NEPAL - THE ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT

Jump to...
Spark Notes - My Polarsteps Journey

The day had finally come for my next big adventure. I worked for half a day so as not to use more vacation than necessary. And, instead of going to the work product fair (ugh), I dipped out, went home, packed, and then headed out! Dropped my car off at the mechanic’s, Uber’d to the airport, then had a breeze through security with enough time to spare to grab some soup and cookies at the Alaska lounge. Before I knew it, Leg 1 was wheels up towards LAX.

Easy flight getting into LA and even watched John Wick 3 on the way. Got in and headed to the transfer to the international terminal. I have a pet peeve for airports where the terminals aren’t all connected, and LAX is a weird airport.

Well, to add to that, it was a weird entry to the international terminal. The bus dropped us off at this one room hall that was quite bus-station-like. I looked up to try and find my gate and got pointed somewhere not near where I was. A long hallway away and I was in a completely different and ridiculously opulent and expansive terminal. Weird how they had such a dump of a gate area right connected to this terminal from a decade ahead.

I walked around a bit, decided I was hungry and scored some free PF Chang’s (Priority Pass ftw) then we boarded. As soon as everyone was on the plane though, we found out there was going to be a delay because of catering. That delay ended up being two hours. But, I watched Children of Men in that timeframe. So that was nice.

Finally we took off and headed over the ocean. I turned on Doctor Strange after that and that ended up being pretty good. Once that was done and I sampled the kinda janky plane food, I hit the sack. Beforehand, I took some melatonin and really ended up sleeping or resting for a good 10 hours in the middle of a 14:30 flight. I was pretty pumped and impressed with myself.

Turns out, due to the delay in LAX I asked the stewardess about my connection. She was pretty blunt and said she didn’t think I’d make my connection. That was shitty to hear, but I appreciated the honesty. That fact was stewing on my mind as I was waiting to deboard. I also didn’t think I’d make it, but was undoubtedly gonna give it an honest go.

Never one to go down without a fight, I got out of the plane, and got a sticker from a line of people there to help all of the travelers with tight timelines. Sticker in hand, I started running. I had to funnel through a number of places and check points, passed a ton of people, and eventually got to the customs line. Suddenly, a counter opened up, but the people in front of me weren’t noticing. Fuck that, I said, so I jumped up to it, and got verbal hell from some dude behind me. I totally admit it was a dick move (and admitted such when the guy walked up to me to confront me), but I didn’t give a rip because I had 30min to get through transit customs and run to somewhere in the airport for my next flight. I wasn't going to let some people's apathy and ignorance make me miss my next flight. If I didn't make it, the next flight out was a 12 hour wait. Fuck that.

After that little riff, I got through the customs line, then had a metal scanner. I got to the line, tried to figure out what I needed to pull out, then some lady dragged me right to the front and sent me through. I was all kinds of frazzled, and probably forgot something there, but gathered my things, and started running again.

Wouldn’t you know it though, my gate was at the end of the terminal. And, I’d find out, right next to the gate I came in on. :-/ Thanks to a little effort and really busting my ass, I got to the gate during boarding with a little time to spare. I was pretty sweaty from the ordeal, but really happy I made it.

I was really happy and impressed I made it. I boarded and met my seat mate Rajesh, a native Nepali who lives in the Bay Area as a serial startup guy. Cool to talk to him, definitely insightful and a bit affirming to hear about Silicon Valley culture and the expensive life, but also jealous to hear about the crazy payouts you can get if your company gets lucky. We talked for a good bit, about a ton of stuff. Eventually took a nap, and then landed in Nepal!

Getting Acquainted and Prepped

After getting in, customs was a bit weird and not efficiently organized. Not too surprising, but a dive right back into the travel mindset in a way. I got through after having to exchange some more money, as the visa price had jumped within the preceding month or so. But, certified to now be in the country, I got a taxi and headed straight to the tourism board to pick up my permits.

My timing was impeccable. As soon as I got there, the guy informed me I had 10min for one of the permits because of a lunch break. Naturally, I scrambled and got that one done so as not to miss my window. Before I could start the second permit, I got inundated by a nice guy with a World Tourism Day scarf. It was a bit unexpected, but super nice and welcoming! (This would become a somewhat regular feeling during the trip.) I got my second form filled out, got my permit, and was ready to go! The lady at the second permit counter gave me the advice to beat the rush and go get my bus ticket early.

Following that lady's advice, I did the smart thing and went to go get my bus ticket for the morning (which was dirt cheap) and then walked to check into my hotel. Pretty straightforward stroll, and seemed to be getting a few inquisitive looks - no surprise. But before long I’d made it to the hostel (they called it a hotel, but no, not even close). Got checked in and just set my stuff down. Had to coerce myself to hit the street and go get some last minute things. I was really hankering for a nap though.

Despite a little bit of rain, I started strolling. Hiking poles, sunscreen, and bug spray, that’s all I needed. Settled on some poles after a couple stores and got some sunscreen, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find any good bug spray, and there was nothing with DEET. Bit of a bummer to be honest. Finished walking around but stumbled upon a couple small shrines on my way. Quiet, a little run down, but peaceful. Definitely a cool find.

Had to snag a quick nap at the hostel. I was dragging. So one 20-min nap turned into two, which turned into three. I was pretty tired. I knew I had to do something, especially eat some kind of food, but really had to force myself onto my feet. Thankfully, my mental fortitude won the day, so I headed downstairs and got a dinner recommendation for the place right next door. Got some Hot Mutton with Garlic and rice, and it was deeeelicious. Definitely what I needed - light, spicy, and flavorful. I was a happy camper.

Thankfully, that gave me a little extra energy, so I decided on another stroll around town. This time, I whipped out my Pokémon Go and snagged a few new Pokémon (nerdy as shit, but I find it fun - my guilty pleasure). The streets were still busy, but nowhere near as busy as they were earlier. Outside of Thamel (the touristy district), all of the goods stores closed, and it was almost solely convenience stores and meat markets. Quite the interesting little flip for night time.

I walked around Thamel, and ended up walking through to a different side, and lo and behold, there was a free concert! It just took over the street, with the stage taking half of the thoroughfare. The band on stage must’ve been someone local. Everyone was pretty into it and enjoying the show. Watching the people was probably the most fun. Most people were just standing there filming it. Some were actually grooving to the music, some were dancing, but it was a pretty tame crowd, despite some good fanfare.

After a while though, I decided it was bed time. Took the short walk back to the hostel, got strapped in and hit the sack. Little did I know I would not get much sleep because there was a ruckus somewhere nearby seemingly every ten minutes. Bummer. But that’s life.

Off to the Races

It was an early rise to make the bus. Easy though, because I just had to brush my teeth and throw my stuff in my bag. No sweat. Walked out the hostel and snagged the taxi sitting right out front. Next thing I know, I was at the bus station. Now to find the bus...

Talked to the ticket counter and they sent me one way. Found another guy and he sent me another way, and ended up getting snagged by the runner guy (to be explained) and told to follow some other guy to the bus. Sounds good (wtf...).

Our bus was a bit out of the bus station on the main road. So me and a Chinese gal got walked over there and had about a half hour to hang out. There was a good bit of commotion and shuffling the bus around with some more chaos before we actually hit the road. And even when we did hit the road, we didn’t really hit the road just yet.

On the bus, as far as I could tell, the crew was a driver, a copilot, a couple dudes just hanging out, and two runners. When we got to a spot where there were a ton of people milling about on the side of the road, the runners would jump out looking for some customers. They just jogged through the masses, shouting the itinerary and doing what they could to coerce people into riding their bus, and the bus just trawled forward hoping the runners would do their thing. After a while, we got what I thought was full, then packed in a few other folks, and then we were on our way. Or so I thought.

Traffic. I got briefly acquainted with my seat mate Caesar, and then we came to a stop not even a half hour out of town. All cars were stopped, so everyone just killed their engines. It was the tail end of rainy season right then, and the roads were a bit sketch. Well, Caesar said a lady died a day or two ago on the road, but I couldn’t quite understand how from what he was saying. Anyways, the traffic was inching forward, if that.

It was a go forward 10 feet, wait 10 minutes kind of affair. Kinda crazy, but there was nothing we could do. Skipping the boring part, eventually we got to the top of a hill, and things changed. We’d just reached the pass to get out of the Kathmandu valley, and there was a total mood change.

The way down wasn’t stop and go, some cool Nepalese adventure (in my mind) song came on, and we were treated to some amaaaaazing views of the next valley. Clouds playing with the peaks of the many ridges in sight; deep, lush, green forest along every piece of earth; a really windy road leading us all the way to the valley floor. The craziest part, the oncoming traffic was backed up allll the way down, I’d say a good 5-10 miles or so. That must’ve been a bummer.

Before we left the massive hill, we pulled off at a rest stop for a bit. I kinda stood out by the road, took a few pictures, and then went into the rest stop (read: shanty). Everybody was getting some food, so I did too. Got some water first, and some “American style cream and onion” chips (they were pretty good), and this dish that was on hand.

Dirt cheap, spicy, and delicious. Just how I like it. They had four pots available, and you just pointed at what you wanted and they threw it in. Some rice/noodles, potatoes, something fried, with onions and a spicy sauce. It was delicious.

From there, the trip was still annoying but fairly uneventful. My knees just barely fit into the seat row, so I couldn't lean back, which made trying to sleep really hard. I ended up just looking out the window almost the entire way, waiting for it to be done. To fast forward a bit, we made one more food stop, and in all it took us about 10 hours on the proclaimed 6 hour bus ride. At some point Caesar hopped off so I had room for my legs to stretch, but that was short lived as some other dude eventually took his spot.

In what felt like forever, we made it to Besisahar. I was pumped to finally be there and off the bus. I grabbed my bags and got ready. Had to shuffle a few things around, put on my hiking books, fill my camelback, and then register with their trekker management system (one of the permits I got) that I was starting the trek. That complete, I was off!

Annapurna Circuit Trek (ACT) Day 1 - Besisahar (Beh-see-sah-har) to Bhulbhule (bOOl-bool-uh)

Before I could even get to the trail, I got hassled by some guy for him to take me in his Jeep. But I wasn’t feeling that and wanted to hike to my first spot. The route I was taking, he said was going to take too long, but I pushed on. Down a rocky staircase to the first river crossing, then over to the road for a bit. Every now and then, the road cleared a little and I got a good glimpse of the valley. Wowwee. Lush jungle, huge ridges. A truly beautiful sight to behold.

A little further down I passed through a small village. A local guy, very friendly, who spoke to me in his broken English, tried to get me to take the road. Once again, I smiled and declined and pressed on. Shortly thereafter I got to cross a huge suspension bridge! These ended up being all over the trail, and each one a little unique compared to the last.

After crossing the river and leaving the road for a bit, the trail meandered through farms and the hillside. Despite the hot, muggy heat of the jungle (which would be present for a couple of days), it was very beautiful. There were parts where it kinda cleared up during the trek, and I got to see some blue sky. But for the most part, it was cloudy and a bit grey.

At some point I crossed paths with a number of locals. This ended up being the baseline for the whole trek, but as we passed, a very smile-heavy "Namaste" greeting was shared from each side. I learned throughout the trip that if you offer a smile, you get an even bigger one in return! That, and it was just cute seeing a bunch of little kids greet me and see the excitement on their face for it!

After climbing a small ridge, the trail slowly meandered back down into the valley. Before the last bit of stairs, I was greeted by a trio of little girls. Their names all started with A-, but I can’t remember them specifically. I do remember that they were 10, 11, and 12, had an American lady as a teacher, and all looked shocked when I said I was 29. That’s not that old...

Dropping down over the ridge and into the valley put me right into Bhulbhule. Passed by a few folks and eventually got to the New Manang hotel, recommended to me by a villager not 5 minutes prior. First night on the trail, so I learned the ropes here.

I got in and found the proprietor, inquired if there were any rooms, and was led to a tiny little room. This ended up not being the norm, but because I was a solo traveler, I got a little closet that was a little open to the elements, but had a bed, a window overlooking the river, a little bench, a light, and an electrical socket. What more could I need!

I was drenched from sweat. Oh yeah, hiking through a humid jungle is not the best. But once I got in and put my stuff down, both hunger and the stickiness hit. I satisfied the hunger first. Went back downstairs to the common area / dining room, but before I could sit down I got to chatting with a dude that was on the bus from earlier in the day, Jason from Shanghai. I sat down at his table with him and we chatted about a good bit.

He was also a solo trekker with a similar plan to me. Seemed to also have a good bit of experience with trekking around the world. We talked about that, how China doesn’t give a shit about Hong Kong now (his words), how China is developing and progressing really fast, and some more travels.

I'd put in my order, and was stoked when my Dal Bhat arrived! Dal Bhat is the staple dish for trekkers in Nepal. It can vary from place to place, but it consists of rice, a lentil soup, cooked potatoes, some spicy pickled stuff, and some really crispy bread (kinda like a tortilla). Not only was it absolutely delicious, but the guy gave me some free refills and I was stuffed. What a win! Turns out that with Dal Bhat that's kind of the standard. But still, how dope!

Once I ate my fill, I read for a bit, then headed to bed to pass out after a long day of bus rides and hiking. That was just the start of it!

ACT Day 2 - Bhulbhule to Tal (Taal)

A little surprised, but I got a good 8 hours of sleep in, then a couple more before I started my day. First thing was opening the little blinds to the window and wow, what a view to wake up to up the valley!

Prepped for the day with a good breakfast of eggs, potatoes, bread, and coffee. Then packed up and hit the trail!

It was a bit wet in the morning, but that just highlighted the tons of waterfalls that were lining the trail. It was crazy! Big ones, small ones, massive gigantic full-mountain ones. A little bit for everyone.

Kinda paired with that (at least along the theme of water) were a good few landslides, a lot of which impacted the road. Part of the trail was on the road, and the damage was pretty evident and clear. Mother Nature doesn't give a shit about your infrastructure. There's not a lot you can do about it, and a few twisted up Jeeps are pretty good evidence of that.

The trail this day continued in the jungle, so I was still sweating like a stuck pig. It was overcast though, so it wasn't too hot. As it kept going, slowly the trail kept winding its way up the valley. Past a ton of rice fields, through a few small villages, and with a number of clear views of the valley, highlighting a bunch of other small villages up on the ridges away from it all.

It’s amazing how many villages are either just cut out of the rock and standing probably where they shouldn’t be, and how many are super high up above the road, seemingly totally cut off from everything. Adding to that, it's also crazy that all of those high up villages, and every other one in the valley, have power routed to them. That's some incredible infrastructure.

Quick Thought - What caused people way back when to keep settling further and further up the valley?

Stopped off for lunch and ran into Jason again. Gotta admit, he was really glued to his phone the whole time, and made me reinforce how much I don't want to be like that. Had some more Dal Bhat and a nice bit of time to relax and enjoy the view with the meal. Overall, it's really cool encountering locals, as the vast majority of them really respond well when giving them a smile and saying namaste. For me, it really warms my heart to see my smile cause another smile and hopefully bring joy to someone's day!

As life is all about balance, I hate getting hassled for stuff. But as soon as you walk into a village, people are hassling you if you need a room or food or both. It makes sense, but it gets annoying.

Continued on up the trail and crossed the river over to Syange, which is where that big landslide (see above) was at. That was nuts to see. Because it took out the whole road, there were groups of Jeeps on either side, and people were shuttling goods from one side of the town/road to the other side to get past the landslide. People up in the mountains there are really at the mercy of mother nature.

From here the trail followed the road for a bit. Thankfully the traffic wasn't too crazy, so it wasn't a bad stretch. But up and up the valley the trail kept going.

Passed through another nice little village, and kept chugging. At some point, a gaggle of bikers ended up passing me. They looked like they were pushing pretty hard, but the road was not the most exciting place to bike. Felt kinda bad for them. And to make it worse, shortly after that, it started dumping rain. It was laid on thick. I wasn't up for getting super drenched, and was about ready to change my plans for the day. But luckily enough right at that time there was a huge rock overhang that I was able to take shelter in. That was absolutely clutch.

I sat there, watched the rain come down, and tried to enjoy the moment. Luckily enough, it wasn't too long before the heavy stuff subsided and I was able to continue on without becoming drenched. Hot damn!

At the next village, the trail left the road and crossed back over the river to an actual trail. It kept going up the valley, and this section really provided some amazing views.

One thing I liked about this section was that it was not completely covered, but rather it was pretty open so you could see a good portion of the valley as you were moving along. Good thing too, as there were tons of awesome sights and features along the way.

First, the trail dropped down to the base of the valley as the road climbed up. Shortly after crossing the river, there was a huge waterfall to the left, dropping down from way high up. About half way up at the road, somehow two pretty camouflaged buildings were plopped down on either side of the water. Impressive and really made me feel ant-like and tiny!

After that, the trail started to climb before the next village, Tal. The climb was gradual to start but got more steep as it progressed, but opened up even more along the way. After that huge waterfall, the next big feature was super impressive. You could see the road continue along and curve around one ridge. It reappears after that a lot higher up, and etched into this Giant rock tower, which got more and more impressive as the trail approached, especially revealing the sheer canyon that the river flowed through to get past it.

Unfortunately my pictures from this part aren't that great, but that was one really cool area of the trail! It was really crazy how here, and in many places along the trek, roads are just etched into the sides of mountains or cliffs. This stretch showed a long segment of this, and I can't imagine the work that goes into accomplishing something like that.

From there though, it was a tiring walk up the hill to get to the next beautiful area. Tal was just over the hill, where I'd be spending the night, and it sits at the base of a little lake within the giant, mountainous valley.

I'd had quite the hard day up to that point - roughly 25km / 15.5mi of hiking and a net of around 1,000m / 3280ft vertical gain. My legs were beat, so I took it kinda easy that night. Found a guest house (with some really lovely and friendly hosts at Potala Hotel!), walked around very briefly, got water and things ready for the next day, and then had dinner and hit the sack. Ahhhhhh sleep.

ACT Day 3 - Tal to Koto (Koh-toh)

Waking up refreshed, or at least with a little extra sleep in you, makes a big difference. After thinking about it, it's likely due to the altitude. But for the life of me I could not sleep through the night without a desperate need to piss.

Unfortunately, the morning and day turned out to be predominantly grey, but that didn't stop me from taking a nice little morning stroll through the town and back down to the lake front. It was a very calm, and peaceful morning, and Tal's setting was quite a serene way to start the day.

Packed up and ready, I hit the trail. It was a beautiful start to the morning leaving Tal, as the wide valley continued for a bit before narrowing back down. Unfortunately, it wasn't long until the traffic jam started. I hate encountering boat loads of people in nature. It's so annoying. But, on one of the worlds most popular (or at least for Nepal) treks, kinda need to expect a bit of a crowd for at least portions of it...

Despite the crowd, I did my best to enjoy the really cool section. Climbed up some hills, but on the left hand side you could see this beautifully huge wall of rock, shrubs, and scattered trees. This was really accentuated by the brief pockets of sunshine that decided to show up! Even more accentuated, that the sunlight hit this one really high-up waterfall to make it spotlighted. It was absolutely gorgeous!!!

The sunlight was really just playing with us through here. Crazily enough, it was the first time I'd seen my shadow the whole trip! It'd come out for a hot sec, then dip back behind the clouds, but while it was out it shed some warm light on some of the beauty right before us. I can't help but wish I could jump back into these pictures as I'm typing this out, because it was really just such an extraordinary place.

Continuing on, I decided against a side trail going up to a high plateau, where there's supposedly a really picturesque village. In hindsight I wish I would have done at least a few more of these offshoot trails, but in the moment I decided to save my legs a bit and skipped it.

At some point, I met Gabby and Sirai from Israel as we were walking, and eventually we pulled up and sipped on some tea at the next village. Very cool talking with them and learning more about life in their country. I asked about the compulsory military service there. They both said overall they enjoyed the experience, but if they had a choice, they definitely would not have done it. Also, touched on Birthright, where young Jews from around the world are able to come to Israel to learn about their heritage. Regarding that, they noted how native Israelis show some arrogance towards foreign Jews during their visit. Really interesting how they touched on some clearly unique topics over a country I was not very familiar with.

After a quick little stop with them, I bid them adieu and continued motoring on.

Quick Thought - Most of the livestock that I crossed paths with were super skiddish. There's a ton of people that do this trail and are in this area throughout a standard year, but it surprised me how nervous most of the animals were around me.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any food with my tea, so I started to get hungry. Thankfully, just a short stretch up the way was another town, so I stopped in to grab some lunch. It was a pretty unassuming place, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. The food was really good, but I really just had a good time watching the family go about their business! They seemed to all have something to do, with a couple of the ladies working on drying some kind of food on the patio, one of the guys doing some laundry, the older guy doing all the restaurant stuff, and it was all really pleasant to watch from the outside how a family up in the Himalayas goes about their business. Oh, and the food was good too.

After lunch, there was a good bit of uphill on the menu. Oh well, that's just the way it goes! It was a bit of a bummer though, because it got pretty dark, grey, and cloudy for the afternoon. As someone from the PNW though, that's something I've seen a time or two. So on we go!

I reached the next village, and wasn't quite ready to end the day. Decided to keep on keeping on. This stretch was mostly on the road. Kind of annoying in that respect, but there wasn't a ton of traffic and it was pretty beautiful anyways!

Despite the grey and the clouds all hanging around, there was a real eerie beauty to it all. And, on top of that, that atmosphere and weather reminded me a ton of my hikes in New Zealand. Every now and then there'd be a gap in the clouds which provides a peek of a hillside or mountain top, and it was always such a little surprise.

The next village I got to was Thomchuk, which was where I was thinking about staying for the night. It was touted as a very authentic old village, with very traditional houses and a very cool location and atmosphere. But strolling through the village, there was nobody really there in the tourist world. That's not necessarily a bad thing (the locals were super friendly; I'm not one that likes a ton of tourists, or being hassled by people to take part in what they're offering anyway), but all the hotels were empty of life. Just didn't sit right and wasn't super appealing. So I decided to continue my push to the next place with a little activity. Thomchuk lived up to the reputation though - definitely a pretty and very traditional village.

The next village was Koto, so I set my sights on that. Unfortunately (as you know luck would have it), me setting off for Koto also coincided with my body getting really tired. That made for a fun adventure. The stretch ended up being pretty though (as with most of the trek), with some cool PNW-like forest and nature. Also, right before the village, there was a crew of folks harvesting something, so I peeked at that for a hot second.

At some point I made it to Koto. Right as I entered the village, there was a short, friendly lady kinda sitting by the road, and was offering a room at her hotel. It looked nice, she seemed like a nice host - bam. Found my spot for the night. I got in, and was surprised with an extremely cold shower. Not what I was hoping for. Had to work to get warm, but once I was warmly clothed I headed up to the rooftop.

