Wednesday, March 10, 2010

March 6, Beginning of Phase 1 of the circuit.

March 6, Beginning of Phase 1 of the circuit.

The first few days of the trek will be along the Nadi River Canyon, at relatively low elevations, climbing quite slowly at first, then three days of continuous climbing, about 2000 feet per day. At about Manang, the lush farm-lands and forest will give way to alpine landscapes, barren, with rocks, glaciers, and little or no vegetation.

The first day was an easy day, just 4 hours plus a 1.5 hour break at 10 to wait for one of the trail-side cafes to boil some potatoes for a snack. (I could gladly have done without the potatoes, and kept on walking.) Good views of Annapurna II and Lamjung Himal before we turned to go up the Nadi River valley, to Nadi where we stopped for the night. It was too hazy for very good photos, but I will upload a few anyway.

Raj has planned the second day stop for Syange, partly because of interesting things to see there, and he said it is a 5 or 6 mile hike beyond Nadi, which would make for a pretty long day. As it turned out, it took barely 4 hours, including rest stops - had we skipped the boiled potatoes we could have been at Syange by 4 easily. Raj calls me "baba" or "papa," which means father and is a term of respect; I think it also indicates a concern that I am an old man. I still haven't worked out when the long rest stops are for me or for the porter - if for the porter, that's good. If for me, it's unneccesary. We did have some popcorn in Nadi, which was good and rather surprised me.

The second day (Sunday) we headed almost immediately up a very high hill to a hill-top village, probably a 1500 foot climb up, then 1000 foot back down to a few dozen meters above the river, which we followed to Syange. I think perhaps the ease with which I took the long flights of stairs, pausing only to let Raj and Dhana catch up and be sure Dhana didn't need a rest, may have helped convince Raj that he doesn't need to worry about me.

The relationship with Raj is interesting - we generally get along quite well, but it is clear that he is the "wagonmaster," he has the trip planned a certain way and the best strategy for me is to go long with it and take it as it comes. The inn at Syange is a much nicer place, with a view of the river, than the one at Nadi, and there is a waterfall to visit; I think I will enjoy this afternoon quite a bit more.

Lots of interesting little farms along the way: land is scarce and they terrace and farm anything they can. The farming is done with ox-drawn wooden tools; I have pictures of harrowing / levelling and plowing, but I couldn't get a good close-up of the plow. There are villages at every level on the mountainside (I will upload a few pictures), many in seemingly impossible places. I also have pictures of a basket-making operation; splitting green bamboo into thin laths, partially drying them, then weaving them into baskets, which will be taken to Kathmandu for the tourist market.

All day we hiked with a view of an unnamed peak, 5600 meters, a bit left of Namjung. Thorong La is higher than this peak, which gives some perspective on what the coming week will be like!

The waterfall was spectacular, although you could not see it from our inn. We scrambled up to the base of the lower falls and played around a bit - I'll upload some photos I took and some Raj took. After dinner Raj agreed to skip Chyamje and go directly to Tal. When we got to Chyamje, where we had lunch, I was very glad; it is a nondescript little town in a steep-walled canyon, we got there at 10 a.m., and spending an entire long afternoon there would have driven me nuts.

The third day's hike was the first real hiking I've done, pretty steady climbing, much of the first half an easy walk along a partially built road, much of the second half fairly steep, through a canyon that reminds me a lot of Idaho - steep, rocky hillsides with sparse vegetation. We started encountering more tourists - there must be close to 50 in Tal with us, including a group of 5 or 6 Aussie men in our inn. We met several mule trains, some very long; it felt a lot like being on a highway for mules. Saw a tree with beautiful dark deep-lobed leaves; the seeds (datura or Bhang) are narcotic (I've heard of it before.)

The porters carry everything, including suspension bridge segments, pipes, culverts, huge bales of blankets, bags of sand. They get paid by the kilo; some of the loads are as much as 100 kilo. Saw a little boy who couldn't be more than 8 carrying at least 50 lb. of rock in a basket on his back.

It was beautiful hiking weather, but the sun was so intense that after 2 hours I decided to give up on wearing shorts. By day after tomorrow we'll be high enough that it will be too cold for them anyway.

