Nepal Summary

Days Travelled - 21 days (3 weeks)

Distance Travelled - Approx. 830 km (516 miles).

Hours Travelled - 25 hours (1 day, 1 hour)

Destinations - 2

Top 3

Since we spent far less time in Nepal than India we picked our top 3 moments, instead of top 5 to make the decision more difficult.

3 - Hot Springs - Half way through the ascent of Annapurna, we stopped at the hot springs and relaxed our legs, it was heaven on earth. Although, the hiking that followed the relaxation period was a bitch. Our legs hated us that day.

2 - Kathmandu - With it being my first ever Christmas away from home I was missing the usual rituals. But I really enjoyed Christmas in Kathmandu, we had a turkey dinner and partied at night. I think it was suited as the best place to spend a first christmas away from home out of all the previous places we had visited. The catastrophe of Ady dropping his turkey dinner and eating off his crotch was a highlight too.

1-Reaching ABC - When we finally made it to the Annapurna Base Camp at 4200m. It was a dream. The mountains were covered in bright white snow and the sky was so clear. The good few hours we spent warming ourselves up in the lodge eating chocolate and resting our feet was a well cherished moment. We were both proud of our achivement that day. The avalanche the following day was a great thing to see as an addition.

Final Advice

If you ever go to Nepal you must venture out into the Himalayas to experience their might and beauty. They are incredible. There are hikes that are suited for everyone, and each contains their own highlights. The food is great if you know where to go, with many western classics on the menu. The local speciality of Dahl Bhat is cheap and plentiful but was a bit too ghetto for us snobs. Transportation is common between the big cities of Pokhara and Kathmandu but venturing outside of these places is far more difficult (feel free to ride by rooftop too). Waterproof bag covers are great for the bus journies, just in case a goat pisses on your bag too. The nightlife in Kathmandu is really fun, and many locals speak English to make things easier. I really think I will be returning here one day.

Kathmandu - Christmas and New Year

With the strike finally over, we were able to make our way to Kathmandu, so we oould spend Christmas and The New Year in the capital. We got a tourist bus (350 Nrps), which took us 6-7 hours and found a place to stay in Thamel, the tourist area of Kathmandu (Deutsch Guest House). The plan was to spend Christmas in Kathmandu, do the Langtang valley and be back just in time for New Year. However the plan was scrapped as we found out the next day that it took 8 hours for a bus to get there, which would mean we would not be back in time for the New Year and that’s just criminal. This meant we had lots of time to kill so we decided to treat ourselves by watching lots of movies on the T.V. and eating loads of snack food (for some reason, the western chocolate tasted nicer over here!). The good thing with being in a very tourist area was that there was a very good selection of western food, something that we missed in India, and it was pretty cheap, so that meant we just feasted for our days in Kathmandu.

With Danny coming to the mosque with me when it was Eid, I thought it would be fair if I come and have Christmas dinner with him (fair deal me thinks!). Aidy was with us (the guy who we met at Annapurna Base camp) and soon as he tucked in, he dropped all his Christmas dinner on his lap. He had no choice but to eat off his crotch while it was burning him and we were taking the necessary pics. I’m sure that’s going to be a Christmas he’ll never forget.

Nothing much happened for the Christmas week apart from we applied for our Chinese visa and went to the cinema to watch Avatar. We had to move guest houses too because there was no promised hot water. We complained for like 4 days and he was adamant that hot water was coming out of the top but it definitely was cold. We told him to either sort it or we’ll leave and he told us to leave, -some customer service that is. We stayed at Sacred Valley Inn, the same hotel as the one in Pokhara but they have a branch here. It was so much better than Deutsch Guest House and Bishnu was so helpful so I’d definitely recommend staying there.

We finally did get bored and on the 30th and 31st, we decided to see what Kathmandu offered us. We first visited the Durbar square, which is a square with loads of old temples and then Swayambhunath, which was a temple at the top of a big climb of steps. This is where we saw a big monkey fight and obviously Dan was there with the camera but stood behind me for some reason (Pussy). We were meant to see more temples but we were distracted by a game of football so we could show these Nepalis how to play football the English way. On New Years eve, we hired some proper mountain bikes and cycled to the outskirts of Kathmandu, which was a total of 40km and meant we had to weave in and out of Nepali traffic, which required a lot of skill. We wanted to go to Nagarkot, where you can see Mount Everest from but it was really foggy so we decided it wasn’t worth the cycle up.

