We arrived in Kathmandu having had a few lovely chilled 5-star days with our friends Alan and Dave and their Mum in Hong Kong. I must admit Kathmandu was not what I expected. I'd always loved the exotic name of Kathmandu but never really thought or read much about it. I don't know what I was expecting but Images of Inner Calm, tranquility, yoga and peacefulness spring to mind. How wrong I was!!! Kathmandu was noisy, dusty, busy and there seemed to be a lot of very persistent Hawkers, who really wanted to sell me a musical instrument, or a chess set, or a lifetime supply of tiger balm. Within an hour of being there I'd dodged a guy trying to sell me oranges but nearly got run over by a motor bike. I sidestepped him but put my foot, ankle deep into a muddy puddle. This seemed to repeat on a loop for my entire time in Kathmandu, with a soundtrack of angry car horns playing in the background.
We were staying in Thamel (the main backpacker area). Despite my culture shock, Thamel was a great start for us. There were plenty of shops selling knocked off trekking gear, so we ditched our shorts and flip flops and resupplied, renting walking poles down jackets and super warm sleeping bags. We stripped our kit down to the bare essentials (3 pants, 2 tops, one pair trousers, 4 pairs of socks, and my new but worn in Berghaus walking boots- Good call Mr Goodchild they're awesome!) After three noisy, busy days in Kathmandu we set off for Pokhara (the town nearest to the start of our trek!) I've never been so happy to get on an 8 hour bus journey.
Pokhara is a chilled, lovely, lakeside town right at the base of the Himalayas. We only had the one night here, but caught a gorgeous sunset. We were keen to get started on our trip but we resolved to spend a few days here on our way back to enjoy the view.
So, as most of you know, Tina is a keen walker. I on the other hand am more of am armchair athlete. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when we "agreed" that we didn't need a guide or porter, that we would be absolutely fine carrying our packs and that we should start the walk at the hardest point. Afterall why get a taxi up the first 1000m climb when we can walk. Brilliant! ;-) So with a spring in our steps (at least one of us did) and 10kg packs on our backs off we went.
I'll be honest, the first day was pretty tough. We started with a pretty severe 1000m climb . It was pretty hot and a lot of steps. I sweated more than a pedo at a school disco, but at the end of the first day we got to a little village called Pothana. Knackered, we dropped our bags at the first teahouse we found and agreed a rate of 200 rupees for the night (about £2). The room was pretty basic but they had seats and beds, and we were the only ones staying there so we had the amazing lady who ran it to ourselves. We sat down for a cuppa and ordered some apple pie. 20 minutes latter our hostess reappeared with more tea and a freshly made apple pie. Amazing! After 30 minutes of very little movement, we took a slow and painful shuffle around the village. The view was phenomenal if not a little cloudy. We were surrounded by farmland, with goats and Yaks, and Tibettan prayer flags dotted around. We had dinner and by 8.00 the evening had turned bitterly cold to we went to bed, in our arctic sleeping bags.
The next moring we got up pretty early to a very clear day (it seemed for our entire trek the Himalayas were clear in the morning and then as the day warmed the clouds rose to block any views). We breakfasted and said a sad fairwell to our amazing hostess, and shuffled down the track, taking in the views of snowcovered peaks.
The next couple of days were amazing as we climbed and descended and gradually made our way north towards the snow capped peaks. We got into a bit of a routine. The days were really warm and the nights really cold. We were up early, walking before the day got too hot and making the most of the morning clear views. We'd have a lot of breaks on the up bits, and some long lunches to avoid the midday sun. We'd cross icy snow melt streams using stepping stones and had to use some pretty funky (if not a little ramshackled) indiana jones style rope bridges for the rivers. We gradually worked our way up the valley towards the basecamp. A real adventure. The evenings were spent in the shared dinning room of the tea house meeting our fellow trekkers and their guides around a shared fire or heater. We met some really cool people, and the food was soo good especially in the cold after a long days trekking.
The following day was relatively easy, and we arrived at our destination by early afternoon. The problem with arriving early is that it's cold and there's not a lot to do in the afternoon, so you tend to just sit around feeling cold. We therefore decided in all our wisdom to push on to the Penultimate teahouse stop called Machhapuchre Base Camp (or MBC). This was to prove some of the scariest and the longest few hours of our lives......