Raj says the road will be finished within 3 years; people will take busses to central points for day hiking, and the circuit will be finished. You can already fly in and out of three airports along the way; I met two Israelis who are doing only the first half, then taking a jeep out. The beautiful valley I hiked in the first two days is also doomed - the government has bought up all the land and the valley will be dammed for hydroelectric power. Raj is all for it - Kathmandu is plagued with chronic power outages as well as interruptions of water service.

The worn-out velcro strap of my watch came undone and I didn't notice it - it's lying in the dust somewhere back there. Raj lent me his watch, and the watch was pretty near its usable life, so it's not a total disaster; he said we might get a cheap watch in Chame, which is the regional capital. Another small disaster - I seem to have left the backup battery for my Panasonic at Raj's, so I will have to monitor the battery level and be sure I recharge before I run out. I seem to keep making small mistakes and experiencing minor disasters, but thus far have been able to recover my equilibrium well and usually manage some kind of workaround. I guess that's part of what is meant by "adventure."

Raj has Dhana follow me everywhere - if I step outside to look at the stars, go for a stroll before dinner, anything. Dhana seems to have a role somewhat like Jeeves in Wooster and Jeeves - keep the bright but rather silly American tourist out of trouble, do his laundry, fetch water for him to filter, and carry his luggage.

Although Raj gave in to me about not breaking up the hike into quite such short segments, he took pains to instruct me in the difference between "hiking," which involves 12 hour days on the trail, and "trekking," which involves 4 nor 5 hours with a long break in the morning and stopping at or soon after noon. But he assures me that most of the remaining segments will be a bit longer, and after we're over the pass, after the first two days when we will start and quit early because of strong afternoon dust storms, they will also be longer.

Tuesday March 8

Today was another short day, 4.5 hours including a 30 minute break, but it was somewhat uphill, and the room with a view at the end is great - views of high peaks to both east and west. Getting off to an early start has many advantages. We seem to be travelling in parallel with about 12 other tourists, one group of 5 brits, 2 Germans, 2 Israelis, a German girl and a French Girl both travelling alone, plus several others I've seen but not met. The past two afternoons we've been the first to reach the hotel, so Raj has snagged premium rooms for me - this time, with a view of a very close mountain to the west and a somewhat larger but more distant one to the east. Right now the nightly cloud bank is obscuring both, but it will clear by an hour after dark, and they will be nice to look at in the moonlight.

Much of yesterday and today were through a river canyon that looks much like some of the more rugged areas of Idaho, Eastern Oregon, and Nevada, but now we're beginning to enter the alpine areas, and the scenery is becoming more varied and more spectacular. We have often been walking on the half-completed road (compare to an unmaintained logging road); it is easier than the trail but I like the trail better, I think. The trail serves as a main highway for commercial traffic - human porters carrying impossibly large loads, and long mule / donkey trains. It is in most places at least 6 feet wide, narrowed where rocks have fallen onto it. Steep uphill sections usually have rock stairs, unfortunately often with very narrow risers, and often rounded and slippery, so they are a mixed blessing. The trekking poles are definitely a necessity.

The food is generally good but a bit monotonous. The primary dish, dal bhat, is rice, curried vegetables, sometimes separate curried meat, sometimes pickled radishes or other spicy pickles; you mix it all together. It varies quite a bit - each area has its own version, for example today it included beans and garbanzo beans, so that keeps it from being boring. Tonight I'm having momo instead - a kind of dumpling that resembles a pot sticker, with a filling of cheese, potatoes, or vegetables - I'm trying the combination because I want to see what Yak milk cheese is like. They also do what they call "fried rice," but last night I had it and discovered that it isn't necessarily rice - what I had was actually noodles. I am told that, once we are over the pass, we will be in a fruit growing region and I can anticipate wonderful apple crisps etc. That will be a nice change of pace.

Today we had to stop at a police check station - Raj explained that the trail leading off to the right goes to the Tibetan border, so even though the border is 50 miles away, it is in effect a border station (the border itself is on a high mountain pass, which is not a good place for a border station.)

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