I made a trip to heaven this spring! Yes, you got that right – heaven! The Annapurna Base Camp Trek (ABC) was nothing short of heaven. Having done two treks in the Indian Himalayas, Meena and I chose the Nepali Himalayas this year. And ABC turned out to be the most wonderful awesomest trek ever – giving us a glimpse of so many different types of terrains in the 11 days of trekking. Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world at a height of 8091 meters. And is one of the most beautiful trekking routes especially in spring.
Himalaya ki goad mein
It was that time of the year when the mountains are filled with thousands of millions of pretty rhododendron flowers! They are of 6 different colors – baby pink, candy pink, red, white, yellow and lavender. Different colored flowers grow in different regions and altitudes. We were able to see baby pink, candy pink and red ones. Just imagine being in a valley surrounded by mountain slopes. And all of them having pink rhododendron blooms as far as you can see for miles and miles! Pink, pink all around! It was such a delightfully stunning sight that our cameras went click click click… The red ones called Lali Guras in Nepali are edible and taste a bit sour. They also make sharbat out of it. The flowers bloom only for 2/3 months so we were very lucky to be there at the right time and altitude.
On day 3, we were climbing down a mountain and there were 2/3 kilometers tall mountains all around us. It felt like we were going in the underbelly of the earth! Tall guzzly waterfalls, pristine greenery, streams and rivers, birds and butterflies, caves, steep rocky faces of mountains – it was like a scene from a National Geographic documentary. Only in this case, we were the main characters in it and were experiencing it for real. We were walking on 1.5 to 2 feet ledge and if we missed a step, we would fall down a couple of kilometers and no one would ever find our bones! But this is an after-thought. At that time, we were truly enjoying our walk deep inside the earth hoping to come out the other side. I almost felt I would bump into Captain Jack Sparrow!
It rained almost every day after 2 / 3 pm. And the mountains come alive when it rains. The smell of wet earth, the feel of cool crisp moist breeze on the skin, the taste of the sweet water from the spring, the sight of water dripping from every pore, the sound of birds chirping and the pitter patter of the rain drops – all our senses were awakened! The clouds gathered and were slowly moving towards us and soon they engulfed us in a sweet embrace. We were literally walking in the rain clouds and could feel the moisture brush against our cheeks. The world looked like a new bride – demure and coy at times and gregarious and bashful at times. The clouds gave a soft white milky hazy tint to the world. No I was not seeing the world through tinted glasses, the world was tinted! The green and brown of the trees against the milky white clouds seemed like someone dropped leaves in a bowl of milk! The entire valley disappeared and was replaced by an infinity of milky haze. And I said Stephen Hawking discovered the black hole and Poorvi Daxini discovered the white hole 😉 Unlike the black hole from where even light could not escape, the white hole reflected all the light and made the world look heavenly white. And after the rains when sometimes the sun came out, we used to sit next to the butterflies and bask in the sun along with them!
On day 5, we went through bamboo forests and it was such a soothing experience for the soul. There were wild bamboo trees growing all over with a mangled mess, lots of moss on the trunks of trees, many insects and even leeches, something or the other growing on every inch of land including dead trees! All this with the constant fluttering of wings with pretty birds playing their evening parlor games and chattering about. I so love the wilderness – where everything is hap-hazard, there are no rules and anything goes. I guess it resonates with the wild spark in me. And I feel at home here. It soothes my heart, mind and soul. I feel one with nature. It is at times and places like these that I don’t want to be with the group. I want to be alone with nature. Main aur meri tanhaiyaan… It kindles something deep down within me. Something beautiful, that will remain with me for a long time. And when it starts to fade, it’s time for another visit to the mountains!
Once we crossed about 12000 feet, we were above the tree line and were surrounded by rocky boulders, snow covered peaks waterfalls and the river Modi which was our constant companion. We crossed many bridges over waterfalls, rivers and streams – some were wooden planks, some were stones and some proper steel bridges. It was the wooden planks that were the most tricky to cross but luckily we had no accidents.