We picked our visas up on the 30th and booked our flights to Chengdu (2nd Jan). This meant our trip to Nepal was finally ending but China was there to pick us up.

Kathmandu Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2341173011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Trekking The Annapurna Sanctuary

They day after collecting our mountain permits (2000 rps) we began our long hike to the Annapurna Base Camp, aka, ABC. Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world at 8091m. It has some pretty devasting facts to go along with it. There have been recorded 129 succesfull ascents of the mountain, with a fatality rate double that of the attempted ascents. Another mounatin in the same range, Machapuchhre, known as the fishtail because of the shape of its peak, is now forbidden to be climbed, because of how dangerous it is. Making it to both of these great mountains base camps should be a challenge.

Day 1. Phedi - Tolka. 1030m ascent. 870m descent.

We set off quite late on the 14th of December at around 12:30. We got a taxi to Phedi where the Annapurna Sanctuary trek begins. After taking some photo's of the us beginning our trek, we turned around to see the biggest and steepest stair set ever. After ascending half way, we more or less stripped all our gear off as we were sweating like mad. A brief encounter of the route to come our way. We wanted to make it to Tolka, which according to the trekking book I borrowed way back in Jasailmer, it should take around 5-6 hours. So we had to get a move on. At the top of the stairs was the village of Dhampus, a basic himalayan village, selling everry day groceries but at mountain price (we found this price rapidly increases as the altitude does) and guest houses and lodges scattered around also. We were trekking in the low peak season, December being quite cold in Nepal, but there were more trekkers around than we expected. About an hour before reaching our destination, we bumped into Qussami, a fella who owned a lodge in Tolka, and because we met him en route he offered us discount for staying at his lodge. The night went by ok, it got a little chilly, but it was nothing compared to the days ahead.



Day 2. Tolka - Chhomrong. 870m ascent. 450m descent. With Hot Spring Sidequest.

From here the trek really started to get interesting, we were in the middle of a huge valley, with a path that worked its way around the hillside. We crossed a few rope suspension bridges which were really old but quite safe. We saw the main river which runs through the valley, and it looked freezing! I wouldnt fancy trying to do any rafting down that one. Plus there were tonnes of waterfalls that we passed every now and then. Our side quest for the day, involved a trip to the hot springs below the village of Jhinu. I expected them to be natural pools, but they were infact man made pools, with natural hot spring water flowing into them. They were really warm, despite the outside temperature of less than 5 degrees C. We chilled in them for ages, relaxing our already tired legs, and taking a well-needed choc-choc break. The hot springs were at the bottom of the valley, near the river. What we didnt know, was that our camp for the night was at the very top of the valley! This turned out to be, in my opinion, the second hardest part of the entire trek, especially as our legs were nice and relaxed from the hot bathe. Maj, bless his cotton socks, was really struggling with this part, as his legs kept seizing up with cramps. Half way up, we bumped into a recognisable character from yesterday. A chap from Slovakia, who we later found out was called Milo (Meelo). We just called him Slovak for now though. He was resting at Taulung, where a lovely woman was trying to intice all of us into staying at her homestay. Milo stayed, but me and Maj wanted to keep on track and achieve the days target of Chhomrong. We finally made it to the Chhomrong cottage, ate pizza, macaroni and cake (we need energy excuse) and hit the sack.



Day 3. Chhomrong - Himalaya. 1140m ascent. 510m descent.

The view the next morning was incredible! We were right in the mountain range, with snow capped peaks in distance, that looked so intimadating from where we were at. I couldn't wait to get up there. The next part of the trek saw a change of environment, the valleys suddenly dissapeared on us, and we were walking through a kind of forest/jungle. This was an easy going walk compared to the previous day. The same guide mentioned earlier, recommended an overnight stay at a place called Bamboo, but we decided to progress to the following days recommended destination, known as Himalaya. The dining area had a heated table with thick blankets surrounding the open edges so the heat couldn't escape. The idea is to put your knees under the blanket for the warmth, it was pure heaven! At Himalaya we were accompanied by three Frenchies, a Japanese and Korean girl combo, and our friend Slovak! From here we got really good friends with Milo, he was a funny charachter, addicted to the Himalayan delicacy known as Dal Bhat (Rice, lentil soup and veg curry, me and Maj stuck to the pizza's and macaroni still, Dal Bhat tastes blander than school dinners).




