Hey Y'all....

Stranded in Kathmandu.....

Am now back in Kathmandu after 10 days trekking in the Himalayas and beyond up to the Tibetan plateau. But more of that later. For now I'm a refugee here as I cannot go back into India although the man at Indian Airlines did tell me it was perfectly safe for Britons to go into India. I told him to read the papers!!!! So I am waiting to hear back from British Airways to find out if I can change my Delhi - Hong Kong ticket to Bangkok - Hong Kong and buy a one way to Bangkok for a brief stop over and then claim on the good 'ol travel insurance.. so fingers crossed. I'm not entirely stuck yet but it's such a great country it's really no hardship and Kathmandu is gripped by World Cup Fever so plenty of parties and lively goings on all afternoon and evening.....and the England Argentina match was amazing !!!! My guesthouse has put up a massive TV screen and it was packed out with Brits and other assorted westerners for the game and only the owner of the guest house dared to wear an Argentina shirt! It was brilliant fun and then on into the bars afterwards and a particularly wonderful hangover the next day!!!! Have decided not to go to Hong Kong until after the England match on Thursday anyhow...and it will probably take that long to organize it with connections....I seem to have also managed to somehow get talked into taking the guys from the restaurant out if England get through to the 1/4 finals!!! They decided that I should throw a party for them I have successfully manage to negotiate this down to going out and getting a few rounds of chaang or raxxi in after they finish work on Thursday evening so that'll be fun...going out with the locals means you get to go to the real places and bars and not the usual Thamel haunts! Other than that life in Kathmandu is the usual polluted city life and it is starting to get hot now. According to the papers monsoon cloud is currently stirring itself up in the Bay of Bengal and it's estimated to start proper in Kathmandu on 14th June....it already rains most afternoons around 4ish for an hour or so unlike Pokhara where it rained every day without fail at 2.30 p.m. for about three hours!

My trekking trip has to be one of the most amazing experiences to date and certainly one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done and it was just wonderful to be in the tranquil peace and quiet away from roads and pollution. Being in the 21st century and yet finding a small corner of the earth where still there are no roads only tracks and trails, in a place where the only traffic is of the four legged mule, donkey or pony variety, where there are no horns only the tinkling of the bells around the mules necks drifting through the hillsides, where there are very few or no phone lines (blown up by the Maoists!) no Internet cafe's, no mobile phones, very few televisions and villages that exist day in day out without electricity. Villages that are so joyous, full of charming, welcoming people who have transformed their front rooms into little tea houses and where the village children run to greet you and call "Namaste" and they don't ask you for "School pen?" They grab your hands and clothes and giggle and tag along with you until you reach the edge of the village... It was a great time to completely free the mind and simply take in the astounding beauty that surrounds you 360 degrees. A time for some total relaxation and meditation. There is certainly something truly magical about being there with these heavenly mountains and you feel swathed in a total sense of peace and calm. Like the Taj you could sit on the hillside and just gaze at the magnificence of it all all day and just look, look, look... It's amazing to wake up early in the morning and look outside and your instantly greeted by 8000m plus snow capped peaks that feel only at arms length away but stretch vertical mile after vertical mile way up to the clouds and beyond.....You know, if Shangri-La or Shambhala really do exist then the Himalayas is it for sure. I have never seen anything so amazingly majestic and magnificent in my life. The peace and tranquility of it all interspersed with the scent of pine wood smoke drifting from villages and the incredibly friendliness and happiness of the Nepali people is absolutely incredible and wondrous to find in the world these days. The country in itself is desperately poor with a per capita income of approximately $240 per annum; yet in contrast the people are the warmest you're likely to ever meet. The richness they possess in spirit, mind and in the sheer beauty of their surroundings is unquantifiable in monetary terms....where they are certainly not rich in dollar terms, the real joy of this country is in its beauty, scenery, views, mountains and people...

"Himalaya" is actually a Sanskrit word that means "abode of snows" and when it comes to mountains then Nepal definitely has the monopoly and number one spot . It is home to 2/3 of the Himalaya mountain range. There are 14 peaks in the world over a height of 8000 metres of the 14, 10 are in Nepal and this tiny Kingdom is also is home to the top 8 out of the 10 world's highest peaks are found within this tiny Kingdom.

The trek I did was the Jomsom trek which is basically the last third of the Annapurna circuit trek. The entire circuit is about 350 km and takes about three weeks to a month to complete so given that at the time I only had ten days or so I opted for the last third and about 120km of trekking. It is a fab trek to do as you get to go beyond the Himalayas and onto the Tibetan plateau desertscape as well as being amongst the most amazing variety of villages and cultures and also slap bang in the middle of the Annapurna Himalaya range as you descend so you get some great a diverse mix of cultures along with great views of some 8000m plus mountains.