We set of at 2.00 with another 500m to climb and an estimated 2.5 hour walk. No problem.... After about an hour the weather turned. First to rain and then dramatically to massive painful hail stones. This part of the trail can be prone to Avalanches so we had already crossed the river off the main path to be safer. Unfortunately the path on the other side of the river was nowhere near as established, so pretty soon the ground was covered in white hail/snow and we were really struggling to find the path. Luckily a local dog had attached himself to us and seemed to like walking ahead of us, then waiting for us. We ended up putting complete faith in a random dog and following it up what we hoped was the right path. Sure enough "Hobo" did us proud and got us back on the main path. By this point the ground was starting to freeze so we were having to tread really carefully not to slip (a bit like Bambi). The weather had got worse and there was now thunder and lightening and it was starting to get dark. We then heard a clap of thunder followed by an Avalanche behind us.
At this point I really wish I had NOT googled how to survive an Avalanche as it just scared the shit out of me. Apparently you only have about 15 minutes air to survive if you get caught in an avalanche and there isn't a lot you can do.... The most useful tip was "if you were unsure of which way was up then urinate and apparently if the piss runs up then your upside down." I'm pretty sure that if I ever got caught in an Avalanche pissing myself wouldn't be a problem. Anyway all those thoughts crossed my mind as we crossed an icy avalanche shute and the biggest clap of thunder boomed just above our heads. I've never shuffled so fast in all my life. Anyway to cut a long story short we made it. There was actually a lodge on the ridge above us and all the local porters found it quite amusing watching 2 crazy English, scared witless, running for their lives in what they probably considered mild conditions. They did give us a warm greeting and got us by the heater with warm drinks to dry off.
We had a great evening that night chatting with porters, guides and other trekkers all clustered around the heater, but again by 9.00pm we decided to hit the sack and left the locals drinking rum while we clambered inside arctic sleeping bags in our unheated, frozen room.
The next day we were up with first light, and set off again looking somewhat like Bambi up the icy path to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp). This was an amazing few hours. The path was pretty tough but after 30 minutes we turned a corner and entered an awesome ampitheatre of mountains. These got even more spectacular as the sun started to climb above the eastern rim. As the sun came up we realised we were surrounded by massive peaks, all glistening and sparkling with fresh snow. So beautiful, so white and pure, and soo huge. I've never felt so small. It was a very humbling experience.
We still had a way to go to get to the summit (from 3700m to 4200m altitude) and with the altitude this was proving really tough. Ten steps forward, 10 seconds rest. We ran into some of our new found trekking friends on the path who urged us on. Eventually after almost 3 slow hours of breath taking (literally) views we finally made it. 
It should have been a victorious moment. We should have ran up the last few steps and punched the air like Rocky. We didn't. We were knackered. Instead we trudged the last 10 meters and sat down on the front step of the basecamp. Well Tina sat. I stood, leaning on my stick. Tina was exhausted. We'd had no breakfast after the early start. We didn't speak. We just panted and got our breath back. Tina looked up at me about to say something profound. Some words I'll never forget. Something to encaptulate the moment. At that exact moment the snow on the roof of the tea house slid off and pretty much all landed on Tinas head. I still don't know how I didn't laugh my socks off. The porters and tea house staff sure did. Poor Tina. 
After a bit of Brekkie, several warm drinks and a few twix's we started to feel more ourselves. We sat for several hours reflecting on our surroundings. It is such a special place. Words and pictures just can't do it justice. Simply Awesome. We watched as some skiers got Heli dropped, and made their way down the mountains. The Helicopter would then pick them up and fly them back up to another mountain. "Hobo" our dog (and guide) loved chasing the Helicopter. Try as he might he couldn't get to the chopper, but he gave it a go for several hours. Finally he admitted defeat and found himself a nice flat rock in the sun and went to sleep. Not a bad spot for a dog nap.
After a few hours and several hundred photos, we set off back. The journey down took just as long as the journey up. I guess we took our time, taking more photos and stopping to enjoy the steams and vistas one last time. The food on the trail is standardised across all the menus, so it was great to get back to Pokhara for a lakeside beer and something other than Rice, noodles or bread. The first beer was amazing! Everest. You've tried the rest now drink the best. Everest!
We had a couple of lazy days in Pokhara, before moving on. On our way out of Nepal we stopped in a beautiful rural Village called Bhandipur, where purely by chance we ran into the only 2 people we knew in Nepal. They were both in this village and both knew each other. Bhandipur is a small unspoilt rural community, high on a mountain ridge, with spectacular views, and an interesting glimpse into a real Nepalese community. It was a nice chilled last stop before heading back into the madness of Kathmandu and a flight onto Australia and then New Zealand.
Nepal You've been amazing! Annapurna: I'll never forget you. The Hardest and Best thing I've ever done.
Next stop New Zealand.....
Woohoo, great stuff! I loved that beer.
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