The final destination – Annapurna base camp was absolutely stunning! We woke up early morning before sunrise to get a glimpse of the heavenly abode of Neelkanth. Initially there were clouds, but soon nature lifted the veil (I choose to think it was especially for me!) for a grand show. Snow and snow-capped peaks as far as the eye can see. We got a 360 degree view of the tallest peaks and we were literally in the laps of the Himalayas – Himalaya ki goad mein. They seemed so near, we could almost touch them. Annapurna South, Annapurna 1, Machchapuchare, Himchuli, Barah Shikhar, Gangapurna – all of them standing at attention in all their majesty, saluting us from up above and giving us a warm welcome (well it was extremely cold and we were freezing but the warm welcome made the difference!).
When the sun came out, the rays falling on the snow capped peaks, gave a golden glow to the mountains! Watching the molten fluid golden mountains surrounded by pure and pristine white snow was so very surreal! It was such a humbling experience standing there as specks against the mighty mountains. . Jagdish bhai playing flute right there in the laps of the snow capped peaks was such a divine experience! That scene is imprinted in my mind’s eye forever
We experienced all the elements in those 11 days. During the day it was so hot and the sun so harsh, if we squeezed our T shirts we could get 250ml of sweat! No I’m not exaggerating. The full T shirt and the back of the backpack were wet and dripping. Nights were cold and freezing and at the base camp it was minus 2 degrees. We were all layered up and cuddled inside sleeping bags and thick razaais. And it rained almost every day in the afternoons. A couple of days it poured a lot and we were drenched to the bone. In fact on the last but one day, it was raining incessantly and there was so much flooding that we could not reach our destination and had to check in to a tea house at Lower Sinuwa instead of Chhomrong. On the same day, it rained hail stones – big hard stones! And it hurt. Bad! The hail stones were so big and hurt so much, we had to take cover in a cave. And finally, as soon as we reached the base camp, it started snowing! The soft snow flakes fell on us like feathers and we danced in the snow. It was great to experience all kinds of terrain and all kinds of weather conditions in those 11 days!
We started our trek at Nayapul at 1070 metres and climbed to ABC which was at about 4200 metres. Day 2 and 3 were steep climbs and the most difficult. We reached the base camp on day 8 and the last 3 days were steep descents. Every day we used to have breakfast at one mountain, lunch at another and dinner at yet another! We climbed up and down so many mountains in the 11 days, that walking on the plains in flat surface might need some practise 😉 On day 5 my thigh muscle had an injury and it worsened the next day. I was literally dragging my leg, but the company of the mountains and the birds made it easy.
The group
The whole ABC trek experience was fantastic because we had a diverse and fantastic group of 5 – 2 gujjus and 3 Maharashtrians, 2 from Bangalore and 3 from Mumbai with age group spanning 30s to 60s. We had amongst us two people from MNCs (one of them currently on a sabbatical), one running his own startup, a businessman and a physiotherapist running a pilates studio. A truly diverse group who bonded so well, it made the trek that much more fun.
Meena is my regular trekking and travel partner and no trek is complete without her! She loves to talk and is a great story teller, making our treks lively and engaging. Her knowledge about birds and butterflies got us interested in birding and our cameras were overworked! And while we had an experience of different kinds of terrain and weather conditions every day, what remained constant were Meena’s PJs! They really made the trek cheerful and light.
Jagdish bhai the quintessential Gujju, kept taking out unending bags of snacks like a magician takes out rabbits from a hat! When we heard a dandiya song, both of us broke into a dandiya and garba sequence (with our walking poles!) in the middle of a bridge! Gujjus just cannot resist breaking into a dance the moment they hear the 6 beat rhythm. We were all mighty impressed with Jagdish bhai who despite his age, kept pace with us and more importantly was the most spirited and jovial person.
Pami the physiotherapist was easygoing cool headed and many a times naïve, but every now and then she gave very profound pearls of wisdom! She loved narrating Bollywood movie stories and through her I saw half a more movies during the trek 😉
Rajesh the successful entrepreneur was the fitness freak and not surprisingly the fittest among the group. He kept popping almonds like energy pills and marching on full steam! His nuggets of information / knowledge on health, fitness, yoga, food kept punctuating our trek. He loved being photographed in his trademark pose with both hands up in the air. Being with hardcore Marathi manus, am sure his Marathi improved quite a bit!
Thank you folks for making this trek an absolutely smashing one!
