people ever to stop for the night in Khudi, after setting out from Besisahar about 2 kilometers up the road. On our second day, we proceed to set the bar even lower [read more…]
Conquering the Annapurna Circuit’s First Hill
After our pathetic first two days on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, we were fully expecting to see some of the people from our bus ride again, as they lapped us on their second go around 230 kilometer loop. To avoid that, we set the town of Ghermu as our goal for the day. It was only [read more…]
Trek to Jagat and a Rant Against Guides on the Annapurna Circuit
When we first got to our guesthouse in Bahundanda, we immediately noticed the beds. Comfortable mattresses are a rarity in Nepal and one of our goals upon entering any town where we planned to spend the night was to find the guesthouse with the softest beds. In many villages, the thickest mattress you could find was [read more…]
Jagat to Tal: Our First Real Day of Trekking
When I left off last time we had just checked into our guesthouse in Jagat and were looking forward to a solar heated shower. Getting one would turn out to be a little more difficult than you might think. The little shower room looked like the boiler room of an aircraft carrier, with a maze of [read more…]
Tal to Chame: Falling into a Trekking Routine
As we were having breakfast the next morning, I realized my brilliant idea of ordering cornbread the night before to snack on throughout the day wasn’t going to work out quite the way I’d hoped. I mentioned in the previous part of this series that the food at our guesthouse in Tal was the best of [read more…]
Chame to Pisang: Just Takin’ the Goat for a Walk
The next day on our trek around the Annapurna circuit was dominated by a humongous slab of rock. At least that’s the main thing I remember. That and the fact that we actually passed someone! Yes, it’s true! But more on that later. The day was actually fairly long and for the first time, we [read more…]
A Well-Deserved Day Off in Upper Pisang
When we arrived in Pisang, we had the option of staying in Lower Pisang at the base of the valley or hiking a hundred to two hundred meters up the valley wall to Upper Pisang. The choice was easy. The higher location means better views and the absence of modern structures makes it more atmospheric. On the other hand, [read more…]
Pisang to Ngawal: A Hard Climb to Beautiful Views
We woke up the next morning dreading the day ahead. Trekkers have two options on the Pisang to Manang section of the Annapurna circuit: the lower route along the valley floor or the upper route 400 or so meters above. We knew the lower trail would be faster and easier, but we’d heard multiple times [read more…]
Drinking Yak Sewage in Ngawal
A majestic yak with fuzzy red earrings greeted us at the entrance to Ngawal. We had seen a few yaks already, but from this point on they were everywhere—their meat even started popping up on guesthouse menus. We were mostly happy about this. Yak meat is delicious and the living animals make great photography subjects. They are little more than [read more…]