Quite the peaceful spot. As I said, the grey gloominess added something to the day, and as I was seated on the patio with my kindle, it started to rain a bit. I had some cover, so it was very peaceful and beautiful watching nature do its thing. Also, on the reading-side, Haruki Murakami is a fantastic author. I was working on 1Q84 during the first portion of the trip, and it was really imaginative, as most of his works are.

At some point a guide joined me at the table, and we chatted for a bit. Learned he was leading a group of Canadians on an offshoot hike (that you had to get special permits for and have a guide to do, darn), had done a ton of the many treks and alpine adventures in Nepal, and was a nice little discussion.

After a bit, I jumped downstairs to snag a nap before dinner. As you know, I'm all about that. Next up was dinner, and I had some Momo (dumplings) that were great, along with something else. Also got to chat with the Canadian group for a bit in between some more reading.

Two full days in the books, and the majority was some pretty lush jungle. Started to get into the coniferous forest range, but beautiful either way. Day two was another long one, about 20km / 12.4mi distance and 950m / 3,110ft net vertical. My feet were tired, and definitely could start to feel the change in altitude, as uphill was staring to get slow and sluggish. But, I was MOTORING! Now time for bed :-)

ACT Day 4 - Koto to Upper Pisang (Pee-sayng)

Splurged and got some WiFi when I woke up, and I gotta say, my Mommy is the best!!! Love to hear the kind words, pride, and love that she gives every day. Doesn't matter if I'm on the other side of the world, she's always there with the love!

Unfortunately my throat was continuing to bug me. That was annoying. Turned out it was likely from the pollution in Kathmandu, but that was the only thing health-wise getting to me. Not bad! But sleep was really tossy-and-turny, so not that great. Seems to be the norm, but just gotta deal with it.

Got up and at 'em a little early, hoping for some clear skies and amazing mountains! Unfortunately got none of either. Went up for breakfast and was planning out my day, then randomly turned around and BAM. Peak! A single peak coming through a single hole in the clouds! Turned out to be Annapurna II. The start of the beautiful mountains!!!

The group of Canadians there were really nice! Not that you could expect anything different! Got to chatting with them a little more this morning, learning about their trip. Got pretty jealous, as it seemed like a beautiful and pretty remote route they were taking!

The morning turned out to be pretty decent. It followed the road mostly, but the weather wasn't rainy, the sun was starting to make more of a showing, the greens were green and popping, I was in a beautiful part of the world, and things were going well. Love it. I'll let the pictures do the talking for a bit.

Rather than follow the road ad nauseam, I decided to take an offshoot of the trek that paralleled the road. It was a little longer, and followed the road the whole time, but it was nice to get back in the trees.

Along this offshoot I ran into a cow and calf. Long story short, turned out to be a gimp bull with an anger problem, as it tried to charge me when I attempted to pass. I was on defense. Thank god for my hiking poles, as those ended up being the quick guard that I needed to keep him away.

That damn bull and its calf were right on the trail, and I had no good way to get around. I tried giving it a wide berth as I passed, but it turned around and started to make a move towards me. Again, thankfully I stuck my poles up and it backed off.

I had to trudge behind it for a bit. That was annoying. Randomly a Nepalese lady was doing some foraging along the trail. I listened to how she shooed them away, and did the same. Luckily enough a wider area in the forest came up, so I pushed forward and got around them without issue. Whew. Wasn't up for getting impaled with no one around to help.

It was a short offshot, and spit me back onto the road. And as one would assume, the road just kept on being a road. Woot.

Bhratang was the next village, and cool-ly enough, home to a huge apple farm! There were a few spots along the way that were touted as huge apple-growing locales, and Bhratang was that place for the first half of the trek.

As you'd guess, there was a huge gaggle of trekkers making a pit stop at the place, so I did the same. Great choice. Had some apple pie, fresh apple juice (the freshest I've ever had), and an apple donut. Nom nom nom.

After the apple place, I thought the trail had another offshoot that crossed to the other side of the river. At least that's what the maps showed. Luckily enough some porters pointed me in the right direction. It didn't look like an offshoot, but stubborn me wanted to get off the road. But I followed the porters' advice. Good call.

Shortly thereafter, holy shit. The road was just cleaved out of a sheer cliff. Full-on just blasting/carving a route through rock. No guard rail, no reinforcing to prevent anything breaking off, just rock ice-cream-scooped out of the way to make a road. Nuts. Oh, and there was a jeep 60' down in the river.

Sidenote: Porters are insane. Strong, fit, and powerhouses. Crazy watching so many of them carrying 2-3 people's luggage, all hunched over with the weight on their back being held up by a strap across their forehead. Just nuts.

That crazy cliff road cutout curved around the bend and then crossed over the river via another bridge. Beautiful scenery on the other side, but as soon as the trail/road rounded the bend, and crossed the bridge, the trail opened up to reveal the gigantic Soup Bowl.

Damn. This was a natural feature with a very apropos name. Literally, it was just a gigantic slope of granite. HUGE. Holy crap.

Unfortunately, after the bridge, the trail was pretty wooded and the clouds were pretty low. This didn't help with trying to get a full view of this giant granite basin. I kept on going uphill and kept seeing just how slow I was getting. A bit of a bummer, but not much I could do about it. Either way, I stopped for a quick break and snacked on an apple.

Luckily enough there was another offshoot! It took me further uphill, but I wanted to see if I could find a spot with a clearing to take it all in. Wouldn't you know it, I got lucky! A huge glimpse of the Soup Bowl, some beautiful trees, quick views of some peaks, and a perfect place for another break.

From one offshoot to the next, as soon as the previous one met up with the road, the next was across the way and heading down into the valley before reaching Dhukur Pokhara. It was steep to start, but flat in the middle, and a little more open with some views to boot!

(If the high quantity of pictures of the Soup Bowl shows anything, it's how infatuated I was at that crazy piece of nature!!!)

Here came a nice little branch in the trail. If you headed towards the left, you stayed on the road and maintained a steady grade up to Manang. But if you veered off to the right (which of course I did), it undulates a good bit more, but is an actual trail that goes up the side of the mountain/valley and passes through a few smaller towns. It's longer, more exhausting, but much more rewarding and beneficial for acclimatization.

Slowly, the trail started to head up the hill towards Upper Pisang. Looking back at the Soup Bowl continued to be an absolute awesome view. But slowly, something else started to peak out of the clouds! Slowly but surely, Annapurna II came out to visit! What a magnificent sight! The craziest part of it was the elevation though. I was at about 3,000m / 10,000ft elevation, but that peak was still an ADDITIONAL 4,500m / 15,000ft higher up! How nuts is that!!!

Along the way, I had a chance encounter with an older fellow as he was coming down the hill to the village for supplies. Lama Canchouk was his name, an American guy from New Mexico who spends the whale's majority of his time in Nepal and Tibet as a Buddhist, studying the various teachings within the religion. Interesting to chat with him, and he ended up giving me a recommendation.

After chatting with him, I continued on my way, eventually stopping for some pictures of the crazy epic mountain. Found a good spot, but got passed by a few folks. Normally not an issue, but their incessant playing of some extremely shitty phone music pissed me off. For fuck's sake. You’re in one of the most beautiful places in the world and you’re going to taint it just cause you have some shitty music? Fuck You.

Made it to the village though, and the last stretch to the top of the village to the hostel Lama Canchouk recommended was a slog. No sweat though, I found the recommended hotel. Snagged my room, and afterwards I walked out onto the patio. What. A. View.

Since I got settled into my guesthouse pretty early in the day, I decided to walk around town a bit. Upper Pisang is a little small, but pretty spread out on a steep hillside. The place I was staying at was towards the top of the town, and right out the back door was the town's gompa, a sacred meditation temple.

Naturally, this is what I went to explore. They were in the process of renovating parts of it, but the complex was quite colorful, established, and a beautiful presence among the mountains, trees, and changing fall colors.

While there, I looked inside the main temple, walked around the complex a bit, but primarily found a place to sit. The colors of the temple were pretty. That and the calm atmosphere (minus the dickwads who whipped out a drone) were a nice place to soak in the sun and enjoy the intense beauty of the mountains.

After my overall relaxing time at the gompa and sipping on some warm lemon tea they provided, I headed down to snag a quick nap. Well, quick turned into very long, and I ended up feeling pretty rough when I woke up. The room was drafty, so I was pretty cold; my throat was dry, so that was a good feeling; and then my entire body ached like arthritis. I don’t know where the hell that came from, but it sucked. Not to fully hermit myself, I eventually forced myself out of my room and headed toward the dining room. I peeked in the kitchen and there was a small fire. Since I was cold, I decided to invite myself in.

Definitely the right choice, as I just sat there amidst all of the activity of the family. At some point, a new guy came in the room, and his name was Gonchong. At some point during the day, I passed him on the trail as he was selling some good and souvenirs.

He was a very nice man, and helped answer a number of cultural questions for me! He also introduced me to the grandpa of the girl doing all the cooking and stuff, and he was 98 years old! With that kind of age, that put him as the oldest person in the Manang province. Now that's pretty incredible, especially to hit that age in such a rural and incredible environment!

Quick Thought - it was surprising to me to see almost all kitchens used an open-fire stove (see below). This was clearly the easiest way to do it without trying to power a stove or oven or something, but all of them were within the closed-walled kitchen. An exhaust pipe is present, but in reality it can only do so much to ventilate it. That kind of smoky environment on a daily basis cannot be good for your lungs.

During our conversation, a couple of monks from the monastery came in and joined the activity. One of them whipped out his small tablet and put on a movie for Twoele (the grandpa). The monk started to describe the movie to me and what was going on. It was a Chinese film about the history of Buddhism. Full of slapstick humor and antics to describe the story of the monkey god and how dastardly he was. Very low production value, but seemed to be a pretty interesting rendition of the story.

All in all, really happy I dipped into the family space. Getting to watch the daughter keep the kitchen going and provide some tea and stuff to the monks, her dad who was harvesting all day, Gonchong who was selling stuff along the trail, and her grandpa who was there for some family time. Very interesting to see the family dynamics and the activity.

Not wanting to over-intrude, I waddled to the other side of the wall to the guest dining hall. There was a French gal and a French couple there who were chatting amongst themselves, so I just sat there and read. It was quite peaceful. Because I wasn't feeling super good, I snagged some more lemon ginger honey tea, and damn that shit is good.

In the midst of it all I ordered dinner and kept reading. Then eventually Lama Canchouk showed up from his venture down into the valley. The evening turned into a pretty interesting time, filled with stories from him about a whole bunch of stuff - America stuff, visa stuff, India-stuff, Kathmandu stuff, Buddhist stories, and more. He really had a bunch of them and was quite the interesting character.

My dinner of yak curry was really good, but I was still feeling pretty in the dumps. That said, I bid everyone adieu, headed to my room, and hit the sack hoping to get some rest and feel a little better.

ACT Day 5 - Upper Pisang to Ngawal (Nuh-gah-wall)

Jesus, I cannot sleep through the night without having to take a piss. It was killing me. Not sure if always going to bed pretty early has something to do with that, but my damn bladder was not cooperating.

Eventually it was a normal time to get up and get out of bed. So I jumped down to the dining room, had breakfast and read a bit, then went back to get ready. It was pretty wet in the morning, and I really didn't want to have to hike in the rain. Sometimes it's inevitable, but I wasn't up for it.

Thankfully, two things happened. By the time I was ready to hit the trail, the rain had stopped! That, and my body wasn't nearly as achy as it was the night before. Two strokes of luck to start the day. Hot damn!

The going was a bit slow to start, but quite relaxed. Nice to enjoy the grey day with the great nature all around me. Definitely helps that I had the trail all to myself. Well, at least until the hill...

The trail started off pretty relaxed and undulating, but then a big prayer gate came right before a gigantic climb. It was about 1,000m / 3,200ft straight up, and nothing but switchbacks. Oh boy. I took my time, as I wasn't in a real rush. So I dropped my pack, wandered around the gate for a sec, and got ready for the climb.

What a slog. Just up. Nothing but up. And nothing but switchbacks to boot. That last picture shows part of the trail, but the clouds are thick enough where you can't even see the top. Had to take it step by step and just find my pace. Not gonna lie, I think me being stubborn helps with instances like this. I just find a low gear, and keep on going. Not easy, but that was the trail that was in front of me.

After what felt like forever, but was really only about 45-60min, I made it to the top! Quite the good feeling to finally be done with that climb. The ending was pretty cool too, as there was a shrine right at the top of the trail leading into the town. Not one to skip on a good view and a nice break, I dropped my pack, bought an apple pie (then another one from another lady), and kicked back to enjoy the view that opened up.

While up there, I took a good number of pictures and just hung out. The picture before the one of my backpack, that's where the hill started at that prayer wall. Quite the long ways down.

Back on the trail, but the slow going continued. Not necessarily because I was tired, but there were a number of uphills, and now being at higher elevation (~3,700m / ~12,000ft) didn't make me any more speedy. True to form, I stopped a bunch for pictures. :-)

Despite a couple streaks of sunshine here and there, I was pretty bummed at how cloudy and not visible all the amazing mountains were. They were all within sight, but once again, clouds decided to hang out and hide them as I was passing by. As with everything in life, I need to learn to take the bad with the good, and realize what's still there. I may not see the mountains, but there were still some crazy landscapes below the clouds to enjoy!

Along the way, I started chatting with a French couple living in Australia (Max and Nina), as well as a couple of Nepali dudes who were just out and about doing the trek as a little getaway from Kathmandu. One of the Nepali guys gave me some hardened yak cheese, called Chhurpi (I think...). It was rock hard. He said you’re supposed to warm it up and then eat it, but the warming up never happened. If nothing else, it was something to suck on.

There was a nice lookout on a ridge along the way, so we all stopped to enjoy the views. Amazing sights all along the valley, both from where I came (see above), and down to where we'd be headed (see below). I LOVE a relaxed place to stop, take a break, and have some amazing sights to soak in.

Ngawal was just a short stretch further from our little break spot. I split off to keep going, and slowly meandered into the village. Initially, I was planning on staying there. But I got to the village before lunch, and was feeling good, ready to push on.

Stopping for lunch, I chanced upon Max and Nina doing the same thing, as well as a friendly Israeli couple - Saar and Vicki. We all somehow started chatting as a group, so we sat down for lunch together and hung out for a bit. As we were waiting for some food, I got convinced to call it a day and find a room. Not necessarily out of energy reasons, but mainly in the hope that the clouds would clear out in the morning to break open the mountain views.

After lunch, I sat around for a bit and filtered some water for the evening and the next day. My water setup was probably overkill (filter and UV sterilization), but I wasn't taking any chances. With my housekeeping tasks completed, I threw on my sandals and went for a stroll around town.

Ngawal is not a very big town, but it has some very traditional architecture and a monastery/temple above the town with a staircase leading up the top of a ridge. Naturally, even though I was tired and each step was super slow, I climbed to the top, past a big ole Buddha statue. It was kinda weird though, because the steps just ... stopped. There were materials and work towards continuing them, but at some point, they just ended.

Despite the abrupt finish, I got to the top and sat down to enjoy the views for a bit. Quite a cool spot, overlooking Ngawal, and with sights down each direction of the valley.

What goes up must come down, and down I went. My knees felt really weird after the onslaught of steps going down. Before getting back to the hotel, I poked my head into the monastery, which was under construction.

I got back to my hotel and headed to my room. Good timing, as my cold symptoms were back in full force - dry throat, stuffy nose, and getting cold. I threw myself into my sleeping bag to read, and eventually took a nap. After that, was laying around until all of a sudden I couldn't... Had to slam some pepto to hopefully nip that in the bud. A short bit later I made my way to the dining room, and to my surprise, the lovely aura of a warm fire :-)

Saar and Vicki were hanging out, and I joined in. They taught me how to play a Russian card game called Durak. It's very similar to Asshole, with a few variations in rules. I don't know what Vicki was doing but she was on a mad hot streak. I ended up winning a game (see Sam! screw you...), and really liked it! Adding that to my rolodex of card games.

Dinner was going to be a little lighter than usual. Some garlic and onion soup was on the docket, hoping that would help with my symptoms. Nice to sit, chat, and eat with Saar and Vicki. They had some yak cheese on their dish I got to try, which was absolutely delicious. That, and they gave me a ton of recommendations for trekking trails in Europe, such as the GL20 in Corsica, GL10 in the Pyrenees, AV1 in the Dolomites, and more. I've got a lot of exploring to do once I get over there!

We hung out for a bit after dinner, played some more card games and chatted, then ordered breakfast and prepped (hopefully) a full night's sleep!

ACT Day 6 - Ngawal to Manang (Mah-nay-ng)

Again, didn't sleep that well. Likely a good mix of reasons, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Got up and opened the blinds and BAM. Mountains. :-)

Holy shit, it was absolutely amazing! We stayed there hoping for clear skies, and we got it! The clouds finally cleared and we got a glimpse of the monoliths that had been hiding from us the whole trip. So beautiful! I snagged my camera and tried to capture the beauty now in front of us.

The only way to take in beauty like that is to sit there and be in awe.

I spent a good amount of time outside in the cold just staring in awe and snapping a few pics of the mountains. Slowly, the sun shed some warm, orange light on the peaks from the top down. The more light on the peaks, the more incredible features visible to all.

Knowing I couldn't stay there all day, I got ready and then had some breakfast with Saar and Vicki. Ready to go, we hit the trail!

The trail was just beautiful to start. Not necessarily because of the trail, but having sunlight and clear skies made everything pop! As the trail took us forward, it meandered around a good bit and passed by a few shrines and monasteries. Right before the trail dropped down over a ridge down into a valley, there was big monastery perched on a ledge with an amazing view.

Dropping down from that ridge put us into a tiny village that had essentially zero tourist impact. It was kinda refreshing and quiet - unusual from the rest of the trail. I was planning on continuing up the next ridge to follow a plateau that leads down to the road while Saar and Vicki were going to head down to the road that leads to Manang. With that we split up and I motored on.

Long story short, I couldn't find the trail. I walked back to where I thought the trail was and consulted all the maps I had. But nothing was evident. There were a good number of goat tracks, but I couldn't see a defined trail, either right in front of me, or up on the hill or ridge where it was supposed to lead up. Well, after 10min of trial and error, I decided it wasn’t worth it to bushwhack up the hill and hope it worked. So I turned and headed down the other way.

Down the trail I went. The sun was shining, I was in nature, and mountains were hanging out all around me. Not a bad life. Eventually caught back up with the gang and we motored on down. But, true to form, I just had to take a number of times to stop and smell the roses. It was beautiful.

Once the trail met back up with the road, we stopped in at Pie in the Sky bakery. Apple pie, yak cheese, and coffee. It was a perfect stop to recharge, sit down, and enjoy the view.

On the road again!!! The next stretch up to Manang just followed the road. On we went. But, similar to earlier, I split off and took the trail up to Milerepa Cave. Saar and Vicki kept on going, and I crossed the river to head up the hill.

The first stretch of the trail crossed a flat, marshy farm plain. On it there was a spattering of folks harvesting their crops while I passed through. After crossing the plain, it just went up. Switchbacks left and right. It was slow going, but I just kept it moving.

Fast forward, I made it to the top! The trail had a a couple landmarks along the way, but the monastery was at the top of the trail, right next to a former glacial channel and tucked up against the rocky cliffs.

I got to the top, and for the most part wanted to sit next to the glacial channel. It was impressive from afar and I wanted to check it out up close. There was also supposedly a cave somewhere in the area, where the old monk used to live (different story than that), and hung his bow above the cave, which was still there.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quite sure where the cave was. Could'a guaranteed it was further up (like 600m elevation further up), but I didn’t want to put in too much more elevation. I was cold and tired, the drizzling was starting to intensify, it was grey and cloudy, and I was kinda ready to head down. Ended up regretting that (it was supposedly another 50m up from the monastery...), but that’s the choice I made, for better or worse.

As I was going to the glacial channel, I think that's what the old guy was shouting and waving his arms towards me for. But being stubborn, I disregarded that and did my thing.

Worked my way over to the glacial channel and DAYUM. That shit is impressive.

After the lookout into the crazy amount of rock, I walked through the monastery building area, saw some of the construction they were working on, and the statue inside a tunnel in the rock. Pretty cool stuff. But, as I said, cold and tired with the rain coming down, I started to make my way back to the road.

The way down was pretty nice. It's a helluva lot easier when gravity is on your side! Slowly the trail got me out of the drizzle (which really wasn't that bad) and back into the daylight and partial sunshine. The trail views coming down opened up to the valley, with sight of the road, the tiny village across the valley, and my goal for the day - Manang.

Back on the road, it was a pretty straight shot to Manang. Roughly flat, until you got to the village with a slight uphill and a welcoming gate to show you've made it. I walked through the village, and ended up stumbling upon the same guesthouse that Saar and Vicki were staying at, as well as Jason, and Max and Nina too! Quite the place to be.

After getting acquainted with my room and setting my stuff down, we were just in time for the daily medical briefing. Every day at 3pm, the local hospital and the visiting doctors provide a quick seminar on altitude sickness and how to best protect yourself from experiencing any issues. This was really informative and interesting with a lot of good details and resources provided by the New Zealand doctor that was on site.

Fun Fact - Along with all of the other symptoms and affects, at altitude, your body ends up farting a lot more than normal! Because of the low air pressure, the gases in your stomach expand and that ends up with a little more gas than normal coming out of you. So keep farting, because it's normal!

As the next day was a rest day (aka day hike), we wandered around town to do some shopping and get stuff for lunch on our rest day. The menu - meat, cheese, bread. Winning combination. Errands successfully completed, I went back and filtered water to round out my chores, then taught Saar and Vicki how to play Asshole and (as always) had some time to relax with a few rounds of cards.

Apparently the food at our hotel was bad, so instead of taking part in some subpar vittles, we went to another guesthouse recommended by someone and ordered dinner. The place was pretty cool, but dear god it took a long time for any kind of service. I think we ended up waiting about an hour and half for anything to come out. Finally the food came and we ate, but they screwed up my order. We paid and gtfo there. Back to the hotel for some sleep and an early day coming up!

ACT Day 7 - Rest Day (HAHA! - Ice Lake)

That night I ended up getting some decent sleep, at least until the stray dogs started barking incessantly at 3am. I'm (not so slowly) realizing that on average I'm a pretty light sleeper. Kind of a bummer considering how much I love to sleep.

Woke up and went outside - clear skies!!! Super clear, blue as all get out! That being the case, I took advantage of it by going for a quick walk around town before breakfast to take some pictures. Even during that walk, it was crazy and a slight bummer to see how quickly the clouds can form and hide parts of the mountains.