DAY 1 - Flight, Pokhara to Jomsom. Jomsom to Kagbeni (2810m)

We started off with a flight to Jomsom from Pokhara and as we left Pokhara you basically fly as the crow does to Jomsom only taking small diversions around the Annapurna mountains. The flight only took half an hour and we got some great views. Having been initiated in the ways of tiny aeroplanes from my years in Guernsey the tiny little VW beetle with wings held no fear for a seasoned Aurigny passenger like myself but the looks on the faces of some of the people on the flight was really rather funny...people crossing themselves, saying prayers and generally looking very worried about it all, frantically stuffing cotton wool in their ears and gorging boiled sweets as though they were the route to salvation.. two Americans on the flight commented that their car was bigger than the aeroplane, my porter sat with her head in her hands for 1/2 hour, eyes squeezed shut and literally fought to be the first off at Jomsom airport...which in true Himalayan style is the only partially flat available piece of ground on a hillside, not so much covered in tarmac as tightly compacted earth. Failure by the pilot to hit the brakes and throw in a spectacular hand brake turn upon landing will automatically result in being flung off the end of the hillside and heading for Tibet before you know it . For those of you who have flown into Hong Kong's old airport this little jaunt would be no fear! Oddly enough there was a zebra crossing across the middle of it...I didn't ask why but I guess being the Himalaya and all it is for Yeti's or the like to cross!!! So we eventually set off from Jomsom to head towards Kagbeni after going through police check posts and ACAP (Annapurna Conservation and Preservation) checkpoints as it is all national park land. Indra got stopped by the police and we trekked on and he eventually caught up with us about 1 1/2 hours later.. which I didn't take as a very auspicious start to our trek having a guide go awol within the first hour. So spent my first hour practicing my limited Nepali on Sumitra who in turn did her best to reply to me in English.. her favourite saying was "You are boring?" Which I took to mean that what she actually meant was "Are you bored?" Otherwise me and my porter would have had a bit of sorting out to do on day one.....Unless of course she really did think I was a boring old cow....we stuck to Nepali after this. Indra finally put in a reappearance and proceeded to go into extremely graphic detail about how he had the "white diarrhea" and was not well at all.....So to summarize day one = 1 partially a.w.o.l. guide with the shits and a porter who thinks I'm boring....The route to Kagbeni followed the Kali Gandaki valley beyond the Himalaya and on toward the dry desert plains of the Tibetan plateau. There is little foliage of any significance at this altitude as we climbed only small scrub like heathers clinging to the earth and a few sparse trees...but it was just an amazing dry desertscape with the Kali Gandaki river cutting its path through the valley floor that in turn is strewn from side to side with boulders and stones of varying sizes all brought down from way on high....We passed through Ekli Bhatti and then went on to Kagbeni at 2810m for our first night and to acclimatize...There was to be a huge Mustang wedding at Ekli Bhatti the next day and we thankfully missed the goat being sacrificed and slaughtered.. So we settled at Red House in Kagbeni a typically Tibetan village with flat roofs that store the houses firewood and act as insulation against the cold. It rarely rains up there so the roofs are purposely flat as extra storage it was also pretty cold and windy but the sun was shining so to acclimatize Indra hauled my ass out and on a 300m climb partly up to Jharkot our destination the next day...I think he was cunningly showing me the way given what happened later....but his reasons at the time were genuine to stick to the rule "climb high sleep lower" and this he took seriously and was constantly checking to see if I had headache, nausea etc...the only thing I felt was bloody knackered and desperate for a fag at the top of theses so called "hills" and thankfully never got the slightest hint of altitude sickness which can strike people at varying levels but seems usually to strike around the 3500m- 4000m level....Kagbeni is as far as you can go before entering Lo Monthang the upper mustang region where you have to pay a staggering $700 to enter. They are a fiercely protective people who have their own king although he has no constitutional power within Nepal and they rarely venture outside for anything. Indra told me of some of their traditions and it was quite an eye opener for example:

1) they have no right to vote in Nepal if they cannot write Nepali so they don't bother voting, frankly they don't care as they rarely come out of their own little Kingdom...

2) The openly practice poligamy (?) well the guys do of course not the women that would be way too advanced!!!

3) All the brothers of one family will marry only one woman which means the poor cow must be constantly knackered, sore or pregnant if she gets the short straw and ends up married to five brothers....never mind identification of fathers!!!