Day 4. Himalaya - Annapurna Base Camp. 1290m ascent.

There was a pact made the previous night that all of us would make it to the ABC today. Me and Maj couldnt risk getting altitude sickness so we took a Diamox tab in the morning to help prevent it, we may aswell have used them, cuz I dont reckon Jenkin hill would have brought on any side effects. By this point Maj was really pushing himself to his limit, stating that he felt like he did the morning after his half marathon. At Deurali, which is only two stops (4 hours) from the ABC, I managed to hustle him some walking sticks to help out. At Machapuchhre Base Camp, we met a weird bozz-eyed Nepali called Raam (Gears of war ehh?) He was cracking up for the fact we knew some Nepali swear words, like Chigni (Any guesses?) He started offering us to go find some Nepali girls in Pokhara and 'make gang bang'. We decided against it for the time being. We had a mission to fulfill. The final stretch from MBC to ABC was cold. Just cold. It was the first time that we had been required to fully wrap up, gloves, hat, snude, jacket the whole nine. We were following an army of Korean trekkers who were slow. Just slow. We ended up overtaking everyone of them and hitting the Base Camp again way ahead of schedule. The clouds had rolled in already, so a decent view of our goal was fairly prohibited for now.

That evening our little trekking family added another member, a British lad called Ady. He was trekking alone in Nepal for 3 months, at only 18, so kudos to him. He was very funny, loud, and loved doing southpark and lord of the rings impersonations.... Made me laugh anyway.





Day 5. Annapurna Base Camp - Bamboo. Descent 1500m

When morning came round, the skies had cleared and the Annapurna mountain range was there. Just there. It made the difficulty of the trek such a bargain, for a sight this appealing to the eyes. The Frenchies told us that there was a lake at the top of one of the side ridges surrounding the Base camp (My ears pricked up like a dogs at the sound of this mini excursion, Maj on the other hand..... Stayed in bed for extra hour or so, bee-atch). I gained a new partner for this climb, the Dal Bhat Slovak. Milo was as curious as me about the lake. Just before we headed out a Sherpa also came along, I forget his name though, Wikas, or Sakwis or some shit. It was a lot harder than I thought with it being really snowy and even rockier underneath the white sheet. Although the lake had been frozen over (duh) and snow covered (double duh) the view from the top of the ridge was pure bliss. It just made the whole experience that little bit more amazing for me. I've always wanted to see the Himalayas, and now, Iv'e seen the Himalayas, one more tick off the achievement list of life. The descent was much easier than the ascent, as we slid down a rock face covered with ice and snow, I was a little scepticle about this at first but thought, fuck it. It was good fun. Oh and one thing to point, whilst we were climbing, we heard a roar from the Korean army below, which made us aware of an avalanche that was happening to the right of us. It was like a slow moving waterfall of cloud, and yes, David Attenbrough got it on candid camera, mad skills dawg.


Day 6. Bamboo - Ghandruk. Ascent 1200m, Descent 800m

I thought this was the hardest day of all as we had to ascend all the way up to Chhomrong, to drop all the way back to the river, to climb once again up to a village that I really couldn't give a toss what its name was. Hard. Just Hard. We also left our friend Milo at this stage of the trek, as he was continuing on to meet his lady at Taulung (long story, invloving cheap eggs and Dal Bhat. Plus he missed the hot springs on the way up). He should always remember the Nepal slang, 'tooti fruiti pooti'. Thats one for the boys back home.


Day 7. Ghandruk - Naya Pul. 1000m descent.