Breakfast was light and quick at the hotel, all in preparation for a quick departure off to Ice Lake with Saar and Vicki.

There was some really good conversation we had on the way to the trail. I initially inquired about their families and how big they were/what the dynamics were like. But as good conversations do, it morphed into a discussion on how serious religion is in Israel. Saar pointed out how most Jews in Israel are not very devout in a religious sense, compared to American Jews who (on average) are much more devout and follow the tenants of Judaism much more strictly. Very interesting insight.

Well, our target for the day was Ice Lake. Manang is at roughly 3,500m / 11,400ft, and Ice Lake was our target for acclimatization at 4,600m / 15,000ft. For a single day, that's a helluva lot of elevation change! But, because it's so much higher up from where we were sleeping the nights preceding and following the hike, this kind of elevation gain and loss helps to generate more red blood cells and therefore helps keep you from getting altitude sickness. Yes it was a slog, but worth it for the preparation.

We knew the trail would be long and grueling, and that's exactly what we got. Surprise! The trail started back down the road from Manang and cut through the small village of Bhraka before starting to carve its way up the mountain. A lot of it was switchbacks. Considering how steep the line was from Bhraka to Ice Lake, that was the only way about it. To our benefit though, the sun was out, skies were clear, and the further up you went, the better the views got! As you can imagine, there were a good few stops along the way to catch our breath, stop for pictures, and enjoy the amazing day we had before us.

Once we got to the top, we were even more floored by what we'd already seen. The views in all directions were absolutely breathtaking!!! As we reached the plateau of the trail, we walked a short way into the mountains, as the lakes were a little tucked into the plateau. There was a small initial lake, and then the actual Ice Lake (sans ice) was a little further up.

What a beaut. We slowly went past the small one and then plopped down on the grass next to the big lake. Caught our breath and drank some water, then dove into our amazing lunch of yak sausage, yak cheese, and bread. Omnomnomnom. Perfect bait, as there were also a ton of stray dogs hanging out up there (they know what people do...). We had to fend them off with our hiking poles to keep lunch to ourselves.

Eventually the group of polish folks left the most picturesque spot right at the edge of the lake (selfish tourists), so others could enjoy the full scene and snap some pictures.

The long slog of a climb was most definitely worth it. The view at the top of the lake, with the mountains both in the foreground and all with way around really, made for a beautiful place to relax, enjoy the sunlight, and take in some of mother nature's true beauty.

Not sure how long we spent up there, but it was a perfect location for the relaxation. On the way down, I broke off from the main trail and hopped over the ridge behind the lake to get a better vantage point of the whole valley. It required a little more climbing (and resulted in the highest elevation I'd ever reached up to that point in time!) but led to some more absolutely beautiful views.

Once I got over the hump, I found a nice rock to sit on, and just put myself at peace. I truly could have sat there for hours taking it all in. It was mindblowing to have all of the amazing features and peaks right at my fingertips, such as:

• The U-Channel of what used be a glacier (next to the high-up monastery from the day before)

• The huge wall of mountains spanning the length of the valley right across from me, with peaks 7,600m / 25,000ft and higher (unbeLIEVEable!!!)

• The Soup Bowl, still hanging out and saying hi down the valley

• The fall colors slowly fading to green as you descend from the peaks (See the U-Channel pic)
• The clouds slowly hiding and revealing peaks as they see fit

• The sheer amounts of rock staring me down

• Glacier after glacier after glacier after glacier....

• Realizing that people climb those 7,600m / 25,000ft+ peaks. Intentionally, and survive.

Unfortunately, as with everything in life, all good things come to an end. I eventually tore myself away from that beautifully amazing location and continued the trail down. I caught back up with Saar and Vicki at the restaurant (4,250m / 13,000ft), and hung out for a little while more to take more of it in after they continued on. But from then on (as with the whole trail), it was just a lot of downhill. Surprisingly enough though, my knees were doing pretty well despite the trail!

Once we got back through Bhraka we passed a few little kids hanging out by a prayer wall begging for some chocolate. Back to the road after the long decent, we grabbed some liquids from the little store then huffed it back to Manang. A successful 'rest day', hahaha.

Arrived at the guest house and I jumped the gun to get in a hot shower. Had to pay, but it was worth every penny - damn that felt good. I timed it perfectly too, because shortly after I finished (and not because of me, mind you), the hot water died out. So all cleaned and refreshed, I got to wash my clothes and filter some water as everyone else was waiting for the hot water to come back.

As we came back, we were pleasantly surprised to see Max and Nina still at the guesthouse. Max got an eye infection, so instead of pushing on, they went to the hospital to take care of that and hang out in Manang. Bummer about their delay, but it was great to continue hanging out with them!

That night, we learned from the mistake we made the night before. The whole gang (me, Saar, Vicki, Max, and Nina) headed back to the restaurant from the night before, and put in our order for a designated time. And rather than waiting around like we did last time, we went back out and walked around town and grabbed coffee somewhere else to kill time. Money choice.

There were again some very interesting conversations over coffee, which is one of the many cool things of such an international group of folks hanging out! Health care and insurance popped up, a little bit about how different countries do their pay cycles, and more. I gotta say, it's awesome talking about important conversation topics with a culturally diverse group.

On the way back to the restaurant I stopped by the hotel to check my clothes. Unfortunately not all were dry. Bummer. On the way then to dinner, we stopped off to place a breakfast order at a different restaurant. All about planning ahead.

They knew they were coming, but Saar and Vicki had some German friends join the crew! Those couples had met on the GL20 in Corsica the year prior, and happened to be halfway across the world on the same trek at the same time.

Now, dinner. We made the right procedural call. Showed up with a bigger group but got seated pretty quickly and not quite as long of a wait as the previous night and our food came out. That, and they didn't forget my tea!

Good laughs and good fun. A big group with plenty of things to talk about. Dinner was good, and soon enough we were headed back to the hostel to hit the sack.

ACT Day 8 - Manang to Upper Khangsar

The next morning consisted of a nice and lazy, slow start. It was kinda nice. As I was up early anyways, I got up and out of bed to go out and peek at the mountains before they hid themselves behind the clouds. It was absolutely beautiful - what an awesome way to start the day! Took my camera and had a slow stroll through town. Again, just stunning.

Back at the hostel I went through my routine of getting my stuff packed and ready to go. With our breakfast scheduled at a different hotel, the gang regrouped and headed over. Once we got our food, I was pretty stoked on it. The Alpine Breakfast was what I got, and it was absolutely delicious.

There was a little more shopping to do before we hit the trail. I knew I needed something a little warmer for my head, so I was looking for a neck band. Luckily enough, I found one that wasn't terrible, and for a cheap price. Noice. Everyone else had a little to do too, so we all got our errands done. From that, we were off!

Meandering through Manang was the first bit, and pretty to boot! I can't remember where, but I remembered reading that you are supposed to pass prayer wheel walls on the left, in a clockwise fashion, and similarly as well with temples, shrines, and monuments. All in a clockwise manner. There was a wall on the outskirts of town, so I went clockwise around it. Good thing I did too, because the rest of the group didn’t and missed the sign for Tilicho Lake.

On the right track, we started making our way! This was the part where the trail branches. Heading right took you along the main trail towards the Thorong La pass. Eventually we were going to make our way in that direction, but as a group we'd all had the intention of heading towards Tilicho Lake instead as an extra supposedly not-to-be-left-out side trek. That's what the fork towards the left was, and where we headed. Also, say hi to the gang! From L to R - Max, Saar, Vicki, and Nina!

It started out with a nice little stroll above a river, then dropped down to another suspension bridge. Don't worry, after the bridge it was straight back up to the same height as before.

The stretch from the river to Khangsar was quite beautiful. The mountains were still saying hi, the blue skies made things really enjoyable, and the fall colors were really out on display!

Khangsar was next up. We took a little pit stop, set the bags down, used the facilities, and then continued to motor on through the town and back on the trail towards the next village. And as always, the nature - so amazing!

It wasn't a long stretch from Khangsar to Shree Kharka. This was pretty awesome, because Shree Kharka was our goal for the day, which put us there around midday. A short morning of hiking gave us the afternoon to hang out, rest up, and enjoy the area. There were a total of three huts in Shree Kharka, but we pushed on to the last one to give us that extra bump in distance while we were up.

I pulled up to one of the hotels and sat for a quick second as the rest of the group caught up. Good thing I did this time, because I didn't realize this was the last one in Shree Kharka. I love it, it was unexpected but we'd already reached our goal!

The main reason I didn't press on further, and I think everyone agreed with me on it, was shortly after Shree Kharka was a prominent landslide area. As the guidebooks and info said, the window to pass that area was early morning up until around 9am. The reason being - the area was just a wall of loose rock. At night, the rocks cool and things solidify.

But as the sun hits the area in the morning, and as the blue goats cruise around on the rock up top, things warm up and rustle around, bringing a lot of potential to knock things around and wipe out the trail and everything on it. Despite this knowledge, there were still a ton of groups that passed throughout the afternoon. We could've pushed it, but I was pretty content we played it safe on that stretch.

Either way, since we were at our guest house, we snagged some rooms and then headed up for lunch. All of us seemed to be pretty hungry, so most of us tucked into some Dal Bhat. As always, it was a ton of food and we all ended up rightfully stuffed. The natural progression? Nap time. Perfect.

The rest was quite nice, but I didn't hang out too long in bed. Rather, I took my kindle outside, found a nice chair, and posted up on the patio with one absolutely amazing view of the valley.

While enjoying the view and reading, there were some friendly police officers that rolled up and hung out for a bit during their hike. Would be interesting to know what their beat looks like, but cool to see them relaxed and enjoying the day as well.

On the opposite side of that spectrum, some ignorant tourists really pissed me off. There was one guy who passed by and had absolutely no idea of what was going. Didn't know where he was at, didn't know even the rough elevation he was at, didn't know what the next town/guesthouse was, nothing. Just complete lack of knowledge. And especially at altitude, not knowing even some of the basic things could lead to some issues. That ignorant and unaware, the onus is on you to at least have some baseline knowledge or understanding of what's going on. (That was thankfully a quick annoyance, it was otherwise really peaceful and beautiful just sitting there).

Saar woke up from his nap and came out, so we chatted and hung out. The conversation turned to books for a bit, which morphed into a military discussion. As he had served in the Israeli army, he shared some first-hand insight into how PTSD and any combat experience can completely change you. In addition to that, from his vantage point, he also informed me on the important role that the US has to support other countries on the world stage.

Quick Thought - I could go into detail on a diatribe on the US Military Complex, but won't. Quick and simple I agree that we need to support other countries as much as we can. Flip side, we shouldn't be so knee-deep in military spending and deployment. How you find that balance though, to ensure that you and your allies are safe without going overboard, is something I am not intelligent enough to hash out. One thing though, although I contemplated joining the Air Force, I'm glad I was not forced to serve in the military. /soapbox

Nina and Max were the next ones to come out. As it was still early in the day, and not wanting to let the body get too cold or stale, we decided on going for a little walk up the trail towards our goal for the next day. Ended up being a nice idea. Body stayed underway, blood kept pumping, and we even gained a little extra elevation to help the acclimatization.

The trail crossed a cold bridge, but along the way we saw some beautiful mountains, and some really crazy clouds. There were some really interesting and wispy formations that popped up. A couple spots also had some views that headed back down the valley toward where we'd hiked in from.

Lastly, our short jaunt got us close to the rockslide area. I’m hoping I didn’t blow it out of proportion, but the reading I did made it seem like a legitimate and consistent enough threat to plan around it, despite the groups of people we saw crossing it.

The mini-hike was just what we needed. Once the sun went down though, the cold crept in, so we headed back to the hotel. Once back with the whole gang, we whipped out the cards and played a fun few games.

Dinner was shortly thereafter. Delicious, as most places were, and thankfully they lit up the stove so we had some nice, warm heat to nuzzle up to after the food. At some point, the family there moved a TV into the dining room, and were watching Manchester United play, in the middle of the Himalayas. Damn we live in a crazy world!

Though it was a fairly quick hiking day, I was still pretty pooped. Leaving the warmth of the stove, I headed down and went to bed. But not before hanging out on the edge of the trail staring up at the amazingly clear, starry, moonlit night! :-)

ACT Day 9 - Upper Khangsar to Tilicho Base Camp + Tilicho Lake! (Tee-lee-cho)

Welp, it was an early rise for me! I woke up at 4:30 for some reason, but opened my eyes and my my my the stars!!! My alarm went crazy at 5:15, so I got up, packed my bag and got partially ready so I could go out before the sunrise. Wow is it beautiful there, and holy cow was is it as clear as it had ever been!!!

Breakfast came next and we sat down together to get ready or the day. Sadly, that morning we had to say goodbye to Saar and Vicki. They had done a big trek last year, and there were still some physical pains from that trip that were acting up and would only get worse with a lot more downhill. Because there was a ton more downhill to come yet in the trail, they made the tough choice to turn back. It was an absolute pleasure to get to know and hike with them! Looking forward to our next rendezvous. And we'll see, I'll be looking to head down to their neck of the woods while I'm over in Germany!

From five down to three; Max, Nina, and I jumped on the trail with a big day ahead of us. It was early, but we hit the trail along the route we previewed the night before. Overall, it was a pretty easy morning. And despite the hype and worry, we made it through the crazy landslide-prone area with no issues.

After the landslide area, there was a nice little lookout before the trail curved around the ridge. We stopped for a bit and enjoyed the beautiful sunlight and blue skies, and got a good view of what the rest of our day would look like, with Tilicho Base Camp (our sleeping spot), as well as the trail that went up roughly 800m / 2,600ft to Tilicho Lake right in front of is.

The stretch to Base Camp was short, so we rolled up looking for a room. There were only three guesthouses in the place. Because we rolled up as a group of three, "all they had" were triple rooms. Nothing else. Eventually we haggled with the last one and got a deal, and thankfully Max and Nina were cool with sharing a room with me for the night! Mighty nice of them!

With still a good bit of hiking to do yet that day, and a ton of elevation to gain, we got into our room, dropped weight from our bags, and began the long journey upwards.

Because we could see the trail up Tilicho Lake pretty well during multiple parts of the trail on the way in, we had a rough idea of what was in store. But it definitely lived up to the expectations. Long, steep, full of switchbacks, and just grueling in general. Perfect. But, this pleasure cruise was made enjoyable by fantastic weather and plenty of stops to enjoy the views.

The entire way up was in a truly mountainous amphitheater. The trail scaled up a huge wall, across the valley was a ridge wrapping around and enclosing the area, and parallel with the trail was what's called the Grand Barrier - a wall of peaks no lower than 6,000m / 19,700ft, with 7,000+m / 23,000+ft peaks on either end to bookend the monstrosity. Supremely impressive.

Once we got up the main part of the uphill, there was a bit of a false summit. Stupidly, I was low on water (my hose kinked and didn’t want to fix it), and was getting hungry but didn’t want to stop and eat before actually getting to the lake. So I was really struggling during the last bit of the climb and the saddle over to the lake did not help anything.

Holy hell was the push worth it! A short little ridge ended the uphill, and it opened up to the huge and captivating Tilicho Lake. Colored a solid pastel turquoise, the lake was very prominent and contrasted incredibly with the fairly flat greys and browns of the desolate rock on the right, and the stark white and black of the mountains on the left.

Once we got the initial breath in of all that we were seeing at the top, we all plopped down in front of the little tea house above the lake. Snackage came, so we gnawed on some food while continuing to take in the crazy scenery. The whole situation was really rewarding, refreshing, and awesome.

As we'd already done quite a bit of hiking, and a whole helluva lot of elevation, I at some point just laid back on the ground and nodded off for a brief nap. Didn't realize how much I needed it, but I definitely was overdue for a little rest. Nina and Max followed suit on this at some point. Nap Time!!!

Mine unfortunately didn't last too long. But rather than keep trying for it, I rolled over and just kept gazing in awe at the view. I was really caught by the color of all that was in front of me, the three-ish glaciers dropping down from Tilicho Peak and how they looked like pillows, the many cloud formations morphing in and out of existence. All of that, and looking from left to right made it looked like two different worlds. Super cool stuff.

I walked around for a bit to get some different vantage points of the whole place. Beautiful wherever you stood. Snapped some pictures, then went back towards the building to get out of the wind and sit down for a while longer.

Max and Nina got up at some point, and we were all starting to get cold. The wind really started to pick up towards the end of the day. But before going down, we walked over towards the big glacier that was touching the lake. It was huge; a very impressive natural feature!

As I said, the wind was getting cold. And after sitting down and enjoying the view for a good while, we started to brave the heavy headwind and start making our way back down the mountain. Thankfully, down is one whole helluva lot easier and quicker than up! So the trip back to base camp was pretty straight forward.

At some point we heard a big crack. All of us whipped around to witness a pretty decent sized double-avalanche! It was powerful, and went down in two consecutive acts. Really cool to see live and not be swept up in it! Finally, one of those unwritten bucket-list items crossed off, and a really cool one at that!

From there, it was a pretty easy way down.

When we got back to the hotel, we relaxed for a bit. While I was filling and filtering my water, I ended up meeting Barry from Madison, WI! He saw my Packers hat and we chatted for a little bit. True to midwestern form, he was super nice!

That night was pretty low key. We hung out for a bit, I got my stuff reorganized and in order, then we hung out in the dining room before and through dinner. The dining hall was packed for the night, as the hotel was overflowing and a bunch of people ended up having to sleep in the dining area. Somehow I spotted/snagged an open table, so that's where we posted up for the evening.

Dinner was nice, but there was a ton of commotion all over the place. Surprisingly enough though, it was the fastest service we'd seen all trip! But, alas, after dinner we hit the sack.

ACT Day 10 - Tilicho Base Camp to Churi Letdar

Early mornings = clear skies + beautiful views. Truth.

Our journey to start that day had us backtracking on the last two days of trekking. So we got ready, had breakfast, and not long after we were back on the trail. It was REALLY cold in the morning - being in the shadow of a mountain is a pretty definitive way to prevent the sun from getting to you! That and damn that cold wind really stings.

We started off behind the ridge but once we finally got around to the sun it felt amazing!!! Then, since it was early-ish morning, we once again passed through the landslide area with no issues.

From there, it was back on a familiar trail all the way back to Shree Kharka. It was a beautiful day, so an easy way to enjoy the trail! Somewhere along the way, Max recognized an old roommate of theirs from Melbourne! Super crazy coincidence in that remote of a setting. The two couples got to chatting and I went from third to fifth wheel. Familiar territory for me.

In Shree Kharka we stopped for a hot minute as a little break. I snagged some juice and strawberry oreos as a little snack. But not long after, we were back on the trail.

Not long after the village we hit the trail cutoff that took the high route up over Khangsar to meet up with the main trail headed up the pass. There was a good bit of climbing on this route, but no matter. That's the name of the game! The climbing took us up to the village that likely used to be Upper Khangsar, which seemed to have been deserted at some point.

While we took a break at Upper Khangsar, we heard another group and Max heard them shouting and thought he heard them say they saw a leopard! Holy crap!!! But, bad news. It was just a few yak. Womp womp womp

It was still a bit more of a push to get up to the corner of the ridge. But once we got there, the whole valley opened up! We stopped for a bit, snagged some pictures, and took some time to admire the amazing views down the valleys.

From that break spot on the corner of the ridge, the trail just started heading on down. And to add to that, the landscape provided what felt like quite a dramatic change! The new valley was full of vegetation, and with the fall colors out in full force, it was absolutely beautiful! We meandered our way down the hillside and got in a few stops to attempt at capturing the colorful beauty all around us.

The bottom of the trail coincided with the bottom of the valley. We crossed yet another suspension bridge to take us across the river, and Max and Nina provided the great idea of stopping at the little restaurant on the other side for a relaxing lunch break.

It turned out to be a fantastic lunch spot! The Black Keys were playing on the speakers, the hosts were super friendly and welcoming, the views of the mountains and hillsides were beautiful, and it was right next to the river. What an awesome place to stop for a break!

Our lunch also ended up being fantastic. To top it off, we snagged some yak cheese for dessert and it was deeeeelicious. That was a truly great little lunch stop. As all good things come to an end, we paid up and hit the trail.

It was a briefly steep climb coming out of the restaurant, but the trail shortly met back up with the main trail heading up to the pass. Back on the main track!

Despite the great lunch I started to wane in energy as we kept on going. Not sure why, but it might've been just one of those days. Soon the trail got us in to Yak Kharka. We took a brief little break, but as we were aiming for Letdar, we kept on going.

Right after Yak Kharka was this huge rock field. It was a weirdly cool place in the middle of the trek. Adding to that, there were a good few yak hanging out in the area, and a lonely vulture passing overhead. All the cool stuff aside, I was really feeling it and ready to sit down.

As we knew we would, we finally made it to Churi Letdar! A bit of a funny part before we get into town, the bridge right before the place was built in 2061 B.S.

We ventured to the far end of town and snagged a couple rooms at the last hostel. Bam. We were set. As always, it was a really nice relief to finally put the pack down and relax. We got in and stretched for a bit with the valley looking down on us.

I then filtered water, sat around, and read for a good while, along with some trip planning. To end the night, we had dinner, some nice conversation, and then hit the hay.

ACT Day 11 - Churi Letdar to High Camp

It was a cold night, but we woke up to a bunch of snow in the valley! It was very beautiful, as it was partly clear, but there were still some clouds hanging around to accentuate the views.

I made sure to have a big breakfast that morning. And with that, we were ready to go. As you could have guessed, it was a bit cold to start. But once we got into the sun, it heated up right quick! The snow was prevalent along the trail, and it was nothing but beautiful.

The trail got to a point where we had to cross the valley. Most every other hiker pushed up the first side of the trail to drop down and cross the bridge. But we decided to take the first option - a suspension bridge covered in snow. It ended up being the right choice. Despite it being slippery, it was a fun way to get across.

On the way over, we got to check out a beautiful waterfall up on the valley wall. The colors along the valley had been really popping the whole way, but this was a beautiful setting. The darker hues, greys, browns, and everything. Just beautiful.

The morning was cold, but it was starting to heat up with the movement and the sunlight! I had to shed some leggings after we crossed the bridge. Then, shortly after the bridge, there was a little hut where we stopped for a fresh apple and some more great views!

Max and Nina ended up befriending another French couple at the pit stop, so I let them be as I pushed on further up the trail. You guessed it, more amazingly beautiful views. The trail wandered further up the valley, and as the trail progressed, more impressive rock walls and mountainous features kept popping into sight. It was truly beautiful the whole way. I feel like I've said that too much already, but the sights along the trail continued to blow me away.

