Annapurna Partial Circuit, 5th – 18th May 2007 Trekking in the Himalayas has always had a special allure to me. Having done a 6 day camping and trekking trip in the Himachal Himalayas opposite the Kailash Manimahesh range, I got restless this year for more Himalayas… happily for me, Manisha, whom I first met in…
The trip starts off on a high note, with free upgrades to business class. I can see each of us disconnecting from “real life”… finishing the last cell phone call, sending the last message, worrying the last worry about the lives we are suspending for 2 weeks. I am traveling Delhi – Kathmandu with two…
We have a bus to catch at 7 am, and somehow we do catch it, after a sketchy sort of breakfast. We continue to chat for a bit, and finally fall asleep in the bus. The drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara must have been scenic – but I miss most of the scenery. It’s a…
Nits has woken up real early (the woman seems indefatigable!), taken a walk around the beautiful garden, has had her morning masala chai… and is urging me to wake up and do the same. Bloody Ms. Program Manager, keeps me focused on getting ready, walking around the garden, and getting packed before breakfast. Today the…
Nitya again wakes up bright and early and orders masala chai in the room for us. We order a “simple breakfast”: toast, butter/jam, fried eggs or omelette, and chai. We aren’t in any hurry to start off, we laze over breakfast and eventually rouse ourselves to hit the trail. It’s a steep climb out of…
For a change, I wake up early this morning. Having checked that Nitya is still breathing, I try to be as noiseless as possible, without too much success. It’s quite light outside. I push the curtains aside, and see the snow mountains. There’s a pale half-moon above the mountain. I realise this is the highest…
Morning has broken… and with it comes our wake up call with a menu in hand. I shoo him away: “g’morning… 5 mins please…”. Yesterday was a long day – elapsed time about 10 hours, hiking time about 8 hours. But Miss.M feels good, somewhat to her surprise – no aches and pains. The thought…
I wake up quite early and potter about. No bath today. I sit in the front lawn and watch other trekkers leave early. The Israeli chicks are nowhere in sight – must have steamed off ahead. I have some quiet time with the nastrutiums. We decide to leave early and have breakfast enroute. We’re mostly…
The much dreaded 6000 foot ascent is today. Everyone we met in Tatopani yesterday, who are doing the trek in the opposite direction to ours, gave us a lot of hype about the Ghorepani – Tatopani section. There was a European woman who was getting out of the hot springs as we were getting in….
I have a so-so night and wake up early. Get out of bed trying not to disturb N. Wrapped in some warmies and armed with my little notebook, I go out to the dining area in the hope of writing in my journal. Through the trip I never get beyond writing about day 5 or…