4) They are also renowned for their "abducted marriages" they just go out on their mustang ponies have a quick scout around the mountains see some young village girl they take a shine too and come back at some other point in time, kidnap her and cart her back off to Mustang where they lock her up until she agrees to marry her abductor!!! But rest assured they do absolutely nothing to her until she agrees to marry and all the women of the village will work on her to marry this guy! Usually the abductee agrees and then she's allowed to go back to her parents explain where she's been for the last god knows how long and then she goes and married this guy! Eh???

5) Eloped marriages are also becoming more common where a couple just run off together and don't come back to tell Daddy until she's sure she's pregnant at which time Daddy usually sanctions marriage and they have a massive party. This was the situation with the wedding at Ekli Bhatti they had run off together some time before and now she was pregnant they were back to get married...We saw the groom's party coming through Kagbeni later that evening after returning from our higher trek, 250 horses and men came through the village singing and chanting and wearing these freaky straw hats that looked like the peaks of them were made from Mickey mouse's ears...I don't know how they made one goat feed all that lot!!!

At Kagbeni it was also time for me to be introduced to "real" mountain food.....this means only one thing, Dal Bhaat, THE dish of Nepal and it ranged in its varying degrees from total unpleasantness to deliciousness and became my staple diet for the next 10 days.. Dal Bhaat is a kind of thin soup made from lentils and dal and the first night I had it it truly tasted like someone had boiled a pot of soil and mule dung, chucked in a handful of chicken feed a bit of the mountain scrub land grass and stuck it in front of me......The saving grace (at times) about eating Nepali food is that they will keep on giving you more and more until you are sick which is great after a day trekking and you're ravenous but not when it tastes like you're literally destroying the Himalayas by eating the very earth ! The alternative that evening was even more repulsive, I can only describe it as totally awful looking putty like dough made from wheat flour that is mixed just with water and you get a hulking great slab of it.. enough to make 15 papier maché masks or build a small stable served along with the obligatory Dal and you break off a small amount from your dough mountain then sort of poke a hollow in the middle of it and use it as a kind of spoon to slurp up some dal and then you shove this ball of dough into your mouth too and swallow it whole....Indra told me that you swallow it whole as it tastes awful and you can't chew it!!! EH? So why eat it mate??? Real mountain food to fill you up, the dough just expands in your stomach and fills you up...totally and utterly gross.... Mum you'd love it !!!!!

When trekking there are many and varied good reasons to be as environmentally conscious as possible. As a result of the hoards of trekkers, rubbish and disposal of waste is starting to cause real problems in the mountains...so there are a few simple rules to follow; eat when everyone else eats to conserve firewood and reduce deforestation, eat what everyone else does (Dal Bhaat!) to reduce fuel consumption and to avoid having to wait till breakfast for your dinner, only try and stay at guest houses that use kerosene instead of wood burning stoves, don't buy bottled water purify the local water yourself. This involves just adding iodine tablets to the local water and waiting half an hour. The secret is to go armed with plenty of sachets of the local "Tang" fruit flavoured powder you add to the water to make it taste like pop it is also marginally beneficial in trying and mask the disgusting taste of iodine which all I can liken it to is being similar to drinking the contents of a swimming pool for ten days....however, rest assured that after a few days of varying standards of dal bhaat and iodine water your taste buds will in fact go on strike until better nutrition and Mars bars come along and only then will they return to functioning...trekking in the off season also means that the abundance of apple crumble, pies, cakes, chocolate things etc available is vastly reduced and those items that are on display probably have a dubious past or have potentially been hanging around since the beginning of the trekking season the previous October and are ultimately best avoided....

So anyhow, later in the evening after dinner Indra decided to go out and see one of his mates in the village and took a lecturer from Kathmandu Uni who was staying at our guest house with him and about three hours later they came staggering in together, holding each other up and completely off their heads!!!! They had hit the chaang and raxxi (the local wine and moonshine containing very lethal powers) with Indra's mate and they managed to tangle me up in conversations about just about everything when all I wanted to do was to go to sleep. Trying to hold a conversation with two pissed Nepali's who can't lift their chins off the table they're slumped over to even make a reasonable argument was... well... interesting....the University lecturer started banging on about how he had extensively studied Maslo's theory and that we westerners were way at the top and Nepal was way at the bottom. He then proceeded to tell me in his best Swami pose that I was looking for love and God as that is all that's left for me.....I asked him what my chances were of finding God trekking in the Himalayas in the off season? But he didn't seem to get the joke...so armed with the fact that I might inadvertently bump into God on my trek (which would be a pretty good steal and well worth stopping for a chat) I made my excuses and bolted for my room and left them to pass out where they sat... after all we had a 7.30 departure time in the morning!!!! So at the end of day one I now had a completely plastered guide with the shits, a porter with limited English and another 9 days to go !!!