We all ended meeting back up somewhere along the trail, then kept pushing on all the way to the next village of Thorung Phedi. I was feeling pretty good and was ready to keep on pushing up to High Camp. But Max and Nina, being the voices of reason, convinced me to relax a little bit. To do so, we stopped off at a restaurant in the village for some tea and wifi to rest up for a little bit. A great choice with some great views.

Some warm tea down the hatch, a few communications home to the family, and a bit rested up, it was now time to go up. It wasn't far in terms of distance from Thoroung Phedi to High Camp, but it was a helluva lot of elevation gain, and quite the slog. Per my usual routine, I put it into a low gear and just started chugging along.

Despite the long way up, we made it up in less than an hour! Good thing too, because all three of us got lucky to get a bed in a room! The same couldn't be said for a lot of people that came later.

We knew going into it that High Camp filled up quick. There are a total of 360 beds up there, and it's the last camp before the pass, so there's usually a lot of people that launch from there over the pass. We got there at around 10:30am, and by 11am all of the beds were filled up. Glad we had good timing to get a bed, because everyone who got there late (and there were a ton) were stuck in the somewhat cold dining hall. Yikes.

With our beds though, we got everything down and situated, then headed to the dining hall for lunch. I got some pizza, and it was honestly damn good. Not sure if it was because I was hungry or because I hadn't had pizza in a while, but it was delicious either way!

The High Camp complex was kinda cool. There were a number of buildings somewhat spread out with some prayer flags here and there, a few stone statutes, and a lookout up the hill behind the complex. After lunch, we walked around and then walked up to the lookout.

It was super slow, but it was a good spot up top. Unfortunately, the clouds were still hanging out and getting stronger by the minute, but we got some beautiful sights to admire on the perch up there. With a few waterfalls dropping down some really grey rock walls, a river tucked high up the mountains, Annapurna III and Gangapurna off in the distance, and more to watch, I was really enjoying the views.

Nina started to not feel so great, so she and Max went down to get her some medication. I stayed up for a while longer to continue enjoying the views. Once I came down, I went to check on them. Nina still had a slight headache but planned to take a couple pills and see how things improved.

I went to filter some water, and chatted with a father and daughter from Florida. He'd done the trek four years ago and said everything before Manang has grown, whereas everything after Manang hasn’t. His daughter was struggling along as it was her longest trek to date, but said she was enjoying the adventure! After that, I met Monique, the Aussie gal living in Singapore doing digital media for GSK. Seems like Singapore is a great place to work and network.

Not wanting to be social wasn't my excuse, but I was a little tired, so I left to to go lay down in my bed and do some reading. That was really nice and needed.

After waking up and going back to the dining hall, I walked outside to clouds. When we got up there, it was grey but clear out. Well, not anymore, as the clouds dropped down to the camp and visibility had shrunk to nothing. The rest of the night would end up being thick fog and clouds, with a light snowfall that continued on. we were a little worried that it would affect our ascent the next day, but there wasn't anything we could've done about that other than wait and see.

Once back in the dining hall, I found a nook in the very packed building to keep reading. Max eventually found me and pulled me over to the smaller and colder (but much less busy) room in the back to hang out with him and Nina. Nina was doing a lot better, the rest and medication seemed to help out a lot!

Tri from Vietnam was sitting with us too, so all four of us were hanging out, chatting, and having a good time trying to stay warm. The tea definitely helped as we were sitting there, but eventually I got up to go for a walk outside. Bad choice, it was absolutely freezing (duh).

As I came back in, Tri started to not feel so good. He was getting a headache, and it seemed to be getting worse. But rather than go back down to reduce elevation, he and his guide were just sitting there in the coldest room in the building. It was a bit unsettling to watch, but despite our consultations telling them the best course of action was to go down, there wasn't much we could do.

All of us ordered food and started waiting for it. The cold of the room was really getting to us. But eventually it came, so we slammed home some dinner. As we were planning an early rise and departure, we ordered breakfast and hit the sack.

ACT Day 12 - High Camp to Muktinath -- Thorong La Pass!!!

Despite my earplugs and tiredness, it was a restless night of sleep, tossing and turning from midnight on. Then an hour before my alarm I went into full REM sleep, but got woken up for the early rise. And by early I mean 04:00. Whuh. That was not ideal.

Not to change plans, I got up and got packed, then headed to the dining hall to find a spot for breakfast. Max and Nina joined shortly thereafter. Not sure how we all got our stuff in the melee, but we all ate our breakfasts, and then topped it off with a whole piece of garlic to help combat the altitude issues. Max and Nina shared that garlic helps combat altitude problems, and my burps were super garlicy because of it. All set with the morning prep, we finished packing and hit the trail ready for the peak of the trek - one of the highest hiking trails in the world!

As I mentioned before, the day and night before became very cloudy, foggy, cold, and snowy. We weren't sure how well our trek would be if it was snowy, if we'd be able to see anything, or if the trail would even be passable. Well, rest easy my friends. When I came out of my room first thing I was floored with what I saw.

The sky was the clearest I'd ever seen, and I was able to see more stars than I had my entire life. Being up at almost 4,850m / 15,900ft really clears everything up and puts you closer to the rest of the galaxy, and that was absolutely palpable. That high up, no light pollution, and perfect clarity, it was absolutely unreal!!!

We hit the trail, and I was as bubbly and cold as can be. I was absolutely floored at how beautiful it was!!! Matter of fact, I soon turned off my headlight because of the clear skies and the approaching dawn. It was early and cold, but I was absolutely loving the tiring hike.

Slowly, we inched our way further up the hill. During our slow climb, the dark black night sky slowly phased to some pre-dawn deep purple-ish light. Further on, the deep purple morphed to a deep blue, then slowly a more pastel blue, all the while shedding light on the amazing peaks all around us! I kept getting the feeling the sun was just about to pop up and shed first light on us, and was content to wait in place for it to happen and not miss it! Thankfully though we pushed on, as it took a lot longer than I had expected.

In that vein, we kept on motoring on, and I kept relishing every sight that was out in front of me. The snow that dropped that night really made everything light up, even before the sun was up. Everything was bright and beaming. Everywhere I looked was a blue-ish hue of something, and it was a truly remarkable place to be at that point in time.

Slowly, we inched up hill. And slowly, the line of sunlight crept closer and closer to us! FINALLY! We were in the sunlight! I thought the day so far was beautiful, but now with the sun up and hitting everything around us, it just made everything slightly warmer, the sky bluer, the mountains brighter, and just added to the amazingness of it all!

Energies already high, the bright sun just fueled us up even more. We kept pushing upward, and were making really good progress. Somewhere in my research for the trip I'd read that there were a lot of false summits along the way, so I tempered my expectations along the last stretch to the top. In no rush at all to leave the beautiful scenery, we took a couple leisurely stops along the way to catch our breaths and take it all in.

The motoring continued, and then all of a sudden we'd made it to the top! All of us were pretty surprised that the summit had come up so quickly. We made really good time, and I think all thanks to our excursions up to Ice Lake and Tilicho Lake, we reached the peak with a ton of energy and exertion to spare. Hot damn! We were officially at the highest pass in the world!!!

Caveat - I'm not sure what the actual description is for 'highest', but I think it's clarified as the highest hiking trail over a pass in the world.

As you could likely imagine, we were all super pumped to have made it to the top! So naturally, a little jubilation ensued. I was floored at all that was around us, so I took some pictures of the absolutely amazing sights in all directions.

Quick Thought - I have never seen such blue skies as I had at the top of Thorong La Pass. I was absolutely floored by this in all directions. The skies were crystal clear, and the range of blue from a pastel blue at the horizon to a deep ocean blue at the top of the sky just astonished and amazed me!!!

As you would imagine, we waited in line amongst the gaggle of other instagram fiends to get our picture with the actual sign. Social media is the bane of our society these days in many ways. That's a rant for another time, but it's official, we made it to the top!

We loitered about for a good bit, relishing our accomplishment and the amazing nature that came with it. I broke off and went to the top of a short hill off to the side (so I actually went higher than the 5,416m / 17,769ft of the pass) to take in the sights of the valleys back down the trail and yet to come as well. Clouds were slowly starting to grow from where we just came, but looking ahead to where we were going, everything was clear as day!

While at the top of that hill, I got to chow down on a nice reward of a little clif bar as my exquisite snack for the amazing view, watch a French expedition climb up and down a peak close by, and failed hardcore at trying to make a video. Besides that, it was truly breathtaking at the top. Just unbelievable. The mountains were popping everywhere. Big glaciers on the side of one mountain, and ready to pour over a cliff on the other. Impossible to touch on all of it, the views and atmosphere were phenomenal.

I honestly could have stayed there all day. It was just such a uniquely beautiful place on earth, one that I would highly recommend to anyone who would want to see it, and I would love to go back and see it again!!!

The hard part was that the next village was still a while down. So although I could've remained for a while, we started our journey now down the mountain. The day up was about 600m / 1,980ft, but now our path down was about to take us around 1,600m / 5,200ft down the mountain pass. So we got prepared for a lot of descending.

As you can imagine, it was quite the toll. But we didn't have a choice! We slowly knocked off parts of the trail, with a few stops here and there to give ourselves a break and enjoy the views.

The journey down was (just like the rest of the trek) super cool. At the top everything was covered in snow, but after a while the landscape slowly started to morph. Changes from the old valley to the new were pretty drastic and showed a stark contrast of the dry desert-like nature of the new valley to the lush green and rocky nature of the one we'd come from.

Once we got out of the snow, I had to shed a few layers. The snow kept the wind really cold, but with the hot sun beating down, the loss of elevation, and the drier ground in front of us, things started to heat up (though still not quite a heat wave).

It felt like quite the long trek down. Thankfully the views were truly beautiful to help the route. Towards the end, we were really dragging. But we got to a more flat area that looked like a flood plain, and we crossed paths with a big heard of goats with some crazy looking horns.

Walking through that supposed flood plain made me really want to see what the area looked like during monsoon season or some heavy rain. I can't imagine how powerful mother nature would be in that place! It has to be both impressive, awesome, and terrifying, all at the same time.

After we left the snowy area, we were introduced to Dhaulagiri, the 7th highest peak in the world! It was coming in and out of the clouds, but regardless of how much was covered up, it was a supremely impressive peak to behold! The top is 8,167m / 26,705ft, and there are a few 'smaller' peaks with the same name. All of which were crazy.

Turns out that 1,600m / 5,250ft elevation loss is quite a bit. But no worries, we eventually made it to Muktinath! Let me say that it was definitely a welcome sight. We were all getting a bit hangry, but were happy to make it into town. Our spirits got a bit of a bump getting into town too, as there was a huge area of the mountain covered in prayer flags. More on that area later.

We got into town and posted up at the first decent place we could find - Hotel Buddha. Looked pretty nice, so we ordered lunch and I had a decision to make. Was I going to push on to Kagbeni further down the mountain, or take it easy and stay in Muktinath that night? Thankfully I made the smart and relaxed choice, so I snagged a room and was quite happy about that.

Max, Nina, and I really decided to celebrate our success going up and over the pass. I snagged a yak burger that ended up being fantastic, and they both enjoyed their delicious grub. Then, as a dessert, Max and Nina let me in on their foix gras they'd been carrying around the whole trip. Not the greatest thing I'd ever had, but it definitely tasted exquisite.

After a coffee, it was unfortunately then time to part ways with Max and Nina. They were headed in a quicker fashion to Jomsom to catch a flight back to Pokhara. It was GREAT that I got to trek with them and get to know them through the adventure! Really a fun and adventurous couple people that were a delight to be with. Looking forward to staying in touch and hopefully visiting them in Perth sometime in the future!

After lunch and saying au revoir to Max and Nina, I headed to my room to clean up a bit. Luckily the plumbing at Hotel Buddha was decent, so I treated myself to an actually warm shower. Holy hell did that feel good.

Cleaned up and feeling better, I hit the streets to do a little walking around. I registered with the trekking management department to get them their statistics, then on to a gompa, but then had to run back to the hotel for something a little warmer. The sun went away and it got a bit nippy. No matter, warmer clothes on I headed back out to continue my scamper. Kinda cool through the main street, most of the small vendors had a weaving machine at their stall for making scarves. One of the ladies was making one as I walked by, and it was really cool to watch.

After I got down to one end of the town, I doubled back and went a bit off the beaten track to a higher route that went back across town. My main intention was to see the big Buddha statue overlooking the town. I made it up to that complex after the big set of stairs and perused around the statue. It was huge, ornate, cool looking, and had a great view of town.

I left that complex and found a goat track leading along the hillside overlooking the town. It was a pretty stroll and it took me over to the main temple complex of Muktinath - the place with the tons of prayer flags as we came into town.

I learned this from someone along the way, but this temple complex is a mixture of both Hindu and Buddhist sites in the same location. How cool, religious co-location in harmony. You gotta appreciate that, and wish that was more prevalent.

Well, I made it over, and it was scenic even before I walked in. Then, wandering around the site was even better with the many fall colors hanging around and the tons of symbolism and monuments there at the site.

I started off there just going from Gompa to Gompa, enjoying the very pretty colors and nature paired with the very precise and ornate craftsmanship of all the woodwork in and out of the many Gompas. After the first couple I came to a bigger temple complex with a ton of water spouts (108 to be exact) around the edge surrounding a big temple and water bath.

As I rolled into the place, I saw a bunch of people running around under the spouts then jumping into the bigger water bath before entering the temple. It all looked like fun, but I knew that there was something behind it. I talked with an Indian guy that was there to get the scoop, and he shared that it was all a purification ritual. The 108 water spouts are meant to pour pure water onto someone as they walk/run underneath all of them. Once done with the spouts, you immerse yourself in the bath then enter the temple in the center in a pure state. Quite the interesting and lively ritual!

Continued on to the temple connected to that one, and continued my journey. I was really enjoying the mixture of colors and the nature that was present everywhere. At some point, I connected with a guy, Jan from Frankfurt, that Max, Nina, and I connected with the night before at High Camp. He was wandering around as well, so we chatted for a bit and then headed over to the big Buddha statue.

The Buddha statue was massive, and really cool to see. I spent a bit of time sitting there in awe of the statue and enjoying the mountain backdrop.

I continued my wander around the complex a bit more, and continued to enjoy what I was experiencing. The co-location of two religions in the same holy location really astounded me. Still a ton of beauty all over the place.

A little tired, I headed back to the hotel. Muktinath had a purified water filling station, so I grabbed my bottles and such and headed over to the station. While there, I ran into a couple German gals that Jan and I ran into in the temple complex. I gotta say I love being secretly competent in German, because as I was walking back to my hotel, I could hear them questioning to themselves if I was German or not. Teeheehee.

With a successful exploration of town under my belt and some really cool stuff that I explored, I grabbed my phone and kindle and headed to a cafe to read and type up some notes. I got in and got a coffee and cake, but before I could dig in my buddy Sanjay showed up!

He was a fellow solo-trekker from the UK, and we met a few days prior on the trek. It was great to have a fellow traveler along for a little chat. We talked about his traveling plans, his intention to get a PhD, how messed up both the US and the UK are, and a lot more. Great chatting with him, but he eventually jumped back to his hotel to sit by the fire, and I sat a while longer reading and getting caught up before heading back to my hotel.

Now that I didn't have some trekking buddies with me, my days got a little quieter. I got back and read in my room for a bit, then headed to the dining hall to read. There was a big group of Israelis that were staying there with some pretty bratty kids, and they took up the better part of the dining room. All the other tables were filled up, so I squished in with a couple Swedish dudes who were kinda quiet.

I kept reading, enjoyed some yak momo, ordered breakfast for the next day, then went to read in my room before going to bed.

ACT Day 13 - Muktinath to Kagbeni

That morning I intentionally got up and at 'em early to rise with the clear skies. It was definitely the right choice. I got up, had breakfast, and was out before the sun was fully up. I gotta say though, despite the correct action, it was really nippy to start the day.

I headed back up the trail and out of town before taking the trail across the valley to the north side, which would lead down to the Kali Gandaki valley. Before getting to that north side, I crossed over a bridge and pulled up to stop and wait for the sun. I took some pictures, and OH BOY was it nice once the sun came up over the mountains!

Now a little warmer and some sunlight coming down, I continued on the trail, or what I thought was the trail. I was trying to follow my map, but apparently missed something as a guy passing by on a motorbike stopped to point me in the right direction. Quite nice of the guy!

Back on track, I came across another suspension bridge to continue down the north side of this valley. After I got to the bridge, there were a couple other folks that coincided there. One pair of German dudes trekking, and a local lady looking like she was just running some errands or something. The German guys were nice, and they proceeded to motor on down the trail, but the local lady would not let me be. She just kept hanging around me despite me stopping and slowing down to give myself some space. Long story short, had to blow past her to get some peace and quiet on the trail. Yes, that's somewhat antisocial of me, but I don't want someone continually haggling me as I'm trekking and trying to enjoy the area.

That slight annoyance now past, I made it to the next town. Coming in, there was a pretty cool looking feature in the center, which ended up being a former fortress. So of course I decided to go check it out. It was a bit of a climb getting there, but I worked my way up. As soon as I got close though, I heard some not-friendly dog barking. Hell no. I noped the fuck right out of there. Thankfully, they were chained up, but I wasn't going to mess with that crap. I was out. Fortress looked pretty cool from the little I saw though.

As I got back on the trail and continued on, it was interesting how barren the nature became. The landscape was really dry, similar to a kind of high-alpine/desert. Thanks to a little nature sign, it's also the habitat for Blue Sheep and Snow Leopards. How cool! Bummer though, because I didn't see any.

Though the nature was barren, I crossed paths and chatted with Nuria from Switzerland on the trail. We chatted along the way, and eventually broke off as I kept motoring on, continuing further down the valley on the approach to Kagbeni.

The trail was a mix of dirt road and hiking trail, and there weren't a ton of people along the way. In a couple of spots there was some interesting maneuvering required, but overall pretty straightforward. Eventually it came to a makeshift viewpoint that sat right above Kagbeni and provided some very beautiful views of the town and both directions up and down the Kali Gandaki valley.

I pulled up, dropped my pack, and enjoyed the many views. Very cool spot, and interesting as well. To my right was the Mustang region of Nepal. This region is heavily restricted for tourists, as a permit and guide is required for the entire region outside of the small village close to Kagbeni (See pic below, about a 30min walk from Kagbeni). But tourists can go to that village only during daylight hours. Why such heavy restrictions? I'm pretty sure it's to maintain the true nature of the area and its people.

Thankfully that view point was pretty close to town, so it was just a short scramble down the hillside until I'd reached Kagbeni! It was a short day on the trail, but this was the one village I'd received a recommendation to stay at. Naturally, I had to act out on that, so the plan was to stay there for the night! All I had to do was find a place to stay and then wander around and explore!

The place I was looking forward to was supposedly the best place in town and definitely had the best name in town - Yac Donald's. Rolled up expecting a room, but the only time on the trip this happened - I was turned away because they were booked out. Super bummed. But the next couple of places I tried were also booked out. What the heck? Well, as I was walking into town I had to take some detours, as there was a TV show being filmed in the town, Black Narcissist. How lame. Not only polluting the nice town, but blocking out the one recommendation I had the whole trip.

The search for a place really reminded me of trying to find Casa Particulares in Cuba, especially in Trinidad. Just walking from place to place hoping for a bed. Eventually I landed on one that had one. It wasn't a very spectacular place, and was a bit dark, but I was just happy to have a bed to sleep on and put my stuff. I got in, got situated, then grabbed a few things to go explore this town that was supposed to be a great place to enjoy.

While exploring I rant briefly into Nuria from the trail. Chatted for a hot minute and she continued her search for a place to stay as I went up toward the big prayer wall behind the monastery. Turned out to be a pretty cool location, as it was up on a small hill right next to a river, there were a bunch of people hanging around near the river (I think it had something to do with a religious site in some manner), and had a great view looking up and down the valley with the mountains in all the backgrounds!

Just past the prayer wall was a nice little plateau/square up against the monastery with a nice view point. I was milling about, taking a few pictures, then all of a sudden someone started talking to me. The man eventually introduced himself as Sitra, and then he and his buddies Abishe, Souraj, and two others struck up a conversation with me. Very out of the blue, but quite cool.

They were all happy I was visiting their country, and it was clear to see their actual gratitude for this fact, but they were all surprised that I was traveling alone. Through our chat, it was their common consensus that they wished they could visit the US, but for them it's really hard to do both because of visas and finances. That was sad to hear, as here I am this very privileged person able to visit their country but they aren't able to visit my home country. Bummer. Eventually they wished me a pleasant trip and we parted ways.

This was a really surprising thing. Me being pretty introverted, it's weird to all of a sudden be approached by a random stranger in a foreign country, and slightly weirder that they were super friendly and really welcoming to me the foreigner. This was not an uncommon affair in Nepal, and it was refreshing to be in a country with such welcoming people!

A quick little saunter from that plaza and I was in the inner square of the monastery. I admired a few of the buildings, and then decided to find a bench and just sit down for a while. Perfect timing, as it was lunch time in the monastery! So I got to people watch as all of the students chowed down on some lunch.

As I was sitting there, I was kinda regretting my game plan. Kagbeni was definitely a nice city, but it was smaller and not quite what I was expecting. There was enough to walk around and see and admire, but not necessarily a whole afternoon's worth. I was starting to question what I wanted to do, if it was worth staying there, or if I was going to be bored for the rest of the day.

But wouldn't you know it... As I was sitting there I see a buddy from earlier on the trek walk into the plaza! Anil is an awesome photojournalist from Nepal but living in Washington, D.C., but recently back in Kathmandu for a time. Super nice guy, and a great coincidence to run into him as I was there!

I waved him over and we chatted for a bit. As he was moving and grooving, I ended up tagging along with him as he wandered around town for his photojournalism work. This was just the thing to get me going, give me a different perspective on the village, and he got me into some pretty cool and unexpected places, places I wouldn't have had the balls barging into on my own! (It definitely helps that he speaks the language :-) ... ). First stop - the roof of the monastery!

We cruised back down to the monastery square, and then headed out to the rest of the town. Along the way, he shared that a lot of the original structures in the village are around 500 years old. That's pretty old. Crazy part is, a lot of them (from that original group) are still in supposedly great condition. Awesome to see the durability of good construction, especially in such an aggressive environment!

Before meeting up with Anil, I was debating not staying in Kagbeni. But having crossed paths in the little town, I am super happy I stayed! He was quite the guide, being able to speak to people we encountered, and having the guts to just go wherever seemed interesting.

