Trekking up towards the Larkya La Pass, 800x600 JPEG, 112K
From Samdo, we set off for a relatively short day to Duwong (though the altitude made it feel longer), a cold and desolate campsite below the pass. Duwong is hardly a village, consisting of a lone stone house. We could see the start of the pass from here -- a sharp rise up through fairly fresh glacial moraine as evidenced by the light colors of the rocks. One unfortunate aspect of Duwong was the huge amount of litter created by trekking groups. All sorts of garbage printed in a variety of languages marred the place and we spent a few hours cleaning up and burning what we could.
A cold night at the 14,500 Duwong followed by the big day -- bed tea at 4 AM for a 5 AM departure by head torch. It was a sometimes steady, sometimes steep climb up across often snowy and icy glacial moraine. Our extra day spent at Samdo to try and get the group over various health problems had also served to separate us from other trekkers hiking on a similar schedule so we had the pass to ourselves.
Yaks crossing the Larkya La Pass with the Annapurnas beyond, 800x600 JPEG, 77K
The pass itself would have been hard to recognize except for the prayer flags, being just another heap of glacial debris just slightly higher than the other heaps. As we began to descend on the other side, the skies began to clear, after having been rather ominous for most of the morning (and in fact they apparently closed in again later and the next morning we saw fresh snow from our campsite far below).
We descended just a ways, however, before stopping for lunch in the most gorgeous location with almost a 180 degree view of snow peaked mountains. These traders with yaks were photographed just above this lunch stop but it is a pale imitation of the real panorama. We combined this unequaled mountain view with the excitement of crossing the high spot of our trek at 17,200 feet. The mountain scene of Cheo Himal, Himlun Himal, and the Annapurnas were further complemented by a brilliant green glacial lake deep in the valley below, hemmed in by a crisscrossing array of moraines formed by retreating glaciers.
We continued our steep descent to a campsite at Bimdakothi at 12,200 feet (5,000 feet below the pass). We camped in a wide meadow in a valley framing Himlun Himal and looking over the ridge above the campsite was the northwest face of Manaslu, largely hidden by swirling clouds.
The town of Dharapani, 800x600 JPEG, 27K
Following a continued steep downward descent, we were shortly following the the Dhudh Khola river rushing through - mostly far below - as a mountain torrent. Within another day, we joined up with the heavily trekked Annapurna Circuit on which Dharapani was one of the first larger towns which we encountered. The whole character of the route changed as we made this transition. Hotels and tea houses are in every village and we saw other trekkers frequently.
We stopped for lunch at a tea house perched high above the Marsyandi river where we had our first "fizzy drinks" (Coke and Fanta) and the hard waxlike Cadbury's chocolate made in India. At camp later, we had our first beer since Kathmandu and some Chaung after dinner. Chaung is a Nepalese fermented beverage which I would describe as something along the lines of a sour white wine with a somewhat yeasty taste and with a sort of dirty white color cast. Not a very appealing description perhaps, but I don't mind it under the appropriate circumstances (said circumstances probably consisting of being in the Himalayas without any decent beer). Others hate the stuff and the quality does vary widely.
Smoking in front of the police station, 640x480 JPEG, 67K
I don't know what this gentleman was actually smoking in his water pipe in front of the police check post. Marijuana did grow freely in this particular area, however, and seemed to be one of the more common trail side plants.
In this stretch as well, we rediscovered the joys of following Nepali rivers as trails alternately climbed high up the valley walls and plunged back down to near the river to avoid some obstacle or other. At one point, we abandoned the standard routes and followed the river bank even though it meant a few wet crossings. Getting wet is relaxing enough down here at 3000 to 4000 feet though the glacial-fed river is still chilly.
Our next to last day of trekking provided appropriately memorable views as we were able to look back upon the range of mountains we had walked around. This lunch stop, situated perhaps 1500 feet above the valley floor, had an open vista of the Manaslu range with Manaslu, Peak 29, Himul Chuli, and Bauda stretching across the horizon to the east.
One last look: the author in front of the Manaslu Himal, 640x480 JPEG, 67K
We continued with our ups and downs for the remaining couple of days and walking through rice paddies here and there. By now we had gotten off the main Annapurna Circuit since we were catching a bus for the last bit to Pokhara as opposed to walking all the way on the standard route.
All things must end, and we did finally cross our last short pass (the Sarkya Pass) to the roadhead. Civilization hits like a bang here with typical third-world dilapidated buses and food stalls and such. Highly nutritious foods such as fried dough and crackers were big hits.
Pokhara was just another 45 minute bus ride away were we camped at a somewhat crowded campsite on the shore of one of Pokhara's lakes. Pokhara is largely a creation of trekking, being the jumping-off point for the Annapurnas. (The Annapurna Circuit and Annapurna Sanctuary treks, as well as a number of shorter treks south of the Annapurnas, are among the most popular in Nepal.) Much shopping and we all took off for a restaurant called the Hungry Eye at night where cravings were satisfied with various food combinations which could probably be considered revolting in other circumstances. I had buttered Nan, french fries, salami and cheese pizza, a couple of beers, chocolate cake, and cappuccino. You get the idea.
The following day, we got the unexpected bonus of a flight back to Kathmandu rather than the long bus ride we expected, and that was the end of this first journey to Nepal (leaving aside all the gross travel logistics and dealing with the airport in Kathmandu which are not the highlights of any Nepal trip). I obviously found it a memorable travel experience because four years later I was back as described on the pages which follow.
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