DAY 2 - Kagbeni - Jharkot - Muktinath (3800m)

So next morning, I was ready at 7.30, Sumitra, my porter, was ready at 7.30 and Indra was still unconscious in his bed, snoring like a lion and still pissed......he eventually surfaced, staggered into the dining room, slumped on the table, ordered porridge and groaned....He said we (Sumitra and I) should set off and that he would catch up.. after all he had already shown me the route and it wasn't difficult only the first 350m climb up out of Kagbeni and then along one track.....So we set off and left Indra to have his breakfast and catch up....Needless to say he never caught up. We kept looking back to see if we could see him and never could. It took us about 3 hours to get to Jhatkot, and as we went on the final climb up through the village we looked back and could see way back on the track there was a pony coming toward the village and I joked with Sumitra that it was Indra too pissed to trek and arriving on pony! We managed to dump our stuff in Hotel Plaza (yeah right!) and have lunch before Indra came rushing in all sweaty and terribly apologetic for his terrible behavior while on duty and responsible for a client and would I be mentioning this to his boss??? Later in the afternoon once Indra had recovered sufficiently we trekked on up to Muktinath Muktinath Website which is a holy sacred site for Hindus and Buddhists. The Buddhist temple here has a natural gas source coming out of the ground that is lit as an eternal flame and is a real meeting point of fire, earth and water hence it's very holy status and pilgrims come from all over the world. The Hindu temple has 108 taps that direct the Himalayan water from the glacial melt directly into the temple and it is here that you take the sacred bath to wash away all the sins of your life and receive enlightenment. This consists of taking a small amount of freezing cold water from the flow of each tap and throwing it over yourself...after you've done this 108 times it gets kinda chilly but a great way to cool down after the trek up there....so we all did this then went in to the temple to ring the bells to wake the Gods and say our bit, get tika and then I went to have my first fag at 3800m.... Much to Indra's protests that smoking fags at 3800 metres probably isn't the sanest thing to do, however, I maintain my argument that it opens the tubes find a lovely spot to sit under the Tibetan prayer flags and smoke!!!. As the trek progressed Indra would also tut at me just about every morning too as he happens to agree with my Mum that three cigarettes and a gallon of tea are not a staple breakfast and nutritional way to start the day but it works for me and now I have a vitamin pill too so that's great! Anyway back to Muktinath, the Hindu temple is also a very famous pilgrimage site and some Saddhu's walk from southern India to come here...now that's a trek...whereas the fat rich Indian's hire helicopters and fly in to about 20 metres below the site take their holy sacred bath and then fly out real sharpish before they get altitude sickness!!! Given that there was a large collection of mules on the helipad that day I guess they weren't expecting any rich, fat Indians that day! On the way down we made our wishes said our prayers, spun the prayer wheels and got back to Jharkot in record time of about 1/2 hour!!! When we arrive back at the hotel there was a lot of action going on and then Indra and Sumitra started acting a bit odd and then Indra told me that a movie was being filmed in the hills and that Nepal's most famous movie actor was staying in our hotel along with a really famous actress too, so off they shot for a bit of preening.....Around 6 p.m. enter Jal Shah movie actress, lovely face but rather dumpy these days.....she promptly monopolises the shower for about 1 1/2 hours and her and her make up artist used all the hot water and left the rest of us with cold showers! Then this amazingly tall guy walks into the dining room and believe me you can't miss a tall Nepali coz there aren't that many of them!!! He must be 6'2" maybe 3" dark and extremely handsome and suddenly I receive a great kick on the shins from under the table, this is Indra's way of secretly indicating to me that this is THE Nepali stud muffin movie sex symbol answer to Mel Gibson movie God....."That is Mr. Rajesh Hamal, Lillie Didi, he very, very famous man actor in Nepal" At which point Indra faints and starts to dribble....Well, between them they smell like the perfume and aftershave counter in Debenhams, dressed in their Punjabi suits, wrapped in pashminas and sporting the latest in the non fake GAP fashions and Jal Shah has quite a lot to say for herself and we have a debate about what a shit hole Jaipur is (always like to have a good bitch about that stinking place! eh Amrita?) but Rajesh sits in the corner quietly not saying a word ....So I start to thinking that if this bloke is so much of a movie hero then why isn't Indra saying anything to him, maybe he's shy?....So after dinner and considering that to me he's just a bloke in the hotel I strike up a conversation and get talking and he's a totally thoroughly charming man. Totally down to earth and not a jumped up egotistical bone in his body. His father was a Nepali Ambassador so he's had shall we say a very privileged life and he's traveled and lived in so many places and well he was just a great guy and we ended up sitting and talking all night while Indra just sat and drooled until Jal Shah went to bed...As there was no electricity in the village we sat and talked by candle light and it was just totally amazing and peaceful. Then the moon started to appear over the mountain like someone was shining a torch from up there it was just such a totally chilled evening. After a brave fight, Indra finally succumbed to his stomach and hangover and had to go to bed. Rajesh invited me to go for a walk up to the monastery.....so we bail the hotel plaza, grab torches and go and sit up at the monastery, watch the moon and the stars and talk and sit and well it was just totally amazing and he is such a truly charming and great bloke. Given that he had been stuck up there for 10 days already when it was only meant to be 3 he was coping remarkably well with the lack of bugger all to do.... and no electricity.... I did ask him if he wanted me to rustle a couple of ponies organize a quick kidnapping using my Swiss army knife and drag him off into the darkness and down to Jomsom for a beer and some normality but he declined! Ah you see total dedication to his art....And that was my evening spent with Nepal's very own, famous version of Mel Gibson....Swoon....The movie's out in 6 months...assuming the poor sole isn't still stuck up the mountain......

