Oh, the Places We'll Go

Nepal has been at the top of Ted’s wish list for a long while, and for good reason. Our time here was nothing short of spectacular, though challenges abound. Trekking the Annapurna will be a travel highlight in our books forever, having friends to join us was a particular treat, though transportation and power in this country created some difficult situations. In no particularly order, check out our favorite moments, challenges, and eats:

10 Favorites

1. 

   Wicked peaks from Tatopani

   Fun People – We spent nearly our whole month in Nepal hanging out with people we love. Cheers to Charles and Kate for making the journey from the US, and to Dave and Jesse for being such hilarious partners-in-crime.

2. Shiba – Our guide on the Annapurna trek was a superstar. Best guide ever. We loved this guy.
3. Our porters – We couldn’t have done the trek without them. Well, perhaps we could have but we’re glad we didn’t have to.
4. Wicked peaks – Every day wicked peaks. In every direction.
5. Weather on the circuit – I’m gonna go out on a limb and call it perfect. Sure it was a bit cold in the evenings, but during the day you couldn’t ask for better walking temps, our outrageous visibility, and no rain!
6. Thorung La Pass – 17,769 feet. Bagged it.
7. Tatopani Hot Springs – Healing, natural hot springs after 10+ days of walking? I think yes.
8. Dinner with Shiba – Dinner with our favorite guide in his home and with his lovely family was a treat.
9. Sunsets in Bandipur at the Old Inn – A beautiful view, at a lovely old property and cold beer. Perfect.
10. Bodhnath Stupa on Buddha’s Big Day – It was quite by accident that we got to hang out with Buddhists on the celebration of Buddha’s birth, death and day of enlightenment.

5 Not-So-Greats

1. 

   Bodhnath Stupa

   Road transportation – Terrible, terrible roads. No bus ride or Jeep ride was an exception. It takes hours to go a few miles.

2. Bathroom experience along the Annapurna Circuit – No need for detail here, but there were squat toilets all the way, and when you’re legs are tired from walking anyway, this was sad news.
3. Power rationing – Kathmandu was without power 8-12 hours a day on a regular basis. Our hotel posted the hours that power would be available in the city each day. A capital city with systematic power outrages is quite unfortunate.
4. Strikes – Who knows who was striking about what, but when it was a strike day all transportation would come to a halt. No buses, no taxis and most shops don’t even open. Lucky our travel schedule was so flexible – it could be quite an issue if you were trying to get somewhere on a certain day at a certain time.
5. Freezing cold nights – on the Annapurna circuit, we had a couple high-altitude evenings with not quite enough covers. We’re stretching here with things to complain about…

Top 5 Eats

1. 

   Dal bhat - Nepali lunch and dinner.... for life

   Hot tea on Annapurna – We’re not big tea drinkers but we were on the trek. The hot liquid both kept us warm and kept us hydrated. We drank gallons of the stuff.

2. Dal Bhat – The Nepali national dish. We learned to like it.
3. Momo Fest 2011/Momos in general – Momo Fest deserves its own post: Check out what our travel buddies had to say about our momo night on the town.
4. Pokhara Pizza – Best pizza we had encountered out of the US and it was cheap ($2/pie)! Woohoo!
5. Manang’s bakery items – Manang was a little village in the middle of our Annapurna trek. After days and days of the same boring food, we were thrilled and surprised to have the options of fresh croissants, apple danishes and chocolate cakes. A little slice of heaven in the middle of a pretty heavenly place to begin with.

Check out our Best of Nepal and Annapurna Highlights albums for some pics of quite possibly the most spectacular mountain landscapes on the planet (and other Nepali highlights)

After returning from our hike, we exchanged contact info with our guide and new best friend Shiba with the promise to send potential clients his way and to stay in touch in general. As we were hanging around the town of Pokhara for a few more days, Shiba generously reached out and invited us to dinner at his home. Unfortunately Charles and Kate had already left, but Dave, Jesse, Ted and I happily accepted.

With Shiba once again as our navigator and translator, he was able to direct our taxi driver to his neighborhood. Shiba was there with his 3-year old daughter to meet us. His daughter set eyes on us for one second before bursting into tears. We were unable to win her over, even with Jesse’s tempting offer of sweet treats.

At Shiba’s home we met his mother, his wife and his newborn son. We happened to be visiting on Nepal’s version of Mother’s Day, so we hope they didn’t mind us crashing their celebration! Though Shiba’s English is excellent, neither his wife nor mother speak any English so smiles and handshakes made up the bulk of our communication with them.