Fellow trekkers
The trekking route in Nepal was literally a melting pot of people and cultures from across the world. We met people from US, UK, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, France (every other person was from France!), S Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia (we asked him to save the Great Barrier reef for us till we make a visit there), Africa, India and almost any other country you can think of. Every night, we stayed in what are called tea houses that have a common dining room – a warm one!. There is usually a large rectangular dining table and everyone sits around and gets to know the fellow trekkers, where they are from etc. One Frenchman kept listening to us talking in Hindi and suddenly started talking to us in Hindi! He had lived in India for 10 years and was familiar with all things Indian.
Just like in India, Namaste is the regular greeting so while trekking, any trekker who passes by, greets with a cheerful Namaste! And there is so much solidarity among fellow trekkers. Everyone cheers on each other, gives consolation that the destination is not far and its easy from now on (even though it may not be!) just to encourage us.
Most of the Indians were Marathi manus and the hotel in Kathmandu where we stayed had loads of them. It seemed if we shout in Marathi anywhere in Nepal, someone would definitely respond back! The Giri Premi trekking group from Pune have had several people successfully completing not just treks but even summitting Everest! Our trek organizers Peak Promotions have successfully led 45 kids from Pune to the Everest Base camp!
Peak Promotions
We had signed up with a Nepalese trekking organization called Peak Promotions and I think that was a great decision. They were absolutely the best and gave us no reason for complaints. Their customer service, attention to detail, personal attention to all of us, quick response to situations and change in plans was very commendable. Sonam Sherpa was our guide, Kumar the assistant guide and Krishna and Binod were our porters. They were the best team we could have asked for. Everyone was so helpful and at our beck and call, providing excellent service.
Sonam Sherpa was typical Nepali looking young chap who has a heart of gold. He ensured all of us were safe, well fed and healthy. He also has a great sense of humor and kept us entertained. We had so many demands (sometimes a bit unreasonable) and he always obliged. He carried our backpacks and cameras at timed and was our official photographer! Once when we unknowingly ordered less food, he even gave up his food for us and ordered something else for himself.
Kumar was always behind us, offering to even carry our backpacks when he thought we were tired. He has lived in India for 8 years and even understood Marathi. He kept us entertained with Hindi Bollywood songs playing on his mobile. We grooved to the popular songs and even requested for our favorite numbers! He turned out to be quite a capable DJ!
Binod was Kumar’s brother-in-law, barely out of his teens, handsome and very quiet. He had taken up this assignment only to see Annapurna as he had never been here before. He didn’t have to pay for the trek, in fact he actually got paid to do it! I quite loved the idea! But alas, I do not have the strength to carry 25 kgs of baggage and walk as fast as they do
Krishna was Kumar’s uncle and back in Nepal after working in Qatar and Saudi for several years. He is very happy to be able to provide an education for his son and see him prosper. There is something about human life – they all are more happy at their children’s success than their own.
Passang and Keshab were the owners and they paid personal attention to all of us. The flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu on the way back got cancelled and they immediately arranged for a vehicle to get us to Kathmandu by road so that we don’t miss our flight to India next day. We were given certificates at the end of our trek and it made us feel proud of ourselves having achieved the not-so-easy task of climbing an average of 15 to 17km every day and reaching the base camp at the height of about 4200 meters! Each of us deserves a pat on our backs!
Nepal
Nepal is a Himalayan state and has 8 out of the world’s 10 tallest mountains including Mount Everest – the highest point on Earth. Even though Nepal just occupies 0.1% of the world’s geographical area, it has 8% of the world’s birds and has 8 of the 11 species of butterflies. It has more than 600 indigenous species of flora.
It is the only other country in the world with a majority Hindu population, the other main religion being Buddhism. Shiva is regarded as the guardian deity of the country. Buddha was born in Kapilavastu in southern Nepal. The Nepalese language has no script and they use Hindi as the script. So the boards and sign posts in the two cities we visited – Kathmandu and Pokhara – were all in Hindi. And it seemed we were traveling in some North India city. The clothes, food, temples were all so Indian like.