Day 3 - Jharkot - Jomsom (2713m)

Next morning Indra is in one of his got to leave early moods. Now taking the role of guide to the complete opposite extreme after confessing to actually arriving in Jharkot indeed on the back of a pony as he was still drunk and unable to walk or climb the previous day ..... so I was unable to take up the nice producer man's invitation at brekkie to go and watch some shooting as Indra is adamant we have to go.. should have stuck my foot down! So we bail Jharkot and trudge a mind numbingly boring 3 hours back to Jomsom. On the way I tell Indra and Sumitra about my midnight stroll and chill sesh with Rajesh and it's clear they're jealous, they tell me that there's a lot of women in Nepal who would quite openly want to remove my eyeballs with hot pokers for having the opportunity to spend time that time with him!! So we get to Jomsom and my first hot shower in two days by retracing our route before crossing the river on one of the many suspension bridges and approaching Jomsom from the opposite side of the valley....As we pass through Ekli Bhatti the wedding celebrations are just dwindling after a couple of days and we get free tea and raxxi from the hotel owner as he's deliriously happy that all his daughters re now married and no longer a burden to him!

Day 4 - Jomsom - Tukucke (2590m)

We left Jomsom and walked on to Tukuche, one of the most important Thakali villages in the Himalayas. The Jomsom route was originally used as a trade route for trading rice and salt between Tibet, Nepal and India and the Nepalese became quite canny traders and go betweens for the trading route. These days of course though everything is flown over bypassing Nepal on most occasions and the routes are now used for the transportation of supplies to the outer remote points. However, Tukuche has retained much of its importance. Our descent down to a lower altitude meant a goodbye to the dry flat Tibetan plateau plains and we entered into a more sub alpine environment and into hillsides covered in pine forests. It didn't take long at all to reach Tukuche so we decided to trek on to a small village further along right in the bottom of the Kali Gandaki valley called Khobang as Indra had seen a nice guest house. So we trekked on into the bottom of the valley past snoozing donkeys and on to Khobang. It is fair to say that the guest house was indeed really nice, completely built of wood, beautifully carved, totally wooden lined inside, a real Hansel and Gretel place it is just a shame that it took half of the local pine forest to build and that the owners didn't think about what is good for Nepal before building it and adding to the deforestation. It also had the most out of place blue corrugated roof! It's saving grace was the chocolate pudding though (Mum just like you used to make but not so good! so when I get back next year my order is choccie sponge and lashings of thick choccie custard please!) Ah it took me home straight away and was great to have a chocolate and sugar fix....The afternoon was spent combing the river bed looking for saligrams. Saligrams are fossils that date back to prejurassic period, proof indeed that at one point the Himalayas were under water and this makes them about 100 million years old and that's older than my Dad!!! So we combed the river bed and found one. To hold something that is so old in your hands is just joyous. They are a jet black colour and just wonderful. They are also said to have magical qualities and people often hold them when making vows or promises. The Hindus believe they are representations of Vishnu who is the Preserver of the Earth. Whatever they are they are beautiful and much more fun to find one spending the afternoon trawling the Kali Gandaki valley than buying one for an extortionate rate from a trader along the trekking route! It was around Khobang that we got really close to Dhaulagiri (8167m) the 6th highest mountain in the world and Tukuche mountain , a lesser mountain at 6920m....it is just truly breath taking to see these great towering majestical hulks of land towering above you, stretching vertical miles above you and often disappearing into the clouds. To look up into the sky where you would only expect to see clouds and see the towering snow capped peaks staring down at you is just amazing, could stare at them for hours......

