The start of Annapurna... THE TREK! (Kathmandu to Pisang)

So early on the morning of the 27th of April, I bid my companions of the previous three weeks farewell and headed down to the lobby where NP met me and we caught a taxi to the bus station to catch our bus to BesiSahar at the beginning of the Annapurna Circuit. It was a mostly uneventful ride. Two stops early on, breakfast around 8am and then another stop at 10:30. NP suggested we get lunch, I said it was too early and he said it was the last stop before we would arrive at the end... around 3pm. So lunch was early and boy was I glad too! We did end up with one more quick stop, to repair a flat tire.

During the tire stop I met the one other non-Nepali on the bus, a girl from Israel named Or. She was also headed to hike the circuit. By the time we arrived at our end destination of Bhulbule (one town beyond BesiSahar) we had packed full, we had a goat, some chickens, numerous bags of rice and various staples in the aisles and we had picked up the school children on their way from BesiSahar to Bhulbule, I got one on my lap and two more in the seat next to me:D They were real cute!

In Bhulbule NP must have picked the "solo hotel" all the guests there were solo trekkers. We all had guides but each just one trekker and one guide. There was another guy from California named Hector, a girl from France (with a name I had trouble pronouncing and consequently don't remember), Rebbecca from Australia with a woman guide and woman porter, Or stayed there and so did I.

Next morning we headed on, I think NP and I were the last to leave the guest house, but we've just finished 18 days trekking in the Khumbu region and we soon over took each of the friends from the night before. It was hot trekking at near 2300ft after the previous trek being almost entirely above 9000ft! We stopped several times for tea and once for lunch before making it to Jagat that evening. Not much in the way of mountain views... might be a little low, but it was also quite hazy.

From Jagat we headed on, that day stopping occasionally to watch the consequences of the work on the road project on the opposite side of the valley. They were clearing out a ledge for the road, so large rocks were getting pushed down the slope. There were some awesome rock slides created, and we watched when there was a large crash to see the stones hurtling down to the valley floor! I think that day I maybe didn't stay quite as well hydrated in the afternoon as I should have. I was feeling pretty good and then BAM! I hit the wall... about 40 min from our end destination in Temang, and all up a pretty steep hill. Made it fine, but I definitely slowed down at the end. NP shared some peanuts with me, and that seemed to help. We stayed at a lovely little guest house, quite new. NP stayed there in October and they didn't have the privy finished... but now they did. Had a wonderfully hot bucket shower and ended up being the only guest there that night. There was a wonderful view around the guest house as it was on the top of a hill. Down below were terraces of grass with many mules and horses grazing. Beyond at the edge of the trees were monkeys swinging in the branches. Quite picturesque!

Next morning we started out and followed a mule train for two hours. More crashes from across the valley, though we were often in trees or otherwise out of view and only heard the boom of rocks colliding and breaking apart. At our lunch stop I met a trio from Bristol, they were having a quick chocolate break and were giving self congratulations for their pace, naming each group they had overtaken: "team Isreal" (the three Isreali girls they has stayed with the night before), "team Germany" (two German guys), "team France" (another solo French girl), and they affectionately referred to themselves as "Team Bristol", when they called me "team America" I requested that I represent my state rather than my country as there were other Americans on the trail... (besides I wanted to distance myself from the link to the group in the movie Team American: World Police). I must say, I felt pretty good myself, listening to their self congratulations at their progress since I had started at the same time that morning, but from a town an hour lower down the trail! Shortly after lunch we stopped for about 10 mins to watch the road workers, (we were now walking on the new road) working to push a boulder half the size of a small car over the edge. It was great! The boulder rolled and bounded down the hill barely missing two trees as it scored a fieldgoal! Fun to watch! (though the whole road project seems like a disaster... why would you put a road halfway around one of the worlds most famous treks? What is that going to do to tourism which the people make a living from?! But that's another discussion for another time...)

We made it to Pisang that evening, again I was the only guest. It's starting to get late in the trekking season, and NP likes to pick the quieter places, which was alright by me. It was fun to be the only guest as I got treated slightly more like a local. I would be invited into the kitchen sometimes and I would get complimentary cups of tea when I just sat and observed NP and the owners visit. That evening there was thunder in the distance... beautiful to hear the thunder rolling through the valley. While we slept it rained some as well. Made for beautiful views in the morning as the rain brought down the haze! Amazing views of the snow covered peaks next morning... first of the trek!