We had a day in Pokhara, and we spent the day sightseeing. The bat cave is a dark humid cave where the visibility is zero. We cannot take even a step without a torch. Sonam had got a torch along and we could feel the cold humid air as we entered. The roof of the cave had hundreds of bats who were so still , they seemed to be meditating. The exit of the cave was on the other end and was a steep climb and difficult to get out of. Several people ahead of us gave up, but with Sonam’s help I managed to wriggle my way out and got a hero’s welcome and applause from a bunch of Nepali local women! None of my group made it and they came back from the entrance. Pami was claustrophobic and she didn’t make it even to the next cave went to which was Mahendra cave. Our next pit stop was a chaat joint where we gorged on pani puri, dahi puri, samosa chat, chhole puri and everything else the joint had! After a short visit to the Shanti Stupa atop a hill, we finally reached Fewa lake. It was such a magnificent sight with the setting sun splashing a riot of colors in the evening sky. There were several boats in the lake and more than a kilometer long boardwalk along the lake lined with cafes, pubs and restaurants. We had coffee at one café and moved on to a pub that had live music. A local was singing soft romantic numbers in Nepali, Hindi and English and we swayed and danced to the music.
Due to the flight cancellation, we only had an evening and a few hours on the next day in Kathmandu before our flight. We did some souvenir shopping in the Thamel market in the evening and visited the famous Pashupatinath temple where Hindus from all over the world come for a pilgrimage. It is the temple of Lord Shiva and is thronged by hundreds of people paying their respects and offerings to the various shiv lings in the complex. It was like a mela out there with several babas dressed in tiger skin like clothes, ash smeared bodies and damru and shankh in hand. So many people were praying and making a wish. I hope all their wishes come true.
Trekking in Nepal
I have done a few treks in India and also in the Indian Himalayas. But trekking in Nepal was different – it was almost a luxury trek! In India, we have to stay in tents, there is no shower facility and we have to eat whatever food our cook who comes along with us on the trek cooks. In Nepal, there are what are called tea houses all along the trekking routes. We never needed to stay in a tent. Even at the base camp we stayed in a tea house.
The tea house is basically a lodge with a row of rooms with one / two / three / four / more beds and hardly any extra space in the room. Just a cot, mattress and blanket. The walls were mostly of plywood. There were toilets and almost every place had facility for a hot shower. We could even charge our phones and cameras and Wi-fi was available at every place. Of course all of this was at extra cost, but at least the facility was there. There was a common dining hall where usually everyone sacked out till bedtime. I was impressed to see that most of these tea houses are run by women who everyone called Didi. At dinner time, our group used to pick a different topic each day to discuss like trekking experiences, our life goals, best memories, ghost stories, movies etc.
At Chhomrong, our breakfast tables were out in the open with a stunning view of snowcapped peaks especially the Macchapuchare! Though this was the Annapurna trek, we saw more of the Macchapuchare (Fish tail). We saw it almost every day from every single angle! Normally anything that is big and huge is not considered beautiful. But the mountains defy that rule. The huge tall mountains look both strong and macho but also majestic, beautiful and serene.
We kept having huge cups of ginger tea all day. Our lunch was almost always the Nepali thali consisting of daal, bhaat, potato sabji, some greens, papad, pickle and sometimes a chutney. Towards the end, we were tired of eating the same thing every day! For breakfast we had a choice of pancake, oats, porridge, omelettes, potato roasty, boiled potatoes, Tibetan / Nepali bread with jam. For dinner we had a choice of Nepali thali, pasta, noodles, momos, pizza, sandwich, baby potatoes with cheese and a variety of desserts. And we tried everything that was available. We had hot garlic soup almost every day for dinner and ended with black ginger tea as both garlic and ginger are good to beat altitude sickness. I did get a headache at the base camp which was the highest point, but was OK the next day as we started descending.
After experiencing this luxury, I wonder if I will go on a trek in India 😉
Phir Milenge, Ciao, Au Revoir, Tchus, Adios, Adieu, Sayonara, Dasvidanya, Aloha
With a heavy heart we bid farewell to this beautiful mountain land, with the promise of returning back soon. The majestic mountains, the serene beauty, the enchanting waterfalls, the frolicking rivers, the delightful chirpiness of the birds, the dancing butterflies, the hospitality of the locals will keep tugging at our hearts. We will not be able to stay away for long and am sure very soon all of us will itch to go back to the stunning beauty of the mountains! Till then, so long and thanks for all the daal bhaat!
poorvismusings 