Day 5 - Khobang - Ghasa (2013m)

From Khobang to Ghasa it rained just about all morning so progress was slow. We were now in among the dense pine forests and the scent of fresh pine and pine smoke that hung in the air from the forest and villages was pleasantly refreshing .... we had to wade across part of the river at one section and that was damn cold...the sea in Guernsey is a jacuzzi compared to this I can tell you....however, as our reward on the other side of the river there was an abundance of wild Himalayan strawberries growing low to the ground sheltering from the wind behind rocks and they were delicious....we crossed a few more suspension bridges and I think it is around here that we decided to jump up and down on every bridge we crossed to see if we could fling each other off balance...it is around this area that you really start to get into the Annapurna range proper and have great views of Nilgiri mountains and Dhaulagiri, Tukuche and other smaller mountains. The villages become more close together and the village life you see is fascinating and it's just fascinating to watch people doing their daily thing.... Just before Ghasa we had to descend down a really steep set up steps and then cross a suspension bridge. As we got to the bridge a donkey train was crossing and climbing up so we had to wait. We noticed that right at the back on the bridge were two guys who seemed to be literally picking up each of one donkey's legs and placing it in front of the other and then shoving the donkey...this went on for such a long time we actually sat down to watch...then this poor donkey, wobbling continually on it's legs approached us and it had the most incredibly stunned look on it's face like it was laughing or smiling. It was laden down with rice or something but it looked completely cross eyed. Eventually after much tugging, pushing and shoving the donkey crossed the bridge and made it to our side.....Indra asked the drivers what was going on and one of the guys explained that this little donkey had lagged behind for a quick munch and when they went back for it they found it up to it's knees in a massive patch of marijuana and now it was off it's head completely stones and couldn't walk!!! One stoned donkey, completely mashed on the new season's young and abundant supply of marijuana that lines the trekking route to Ghasa.....I swear to you this donkey really did look like it was laughing and it didn't give a shit about doing any work it just wanted to chill out maaannnn....After crossing the bridge we peered back and saw the guys throwing a couple of stones at the donkey, unhitching its load and carrying it themselves up the steep hill... the donkey stayed firmly rooted to it's spot chillin in it's stoned capacity, it wasn't going anywhere for a good few hours....Just before Ghasa we had to cross a couple of landslides quite quickly but after that it was up to Ghasa and to the New Florida Guest House....a quaint, tiny little rustic village and home for the night.....

Day 6 - Ghasa - Tatopani (1189m)

From Ghasa to Tatopani was a real up and down Yoyo day climbing up one side of a "hill" and then scrabbling down the other.. this is where you really enter the great Kali Gandaki valley proper. The Kali Gandaki is the world's deepest gorge. It has Dhaulagiri (8167m) on one side and Annapurna I (8091m)on the other. The Kali Gandaki river passes through the gorge at around 2000 - 2200m thus making the gorge up to 6000m deep in places and giving it it's world record holding status and it is massive..... and we were now descended into real sub tropical dense, lush green vegetation. Terracing for crops reaching up to the cloud line up to about 2700m and every scrap of available land was used for growing crops, wheat, corn, spinach and rice...Tatopani is a beautiful village and also home to natural hot water...."Tato" means hot and "pani" is water and at Tatopani there are natural hot water springs where for 10p you can have an amazing soak in the hot springs and come out smelling of rotten eggs!!! It is right by the edge of the river so a great place to hang out have a hot bath and just look at the valley and mountains beyond.....It also happens to be the biggest washing machine I've ever seen and on one side you can do your laundry and on the other you can luxuriate in the closest thing a trekker is likely to get to a hot bath!!! The guest house we stayed in did the best Dal Bhaat so far beyond any doubt and that night I absolutely stuffed myself it was soooo good.....It was here that we were supposed to watch the France v Senegal match but the Nepali TV company couldn't somehow get their satellite communications sorted and we had to wait for the news to hear the result (tee heee!!!!).....

Day 7 - Tatopani - Shika (1920m)