We went in and out of people's homes, and up onto some rooftops with views around the area. Some of the spots we ventured to butted up to the filming location, but Anil was good at sweet talking some people to not get us in trouble. One spot we encountered looked to be a museum that was under construction, but we wandered through and admired the handiwork. In addition, a few dark alleys led us through people's homes and a few cows just hanging out in ultra tiny courtyards. We did a good bit of back-alley exploring, and then afterwards he chatted with some older ladies hanging out on the street and I got a good bit of people watching in.

Anil was a great adventure buddy. Tons of insight into Nepali culture, information about the area, and sharing a good bit about his very interesting life between the US and Nepal and what being a photojournalist entails. His journey though, was slated to head to Jomsom that night. So after a bunch of poking around this little town, he headed on his way.

I went back to my hotel room and took a well needed nap. I really was overdue. Ended up sleeping a ton and had the evidence of drool to show for it. Classic me. Waking up didn't put me in the mood to wander around, so I ended up just laying in bed and reading for a bit. That was relaxing.

At some point I decided to get up and go back outside for another walk. This one was a lot more relaxed and I was quite a bit spacy in wandering. It was pretty though, as dusk was just around the bend and the lighting was gorgeous.

On this stroll I stumbled back upon the filming crew and the show they were working on. I watched a couple of takes before they finally wrapped up for the day. That was cool to see, but I was annoyed at the coincidence and timing of it, as they were taking over this super quaint and historic town. Not much I could do about that though.

My legs kept moving and I kept meandering around town. I ventured to the outer edge of town. Once I got there I got to witness a huge herd of goats passing by, about 60-80 of them. They slowly came up the path and just cruised through on their way back to their pen, essentially in the middle of town.

Quite the lovely evening jaunt. But, all good things come to an end, so I made my way back to the hotel to hang out and get some dinner. As I rolled up I got invitied by Siring (Sir-Ring) to hang out in the kitchen while he made dinner. Again, the Nepali hospitality and welcoming in full swing!

We had a really delightful chat. He was hard at work, but it was really nice to learn about his family and more about the town of Kagbeni:

• He's the youngest of 7, and splits his time between Kathmandu and Kagbeni
• He said Kagbeni is really nice, but says it gets way too cold in the winter
• Of his other siblings, one is in New York, one in Japan, two in India, and the rest in Nepal
• The folks still in Kagbeni are his mom, him, and one of his older brothers, along with his older brother's kids.
• As a kid he aspired to be a nurse, but says he lost his chance. Now he just wants to help people and seems ok with working in the hotel
• There's a huge age difference between all of his siblings - 40-24 --> 16 years!
• The local meal of Dal Bhat is broken down into the following pieces
• Dal - lentil soup/curry
• Bhat - rice
• (something I can't remember) - the potatoes
• AKA it's delicious as all get out

Siring was really hard at work getting food made, but it was a nice conversation we had during the process. Along the way he put together a hefty platter of food and I went to town on the Dal Bhat. As is almost required with this dish, I ate way too much. The tryptophan was starting to kick in, so I thanked him for the meal, the great conversation, then headed up to my bed and crashed.

ACT Day 14 - Kagbeni to Marpha

Well to say my day started off a little weird was an understatement. I was startlingly awoken around 6am to someone fervently banging on my door. I don't know what the fuck was going on, and it didn't make sense because I was the only guest at the place that night. It was brief, but was really freaky.

After that little episode I got a little bit more sleep then got up and geared to get on the road. I'd planned on an early start to the day because the first stretch of trail was on the road, and the later on in the day it gets the more wind rushes through that area of the valley. Only the mom and older brother were awake, but I paid for my stay and food and hit the trail. Another brief startling due to the goat that was dead-set staring at me as soon as I walked out the door.

I didn't do it last night, so I had to go fill up on water before leaving town, and then stopped off at a 'German bakery' to get something for breakfast. Didn't eat it then, but walked back to the edge of town to find a little spot to sit down and eat. That was the perfect plan, as there was a nice little spot I found along the trail that gave me a fantastic view of where I was headed for the morning, approaching the transition (somewhat) from dry, desert-y and brown to light tan and trees in the landscape.

Vittles all taken care of for the moment, it was time to start walking. As I said, unfortunately, the vast majority of the morning was on the road. With that comes a lot of jeeps, buses, and motorcycles with tons of dust as they whiz on by.

It was calm to start, then kinda picked up. But thankfully there was a bit of a detour through a small town. To be honest, it felt like a ghost town, as things seemed pretty run down and a little unpresuming.

Right after that little town there was an offshoot shown on the map that would take you off the road, and then up and over a big saddle to drop down into Jomsom. Unfortunately I decided against that detour though, in favor of pushing on. It would have been absolutely beautiful, but stupidly I wasn't in the mood for another big climb. Bummer. But saving that for next time!

After rounding a bend, the road came up to this huge, gorgeous valley. But wouldn't you know it, the TV show was filming right in the middle of it. Again, annoying, kinda kills the view.

Kept on trucking, and kept on getting wafted by dust. The views were pretty, so that helped. In all honesty though, I was pretty done with being on the road. Thankfully, the last little bit right before Jomsom was along a riverbed. So that made things a lot better.

Jomsom was the next bit of civilization, and Old Jomsom was the entry to it. As described, Old Jomsom was pretty much a ghost town. I meandered through and enjoyed what was there as I continued on. I could have veered off to the left to get straight back on the trail, but decided to go through actual Jomsom in search of some postcards and something quick and substantial to eat.

A bridge over the river got me back to the road, and then I began my hunt. I stopped off at the first shop I saw and asked for postcards - no dice. She said the airport, just down the road, might have some. I then turned my heading in that direction and motored on. Got a few more rejections, but finally found a shop with them near the airport. Success.

For food, I decided to treat myself by stopping at a local café and sit down for something nice. Found a pretty good looking one, and was pleased to find a ton of mountain bikes in the courtyard. That only made me want to ride. Bummer. Got in, ordered a coffee and a muffin, and then the gal said to hold on and ran off to somewhere else.

I pulled up a seat at a table on the patio and ogled at the mountain bikes as I waited. I definitely would have liked to hit some trails with them, but had a bad feeling most of the riding would have been on the dirt road. Dirt road riding didn't sound too appealing, but I didn't inquire further.

Well, I assumed that things were in order with my little breakfast, but slowly things started to worry me. It seemed like at some point they forgot, or just simply didn't give a shit about it. After about 15 minutes watching people go back and forth but leave me on my own, I just up and left. No use wasting all that time. Instead I found another shop and settled on some coconut wafers and oreos as my second breakfast. Healthy, I know...

From there, it was back on the march. The road paralleled the airport, then as soon as the runway stopped, there was a connector trail that crossed right behind it. Before the bridge to cross the river, I had a quick chat with a guy sitting on the close side. He was super friendly and wanted to see some of the pictures I was taking. Luckily, right there was a really pretty spot. Nilgiri and Tilicho Peaks were just hanging out right there with their foothills showing, which made for an absolutely beautiful shot.

Once I crossed the bridge I decided to take the upper route instead of the shortcut. I anticipated it being a little more scenic, but that ended up being the wrong move. The trail branch started off really clear, but soon just kinda disappeared in the direction of the next town. There was supposed to be a branch headed towards that shortcut, but a sturdy 'ole chainlink fence told me that option was no longer in play.

Rather than just go back down the trail and start over here, I kept trudging through some people's fields, farmland, an aqueduct, and I don’t even know what... Finally though, what was supposedly a trail met up with an actual trail and I was back on the actual path. Good thing too, because I was definitely a little beat after that.

The town I ended up in was quite tiny, and the road unfortunately was very sporadic with its markings. This became a common theme on this side of the pass. From there, it was really a bit of a crapshoot. Going down the valley, the trail signs were pretty sparse. In the valley/flood plains, the signs pointed in a couple different directions. Up the other side of the valley, the trail was wiped out by some road construction and weren't replaced. Eventually the road construction petered in and out and then stopped, but although I was now back on a clear trail, there was a good bit of wandering about trying to find the right path that got me tired and in a not so great mood. Adding to that, the wind was picking up and blowing right in my face. Not a super happy camper for parts of that afternoon.

After another trail situation like before, the trail climbed up and out and into a small village. It was very quaint, with a bit of construction going on renovating the monastery. Just out of town was Dhumba Lake. It was a fenced in lake (more the size of a pond really) with a few prayer flags and a little restaurant on the property. I was a bit wind-worn and tired, so I paid the $0.02 entry fee, and went and sat down by the lake.

There were some folks loitering about doing some kind of instagram photoshoot, but soon they left and I had the place to myself to enjoy. It was quiet, and peaceful. Made for a great spot to sit and relax for a bit.

A little bit rested and relaxed, I continued on. Up and out of that little valley, and down into another flood plain. That aspect of the trail was pretty cool. As it made its way down the Kali Gandaki (main) valley, it would bisect a lot of the little valleys that fed into the Kali Gandaki. Not always clearly marked, the trail would make its way across these massive flood plains right where the two valleys would intersect. That was cool, especially trying to imagine just how much water flows through that point in rainy season.

After this last one, the trail elevated itself above the Kali Gandaki, staying high in the valley. This section was really gorgeous, as we rounded a bend and soon had the small town of Marpha just down below us. A really beautiful sight.

Unfortunately, I was starting to struggle really enjoying the trek. The wind had picked up significantly which made it harder to push on. That, and my body was getting really tired (in hindsight it wasn't tired, just getting dehydrated). At that point in time I was really regretting not having an actual breakfast, in which case I could sense a little fatigue oncoming. Gah. Despite that I did my best to stop and smell the roses, and take in all the beautiful views ahead of and behind me.

All of a sudden a big gust of wind hit me. I got really freaked out for a second, as it grabbed my hat and ran with it! I was going to be one unhappy camper If I lost that hat for the rest of the trip. Thankfully, there was a hill right behind me and the wind took it up that hill. I stabbed it with my trekking pole and was able to save it. Whew. Crisis averted.

High up on the ridge, the trail scooted right past Marpha, and then dropped back down towards the valley floor. I was under the assumption there'd be a bridge that would cut right across to Marpha, but I was very much incorrect. That whole area between the trail and Marpha was fenced in, for what I was assuming was an apple farm.

I hemmed and hawed about what I wanted to do. By this time I was beat tired and really dragging. After going up and down the trail right where it came down from the high point, I decided I had to bite the bullet and head down the trail about a half an hour to the next bridge (see first image below, the first cropping of buildings), and then back track on the road about a half an hour to get to Marpha. It was not what I wanted to do, but it seemed like the only option. And for how tired, sore, and just generally not in good shape I was, I needed to get to somewhere to sit down, eat, and rest fast.

Before I got to the bridge, the building complex I mentioned above came up, and at the entrance to that there were a few stupas in a small clearing with a view up the valley. I was beat, so I sat around for a bit with my pack off. Damn that felt nice. There I further contemplated what I should do - head to Marpha and call it a day, head to Marpha to eat and then soldier on, or just soldier on and hope some food shows up soon. Decided on either option 1 or 2 to start, so headed back up the road towards Marpha.

That whole stretch was a pure mind game. Had to just put my head down and keep those legs moving. It was not easy, but had to be done. The road was pretty busy, which didn't help the enjoyment factor, but at some point a vehicle passed by and stopped, and all the dudes inside the car welcomed me to their country. How nice of them! That stretch took longer than I wanted, but eventually I made it to Marpha.

I got into town and asked around at a couple places for what they had. One didn't have rooms, another wasn't serving food, but finally found one that had both and sat down for some food, still undecided as to what I wanted to do. Sitting there, the fatigue wave really hit me hard. My legs were really killing me, and I was flat out tired. That level of tirednesss and lack of preparedness surprised and alarmed me. Hadn't happened all trip, so it got me worried for a hot minute.

My lunch of fried rice, hot cinnamon apple, and water was delicious. It didn't quite get me back to feeling up and spry though, so I opted for option 1 and got myself a room there. While eating and sitting around, I got to watch the family at the place do their thing. The hotel seemed like a true family affair, which was really enjoyable to watch. Once my room was ready, I headed in and curled up for a nap. Damn near immediately I was passed out, clearly I needed that.

When I woke up I wasn't quite perfect, but at least a little more rested. There was still a bit of fatigue and my legs were quite worn. I pushed myself to roll out of bed, get up, and get water, then go walk around town. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I turned out happy I did both, because I needed both. Water was first, and it was delicious. As I said earlier, I was dehydrated at this point in time, so getting some liquids was absolutely necessary and helpful. Bummer on how quickly you can get dehydrated at altitude.

Water set, with a little along for the ride, I started walking around town. Super happy I decided to stay here, as Marpha is a beautiful, quaint little town. Most, if not all, of the buildings are built with the same style (exposed rock) and a similar color pattern of a white base with red trim.

Underneath the main 'road' that goes through town was a kind of aqueduct. This was really cool, and reminded me a bunch of Freiburg, with their little waterway running right through town.

I was really enjoying just poking through all the corners and spots in town. Eventually I made my way over to the large monastery, which is a huge and very dominant complex on the high part of town. I headed over there and slowly ascended the steps to the main part of the monastery. The place was quite big and beautiful, clean, and with awesome views of the town and the valley. I poked around their complex, and found a spot on some stairs to rest and take everything in for a while.

Coming down from that high point, I continued meandering and was amazed at how many little tiny passageways lead all over the place like a maze. I walked down a good few of them and was intrigued by the proximity of all the buildings. The alleyways were tiny, and a little unorganized, which made it very interesting walking around and exploring.

I walked all the way to the far end of town, enjoying the sights and the hives of activity. At the end of town, I doubled back to take things slow and head back to the hotel. I was enjoying the small pockets of activity in the town, but a good portion of it were a bunch of instagram chicks doing there thing. I hate how that is the norm. Stupid social media.

CULTURAL TIDBIT - in this part of Nepal (and potentially valid for other parts too), people stack wood on the eves of their house. This isn't necessarily because that's the only place to store it, but apparently this is also a sign of status. My assumption there is that the more firewood you have stored, the more wood you have that can get you through cold nights, and use for cooking and such. Interesting little cultural difference there.

Marpha - quite the quaint town! A very delightful place to explore, enjoy, and walk around in. On the way back to the hotel I stopped off to get some stamps and dried apples for snacks. Great choice. But when I walked in to the hotel, the old lady got disappointed in me. They sold dried apple there, and I could've bought some from them. Oops.

Back in my room, I laid down for a bit to raise and rest my legs, hoping that would continue to help my body improve. Unfortunately, the aches and pains were all over.

Dinner was a short time away, so I got up and went to eat. That was a delicious meal, and an interesting conversation. There was a younger guy from Canada in there who was biking the whole trail and going on a big trip, and a guy from Ireland who just retired and was doing the trek. We had some intermittent conversation which was pretty interesting. All the while there were some incoming/outgoing bigger parties that made it hard to understand. But overall a nice chat and mealtime.

You know the next step - bedtime. I was wiped and fatigued, hoping a good night's sleep would help things out.

ACT Day 15 - Marpha to Ghasa

Despite a party starting upstairs at 4am (thank god for earplugs), I got a pretty decent night's rest. Lord knows I really needed it. My body was feeling good, so I got up and at 'em. Made the right choice of going for a full breakfast, so I was hoping with that rest and a good meal to start the day, I could get in a long day on the trail with a few miles under my boots.

To start the morning off I had to back track back down the road to the bridge and building complex where I broke off from the trail the day before. The road portion was lame but went by pretty quick, and soon enough I was back over the bridge and on the trail. I did pass my lovely mommy's guesthouse along the road though!

Picking up where I left off the day before, the trail passed through a Tibetan Refugee camp, and then after that into some farmland. It was still kinda early, but more importantly the trail was still in the shadow of the mountain. Things were a bit chilly but gorgeous, which made for a relaxing, calm walk through some farm land and a couple tiny villages.

Through the first village or two and the trail kept going on the opposite side of the river from the road, meandering in and out of some small patches of forest. Every now and then it'd open up to a great view of the deepest gorge in the world.

Soon it opened up into this gigantic flood plain. It was impressive to see this size of a waterway, especially at the bottom of the deepest gorge on earth. Again, it was crazy to try and imagine just how much water must come through this place during the rainy season!

I kept getting frustrated though by the difference in trail quality on each side of the pass. This side of Thorung La was clearly a lot less maintained, which was pretty annoying. There are a ton of really pretty stretches of trail with amazing views, but with that are also a ton of stretches that are all torn up, poorly signed, pure road, or washed out. The poorly signed aspect annoyed the hell out of me a couple of times. Thankfully I had an amazing map app to help keep me on track.

During my walk in the park I made sure to stop and take a few breaks. No use cruising through this amazing slice of heaven without enjoying it, and each time they were well needed. As always, it's awesome to take in these crazy views with the giant mountains, huge flood plains, tiny towns, spectrum of fall colors, and everything else!

After another confusing/poorly signed flood plain, I got to another uphill stretch of trail that got us up and off the valley floor. This area provided some absolutely gorgeous views of the area. I always love getting up above and seeing things from a higher, more open vantage point. It always takes a little effort and sweat to get there, but it's almost always worth it!

The uphill didn't last forever. A short while later the trail meandered back down the hillside to meet back up with the valley floor. Slowly but surely I kept moving and grooving along making my way down the valley. There were a few small villages along the way, including one with a bunch of young kids playing some volleyball. They looked like they were having a blast!

From that village I crossed another flood plain and then approached the tiny village of Sirkung. I decided against stopping there for lunch, opting to push on to the next one. It was a good choice, as Sirkung was really quiet. But, I had to stop at some point for a snack and nature break to get me through to lunch. The trail was still marked, but kinda weird. It started off as a 4x4 road, then became single file path etched into a cliff, then wide path, back to a random stretch that was excavated for car width, and back to single track. Made no sense...

Getting past Sirkung was quick, and then coming around that next bend opened up to a huge bay within the main flood plain. Rather than take the trail and go in and out of every bend in the bay, I decided to jump down onto the river bed and just make a bee-line through the bay. Thankfully I wasn't the first one to do that, and there were some motorcycle tracks for me to follow over to the other side. Good thing I found those, as they led to the only way I saw to get back on the trail. How serendipitous.

Not long after, I was being followed by a stray dog. I didn't have anything to give him, but he trailed me all the way over to Kokhethanti. Time for a well-earned lunch. I pulled up at the first restaurant there and had a spot on the rooftop to read and enjoy the view while getting some rest and some chow. It's amazing what a little fuel for your body and soul will do!

What a nice little break, but then back to the trail I went. After lunch I realized I lost my gloves. I had been wearing them earlier, but must've dropped them and forgot about them. That really pissed me off. I always get pissed off at myself when I lose or misplace things. So dumb.

Pretty easy going for a while. The next village on the way was Dhumba, not too far down the way. Unfortunately at that point it meant hopping back onto the road for a bit.

Thankfully it wasn't too long though, as there was a cut-around past the the next two villages that I took advantage of. This section was a neat mix of semi-dense mixed forest, as well as some open farmland with a wide open view of the valley. Again though, the trail markings were severely lacking in key points. Thanks to my trusty map and some friendly locals though, I made my way without too much issue.

This offshoot eventually spit me back out onto the road. I had to weed my way through to the correct road junction, and when I did it started to open up to this huge canyon right next to the road, with an awesome view across the canyon to another big valley. Awesome sights.

Looking on the map I was heading in the right direction and veering towards another trail offshoot to get off the road. It was close, just around the bend. But as soon as I turned the corner I saw a huge washout/landslide that demolished a giant portion of land as well as the road on both sides of the valley. The destruction was very impressive and total. That meant there was a slight change of plans. Couldn't take the trail across to the other trail, and had to follow the makeshift road with the cars to continue on.

It was pretty chaotic, and the washout seemed to be pretty recent. Despite the mess, I made it across to the other side where another trail offshoot was supposed to be. It started right in the midst of another piece of the washout. BUT, my keen eye spotted a makeshift way up to the trail offshoot! Not wanting to continue on the road, I clambered up the dirt and found the trail!

Kinda wished I wouldn't have though. That trail section was pretty rough. Really overgrown and it clearly hadn't seen much traffic in a while, it wasn't the most enjoyable section. There wasn't much to look at too, which was kind of a bummer.

It ended in another bummer, as it ended right into a washout. To get back to the road I had to slide down a good bit of dirt. Then from there on out essentially for the rest of the day, the trail was the road. Womp womp womp.

My legs were starting to get pretty tired, but I kept on motoring. The valley was really impressive, and the gorge just kept getting deeper and deeper, with the river dropping down further and further from the road. On the road, there was a ton of honking. Holy hell.

Had to stop and take a break at some point to give my legs a break. I only had a short ways to go yet to Ghasa, but a little stop to smell the roses was nice.

Getting in to Ghasa, I checked in at the hikers post, then walked through the tiny town to try and find a bed. Circled through the center part of town (didn't know there were multiple parts of town) and found a decent place. It's always a nice relief for the day once you can put your pack down after a long day of hiking!

I got lucky, because Ghasa had a purified water filling station in town! Nice! But I got unlucky because the lady at the station told me to come back in an hour. Long story short, their system was broken. That was kind of annoying.

Let down, I went back to the hotel to lay down. Lifted my legs to let the blood drain out and took a quick nap. Whuh. After so many days on the trail my tree trunks were starting to feel it. From there, I kinda just hung out and read until dinner. It was interesting too, as I seemed to be the only one there.

As a reward for my long day of hiking, I ordered Dal Bhat for dinner and it was absolutely delicious and really well prepared. Just what I needed! The family that ran this guesthouse was super welcoming and kind. I was treated really well, and it was nice to watch them as a family do their thing.

At some point during the meal a gaggle of middle-aged/young ladies came in with a bunch of luxury bags and went to their rooms. Their driver came in shortly after and he was super chatty and started talking to me as I was eating and writing some postcards. It was nice, but eventually I got a little weirded out with how forward and chatty he was. He seemed like a nice guy, but eventually the introvert in me won out and I bid everyone a good night.

ACT Day 16 - Ghasa to Tatopani

That morning I woke up fairly refreshed and ready for a shorter day than the day before. Thankfully that was on the docket. I got up and headed in to breakfast and was greeted to a quiet morning. I ate while the mom and son chatted and hung out.

Now fed, I packed up and got ready to go. After I paid my bill, I hit the trail. It was crazy being in such a deep gorge. Though I started hiking at 07:45, I didn't feel the light of the sun until around 09:30. That's what a bunch of tall mountains will get you!

After getting through the other parts of Ghasa, I got spit back out onto the road for a short bit. Not long to go on the road though, because the trail continued on the other side of the river after another cool suspension bridge.

On that side of the trail I had a weird run-in with some dogs and sheep. Walking up, they looked friendly. But as soon as I approached they dispersed and started barking. Having trekking poles is a huge plus because they act as defense mechanisms too. As soon as they started barking and approaching I whipped out my sticks and scared them off. Thankfully I escaped and got past the dogs, but in the process I brushed up against some pokey bushes. I guess I'd take a few of natures sticky bushes over a few chomps from a rabid dog.

