After a couple days of downhill walking, beautiful and arid landscapes, and splurging on new and exciting foods that we hadn’t seen along the trail, our time on the Annapurna Circuit came to an end. The village of Jomson is the main hub in the area and it is from here that you organize your transport back to civilization. The options include a $90 flight in a small plane that flies over Annapurna’s tallest peaks and gets you back to Pokhara in about 25 minutes. Or an assortment of 4 different buses and Jeep rides, taking 10+ hours, spread over 2 days that costs closer to $15. Please remember that the ‘roads’ are miserable – nearly all dirt, pot-holed, narrow, at times dangerous – and the transportation is uncomfortable at best.
The hike down to Jomsom
Very different, but equally stunning landscapes on this side of Thorong La Pass
Tiered irrgation in the desert
Vegetables on our pasta - what a novel concept!
For some reason, the guesthouse had an Ohio State t-shirt up. Charles was non-too-pleased
Seems like a pretty easy choice, huh? Unfortunately, when your traveling for a year dropping $180 for a 20-minute activity does not fit in the budget. And so it happened that our friends visiting from the States who were time-short and money-long opted for the plane flight while we and our fellow round-the-world trippers made the trip overland. As a reward for our misery, the village we stopped at overnight had hot springs that we happily soaked in and wicked views of an incredibly unreal peak.
Setting off on our bus journey
We wave goodbye to the flyers, and their new friend
Our bus ride back was rather spacious
Jealous
But we got to do this
And see this!
So take that Charles and Kate! Or rather, we just wish you would have taken us with you.