Shiba and family

Shiba's little dude

Before we even arrived we knew were going to having dhal baat for dinner. While we were eating various forms of Western food on the Annapurna Circuit, Shiba was eating dal bhat. Dal bhat is the typical Nepali meal, eaten twice a day, every day. It consists of rice, dal (lentil curry), and usually a separate vegetable curry. When dal bhat is served in a restaurant, there are endless amount of refills, and this was the case at Shiba’s house too. We were served small portions of chicken as well as a glass of apple brandy, which were fancy touches for us guests. Awww, so sweet!

Dal bhat, eaten sitting on the floor Nepali-style

Apple brandy toast!

After dinner we showed Shiba and his family some of our favorite pictures from the hike, and presented him a small photo album we made as a keepsake of our trek and time together. It was the least we could do for a man that put up with the six of us for 10+ days in the mountains!

Dinner at Shiba’s was an absolute treat. A rare opportunity for most trekkers in Nepal, we felt honored to spend some time in a Nepali home with our new best friend and his family. If you ever plan to visit Nepal, let us know – we’ve got the best guide in the country already lined up!

Shiba - the Man, the Legend

Shiba, Martens, and Meshkovs

The Himalayas are as awesome and awe-inspiring as we ever could have hoped.  The landscapes that surrounded us for these two weeks of trekking are like nothing we’ve ever experienced.  The Annapurna Massif dwarfed our previous understanding of big mountains.  Our photos don’t come close to capturing the true magnitude of this range, but we got some sweet shots nonetheless.  Check out a slideshow of a few of our favorites from the trek.

Our next 10 days involved nearly one hundred miles of beautiful, glorious mountain scenery. The weather was fantastic, our group was so much fun, our guide was amazing, and the variety of landscapes and trail was a treat. We walked through charming villages (and exchanged dozens of namastes with the adorable children), past hundreds of local porters transporting goods on their backs from village to village, over roaring rivers of glacial melt, along the sides of cliff edges, up steep switchbacks, down into picture-perfect valleys, and through all of this the Annapurnas continually graced us with their presence.

Gorgeous, or what?

Namaste!

Wicked peaks like we've never seen!

Lots of glaciers means turquoise glacial lakes

Our idyllic trip was made even easier and better with the help of our guide and porters. Each couple had a porter carrying their bag of gear so we were only schlepping our day pack on our backs. Our guide Shiba was exceptional and we learned a lot from him while having lot of fun. He took care of everything from picking our accommodation each night, helping us to order food, teaching us some Nepali words, filling our water bottles, taking our pictures and answering our millions of questions (How high is that peak? Tell me again which mountain is Annapurna IV? When will this uphill be over?). At the same time he was taking care of us, he also knew how to sit back and relax and hang out. He was a rockstar guide and we would happily recommend him to anyone who is headed to Nepal to do some trekking – Look him up! (email: trekkingnepal2001@yahoo.com)

Shiba!

Our porters, Sunkar, Mila, and Krishna

Shiba and the crew

There are a lot of different hikes to do in Nepal – Everest Base Camp being the most popular – but we opted for the famous Annapurna Circuit. What was once a true ~21 day circuit has been shortened significantly by the creation of a road part way around the range. Though the road is a huge bummer for tourism and outdoor enthusiasts, you can’t fault the local people for wanting to have access to their town. We tourists like the idea of being out in the middle of nowhere for a few days, however, if you live there and your child is sick and there is no road access to get them help – that changes your perspective a little bit. The road has cut the trail down to a 10 day trek, and in a few years, only 4 days of walking will be off the dusty road. We were glad we got to do this hike when we did, and if you want to trek the Annapurna Circuit, you’d better get here soon.

Really? You're putting a road in there?!?

So after all my bitching about said road, we took full advantage of it to access what would be our trailhead. After a bus ride in excruciatingly small seats, we arrived in Besi Sahar. Some people start hiking from here, but our guide (and soon to be best friend) Shiba recommended we go a little bit further by Jeep. So that is how the six of us, Shiba, our three porters, and half a dozen other locals found themselves crammed into a Jeep that shouldn’t hold more than 10. It was half hilarious-half miserable. The ‘new’ road that we drove on was the bumpiest, dustiest, never-been-grated dirt road that we have driven on, which made our trip that much more exciting/uncomfortable.

Bus from Pokhara to Besi Sahar

We soon came to realize that this bus was actually empty by Nepali standards

The Jeep seemed like a welcomed escape from the crowded bus

Until we realized that 16 people would be riding within, with a few extras on the roof

When we finally arrived at our destination, we were anxious and ready to get some walking in that day. A couple hours later and the discomfort and chaos of the transportation-filled morning was behind us. We were officially on the circuit and amongst the Himalayan mountains – life was good and getting better by the step.

The first steps of the trek