If the day before was a Yoyo day then this day was a completely uphill day and no relent from it...up....up...up.. The initial climb is a killer to the top of what Indra calls a small hill....What you have to appreciate from a Nepali point of view, and it is something that is ingrained onto every Nepali brain, is the the quickest way from A to B is obviously in a straight line therefore sod anything like a "big hill" that gets in your way you just go up and over and arrive at B!!!! Also in Nepal to qualify to be a mountain you basically have to be over 6000m to qualify as a lesser specimen but the real mountains, the ones with names, are the 7000 - 8000m plus so anything below is a "big hill"! But to you and me the "big hills" are b****Y mountains!!!! In Nepali Ben Nevis = A little side trek as a warm up for the day, Snowdon = an early morning stroll..... I also managed to get my first leech bite that day and I didn't even know about it until I took my boot off and my sock was blood stained. Indra just nonchalantly says "Ah yes it's a leech bite, nothing serious it won't kill you might get a bit infected so put some cream on..." The melodramatic side of me has gone into shock about the fact that I've just had gallons of blood removed by a creature I had no idea was even there...So it must have been 300m up in the first hour and a half ...About half way up my legs were saved by the sound of a funeral procession descending the hill. We heard the sound of the shell resonating around the valley and then firstly a very large white flag appears carried by several people clearing the path and marking the start of the funeral. Then the entire population of the village in which the deceased lived will attend the funeral and they all proceed to the river bank for the cremation ceremony.. It is tradition for each family from the village to provide the firewood for the funeral pyre. The deceased passed by us covered in white muslin cloth, draped from head to toe in the most beautiful strings of bright orange flowers and strapped to a makeshift bamboo stretcher......This prompted Indra to tell me that the Hindus go to water to burn their bodies and the Buddhists climb to the top of hills to cremate their dead...He also told me about a cast of people called Gompa (or something like that), their tradition is to cut the body of the deceased into 108 pieces. Each village has it's own appointed "butcher" and upon death this person gets completely drunk and wound up into some sort of trance and then does the awful task of chopping a body into exactly 108 pieces and then the body parts are scattered into the river......Grim .....the only time this is not done is if someone is killed by a snakebite and then they are just ejected whole into the river as they believe they will become poisoned by the snake's venom if the touch the body......At Ghasa I stayed in what can only be describes as the Guest house's potting shed...but the food was great and lunch consisted of boiled potatoes freshly plucked out of the owner's garden, with a really spicy chilli sauce......traditional fare and absolutely fab!!!!

Day 8 - Shika - Ghorepani (2855m)

Again this was another day of climbing but not at such a steep gradient but uphill all the way. We mainly walked through the rhododendron forests where the trees grow to amazing heights. Indra told me that when in flower you are faced with a mass of pink, purple and lilac flowers and that the view when you fly over is stunning and people momentarily forget to be amazed by the mountains and are distracted by the amazing colours of the rhododendron forests in bloom....The reward at the end of today's trek was the beautiful village of Ghorepani. Ghore means "horse" and "pani" water and this village was a major stop off point on the trading route for watering and cahgning ponies and mules hence Ghorepani.....we stayed in the village in the Shika Guest house that was run by a completely lunatic called Rajan who never stopped laughing and joking and farting around......and kept everyone amused with his antics all afternoon. There was also hot showers and a lovely fire to greet us....Rajan had a great menu too so after 8 days of dal bhaat, veg noodle soup and it was a massive plate of egg and chips and rice pudding that night and Rajan did us proud supplying loads of great food....I went to bed at 8.30 as I was under instruction to be up and ready at 4.00 a.m. the next morning as we were to climb up Poon Hill (in the dark) to make it to the top, for the highlight of the entire trek, to see the sun rise over the Annapurna mountains.....hmmmmm.....Usually, I would flatly refuse to get up at this time of day, hey not so long ago I used to be getting home at this time!!!! However, that evening I gave myself a firm talking to - I was going to get up, I was not going to be grumpy and I would not be cross with Indra for getting me up at this time......

Day 9 Poon Hill (3020m) at 5.15 a.m. / Ghorepani - Tikhendunga (1577m)

This day has to be one of the absolute best of my life...yes I was really grumpy when Indra hauled my ass out of bed at 4.10 a.m. by 4.15 we were on the immediate vertical climb up Pool Hill and a race to get to the top before sunrise. Indra took this very seriously and set off at such a cracking rate that it did cross my mind at one point that this was in fact a cunning plot on his behalf to do away with me and kill me by inducing heart failure...all I can say is I'm really glad that I could hardly see as it gave me no measurable way in which to measure how high we were going, how much further there was to go and whether I would make it alive.....the drawback was that I also managed to pick up a couple of bloodsucking hitch hikers again on the way up which Indra plucked offer me while I danced around squealing like a stupid little girl...we reached one point and Indra stopped for a rest and I foolishly asked in my breathless, gasping state if we were at the top "Oh no Lisa Didi this is the hill where all the really old people come who cannot make it up to Poon Hill - THAT is Poon Hill" (Shit I really am going to die) So sunrise or no sunrise I insist of applying my fags open up your tubes philosophy and go on strike and refuse to move until I've had a fag....after the ciggie I positively run up the hill and Indra and I are the first to conquer Poon Hill at 5.10 a.m. well before sunrise. Now for some really stupid reason they have built a look out tower at the top of this hill and it must be 5 metres high if that...what the hell difference is a 5 metre tower going to make when you're staring at 8000 metre mountains way above you?????? DER! So this ugly monstrosity totally ruins the hill which is a joyous peaceful place...so we have the hill to ourselves and I frantically snap photos as the ever rising sun changes the snow capped peaks from a dusky hazy pink through a lilac and onto a bright red colour. We had amazing views for the time of year a total 360 degree panorama of the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna mountains, everywhere you looked you were surrounded by snow capped peaks and lush green valleys way, way below. It is exhilarating just to be up there and see the sun rise over these magnificent mountains and see a new day dawn over the Top of The World! I have taken loads of photos and hope to have some on the website really soon. I'm sure however my camera will in no way capture the sheer magnificence of being on top of this hill and it certainly can't capture the emotion you feel as you stare at probably one of the most beautiful views in the Himalayas...We made it back to the guest house round 7.30 stuffed myself full of brekkie and refused to move until I'd been back to bed for a couple of hours!!! The rest of the day really faded into insignificance after the amazing feelings views of that morning and we trekked on and down to Tikhendunga for our final evening and to prepare for our return to the 21st century the day after......