Despite the good amount of rest the previous night, my body was still quite a bit tired. Serviceable enough to keep going, but feeling it for sure. The going was pretty darn slow.

Another short climb away and I finally got my first bit of sunlight for the day! This timed up with a nice village on a hill top, so I found a big rock to take a break on. Directly across the valley from there was a huge and impressive waterfall! That was a perfect tidbit for my break spot, being able to watch it do its thing, being powerful as hell.

While sitting there, a grandpa and grandson went past with their cows. It was pretty adorable, as the grandson was super cheery and waved hello. Naturally, I returned the greeting! I love seeing the little kids so cheery and happy.

Once I was done with my awesome break, it was just a put your head down and go kinda thing. It wasn't all terrible though. There were a couple spots that were super thin right along a cliff, but that added some fun to the journey. As a bonus, a ton of lizards were along the trail to cheer me on, which also helped with the trek. And as the big bonus, it was really clear out, so a ton of the peaks were popping out and saying hi as I trekked on by.

At this point I was starting to run out of water. Not wanting to experience the same pains I had coming into Marpha, I needed to find some water. Thankfully, right as I took the last gulp I came upon a suspension bridge with a tiny shop next to it. Perfect timing! I took a break and bought some water to fill up my reserves.

There were a couple teenage boys loitering about at the shop. As I was sitting there and filling up my water they stared at me the entire time. Eventually, one of them came over really close and started talking to me. Long story short, they asked if they could walk to Tatopani with me. I was a bit weirded out by the situation, but I agreed. They were gonna follow me either way, so might as well try to make it nice!

I tried my best to converse with them, but the chatting was pretty sparse. The boys were 13, 13, and 14, with decent english, but weren't much interested in conversation. Because of this, I kinda got the weird feeling that they were going to try and rob me, or at least beg for something.

We went through a village that was right next a huge hydro dam project. There were parts and tubes lining the road, so I stopped to see the scale of the project. Not long after though, there was a bridge to cross the river to the main road. On the bridge I stopped to take some pictures, and the boys kept on walking.

Right after getting back on the road I passed by a construction crew working on some gigantic transmission line towers. It was impressive work. Clearly OSHA was not regulating anything going on, but these dudes were doing some big work. Then, shortly after that, the trail made its way right into Tatopani and I snagged a room. Hot damn! Gotta love short days!

I was really itching to get to my room, and as soon as I did I sat down, took my boots off, took a makeshift shower (first in a few days) then laid down for a nap with my legs up. Holy cow I needed that. It's amazing how nice a shower after a long while can feel!

I laid there for a while and it felt really good. A comfy bed, no rush to do anything, and plenty of time left in the day. A good place to be. But I eventually got up and at 'em to go get a few more postcards. Those were thankfully pretty easy to find, but stamps took a couple of tries. Thanks to the help from the folks at the postcard shop I found what I needed.

All the goods in hand, I headed back to the hotel patio. Found myself the last table under a tree in the shade and posted up for a while. I was hungry so I put in an order for lunch. Someone else ordered tacos and they looked amazing, so I copied the order. In the meantime I got to writing.

Once they came out I was thoroughly pleased - they were delicious. Almost like chili in a taco shell, but they also had the first fresh veggies I'd eaten in what felt like weeks. I had no idea I needed raw onion, but as soon as I bit into it the need flooded into me. Lunch was absolutely delicious. Satiated, I kept writing my postcards. Once finished with that, I whipped out my book and read under the shade during the beautiful day.

I gotta say, I felt a little secluded, as there were a few bigger groups having a good time chatting and socializing while I was in the proverbial corner reading. It's not like I was in a bad place; my book was good and I was definitely enjoying myself. I just felt like I was getting pegged by others as the weird one and had a little FOMO wishing I had some folks to socialize with.

My reading time persisted for a time, but at some point I up and went back to my room. Nap - Round 2. I was out like a light for this one, and it felt absolutely amazing. As always, I came to at some point, but it took a little for me to get up and head on down to the hot springs. But I convinced myself, and it was definitely worth it.

The trail left right from the guest house, and getting to the place the entrance was a bit weird. There was a big line of locals waiting to get in. But the dude at the door waved me over as soon as he saw me. Some pretty preferential treatment for tourists.

Either way, I got in through the gate, stripped down, and jumped in. Holy balls was it hot!!! I had to alternate being in and out to regulate my temperature.

Along the way I started chatting with a guy, and it turned out he was from White Salmon, WA! What a small world! He and his wife were accompanying their daughter and college friends on the trip. Sounded like a good life.

I had to jump into the cooler pool for a bit before I could go back into the hot one. Once back in the hot one, had a fun interaction with a bunch of Nepali dudes who were shocked at the heat. They seemed like some fun folks.

Spent a little more time in the hot pool, then got out and really stretched my legs. That felt really good, and probably should have been doing that after every day on the trail. After one last dip in the hot pool, I got out and rinsed off before heading back to the guesthouse. I really needed the hot spring excursion. My body felt a good bit looser and more relaxed after that. A little hot water can really go a long way.

Back at the hotel I snagged some dinner and kept reading. There were a number of bigger groups, again I found the last table outside. Had a nice meal with some reading on the side. Not a bad night, before heading back to my room and calling it a day.

ACT Day 17 - Tatopani to Ghorepani

That morning I woke up after an actual full night's sleep. I was really surprised at that fact, but really happy at the same time. I got up and ready and then headed to breakfast. Maybe it was me being impatient, but similar to a lot of times on the trip, I felt like I was forgotten waiting there for my food because of the bigger groups that were there at the same time. I have no way to confirm it, but I hate that feeling. Finally breakfast did come though, and it was really good. That put me in a better mood.

Back to to the room, packed up, and hit the trail. As soon as I hit the trail I saw a guy wearing a Vikings shirt. Bleh. I put him down with the requisite "Go Pack Go!" and ended up chatting with him and his wife. A really nice pair from Israel. We ended up chatting for a bit as the trail met up with the road, and then crossed two valleys to reach the next checkpoint. Once there, they kindly offered me some bug spray. That was a great time also to learn that there is a dengue fever warning in Pokhara and Kathmandu. Oh boy. After hearing that I lathered on a good bit of that stuff before continuing.

Now began the fun part of the day, well, really, the only part of the day - up. There was a net of 1,600m / 5,250ft uphill to go that day. I knew I had a long way to go, so I just put my head down and started. Eventually a French couple I remembered seeing the day before passed me - they were cruising. Luckily enough, my map had a few shortcuts that split a bunch of the switchbacks, so I stayed pace with them for a bit until they joined in on the shortcuts and took off.

Even though I treated myself to a nice hot spring the night before, my legs were definitely feeling it. Because of that, I knew I had to treat myself, so I did by taking a good few breaks, drinking lots of water, and staying at my pace.

At some point I pulled my bandana off and whuh, soaked to the core with sweat. Disgusting. Forgot how much elevation I'd lost over the last couple of days and was back in the jungle. Had to find a water spout and clean it out. Bonus because not only did I then have a clean bandana, but a cool bandana at that.

Keep on keepin' on. That's what I was doing. Along the way I passed a number of happy children all asking for candy and spouting a good number of things I couldn't quite comprehend. I'm sure I disappointed most, if not all, of them, but that's how it goes.

With each increasing bit of elevation, you could see more and more back down the valley where I'd started out. It was really cool to see, as each place had a slightly different view of the area, and highlighted just how much progress I continued to make.

Not one to go straight through (learned my lesson on that in Marpha), I pulled up in Shikha for a nice lunch break. This was a well timed and well needed break, and the place I stopped at had an awesome view. I got the table on the patio, and had a delicious lunch admiring the valley. Took advantage of the sunlight and dried off some of my clothes while I ate too. Perfect little break to refuel and relax.

That lunch and break really gave me a well-needed boost of energy. I was finding my pace but it helped me keep on track up the hill. Not long after lunch I crossed paths again with the crew from White Salmon! Larry and Sue were the parents who were tagging along with their daughter Rachel, and Rachel's friends from college.

One of her friends, Nicole, was in the Peace Corps in Nepal. She ended up running back down the trail for a bit to some unruly kids that were throwing rocks at them. Good thing she could speak the language, as she apparently talked to the kids' parents to put them in place.

Didn't take took long to come off the high, as my body slowly started to slow down, but I just kept on going. I figured that group would pass me at some point, but that didn't happen, and I just kept on motoring. I still had a long ways to go.

To help myself I made sure to keep taking some breaks. Even 10 minutes of sitting down helped out immensely. With those, I'd get up and have a good burst of steam to keep pressing on.

As I reached Chitre, one of the last villages before the summit goal, I hit a huge personal milestone. This became the first trip I'd ever been on where I've needed to swap out my camera's memory card. Despite numerous long, scenic, photogenic, beautiful trips, this is the first time I've filled up a card. Needless to say I was pretty impressed with myself. But, two and a half weeks in the mountains will do that to you!

I was still motoring on. In a low gear and powering forward. Along the way I was internally debating my game plan. Either I could stop in Ghorepani for the night and do Poon Hill with every other tourist that was there, or keep going about 2km / 1.2mi and 300m / 1,000ft further down the trail and up the hill to Deurali and do that unknown hill instead. I couldn't decide.

Before I know it though, I'd passed a welcome gate to Ghorepani! Almost there! There was a big road being constructed (cut out of the hill) close by, and on that road there were a couple of donkey trains that passed by. Some carrying wood, others carrying food, and yet more carrying propane tanks. They were hauling a lot of weight.

With that though, I'd reached the top! Ghorepani! Needless to say, I was pooped. Started moping around trying to find a bed, but I couldn't decide where to stay. I did decide I wasn't up for any more hiking or vertical after already climbing up 1,600m / 5,250ft though, so at least something was sure.

I headed back to the quasi-plaza of town and grabbed some cookies and juice as a treat. Eating my 2nd grade soccer game snack I just sat there for a bit and people watched. As always, that was really enjoyable.

Finally picked a hotel though, but once I walked in I thought I was invisible. None of the people working there paid any attention and seemed to actively ignore me. Lame. So I stared one down and he finally came over. Long story short, he showed me to a room and it was decently priced (I was too tired to search more), and possibly the nicest one all trip. Boom. Search complete.

Settled a bit, I ventured out first to go get some water. Luckily enough there was another clean water station in town, so I went crazy and got a full 6L for my camelbak, nalgene, and collapsible camp bottle. Seemed excessive, but I needed to make sure I was hydrated for what would be the last day.

Next up I just started strolling around town. It was a small town, but very dense. Along the way, I saw some horses getting a little ornery with each other, some kids practicing bow and arrow on the basketball court, and a very cloudy view from a few patios. Made sure to snag some snacks for the next day, and then meandered back to the hotel.

Back in the room I did my typical end of day thing of getting my legs elevated and reading. It really helped getting them up to let the blood drain, and it felt amazing just laying there.

Headed down to the dining hall after a while to hang out before dinner. I sat at a table and read for a bit, but eventually got cold so I moved over to the fire. A couple of guides were sitting there and we started to chat. The conversation eventually devolved into a lecture from one of the guides on why I should have had a guide for my trek, including every reason why it's good to have one. I was not in the mood for a lecture, at which point my food came so I could dip out of that.

That night I had probably the best garlic soup of the trip with a nice little sandwich. It was really good, but not very filling. Therefore I topped it all off with a nice slice of apple pie. Perfect :-) Now time for bed.

ACT Day 18 - THE END! - Ghorepani to Nayapul

I unfortunately ended up tossing around in bed all night, likely in anticipation of the early rise. Eventually, 04:00 came around. When I got up I looked out the windows to see what we had - perfectly clear skies and a bright moon to go with it, so I could see all of Annapurna South and the other mountains in the area. Oooooh yeah.

I got ready and packed and headed out the door. The option I ended up going with is not one I clarified earlier. Poon Hill was the typical place every tourist and their mother would go to from Ghorepani to see the sunrise. Well, not wanting to be in the midst of a swarm of tourists, I headed the other direction towards Deurali. I was the only one going in that direction, and was perfectly ok with that.

Headlight lighting the way, I headed up a seemingly endless staircase towards the top. It was a little hairy going through the Himalayan jungle in pitch black conditions only being able to see what was directly in front of my face, but I just kept going. Towards the top the trail flattened out a bit, but I continued to take breaks every now and then before making it to the top of Thambala Hill.

As luck and intelligent foresight would have it, I was literally the only person on the trail and at that viewpoint. I was pumped about that, and my contentedness with that decision was only heightend as I watched all of the headlights and people make their way up Poon Hill, seeing just how crowded that spot was going to be.

At the top with a clear view in almost all directions, I hung out and witnessed the slow evolution of light as day approached. As it always is at night, it was at first super dark and hard to see. I could make out some of the outlines and peaks in the distance, but wasn't really sure about them.

Slowly, a little more light came. Those outlines started to be more visible and crisp, and with them Dhaulagiri popped into sight. Just outstanding.

The direct sunlight was still a ways away, but a part of the sky morphed into a beautiful pastel orange, with the other side near the mountains going to a really strong but light blue. Everywhere I looked the colors were changing and were different by the time I turned back!

Slowly, each of the peaks around me got their first touch of warm light. It consistently but slowly grew, and each bit highlighted the amazingly massive mountains just hiding behind the darkness right in front of me. Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, all just hanging out, all such huge and beautiful peaks!

Mr. Sun eventually made its way high enough up in the sky to hit me and damn that was nice and warm. I was getting cold up there, and that sunlight warmed me up nice in just a hot minute. Not just me too, as the sun kept showing more of the peaks and all of the hillsides around me. It was just beautiful. I made sure to linger and enjoy it all for a good while, but started my journey back up as I snagged my pack and started heading down the trail.

I was starting to get hungry, and thankfully the next village of Deurali was just a short walk away. I got there and snagged a spot at a restaurant/guesthouse, but things were all kinds of quiet despite a bunch of locals/proprietors sitting around.

I sat down and luckily enough had someone get my order of breakfast and coffee in relatively quickly, but wasn't sure if they were actually making it. They did though, and it was deeeeelicious. Perfect food and quiet atmosphere for a nice and relaxing breakfast.

Slowly I tackled the food and coffee, but as I finished it I toyed with the idea of walking up to the tower just above the village. Was torn on it because I wanted to leave my bag behind, but the people there seemed a little different.

Despite the reservations I went for it, but wanted to pay for the food beforehand. The guy seemed really reluctant to let me pay first for some reason. That really made no sense. I kinda pushed it and insisted that I do, and eventually was able to.

The climb up to the tower wasn't bad, but about half way there I found a decent enough clearing. From there I had some more amazing views of the mountains, and could actually see the tower from there and decided not to go all the way. Fine with me, less climbing, and still amazing views of Machapuchhre and Dhaulagiri!

A quick hop down to the restaurant to pick up my bag and I was back underway. The trail dropped down into a small valley and a very lush jungle. There were a number of small waterfalls and nice creeks and such, all really adding to the beauty and moisture content of the place.

Walking or doing any thing requiring exertion in the jungle is rough. It's hot, muggy, insects and bugs are all over (most of which I didn't know if they were deadly/poisonous or not), and you just start and keep sweating like a pig. Whuh.

The trail was very green and very lush. Along the way there were a few goats clambering up a small cliff for some grass. You could tell they were hungry, but they made some impressive moves to keep going up.

The trail went down a bit, then it morphed into a big climb leading up to Tadapani. I was beat, but made sure to keep motoring onward and upward!

About halfway up the hill I needed to take a break, so I dropped my pack on one of those perfect backpackers benches. It was faint to start, but a bit of rustling in the treetops became more and more noticeable. Branches were waving all over the place and I had no idea what was going on. I was sure of one thing though, it definitely wasn't a bird.

Well, it turned out to be a bunch of monkeys! There were a number of them right up in the tree next to me hanging about and doing their thing. I watched for a bit then continued on, and as I moved further up the trail, there were a ton of them, about 35, just hanging and monkeying about on the ground!

They seemed pretty skeptical of me, just as I was of them. But how cool, monkeys! Not wanting to overstay my welcome and the respectful distance we were all keeping from each other, I got out of there before too long in case anything went south.

Tadapani was just a bit further up the trail, and I got greeted into town by a friendly 'ole donkey! Timing and hunger-wise it was a little too early for lunch, but I needed a break. I wandered a bit through town and found a great spot to sit in the shade and just admire the amazing mountains and everything in front of me.

It was a beautiful spot, with the hillside farmland and many villages sprinkled through the hills. It was huge too, as I could see the valley that one would take on the way up to the Annapurna Sanctuary / Base Camp. Right behind it all was Machapuchhre, big and beautiful, staring me down from up high.

Such a nice and relaxing little break. Rested up, I got up and kept on moving, but had to back track and hunt a little bit to find the correct trail at first. Shortly down the trail I had to stop and adjust my boot real quick. Well, as soon as I looked down I saw a leech trying catch a ride. Hell no. I flicked it off, but the bastard stuck to my finger. Got rid of it. Wasn't trying to get a leech or some sketchy shit on the last day. Here's a comfy puppy to brighten that story up.

I kept on motoring, and it was made even easier with the large amounts of downhill on the trail. Unfortunately it wasn't super scenic, as the jungle was heavily tree-covered. It was muggy, but I just kept powering through it.

Ghandruk was the next village along the trail, and a quite pretty and scenic one at that! Mentally starting to struggle, I got there with just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. I got into town and it was a bit spread out, ending up wandering around a bit before settling on a lunch spot.

The place I picked to sit down and eat at seemed really nice, but when I got to the balcony, there were two folks and their guide and porter taking up the entirety of a 10 person table, the only table there. Really fucking couth... It worked out ok though, as the lounge chair was the only other thing available, so I got to sit in the shade.

For lunch I ordered some momo, but the guy was trying to pressure me into getting Dal Bhat because the other people ordered that. Sorry bud, wasn't in the mood for that, and you're not going to change my stomach's mind. While waiting, I snagged my book and read while stopping every now and then for the great view.

It took a little longer than expected, but the food finally came and it was delicious. I lapped it up really quick and savored every bite. Satiated, I started to make my way down hill. Getting out of Ghandruk though took a while; I got turned around for a hot second and had to find my way to the right spot.

That was ok though, because I was thoroughly enjoying the views and the trail. It was an absolutely beautiful valley, starting really high up and able to see the many beautiful villages on the other hill side, as well as every now and then when it opened up, a good number of the ones on my side of the valley.

The buildings were pretty, rice paddies were colorful, hillsides were lush with trees, and for about an hour and a half, everyone seemed to be a part of one big neighborhood. It was extremely pleasant and delightful to watch all of the many people go about their days!

There was one hiccup though. I had to cross a bridge at some point but stopped to let some kids cross so I snapped a picture of the waterfall. The kids wanted their picture taken, so I snapped the shot enjoying their excitement. They approached, wanted to see the pictures, but then one asked for some water out of my camelback - hell no. I don’t know what germs you have in your mouth. Then he asked to see one of my trekking poles. I initially said no, but he kind a took it out of my hands and immediately started messing with it. I grabbed it right back and got livid with the little fuck. Told him to go the hell away and leave me the fuck alone. Not about having someone be that overtly rude.

But, that hiccup aside, the descent portion of the trail was really pretty and enjoyable as it slowly passed through a number of towns making its way to the valley floor. Pretty high up though, the stairs came back. As it was all downhill from Ghandruk, my knees were starting to wear down, unfortunately my mood sort of went with it.

As would happen, as soon as we got to the valley floor the trail flattened out nicely. With that meant I'd put about 2000m / 6,561ft of descent behind me. That's a whole helluva lot of down, especially after 18 straight days of hiking!

There were some friendly namastes from the many locals I passed, but a few who obviously couldn't give a rip. Definitely could feel the vibe that I was getting closer and closer to civilization.

Along the way I passed a shop where shortly after an old lady started walking right next to me. I passed her, said namaste, and when I did she asked me for one of my trekking poles. Flat out. Excuse me? No.

I sped up past her, but then some kid started tailing me. I hate when people follow me in that sketchy way, and this kid did just that. I asked him what was up, and he asked me for money, my trekking poles, was clearly out for whatever he could get. I directly told him I wasn't giving him anything.

The little fucker kept following me and continually pestering me. I sped up to try and get away but he'd catch up, and I'd slow down and stop to let him go, but he'd hang with me. Really starting to piss me off.

Thankfully, at the next shop/restaurant/rest stop there was a bus. I envisioned getting on a bus just to get away from this kid, and with the added benefit of getting off of my feet and skipping the last section of trail that was purely on the road. I asked the driver if there was space but he said no. Damn. But they gave me a ride anyways! It was only about a mile and a half to the checkpost, but it was quite the pleasant one!

The guy who orchestrated me getting a ride asked me some questions along the way and we chatted for a bit. The gal sitting next to him recommended the Burong (?) district for my next visit (something about 5000m peaks I think).

Along the way the bus stopped for a guy selling stuff on the side of the road and a few people purchased some Nepal-specific fruit. I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but they let me try some and it ended up being pretty good.

This bus ride was super sweet and enjoyable; some really nice folks helping a traveler out and sharing some of their country with him! I had to tell the bus driver where to stop, but when I did and got out, everyone on the bus waved goodbye! What a bunch of sweet people!

It was kinda cheating, that last bit, but getting off the bus I'd completed the trek!!! Holy Crap!!! An absolutely amazing set of 18 days under my belt, along with roughly 203 miles and at least a net of 30,000ft elevation up and down, the Annapurna Circuit Trek is one of the best outdoor adventures I've ever done!!!

Right where I was dropped off I checked in with ACAP to notify the authorities I didn't die along the way, and then with TIMS to show I was off the trail. I'd officially completed the trek! Woohoo!!! The end was a little anticlimactic, as I should've expected, but it was a huge success and accomplishment nonetheless!

Done with the trek but not quite done with the day's travel, I had to keep walking down the road from Birethanti to Nayapul and the highway that was there. I did just that. I stopped a few times, once to watch some guys play a cool game, and a number of times to enjoy the pretty area I was passing through.

Once I got to Nayapul, I was hit with civilization square across the face. The last 18 days were all in lush, amazing, uniquely beautiful nature everywhere I could look. Well, Nayapul was a bit smelly and quite busy. Welcome back to the world...

I made my way over to what I assumed was the bus stop. Immediately I was asked by a dude if I needed a taxi. I didn't say anything, as I knew it would be expensive, but he spouted out a ridiculous price. I simply ignored him and kept walking.

Unfortunately there weren't any buses there or coming (in the few minutes I was standing there), and the bus stop was right where that guy was at. So I kinda had to hang out there.