This was a really nice easy going day for us. Having done the trek 3 days quicker than we thought it would take us. We were suprised at how close to the finish line we were. A finish line which held one more, piss taking obstacle for us to conquer, and if you have been dedicated to reading this lengthly piece, you're in for a story to last the Mellor's and Hussain's for generations. So, we finally reach Naya Pul, sign out at the mountaneering checkpost and head for the road to get ripped off by a taxi driver. As we walked through the village with all our gear (which really hurt my damn shoulders at this point) we were collecting some really awkward looks? We got to the road when a man pulled over in what we thought was a cab, and told us of how there is a road strike throughout Nepal, not just Pokhara, but Nepal. He said no taxi's or bus's are allowed on the road. The reason for this which we found out from a well spoken shopkeeper was because of the Nepali Maoists. Its basically a religious terrorist activity, where any vehichles driving during the ban, would be stoned, barricaded and even torched! After 7 days of hauling ass, we get this shit to deal with. Our only way back to Pokhara (an hours drive by the way) is to either walk (sod that) or pay 4 g's for a rescue helicopter (no way!). The shopkeeper had an absolutely outrageous plan which involved telephoning an ambulance and one of us having to pretend to be really ill, so they would transport us back to town.........why not? The hospitals refused to send any help, but luckily the red cross had an ambulance in the vacinity and within 30 mins along came our ride. I was volunteered for the acting role of the patient, and when the ambulance arrived he didnt ask any questions, check me out or anything. He just opened the rear doors and threw us in. I laid in the back to help the case. On the way to Pokhara Maj spotted Ade and told the ambulance to pull over real quick, he climbed in, and told us of how he had walked nearly 20 miles or so, he was going to do the walking option to Pokhara! We passed so many other tourists walking back to town, among all the locals also. There were plenty of people stood at the roadside looking intimidating with stones and sticks, waiting for a driver who disobeyed the road strike. Luckily, they were thoughtfull enough to let three westeners mosey-on by in an ambulance. We got to Pokhara, the ambulance fled, and we cherished the moment of being back in one piece.

Pokhara & Annapurna Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2247890011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Bye Bye India - Hello Nepal

We saw Uncle Daz off at the train station as he was heading to Agra and we were on our way to Nepal. The journey from Ramnagar (India) to Pokhara (Nepal) was about 24 hours in total so we decided to split the journey and stay at the border on the first night and cross the follwoing morning. We had to get a bus from Ramnagar to Haldwani, where we had to hang off the side of the bus true indian style to get there, which took about an hour. Then we had to get another bus to Banbassa, which took about 4 hours and was suprisingly non eventful. Banbassa was a true transit village with only a handful of guesthouses and a few restaurants, which didn't have any english menu's so we ordered our food on what it looked like, which turned out to be ok! We asked a few people about what time the buses leave to Pokhara from Mahedranagar (Nepal border village) but every answer was different so we decided to stick with the travel agents answer, which was around 3pm.

We had a good lie in and set off at 12 pm. The distance from Banbassa to Mahedranagar was about 10 km and the only way to get there was by walking, cycle rickshaw or horse and cart. We opted for the cycle rickshaw, which cost us a 100 rupees each and then sat back while they did all the work. As we already got our Nepalese visa from Delhi, crossing the border was very easy. We had to fill a form on the Indian side and fill another form on the Nepali side, which took about 1 hour in total and had no security checks. That would never happen in England!!! The next bus was from the border to Mahedranagr bus station, which was about 5km away and this time we had to sit on the roof of the bus, with the rest of the locals. Yet again, we are travelling in style!! We just got there in time for the last bus to Pokhara (2.25pm- 800 Nepali rupees), which was quite lucky otherwise we would have been stranded.


The bus journey took 18 hours in total, with so many stops for the nepali army/police to check our bus. The longest we drove without stopping would be about an hour so if he didn't stop, we would have got there a lot earlier. One of the stops was at a local vilage to pick up about 15 huge bags of rice, which took up the back seats and the whole aisle of the bus so we had to crawl to get on/off the bus. We stopped off for food at 8pm, which the Nepali people told us it was breakfast, We had 3 plates of chicken chowmein each, which was probably the best and spiciest breakfast I've ever had. I dont think it was meant for a food stop because they were fixing the puncture of the back tyre as we were eating but we were too hungry to care. This is where we met our main man Jonny from Chinese customs. He quickly introduced himself and started promising us Nepali, Tibetan and Chinese girls if we come to visit him at Chinese customs. Obviously he was pissed so I decided to video him, while he taught us naughty words in Nepali. Our next food stop was at 1am, which i think was lunch and we had to eat the local Nepali food. Luckily we had a few guys helping us choose and order the food so it turned out to be ok! We never got to change our Indian rupees to Nepali rupees but they happily accept Indian rupees by using the conversion rate.


We arrived in Pokhara around 9am and had very limited sleep, with the rice bags cramping us up. When we got our bags out of the boot, we realised that they had goats in the same boot as where Danny's bag was and it was blessed with goat piss, which he weren't too happy about. But wiped it down with one of the headrest covers from the bus. Once we checked into our hotel, the rest of the day was spent buying some trekking gear for our trek up into the Annapurna region (Himalayas). Pokhara itself was very different to India. It was very clean, colder and had better quality restaurants for us to eat in.