Monthly Archives: May 2010

Day 20 – May 22 – The lower Kali Gandaki valley

When we got up at 5:30, the sun was already on the top of Dhauligiri and other high peaks. I took many pictures before the clouds came up.


We got on the trail early and descended to a wide floodplain of a large tributary stream. We rejoined the road and had a drink at what was once the only guesthouse on this whole stretch of the river, now falling into disrepair. A man with a mobile shopping center was sleeping on the steps.

We had agreed that Marcia and our porter would save their legs by taking the bus downhill to Tatopani, our destination for the evening. An opportunity soon presented itself and she was off in a cloud of dust. Actually, she still had to walk a good distance since one part of the road was closed for construction. Afterwards, she got on a different bus and had to wait for over an hour because the driver refused to move until the already packed bus got four more passengers. Marcia finally started a movement for everyone to chip in 45 rupees (60 cents US) to pay for the remaining tickets.

Kinna and I walked about five hours down the road. It was surprisingly pleasant, with varied scenery and occasional views of Annapurna and other peaks. We had missed all this on our previous trip in the bus.

Tatopani means “hot water” and we took advantage of the hot springs just as we had in November. There were surprisingly few people, only a quarter as many as before. Our hotel owner explained that many Europeans had cancelled their trips due to the Icelandic volcanic ash, and others had been prevented by the general strike from traveling by road to the loop's starting point. It's amazing that a volcano in Iceland can affect business in a village on the other side of the planet.

Day 21 – May 23 – The climb to Shikha

Today we repeated the climb we did last November on day 13 of our Annapurna trip. Although we tried to avoid repetition, in this case there is only one reasonable route up the valley from Tatopani. All the alternatives went much higher and required camping equipment, which we had sent back to Kathmandu. It's a beautiful and interesting trail, though, so repetition was really no problem.

The sweltering heat of the lowlands WAS a problem. It had rained hard in the night, so Tatopani felt even more tropical than usual. Even when we started at 7:30, we were already dripping with sweat. We tried to gain altitude as quickly as possible to escape the heat.

The overnight rain had also brought down a small landslide on the road. We walked across it easily but traffic was stopped in both directions. An impatient jeep driver tried to make it across at high speed, but predictably got stuck in the knee-deep mud. It was still there when we passed out of sight.


We climbed steadily all morning and reached our lunch place Shikha about 12:30. Thunderstorm clouds were building too, and the first drops of rain hit just as we were walking in the door. It rained and hailed heavily while we were eating lunch.

Although the rain stopped briefly, we wisely decided to stop there for the night. The clouds opened up again just as we were taking our bags to our basic room. We pitied the German group who had passed us intent on reaching Ghorapani way that night. They would climb most of the afternoon in the rain.

Day 22 – May 24 – Alternate route through the rhododendron forest

Virtually all foreigners and most locals head to Ghorapani and its neighboring lookout Poon Hill, one of the famous viewpoints of the Annapurna Himal. But we had done that in better weather just six months ago, so we took an alternate route through a thick rhododendron forest. Except for a pair of herders, we had the trail to ourselves.

Rhododendrons grow as trees in Nepal. We had hoped to still be able to see their red flowers, but those had long since blown away. Only two isolated trees still had their blooms.

Even so, it was delightful to climb through this temperate rain forest only 20 kilometers south of the deserts on the other side of the mountain. Occasional orchids grew on trees. A few leeches were getting ready for their heyday in the monsoon.


We ended our day at our late lunch stop Deorali. The word indicates a trail summit, and we were greeted by the clouds blowing over the ridge. It was cold enough that we spent the afternoon reading books.

Day 23 – May 25 – Downhill to Ghandruk

Although we had decided not to make the detour to the more famous Poon Hill, we did agree to get up early and catch the sunrise at another viewpoint called Gurung Hill, which was only 20 minutes above our guest house. Alas, it was white-out cloudy when we woke at 5am, so we went back to sleep.

We woke again 45 minutes later to clear skies. The clouds had blown off the mountain pass and we were free to climb the hill. We were joined by our porter Dawa and a very faithful house dog who would have happily become our pet. The view of the mountains of Dhauligiri and Annapurna was much like that from other hills in the area, though a bit more foreshortened.


After breakfast we dropped rapidly and crossed the canyon to Tadapani following the route we had taken in late November. There was no way to avoid repeating this part of the route, which was the only path through this stretch, but after Tadapani we could turn onto a new path. This time, rather than going back uphill to the Annapurna Sanctuary, we dropped further to Ghandruk, the main village of the Gurung people of this area.

Ghandruk is a widely spread collection of huge guesthouses that serve all the people who come for a minimal 4-day trek from Pokhara to the mountain viewpoints. A giggling group from Hong Kong stayed next door on their first day on the trail. They were amazed we had been walking for almost a month.

Day 24 – May 26 – Back to Pokhara

The last day of our Nepal trek was an easy drop of 900 meters (3000 feet) down steps to the trailhead at Naya Pul, which means “new bridge.” Indeed, the local government was constructing an even newer bridge to bring the rough road up to another village uphill.