Weirdly enough, that dude dropped his price by 2/3 to something a little more reasonable. So, I agreed to it and we hit the road. Some Chinese guy in the front seat and me in the back, I was on my way to Pokhara.

At the first group of buildings on the side of the road, some dude with a dust mask flagged down the driver and a few guys came over to talk. No idea WTF was happening, but at some point our driver handed the guy some money and we kept going. That was a pretty shady experience.

Holy shit this highway was atrocious. I had no idea roads could be this bad and bumpy, especially one of the country's national highways. I immediately assumed all highways in Nepal were like this, but the driver (who ended up being really nice by the way) said it was due to the heavy rains. That made a lot of sense, but dayum, it was a really rough ride.

Just on the side of the highway there was a ton of active rock removal. Think giant crane-mounted jackhammers, all of which right on the road shoulder. That would never fly in the US, but hey, I wasn't in the US!

The road got kinda better as we went along. We eventually got to a turnoff and the driver took the residential road. As I looked on the map, this road followed a ridge line above the valley on the way to Pokhara. Definitely a cool route, but it was super curvy and I started to get a bit of a headache.

After a good bit of that, the driver pulled over at a view point for a quick break. It was a really cool spot above the city of Pokhara with a fantastic view!

From the lookout it was maybe another half hour, forty minutes to Pokhara. But part of the way we followed a giant truck full of chickens and it smelt turrrrible. Once we got down to the valley floor we made it into town.

We dropped the Chinese guy off first at his place, and he was at some house in an alleyway behind a big hotel or something. Seemed a bit weird, but that's that. I got in contact with Vicki and ended up taking their suggestion for a hostel, so I gave the driver directions and made it over there.

Unfortunately, that place was all full. But the owner guy was super helpful, and said that if I spent a night in another place for one night, there'd be a room that opens up at his place the following day. That worked for me!

He made a call and his hotel buddy came over from across the street to grab me and take me to one of his places. The room I got was really nice, so I got in, plopped down, and took a HUGE sigh of relaxation. I'd done it. The Annapurna Circuit Trek was complete, and now it was time to relax!!!

First things first - I took a shower and got cleaned up. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH BOYOBOYOBOY. I really needed that. It felt so good to be clean, not sweaty or oily, and have clean clothes on. Made a world of a difference.

Fresh to death and feeling good, I stayed in contact with Vicki and headed out to grub up with her, Saar, and their German friends. They were all at an Indian place around the corner so it was quick to get to, and OH BOY was the food what I needed. Had something delicious and felt like I could've eaten 20 of them. It was fantastic, and went perfectly with my victory beer :-)

As for the company, it was great to see everyone again! I will say though, I felt pretty bad for Saar and Vicki. They said the jeep ride from Manang to Besisahar lasted 6 hours, and was nothing but bumpy and rough. That did not sound appealing.

After dinner, we all hopped up and walked around town for a bit. Everyone was still thirsty, but I didn't have the money on me for a cocktail, so I split off. I will say, the lakeside waterfront in Pokhara really reminded me of Boracay. Every restaurant was blaring music (some good, some bad), all were advertising some 'crazy' deals, just the whole vibe was super similar. Thankfully, Pokhara wasn't quite as bad.

Continued to walk around a bit on my own then went back to my room and bed and hit the hay. What a day.

Commence Relaxation Protocol (RP) - Day 1

Once I woke up, I rolled around and loitered about REALLY lazily. It was sooooo nice. In the process of doing nothing I ended unpacking and cleaning out my bag, repacking my stuff, setting apart my disgusting clothes for laundry, and continued to start relaxing. It was nice, low key, and just what I needed to start the day.

Once the sun was fully up and my tummy started yelling at me, I took my stuff over to the hotel and the new room was all ready for me. I asked about where I could go to take my laundry, and the guy simply took it and got to work on it. How nice!

Time for a walkabout. But first, breakfast. I tried to find the place that Vicki and Saar recommended, but didn't think I was at the right place. No worries though, the spot I went to had a good menu. Went upstairs and found a great table on the balcony and got to reading.

For food I ordered the American breakfast. How fitting, right? Well, it looked delicious! But really - it had bacon. Boom. It turned out to be amazing. The coffee was delicious, with fresh watermelon juice (pretty sure that was the first time I'd ever had that), hash browns, toast, and a spicy omelette with tons of little peppers in it. Absolutely fantastic!

To add to the wonderful breakfast already in motion, I jumped on WiFi and was able to talk with my mommy for a bit!!! :-) I love how technology can connect you with people a full world apart!

After finishing up breakfast I headed back down to the street and went for a stroll. Yes, I just finished 18 days of trekking in the mountains, but I felt compelled to do something. So I went for a walk towards the other side of town.

Along the way I saw a ton of toursity shops, selling some mix of most of the same stuff. Stopped into a few but didn't see anything worth diving into. The road curved around a bit but always stayed next to the lake front, despite a military base randomly popping up on the lake. The day was really nice, pretty warm, and after the military base there was a little patio overlooking the lake and the tons of boats available for the tourists.

The number of shops started to dwindle, and things got a little less built up and touristy. That's always nice. The road veered away from the water and a big park appeared in its place. I popped in and it was very unkempt and there didn't seem to be any upkeep of the place. But that was fine, still nice to have the greenery and plants in the city.

The trail wandered back to the road right next to a bit more official entrance. Went through there and it passed by a school or some kind of community center. On the patio of the place was a gaggle of folks that were getting filmed as they clapped along to a song. Seemed a little forced, but was fun to watch nonetheless.

Taking a roundabout way back to the road I went through a group of students that were practicing using some surveying equipment. Not a bad place to practice that in a quiet park.

Back to the street, I continued on the direction out of town. It was pretty calm, not a ton of people about, and it felt a little more 'normal', which was nice. I pulled up to a roundabout and ended up sitting and watching traffic and people for a bit before walking back.

Headed back to the main part of town, I did a little bit of shopping and perusing along the way. Once I got back to the main water front I found a spot to sit next to the water and just enjoy the nice, beautiful day.

The spot I initially picked was a little loud and raucous, so I got up and kept walking. The noise was coming from two Nepali ladies who were vendors just going at it. The confrontation was escalating and getting pretty visceral; one of them had to be held back and restrained. Kinda crazy to watch, especially not knowing what the background was.

I kept meandering and found some cool artwork along the way. The art ended up being a dime a dozen as all of the shops had the same type of art and same depictions, but they were pretty nonetheless. At some point I got the heads-up from Saar and Vicki and we arranged to chill and grab some beers.

Before the trip I got a recommendation for an Israeli restaurant in Pokhara, and Saar and Vicki led me right to it. OR2K was super cool, open air, relaxing setup, with an amazing view of the lake front and the entire area. The short tables added to the relaxing vibe as you essentially lay down on the floor. Sweet stuff. I got there early so grabbed a table and started reading before they got there.

Once they showed up, we kicked the relaxing into high gear. We grabbed some beers (I had the 'only' Nepali craft beer, a pretty decent red), and Saar and Vicki played host and hostess as they selected one helluva menu. I don't remember the names of the stuff, but it was delicious!

While chilling out we played some Durak. There was another Israeli group of dudes sitting across the way. One of them noticed what we were playing and eventually joined in. Cool to meet Tamil, as he also brought along some new rules to the game that we hadn't been playing with. Those made things interesting.

Gah, I love card games. We played a few rounds of Durak, and then Tamil had to head out. After that, a couple rounds of Asshole, then we got up and headed over to a coffeeshop.

Saar and Vicki had been in Pokhara for almost a week, so they knew all the best places around. They took me over to a 'German bakery' with a super nice garden in the back. We got some coffee and cake (wie typisch...) and posted up at a table among the trees.

At some point Phil and Anna showed up from their mountain biking excursion! Sounded like they had quite the adventure in the hills nearby. We all sat and chatted for a while, then Phil and Anna broke off. Then, once we three figured out dinner plans, I broke off to go get some more shopping done. Got some more shopping done, then went back to the hotel to veg for a bit.

Once it was time, up and at 'em to the meeting spot. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication, as they weren't there. Started heading down the street and ran into them on the way. We were torn as to what we wanted to eat, but ended up going back to the same place from the night before.

That night was a little less crowded, but just as good (if not better). We ordered food and I treated myself with a glass of local whiskey. That was actually pretty good, and some pretty smooth stuff to boot.

While waiting for and then diving deep into the grub, we had some really interesting conversation.

• Vicki works in a lab that studies neurological development, and Saar in one that studies cancer-related illnesses
• Chachexia is one helluva disease that can come with cancer
• Crazy to hear how trepidatious it can be to work in such a lab, requiring you to sign a waiver of liability because you're dealing with biohazardous materials.
• Saar said one of his lab friends once accidentally injected themself with tuberculosis. Yikes
• Got a book recommendation - Sapiens, and chatted about Guns, Germs, and Steel
• Saar ended up voicing some frustration on how there's a lot of money put into research and the connections we know about, but little to no money being put into finding connections between these diseases and how they relate to the destruction of our environment

Along with the conversation, the food was once again amazing. I nommed on some chicken tikka masala. It was a lot, but it was so good I was itching for more. So Saar and I split some paneer butter masala. :-) Also amazing.

I gotta say, for one, it's nice to be with people, and especially people that are eager to chat and have such interesting discussions with. Especially if, in the process, I can learn a lot! We enjoyed dinner, took it easy, and then I split off to try and find a piece of artwork for my place. No luck, I headed back and went to sleep.

RP - Day 2

Waking up I gave myself another suuuuuuuuuper lazy morning. I laid around, read, napped, and kept it as low-key as possible. It was awesome. I couldn't be a lug all day, and at some point my stomach got angry. So I got up and went to the same breakfast place as the day before. Once again, absolutely delicious!

After that, I literally had nothing to do - a completely blank agenda. Because of that I went back to the hotel and napped. Hard. I love naps.

Post-nap got me back on my feet as I wandered over to a coffee shop Saar and Vicki recommended. I got there, found a spot overlooking the street, then read as I waited for lunch. The food was great, coffee too, and it was a nice spot to hang out for a while.

Reading to venture a little more, I headed back out in the city, and this time headed in the opposite direction from yesterday. There was a pathway in this direction that stayed right next to the lake, and awesomely passed right by Pokhara Disneyland! No joke, it exists, and looks sketchy.

Just like on the opposite side of town, there was a lot more normal stuff going on. There were a bunch of people fishing in the lake, tons of people hanging out, some kids playing badminton without a net, and much more.

The trail met up with the road, and I kept on walking. Passed by a bar that was recommended that looked pretty dope, but I kept walking up to a hotel with a cool view back on the town. Coincidentally, this was also the landing zone for all of the paragliders I'd been watching the last two days. I watched a couple people land (some gracefully, some not), then found a lounge chair on the hotel's patio to hang out for a bit and read some more.

I was lucky, as it was a really nice night out. The colors in the sky were gorgeous and the clouds soaked it all up. The wind was low, a slight sprinkle of rain every now and then, and it was all just very peaceful and relaxing. Every now and then another paraglider would come to land, so I'd look up briefly from my book to see that, turn my eyes to the sky and the scenery, then eventually drop back down to my book. It was a very relaxing place to be.

Eventually motion came back to me and I started walking back to town, deciding on dinner at OR2K and the showing of Free Solo scheduled there that night. Once I got back to the more main part of town, I passed a big park and saw a few groups of people playing some sports ball, so I decided to stop and watch for a bit.

One group of dudes were playing some cricket, and another close by were playing volleyball. I love watching sports, almost always regardless of what it is. I found a decent spot to sit got some good people watching.

Next up was dinner. I got into OR2K and found a good spot before ordering the combo platter. NOMNOMNOM. I read while I gnawed on the delicious food and of course got some people watching in to boot. The place started to fill up, but then Phil and Anna showed up for the movie!

I gotta say, Alex Honnold is absolutely insane. If you haven't seen Free Solo, definitely give it a watch. Seriously. Insane.

Nice to chat a bit more with Phil and Anna, and plan on meeting up with them once I move back over to DE. But from there, I packed it in for the night and headed back to crash at my hotel.

RP - Day 3

You guessed it, woke up to another lazy morning. But, this morning wasn't as lazy as the last couple, as I had to check out by a certain time. After packing my things and storing them in the 'lobby', I walked around and headed back to my breakfast spot.

This day I had something in my head I wanted to do, so I started walking past the far side of town from the first day. The walk over was pretty long, and was mostly in a pretty non-touristy part of town. That was nice, but I'm sure I was getting weird looks all along. Even through the sun was obscured, it was all kinds of hot and humid.

After getting some snacks and something to drink along the way, I eventually made it to the International Mountain Museum! This place was recommended from multiple sources, and it ended up being a very worthwhile visit!

I spent a couple of hours walking around the multiple exhibits and learning about Himalayan culture (including a direct comparison of Himalayan culture to the Alps region in Europe), and the history of the many extraordinary expeditions to try and tame nature at the tallest places on earth! Truly incredible stories.

Next up, I headed back to town. Feeling a little tired though, I decided against walking the whole way and snagged a taxi to drop me off in the touristy part of town. Straight from getting dropped off I headed once more to the Indian restaurant for some more Tikka Masala! Sooooo good.

Lunch was kind of the end of my time in Pokhara, as once I was done I went back to the hotel to grab my stuff and head to the airport. Once I got dropped off there, it was kinda surprising to see how tiny it was. Tiny, but gets a ton of throughput. So much, they're building an international airport just a little bit further out of town that will really increase capacity.

Once I got there I went to go check in. At first I was a little confused as to what was going on, but at the end of it all the lady put me on an earlier flight getting into Kathmandu. How cool!

Ready to go, I went up to the restaurant/shop and was surprised to see a viewing platform on top of the airport. Not many airports have this, so I went out and took a view of the area and the airport before going through security and sitting by the gate.

Not long until we boarded and I was headed to the plane. Since the flight was literally only a half an hour, the plane we used was pretty tiny. Thankfully enough it was sturdy enough to get us all the way there in one piece with views of Nepal and the Himalayas the whole way there.

Despite a miscommuncation with the taxi driver once I landed and got my things, I got to my hotel with not too much of a worry. What was cool, was Saar and Vicki were there as well, so after walking around Thamel a bit with them, we three grabbed dinner with Phil and Anna, as well as their friends at this really good pizza place. It was packed, but the pizza was fantastic. A great meal that put me to sleep pretty quick.

RP - Day 4 - Thanks Nepal!!!

Waking up was a bit of a bummer, as I realized it was the last day of my trip :-( I made it another lazy morning, rolling around and wasting time. Once I got packed and checked out I snagged breakfast, and just in time to say goodbye to Saar and Vicki before they were off to the airport. Such great people to meet, trek with, chat with, and I can't wait to see them again down the road!

After breakfast I went on the hunt for a small gas mask, then headed to a pretty janky-looking shop to pick up my little moped! Similar to my trips to the Philippines, I snagged a rental moped for the day to really cruise around the city and explore! It took a few seconds to get acquainted with it, but it was nice to be back on one of those zippy little things!

As I quickly learned, the streets in Kathmandu are chaos. But, just like in the Philippines, I had no problem jumping right into it. One thing though, dear god the lack of exhaust regulations are atrocious. Good thing I had a gas mask, but even then it didn't do much.

First stop on my self-guided tour was the other side of town to the temple complex of Pashupatinath. I got close to it and found a place to park my little bike with a vendor lady staring and smiling at me while I got off and walked away. Once I got near the temple, I got really confused as to what to do.

At the first entrance I passed, everyone was coat checking their shoes. Naturally, being one to try and blend in, I did the same. But, once I started to walk in, a dude with a giant gun at the gate turned me around and told me to go get my shoes and head in some direction he wasn't very clear with. This confused the hell out of me, but I did as he said.

Still confused, I talked to someone in the building right next to that guy and that guy gave me similar kind of vague instructions. After some more confusion and a bit of wandering around, I eventually went to anther gate where everything was clarified. Tourists have to pay an entrance fee, and the booth was at this other entrance. Clarity is nice.

Once I paid the tourist entry fee, this random guy approached me and was being very nice. I thought he was pointing out essentially where the tourists could and could not go while in the temple, so I followed him for a bit. As soon as we got to the first place he was ready to usher me to the next. Oh no. I know what this is. He was going to show me around and then at the end demand a fee. First off, I'm not a fan of that, and second I was low on cash at the end of my trip, so I shook him off.

Walking around on my own now, it was cool to observe this huge temple complex. The place he first took me is the one place foreigners (non-Hindus) cannot go in the complex, and leading up to that entrance was a HUGE line that snaked throughout the whole side of the complex.

It wasn't just that spot that had a long line, but another temple or two in the complex was backed up for hours. Clearly this is not an uncommon occurrence, as there are pedestrian bridges leading over main walkways so the lines don't permanently clog everything up!

Well, I started walking around and shortly decided to go back and get my shoes. Pretty glad I did that. From the short conversation I had with my attempted-guide, he said that this site is extremely holy for Hindus, similar to Rome for Catholics. There is the one main temple, but also a ton of other ones spread throughout the complex.

Walking around and through my observations, it seemed like people would buy offerings from the many people on the street, then head into the temple. Once there, some groups would find spaces to sit down and perform some offerings, including burning most of them, while sitting together as a smaller group.

Some other groups sat in lines and rows and performed a set of chants and saying some things. That seemed to be more common for larger groups though. But, the vast majority of people seemed to just wait their turn in line to head into the sacred temple to give their offerings.

To start, I walked around the area of the complex near the sacred temple. There were tons of groups of people and people in general there, doing some offerings and chant groups, people waiting around, and some monkeys hanging about too. Up at a higher point I got to peek into the mass of people in the sacred temple, then continued on to another area.

Leaving that first area I was in, I walked out into a sort of shopping avenue (I'm assuming it was one of the places people went to get some of their offerings). From there, middled about for a sec, then found a small viewpoint that was overlooking the river that split the complex in two. Very interesting, but once again, got subtly approached by a 'tour guide'.

Back around past another area, I took a right along the river. Here is where I remembered something that first guy said, something about cremation. Well I started walking down that lane, and walked right into an open cremation area. I'd never experience this before, and I gotta say it was really interesting to watch and witness.

I stood there and watched what was going on for a bit, but ended up finding a place to sit to watch and observe a little more. I never had really put 2 and 2 together that this was a thing, so I was quite curious as to what goes on.

Along the river there were a bunch of concrete pedestals above the water, some with a roof covering, some without. While I was there, there was a cremation that was in process, and I got to see what happens (I think) from the beginning.

At the start, it seemed like there were a couple of things going on. From watching, it looked like there was a guy that was kind of in charge of the cremation area (white shirt and white skirt/wrap - it's sadistic, but he looked just like a butcher...), and his helper (red shirt and white skirt). They worked at getting the pyre set, stacking some big logs as a frame and then filling the gaps with smaller pieces and then kindling.

While that's ongoing, a group of people (my assumption was these folks were related to the deceased) congregated on the walkway in preparation for the ceremony. There seemed to be some readings and discussion, but I'm not completely sure what was the content (See two images back, with the pyres on the left and people on the right).

By the time I'd found a spot to sit down, a group of the congregators brought the deceased's body out to the pyre and set it down on top of the wood structure. It wasn't very overt or ceremonial, but fairly solemn and done in a quiet and respectful manner.

With the deceased now resting on the pyre, there were some more preparations in order. The next step was to lay some offerings down. The main prep guy did some stuff, and then one of the congregators/related persons laid some wreaths and flowers down. Afterwards, another person took some smoke and incense and walked around the pyre a few times.

From there, it was all just preparation for the fire. The two prep guys added some more kindling on to the top, muddled about for a bit, and then started to light it on fire. It was a very unceremonious moment, and was all not what I expected. But the cremation began.

As the fire started, the group of folks related to the deceased then moved up close to me. Here they continued to do some readings and have a discussion. I continued to sit there for a minute, but eventually got up and continued my journey.

Very interesting to sit there and observe the ceremony and procedure at hand. As I said, in a way, it was fairly unceremonious. Not that that's a bad thing, but compared to how death seems to be handled in the US, it was quiet, with little circumstance and no showiness, and still very respectful.

My walk took me further down that river bank. Every now and then I'd look and see the pyre's smoke billowing up further into the sky. Along the river bank were a few groups of people in what I assumed were offering circles, doing their thing in a quieter setting.

Shortly down the way was a bridge. Not wanting to leave the temple area yet, I crossed it and then headed back in the direction I came but now on the other side of the river, gaining another perspective of the things I'd just seen, as well as of the temple complex as a whole.

The other side of the river also gave me another chance to see the open cremation again. The smoke was still heavily rising, and the fire was visible on the pyre. The congregators/related were now seated where I previously was, watching the fire slowly envelop the entirety of the pyre. The prep dudes looked to be standing there for a bit, but then moved on to preparations for the next one not too long afterwards. I wasn't the only one looking on though too, as there were a number of people hanging out along the water.

That took me back up a little further along the river and then up some stairs to the right to another section of the temple. There were a ton of very interesting buildings (most I assumed were specific temples).

In one of the courtyards, there were four guys dressed and done up who looked very interesting. I snapped a couple of pictures of them after I asked and they said yes. As soon as I took their picture, they demanded some money of me. I should've expected this, but goddamnit... Two Nepali guys came up right about then and inquired about the hubub. One translated saying I needed to pay the dudes, the other said I was fine and gave me an out. I took it and went on my way.

The last little section of the complex that I went to was up the hill a little bit, and provided a great view of the whole complex. I cruised past some prayer structures with people milling about and then found a nice comfy bench right on the edge of the walkway to people watch, take a break, and gaze out over the temples.

From up top, I could see the other side of the river bank, up from the cremation pyres. There it looked like they were doing some preparation work or beginning parts of the ceremony for a few more deceased persons. Another interesting tidbit to watch as I tried to figure out how that fit into what I'd previously seen.

A little bit rested and very intrigued at all that I'd seen, I got up and started walking back to the moped. Still a lot of interesting things I saw along the way, but soon enough I was back to my two wheels of fury, and underway.

I initially planned to go out to Bhaktapur, but because of how much time I'd spent at Pashupatinath, I decided to change plans and keep things within Kathmandu. Turned out to be the correct decision.

It was another hectic but fun ride that took me around town on the East side and down to the South part of Kathmandu, now in the Patan/Lalitpur region of town. There was a bit of an adventure with some unsure cruising and motoring on, but I passed through some side streets and eventually was able to park the moped for the next part of the temple tour - Patan Durbar Square.