Day 10 - Tikhendunga (1577m) - Nayapul (900m) and back to Pokhara...

Our last day was more of a stroll than a trek, it only took us about 2 hours to walk from Tikhedunga along the latter part of the Kali Gandiki valley. As we were now quite low the weather was really hot and for the first time I actually started to feel warm. As Indra is an Everest boy the weather was like torture to him and bless him he had to keep stopping and drinking......The final descent was into the tropical rainforest type vegetation and scenery found in the bottom of the valley and it was really pleasant couple of hours stroll following the river to Birenthanti then crossing our last bridge and final opportunity to throw someone off balance and then a short walk to Nayapul......I started the day walking with two guys from the guesthouse but when they told me of their philosophy to use the money to wipe their bums on as it was cheaper than buying loo roll I kinda lost it with them sat down waited for them to sod off before I moved on..... Finally and sadly Nayapul approached where you are immediately thrust back in to the 21st century and greeted by buses, touts and taxi queues all ready to whisk you away back to Pokhara, a hot shower, a comfy non infested bed and a damn good feed.....

So there we have it....120km, 10 days, I feel like I was forcible strapped to a step exercise machine for 10 days, have discovered muscles long since forgotten in the oblivion of the cigarette and alcohol haze of previous years, what took half an hour to fly to took us a leisurely 10 days to trek back AND I FEEL AMAZING!!!!

Yes, I am definitely coming back to do the full 350km circuit...yes I am going to go to Everest base camp and No way am I climbing it!!!!

Anyone who has the romantic ambition and notion of climbing Everest and needs a severe reality check should get themselves a copy of "Into Thin Air" by Joe Krauker a member of the group that summitted Everest in 1996 (and in which 12 people also died including the guides) Believe me, even though it is impossible to see Everest from Annapurna even seeing Annapurna I, Annapurna South and Dhaulagiri there are no words to describe, THEY ARE HUGE, mountains where sky should only be and they are some distance away so to go to the top of the Mother Goddess "Sagarmartha" is insane!!! People say it's easier to get to the top than it is to get down alive....I'll leave that to the insane professional climbers of the world...Oh yeah and by the way you need at least $100,000 to even attempt it...$75,000 is the climbing permit fee, then the rest on supplies, oxygen, sherpas, climbing sirdars, and a doctor and team at base camp the list goes on.. thankfully the cost keeps the gung ho away from the Mother Goddess.

On a very marginally less insane note if any of you crazy folks fancy a challenge then try and enter the Annapurna Marathon.....26 miles NOT...this little excursion involves a running race around the entire Annapurna circuit (350km), with altitudes varying from 900m to 5500m through the Thorong La Pass.......Oh yeah and you have to carry a 10kg backpack with you all the way round....It has never been won by anyone other than a Nepali ........ my money is on that it will never be won by anyone other than a Nepali as they have to be the strongest people on Earth! Even when you are huffing and puffing up a steep hillside somewhere in the Himalaya sooner or later you will be overtaken by a diminutive Nepali who happens to be carrying an electricity pylon, a small tree or 90-100kg of other cargo on his back...they'll not be out of breath and they'll overtake you in no time....these people are seriously strong....

And finally, for those of you that are, like me, the youngest sibling in your family then you are lovingly known in Nepali circles as either the Lovely or Lucky Brother or Sister..... So on that note to Dave, Chris, Jane and Tim I say goodbye from your Lovely Sister (but you already knew that!) and to the rest of you congratulations on reaching the end of another epic and I'll say bye for now and will hopefully be in touch next from Hong Kong in a week or so....Happy Summer - hope it's not raining too much wherever you all are.......

Loadsa lurve,

Lisa / Lillie

xxxxx