monsoon anyone?

for the last 8 days, i've been out hiking, or trekking as they call it. i think trekking sounds dorky though. what i didn't realize before was that trekking is different than hiking. all the hikes i've been on are either pretty much straight up and back down, flat or some combination of the two and a couple days at most. trekking is longer and way more up and down. you might end up ascending 9,000 ft, but you're going to do it in chunks of up 2,000 and then down 1,500. if you don't mentally prepare for that ahead of time, it's really frustrating.

when i first thought about coming to Nepal, i wanted to do this long trek, 14+ days. then after some reading i scrapped it because it's monsoon season and it's supposed to be pretty miserable. after i got here, Rajesh, the director of my program, talked me into it again. the end result was a 10-day trek up to Annapurna Base Camp, back down half way and then head out west to Poon Hill and then south to meet out starting point again. Here's a link to a decent map. what i found out right as i left was that our 10-day trek was typically a 14-day route.

it took us three days to get to base camp. the entire time it rained. literally, the entire time. many times along the way my guide, Chhiring, said, "if it was clear, you could see some really amazing mountains right now...". thank you Chhiring. even when we got to base camp, it was completely socked in with clouds. i had talked to people coming down though and all said it cleared in the evening and morning. that evening it didn't clear. that evening i told Chhiring we were going to stay an extra day and night up there and weren't going to go to Poon Hill on the way back down, we'd just head straight back down.

in the morning it cleared. not entirely but enough to see what was out there and it was spectacular.

i couldn't find any info on elevation gain or distance for the trek. the only numbers i have are hours spent hiking each day and the number of leeches i got. hours of hiking is boring. i got 8 leeches total. i was lucky i think. one lady i met got 15 the first day including 3 in her hair and one in her mouth. she was hiking really slow though so i think she was an easy target.

the drive out to the trail

my guide, Chhriring

you got it

hiking

lodge 1

we walked past a little store on the trail and they had a baby pet monkey. he was tied to a rope on a post at table level in the store/restaurant. the rope was about 5ft long, just long enough to reach the edge of the store. the best part is he would walk out to the end of the rope, walk back about 2ft, turn and then sprint for the edge to hopefully break the rope and escape. instead he just whip-lashed his entire little monkey body and when sprawling over the edge.

bridge

leech

curt schilling would be proud

3 hours later, still bleeding

lodge 2

looks like a nice day for a hike doesn't it

at one point we had to pass this goat herd. it was about 200 goats.

Annapurna Base Camp

Annapurna Base Camp with Mt. Machapuchare in the background. Machapuchare is a holy mountain in  Nepal. it's never been climbed before. locals call it Fish Tail.

waiting for the clouds to clear

Annapurna I

Annapurna South

Ten Peak

Annapurna I again

proof I didn't just take these photos from Google Image search

People and stuff up at ABC

the head honcho

beach volleyball anyone?

Chhiring and i at the top

i met a handful of people up there; British, French, Korean, Chinese, Canadian and others. this guy was French. i think he looks pretty French in this picture

this dog followed me up the trail for about 2 hours and looks exactly like my parents dog back home except 15lbs lighter and blind in one eye. people tell you don't pet the dogs because you might get rabies. he was too nice not to pet a little. it's been over 5 days now, i don't think i have rabies.

guess at the nationality again...
British

snickers roll. they take some dough, wrap it around a snickers bar like a mini calzone and then deep-fry it.

my guide said keep it clean on food going up so i stuck to dal bhat and healthy stuff all the way up despite all sorts of western food being available. i'm glad i did too because dal bhat gave me so much energy, it was incredible. it might sound a little snotty but the folks that all the way out here, trekking in Nepal and order pasta/pizza and hot chocolate for every meal seem like sally's. you can get pizza at home, why not eat Nepali food when you're in Nepal? would you order chicken strips in Italy? not unless you were drunk and found a Burger King.
Anyway, when i got to the top, i finally ordered a pizza. this was the mixed pizza. mixed pizza meant just about anything they could find in the kitchen which included cabbage, tuna fish, chicken, egg, canned mushrooms and cheese. somehow, it still tasted like pizza.

view down at ABC

the road back down

i'm guessing they stole that sign or they're lying.

here's what trekking is. you see that village across on the hillside? we were headed there, to the a place in the top left section. but to get there we had to go all the way to the bottom of the valley and back up. from the river through the village were steps the whole way. i counted 2,546 steps from the river to our lodge.

basketball anyone? the crazy thing about this is somebody had to haul a backboard and those steel poles all the way up here, a solid 2-day hike from town. i don't love basketball that much.

cornbread

end of the road, waiting for get a taxi

Chhiring and i at the end.
dear Mercer Island Marathon, thank you for the hat and working at your event last year. after two months in NZ,  one in Nepal and however long in Kenya wearing your hat, i would like to request 10% of all registration fees from those countries. it's only fair. you're getting free advertising.

damage

you've been warned. don't scroll down if you think feet are disgusting or don't want to see some that hiked for 8 days in the same pair of sopping wet shoes and socks because nothing would ever dry out. i don't know anything about jungle rot but i think i was starting to get some on my feet.

these shoes are toast. done. finished. i was on a 7hr bus ride with a bunch of locals. everyone had taken off their shoes to get comfortable and sleep. i did the same and immediately noticed half the bus eyeing me, spitting out the window and covering their faces. i would imagine they're experienced far worse smells in their life than i have but the fact that my shoes could cause such a reaction. i felt a combination of embarrassed and like a proud father.