Another one of the many UNESCO World Heritage sites I've sought out in my travels, Patan Durbar Square is a very old town square with tons of history that used to be an entrance/plaze to a palace (I'm pretty sure about that). I walked down the street from where I parked to get there, but the entrance was pretty non-descript so I just walked right in.

As Lee Corso would say, "NOT So fast!". My (not-so) keen eye passed right over the extremely non-descript pay booth, where us foreigners had to pay to get in. Did it, but was a little grumpy, as I didn't expect to have to do it again. Right after that, I had to tell off another 'guide'. Once again, not in the mood to be carted around. The insight and knowledge tidbits would have been nice, but I didn't want to pay and wanted to keep my excursion flexible.

Once in, I walked a little bit into the square and took some pictures, but soon after turned around to find a nice spot to sit down. I people watched for a bit, and ate the leftover pizza I had with me from the night before. That was clutch.

I got up and walked around a bit more, but was surprised at how small the square was. Definitely not the size I expected, so I took it slow and gazed at all the buildings and structures and artwork and what not. But before I knew it I'd perused it all.

At that point in time I was starting to feel really sluggish and achy, and overall just crappy. Definitely not an ideal case. Another unfortunate status was that I was kinda low on money and didn't want to get more. But I really needed to sit down and eat something (and in all reality should have realized I needed to drink some water. Dumb me.)

Stubbornness really is a bitch, so naturally I did none of what I should have. Smort. With my entrance ticket, and wanting to make the most of it, I went into the museum and cruised through that. There was some really cool stuff in there, including a picture gallery of photos highlighting Nepal's culture, a ton of historical relics from the kingdoms that used to reside near Kathmandu, and I learned a ton about Shiva and a few of the main Hindu gods.

There was a ton more to see, but unfortunately due to my poor shape and state, I wasn't quite in the mood. I sat down in the museum, hoping that would help out. It did for a hot minute, but eventually I had to cave and go get more money so I could take care of myself. I walked around for a good bit before I finally found one.

With some money, I headed back to the square in search for a good place to dine and rest. Found a café overlooking the square. Clutch.

Now I was reaching moderate hangriness. Because of that I got pissed when the waiter asked me to uproot from my comfy chair and table for a big party that came in. That inordinately pissed me off, but kinda had to oblige. Fuck big groups as a solo traveler.

To my luck, there were a couple British folks that were just about to leave and offered me to join them at their spot until they did. It's nice how the inadvertent kindness of strangers can really turn things around, even in small ways.

Before they left, I chatted with Tom and the gal (forgot her name). They were in Nepal doing some work for an NGO focusing on ending child marriage. Tom was the photographer, and she worked for the NGO. Really nice folks. But now, a table to myself, I was able to read and eat. I had a chicken burger that was pretty damn good with some water to relax. Definitely a bit of what I needed, but could also have used more. I had to splurge on top of all that though and get the brownie. Mommy, you've been a terrible/great influence when it comes to dessert.

After I ate and relaxed at the café for a bit, I walked back through Durbar Square. I took a few more pictures, sat at another spot for a while, and enjoyed the square on more time. Then, back to the bike and off to my last stop on the Temple Tour.

The next stop wasn't far away from Durbar Square, but took some navigating to get to. I had thought there were some more things to look at in the Patan area, and luckily enough I was able to find one. Zoom zoom zoom and I had the little bike parked.

This was a much smaller and less busy temple. Mahadev Temple was tucked in between a bunch of houses/apartment buildings, and if it weren't for the few people going in and out of it, and the fact that it was on the map, I would've overlooked it.

I dropped into the temple and took a slow walk around it (size-wise, like walking around the yard). In the center was a big tower structure. It was under construction a bit, but it really took up the center area, and around the sides seemed to be a bunch of smaller shrines and things.

As I meandered through the temple I perused each shrine and observed the few people that were there doing their thing. The achiness and tiredness never really went away, so I decided to stop and sit for a while near the entrance and just people watch. That helped, but not a ton.

At this point, I was pretty torn. My body was drained, achy, sore, and kinda just ready to shut down and be at home in bed. But the adventurer in me know I had just a few more hours left in this beautiful country, and a few more hours with the moped, and felt I had to explore more. My current state wasn't going to change much any time soon (UNLESS I would've drank some water. Stupid Nial), but at the end, I knew I had to take advantage of my time. With that, back to the bike and off to the last stop on the Temple Tour!

Rush hour was starting to strengthen then in the early afternoon. I weaved my way in and out of people as I made my way all across town to the west side and up to Swayambhu Hill Temple. Or, better known as the Monkey Temple.

Where I parked was still a ways out from the temple itself. So I dropped the kickstand, took off the helmet and such (crazy, you can just leave the helmet hanging from your bike and no one will take it. I love it.) and got some laughs from a couple children near by. Then, walked up to the main road and immediately saw why it's named the Monkey Temple.

There was a big archway to show the start of the stairs up (note the 'Hill' part of the name), and all around it on the many sculptures and structures were monkeys. Pretty much all over the place. All kinda just chilling out, bouncing from place to place, grooming each other, and doing their thing. Really no shits given by them with all the people around. This was their home, and they welcomed us all in it, albeit passively welcomed.

With monkeys and people all around, I slowly started ascending the steps to the temple up top. It was a slow journey on my end, but I took my time. Along the way there were still a bunch of smaller shrines, buddha statues, and other things to look at and watch the monkeys crawl all over.

The last set of stairs was quite the climb. Granted, I'd just done a few days of way more and way worse elevation gain, but after a couple days of light stuff and being deyhdrated and sore, that was not a good combo. BUT, not one to give up, I pushed on and made it to the top, paid another (now expected) entrance fee, and got to see a beautiful view of the city of Kathmandu before wandering around the temple.

As one would expect, there were a ton of people up there. I tried to find the less crowded spots, but overall it wasn't a very big area. Nonetheless, I took some time to walk around and check out what was there.

In the center of the main upper part of the complex was a big shrine, with tons of strings of prayer wheels coming off of it. The top of that was a mix of gold and black, and the bottom of it was just a giant dome. Around the corners were some tall white columns, not sure what they're called or what their purpose is.

Going further back and around the main structure, there were a bunch of smaller shrines and things, bells, towers, and more views of town. Interesting to see just a kind of amalgamation of things, but very pretty to walk through.

I kinda wandered around the upper portion for a bit, looking at some of the artwork and vendor tables, and meandering in and out of the various structures. There ended up being a lower area tucked back further past the main thing and down the hill, so I wandered down there at my leisure.

Down at the lower part were a couple fountains with tons of strings of prayer flags hanging around. There were groups of people and of monkeys hanging out, so I pulled up a seat to take a load off and people/monkey watch. The monkeys were pretty interesting. Bouncing about a good bit, some being dastardly and trying to steal food or whatever they could from people, but most of them being pretty low key and doing their thing.

Feeling low key, but more worn out, I started making my way back to the moped. It took some stairs to get back up to the main temple, and once I did I found another place to sit down. This spot seemed to attract a few monkeys, so I watched them scurry about and made sure all of my stuff was either being held or secured.

From there, I took another view around town, enjoyed the awesome size of Kathmandu, and then started my descent down the stairs. Before I could get too far, I decided I needed another sitting break. I think found a landing, and plopped down next to a couple older dudes and sat for some people watching.

I picked a great spot! Right when I got there, a few dudes on BMXs and Mountain Bikes started doing some jumps over the staircase. A break and a show! I sat there for a good bit to people watch, and see the dudes on bikes do their thing. One of the BMXs didn't have breaks, so as soon as he hit the last jump he'd have to jam his feet on the ground to stop before the next big staircase.

The old dudes that were right there had some fun stuff going on. A vendor lady from across the way would come and chat with them for a bit, a little kid was playing with one of the guys' little pads and throwing it around like a frisbee, and a bunch of monkeys that were hanging out behind them started to grab shit off their table trying to steal some of their goods. Funny, but not funny for them. They held them away though.

That was a nice break. After I up and left that spot though, I had a few more staircases to go to get out of the temple complex. I stopped and watch all the happenings for a bit, but soon enough I was back at the moped, ready to head out.

I still had quite a few hours until my flight, but I maneuvered my moped back to the moped shop and handed it over. Quite the nice way to enjoy the day and cruise around the city!

My body still wasn't feeling so hot, but I didn't have a bed to go sleep on or rest on. To try and give my body another break, I headed back to the hotel and sat in the common room. Luckily enough, there was some rugby on with a dude from England watching and writing.

I plopped down and started watching, just taking it easy and relaxing. The game was pretty good, All Blacks were crushing Ireland, and eventually Toby and I started chatting. He was a nice dude, on an extended trip for himself, and had just come from Mongolia (iirc). Rather than dealing with four days through China, he found some kind of plane connection to get him to Kathmandu.

After a while, I needed to go grab some food before my taxi to the airport, and he came along with. Took him a while to get ready to go, but we walked over to Thamel and landed on my homer pick of OR2K. Yep, they have a restaurant in Kathmandu too.

My funds were getting really low, but I planned out just enough to have some dinner, and buy a bottle of Nepalese whiskey. Luckily enough, it all worked out perfectly. I got some food at dinner, just enough to keep me going and stay within my budget. Toby and I had an easy-going chat over dinner, then once it was done we headed back out to the street.

It was nearing my time to leave, so shortly thereafter I bid adieu to Toby and started making my way back to the hotel. Before I could leave Thamel though, I had to snag some whiskey. On the way in I asked a place about price and it was expensive. One bottle though had to come with.

I thought I'd gone back into the same place on the way back to the hotel, but that was a lie. I went back and looked at the whiskey, and prices were over half as much as the first place I'd looked! Score! Doubled up on the big bottles and was on my merry way!

That was a nice stroke of luck to send me off from Kathmandu. I got back to the hotel, grabbed my stuff, said bye to the super nice proprietor there, and then was in a cab off to the airport.

Once I got out of the taxi though, I had to sprawl out a bit on the sidewalk and make sure everything got packed nice and tight. Good thing I've lost some inhibitions doing things like that, because I was efficient in pulling out a ton of stuff, wrapping everything up as needed, and getting it all back in the bag tight and secure so baggage handlers wouldn't break anything.

Kathmandu airport was fairly straightforward to get through. I got in the various lines, checked my bags, waited in more lines, and then waited at the gate. Luckily enough, my dehydration had now brought along some serious traveller's diahrrea (I couldn't stop thinking about this), so I was really in an uncomfortable and unhappy spot. And wouldn't you know it! All that medication I'd brought along the trip specifically for this purpose was just a short ways away in the doldrums of the airport within my checked bag. :-(

Soon enough we were wheels up, and I did my best to keep everything in when I could, and get it all out when the moments came. I got a little bit of sleep on the flight over to Guangzhou, but it wasn't the greatest plane ride ever.

Getting into Guangzhou was nice to get off of the plane. That airport is huge, and I did my best to find the first bathroom I could. Going through customs and security and whatnot, I got pulled aside and set to a special line. I'd read about this before, but now I was actually able to take advantage of China Southern's awesome offer in Guangzhou!

Well, if you have a layover in Guangzhou that's over 8 hours, China Southern will put you up in a hotel nearby so you can do what ever you want in your layover on a comfy bed and not in the airport terminal. Hoooooow dope. The process took about an hour, with waiting in some lines (in a gigantic terminal with almost zero people in it initially), getting interviewed by this stern dude, then finally heading to a counter to select my hotel and get going.

I picked the one that was closest to the airport to minimize travel time. Then I had to follow a dude at the counter to another side of the terminal, and wait in a kinda weird manner. Not weird as in we or he did something weird, there just wasn't a whole lot of communication going on. But, that's to be expected. Dude speaks Chinese, I speak English, not a lot of overlap in those two languages.

My bus came! I jumped on, and it ferried me to my hotel. Weirdly enough, I didn't take any pictures of this, because I think I was so focused on getting to a bed and a room with a toilet to pass out and try and take care of myself. Got there, got checked in, and laid down on the bed right away to try and get some sleep.

I got a little bit, but not a ton. Made sure I woke up in time to get downstairs and go get some of the free breakfast. Well, that was honestly quite a disappointment. The breakfast was (again, through my cultural lens) pretty weird and not very breakfasty. More than likely some great Chinese breakfast foods, but being sick and not in a good state, I was not in the mood for it.

I had some bread, some fruit, and a piece of a pork bun, but just couldn't put much down. This confused me, but there was nowhere to find non-steaming water. The breakfast thing had three different spouts for really hot water, but I asked them for cold water and no one knew what gibberish I was speaking of.

Knowing I needed some electrolytes and water. I went outside and there was a corner store right next to the hotel. How serendipitous! Got over there, and they had both purified water and gatorade! How awesome! Went to the counter and oh boy, they don't take credit card. Damnit! Although I really needed this stuff, I wasn't going to go find an ATM to withdraw a few Renminbis that would probably leave me with a bunch extra. A bit defeated, I went back to the hotel to try and get some more sleep.

Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the airport for my second of three flights home. The bus ride back was easy, and it was interesting looking at the area on the way. TONS of construction going on, and everything seemed to be either really developed, or a bit in need of it. Lots of big buildings, really organized (seemingly) and not busy highways and such. Pretty impressive.

Back at the airport, I got checked in and got my boarding pass. Before I got into the terminal though, I saw there was a first aid center. Knowing my body was struggling, I headed over there to see what kind of help I could get.

A younger Chinese doctor was there, and she welcomed me in and started helping me out. I shared my symptoms and information as much as I could, and she confirmed that I was dehydrated and had the runs. Unfortunately, as I said, all my meds were in my checked bag, but I wanted to see if she might have anything to help me out.

One cool thing about this interaction was how we communicated. She could speak pretty good English, but not as in depth as she wanted. So with that, obviously there was a big language gap. Technology is so dope though. Rather than not being able to understand each other, she had her phone out and some app that would record your voice in your language, and then translate it and read it out in the other language. SO COOL! That really made the conversation pretty doable, and was awesome to see that in use!

Luckily enough, she had what I needed! And a bunch of it! But (and I should have anticipated this), I had to pay for it. Bummer again, no credit card capability. Long story short, I declined the meds because I didn't want to have to pay for it via hard currency. Bummer, but I wasn't going to waste a bunch of money on it. She was confused, but cemented just how nice she was when she slipped me a couple of the pills free of charge.

Overall, a super helpful gal. Not an easy spot to be in, but she was both very helpful and kinda stuck her neck out to help me. Huge thanks to you madam!

After that, it was off to my gate. I had enough time to hang out and do it fairly easily. Once in the terminal, I got a bit lucky. There was some gatorade in one of the shops, so I snagged a ton of it. Electrolytes (and my hopeful saving grace) in hand, I wandered to my gate and hung out until the flight.

There were tons of intersting things to watch in this gigantic sterile-feeling airport. One of them was a short documentary on the screens near my seat about the Mandarin Opera scene. Seemed really showy, but also very artistic and interesting.

At long last it was time to board. Back to North America we go. I got into the dope-ass Dreamliner and found my seat at the window next to an older Chinese couple. I knew it was going to be a long ride so I buckled in with my Gatorade ready for the long-haul.

During the flight I didn't eat a thing. I think the Chinese couple was worried about me; as soon as their food came, both of them (along with the stewardess) essentially pushed their bread rolls on to me. That was not what I wanted, but super sweet of them! No chance I could communicate clearly with them, but I did my best to show my gratitude for their very kind and selfless gesture.

Long story short, I made it to Vancouver. Barely. Got in, found a bathroom, made my way through customs, and apparently was on US soil in Canada. That never makes sense to me, but oh well. I was (almost) home. As you'd imagine, from Vancouver it was just a short puddle jumper compared to my other flights to finally be back home.

And what better way to get back to town than to have the best Mommy in the world waiting for you at the airport! :-) She snagged me from baggage claim and took me back to my place.

I knew I wasn't feeling great and really needed some rest and something to get back to healthy. But I will never forget this. We walked into my place, I set my things down and turned on some lights, and my mom looks me deadpan and says, "Yeah, Nial, you really look like shit." Totally true and brutally honest, but goddamn that made me crack up! I love you Mommy!

SUMMARY

Though it ended on a bit of a struggle, my three weeks in Nepal were absolutely unbelievable. The country is full of absolutely amazing things. All the nature I saw was some of the most insane I've ever witnessed. The highest mountains in the world amidst some extremely diverse terrain gave me nothing but amazing things to look at wherever I went. Dealing with the people was (for the vast majority of it) unbelievable easy, as they made me feel welcome in their home, and were intrigued about me as they did their best to make sure their visitors enjoyed the time in their country.

If you're looking for an awesome place to go hiking - go to Nepal. If you want to find somewhere to dive into some interesting and diverse cultures - go to Nepal. Really though, it's an amazing place and I couldn't be happier with my travels.

N - The Greatest Letter

I don't know if this is coincidence or destiny. But after going through this trip and reflecting on it compared to my other amazing opportunities to travel the world, all of my favorite countries start with the letter 'N'. Norway, New Zealand, Nepal. All with incredible nature, all with incredible people, all with amazing opportunities to explore. As I said, a toss-up between coincidence and destiny as it matches my name. I like to think it's destiny.

But now, it's time for another installment of......

The Good, The Bad, The Different

After most every big international trip I've done, I circle back to a tenant of my exchange program. What you're used to in your world is one thing, but what other people are used to in their world could be a completely different thing. Somethings may surprise you and make you happy, some may piss off the ever-living-fuck out of you, but in the end of the day, it all really comes down to differences in cultures, worlds, countries, people, and everything else. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just different. So here's my analysis on my time in Nepal

The Good

• The people are unbelievable friendly and welcoming ready to reciprocate a smile, ensure you're having a nice stay, chat with you while on the trail, or strike up a conversation to get an idea of the many diverse people that come visit their homeland
• Every car seems to have at least three different horn types with normal, happy, and angry tones. And while on the road, you'll hear all three of them in regular succession
• When it comes to food, everything seemed to be done by scratch. Food is made directly from the meat and veggies they gathered/raised, and is prepared once ordered. This makes things taste really fresh, as you know there was concerted effort put into it
• Throughout the various parts of the country I visited, there seemed to be multiple religions peacefully coexisting (e.g. Muktinath). I'm so used to religion being such a polarizing topic, but seeing that there are cities where some extremely holy sites are present, and not all of the same religion, was awesome to see that level of harmony and peaceful coexistence.
• Along the trails, there are tons of backpackers benches, with wide seats so you can sit down with your pack on. Carrying a pack in any kind of elevation, and especially at the ones in Nepal, or on long days, it's nice to have places to sit down. With benches where you don't even have to take your pack off but can still take a big load off for a bit, it's such a nice relief

The Bad

• Similar to a lot of developing countries I've been to, there is a cacophony of heinous smells on the street. You might be somewhere and all of a sudden you get slapped in the face with the smell of rotting everything. It's rough and surprising, and seemingly common on the streets.
• Tourists suck so much. Why the fuck would you come to one of the most beautiful places on earth and walk around with your fucking phone music on the trail or incessantly play with your drones. Wtf. Go do that in the city and let nature be pristine and as undisturbed as possible.
• Nepal might have worst roads I have ever seen. I get their rural mountain roads being rough, but a national highway that is like a mine field? Dayum. Although this seemed to be at least just the Nayapul highway section I was on, it didn't give me high hopes for the rest of the highways that were anywhere near the mountains.

The Different

• In Nepal, cars drive on the left hand side, just like New Zealand and Britain and such
• Nepalese songs seem to be able to go on forever! A lot are essentially eternal jam songs. The one that was playing on the bus as I came down the slope out of Kathmandu was the perfect example
• How orders were kept track of at hotels was pretty interesting. You write it all down on a piece of paper, usually split up by room number, but some places it was split up by person. Then, whatever you order gets added to the sheet, and at the end of the day it gets tallied up. Pretty efficient and simple way to do it!
• Honestly, there are probably a lot of similar notes on these points that I'd seen in other developing countries.

Nepal is definitely a growing country that does not necessarily have the money to support the growth. Despite that, the people are happy and welcoming, the nature is insane, and it's quite the place to explore.

Things I’ve learned about me

Traveling alone gives you a lot of time to think. Sometimes wayyyyy too much time. But this time I'd thought I'd touch on some of that, and share some of the things I learned or noticed about myself along the way. Here we go.

I....

• ...rush myself. Even when I have no time pressure or anywhere to go, my tendency is to do things or go places in a quick manner. I'm not sure why, but I regularly seem to be in a high gear.
• ...don’t like getting approached for things. If I need something, I’ll seek it out. But getting approached for anything (a bike rental, haircut, fruit juice, anything) just pisses me off. Even if I was thinking I'd want whatever I was approached for, it turns me off, usually just out of spite.
• ...have a pretty determined rest face. I don't think it's quite a full resting bitch face, but I don't think it's necessarily pleasant or approachable. I think it's engrained in me in the hopes of scaring unsuspecting vendors and peddlers off.
• ...often times feel slighted and disrespected doing things solo. I have absolutely no problem doing things alone, but it seems to be fairly uncommon in the grand scheme of things. Because of that, it feels really common to get overlooked in the presence of other groups. That gets really annoying and that paired with the stigma of doing things alone annoys me.
• ...suck at putting myself out there to meet people. I’ve known this for ages, but it keeps reinforcing itself. Traveling alone, you kind of have to put yourself out there to meet people. Otherwise you will be alone for sure. But getting over that hump of putting yourself out there is not something that comes easy for me.
• ...am stingy. I’ll gladly walk around somewhere by myself rather than getting suckered into a ‘free’ tour guide that’ll charge me at the end. That and I'll make sure I do things that might prevent me from having to pay money. Sometimes that is smart and cost-wise, other times it's just pure stubbornness.
• ...am a pretty confident person. Sometimes it crosses over to arrogance and assholishness, but I hope those times are minimal.
• ...eat a lot. Hiking with the international gang I had along the way showed me that I really put down some vittles. Weirdly enough, I don't think it's an excessive amount for me, at least when I'm doing something exertive like hiking, backpacking, biking, etc. I know I'm not special, but I feel like I put all those calories to use. But that means I put down a good amount. Either way, I should probably be a little more cognizant of how much I'm throwing down.
• ...am not extroverted enough to be good at being single. Being a third and fifth-wheel can get interesting for me. Usually it's a lot of fun with great people and great conversations. My natural tendency around people though is to be kinda naturally reclusive or quiet. But when I'm around others, especially in a small group, I should be a little more outgoing and talkative to be an engaging member in the group.

Next Up

A lot. I'm finally wrapping this gigantic post up about two months after I finished the trip. And as I mentioned in the post before this one, I'm moving over to Germany in early 2020. With that comes a lot of things to do and take care of before moving over. Not to make this novel drag on any longer, I'll hit that up in a different post coming soon!

Original Publish Date: December 15th, 2019