The weather for our last morning was poor, obscuring the normally good view. A thunderstorm blew by and made us take shelter in a small teahouse an hour before the end.

We took a broken-down taxi from Naya Pul back up the rough road to the highway, then changed to a better car back to our hotel in Pokhara. To our delight, we found that FedEx had brought our passports back from New York the previous night.

Since the weather was bad and we had everything in hand, we decided to move up our flights to India. Although it cost extra, it will allow us to complete our business in Delhi and get to Leh earlier. Also, the date we were originally leaving was a key deadline in Nepal's never-ending political troubles, and we wanted to get out before we ran into any more trouble.

Day 25 – May 27 – Exit to India


We arranged to get up at 5am and take a taxi up to the hill above Pokhara to see the classic sunrise view of the Annapurna Himal. It was a little hazy but not obviously so until the sun rose above the horizon.

Our flight to Kathmandu was at 9:30 and it was still clear enough to see some of the mountains. During our long layover in Kathmandu, our guide invited us to his home for lunch with his family, then sent us back to the airport. By 5pm we were drinking free beer on Kingfisher Airlines' flight to Delhi.

It was 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) when we landed. All evening the hotel's power went on and off as India's fragile electric grid struggled to keep up with the demand. We felt happy we would be in the plains for only four days.

—————- end of detailed Nepal postings —————-

Back in Jomsom

Another short post to let everyone know we’ve made it safely back to Jomsom, which is almost the civilized world. The trip has been great and we can hardly wait to post lots of good photos and stories when we get back to our laptop at the end of the month.

Between now and then, we will continue trekking in the Annapurna region, mostly the same area that we passed through in late November and early December. This is a very well-traveled region and we should have no difficulties. We will post again when we get to Pokhara around May 28, with full stories and photos to follow in early June.

Starting back downhill

The festival is over and we will be leaving Lo Manthang in the morning to head back towards more settled regions. Marcia and I are both doing well and really enjoying ourselves.

Up here in the mountains, we have been pretty far from the political situation in the main part of Nepal. From what we’ve heard, the situation has stabilized somewhat, with the Maoists having called off their general strike on May 8. The people of Kathmandu apparently rose up against them and demanded to get back to work, and a large number of Maoist demonstrators came down with diarrhea and had to go home. But nothing is really resolved and in a place like Nepal, the situation can change again. So we will continue to be careful.

Internet connections willing, our next contact will be around May 20 in Jomsom. We will reach Pokhara on May 28 and fly to India on May 29 if everything goes as planned. We will post full details and pictures of our trip in early June after we get to India.

Made it safely to Lo Manthang

I wanted to let you all know that we have arrived safely in Lo Manthang, the capital of Mustang. Marcia is feeling some minor effects of altitude but we are otherwise okay.

We will be staying in this town for the next five days. Tomorrow is the start of the Tiji Festival, and there may be as many as 1000 foreigners in town. With only two computers and an extremely slow internet connection here, it is unlikely I will be able to get back online before we return to Jomsom on the 20th.

We will post more then and much more at the beginning of June when we get to Delhi.

Off to Upper Mustang

If you have been following our blog, you’ll know that we made two long treks in central Nepal last fall, one in the Dolpo region to the west of the Kali Gandaki valley and the other in the well-traveled Annapurna loop to the east. Now we’re back for a third trek, this time right up the valley.

The Kali Gandaki valley is considered the first or second deepest on earth, a 2000-meter-high valley cutting between two 8000-meter peaks (Dhauligiri and Annapurna). In its upper reaches it stretches up to a Tibetan-culture region called Mustang, which is another “restricted area” that can be visited only with an expensive permit. It is an extremely dry area in the rain shadow of the Himalayas. It is historically isolated from both Nepal and Tibet and is still considered a separate kingdom inside Nepal.

We chose to come back here this spring for several reasons. There is a major festival called Tiji happening on May 10-12 this year, and it looks very colorful. We also wanted to get here fast before they finish the road up the valley from Nepal. (The road is already complete from the Tibetan side).

So we’re now in Jomsom, the same place where we ended the first trek and divided the second in half. The flight up was uneventful despite the general strike, which required us to leave the hotel on a motorcycle at 5am to beat the roadblocks on the way to the airport. And the mountains were magnificent in clear weather early in the morning.


Even in Jomsom, the general strike has slowed things to a crawl. There are no buses or other transport, so we walk down the road to Marpha and back, pretending it’s still the relatively untouched region of 30 years ago. Some stores were open in defiance of the strike, but foot traffic is light. And yet, life goes on, with a young monk getting a shave.


Tomorrow we leave for Kagbeni, the last town before we enter the restricted area of Upper Mustang. Five more days of hiking should get us to Lo Manthang, the capital of Mustang, where the festival will be held. We will stay in that area for about five days and then hike out a slightly different route. If all goes as planned, we should be back to Jomsom and internet access on May 20. After that, we’ll spend about 10 days hiking through some of the areas we visited last fall, this time hopefully seeing rhododendrons.

Blog postings for the next month will be few if any, and pictures will need to wait until we get back to our laptop around May 30. Don’t worry about us – we’re in good hands in a well-traveled region far away from any politics that might be happening in the cities.