Ghyaru (3670m) – Ngawal – Manang (3540m) – October 4, 2014

3 things:
– Yaks!
– Drugs from friends
– Desert

Hiking today was through high altitude desert, which really surprised me. It look a bit like Utah. But with great mountain views!! Saw Annapurna II, III, and IV

Best thing about today: 
So I haven’t slept in 2 days. I’m exhausted. I mean the sitting up wondering what’s wrong with you that you are so tired but can’t sleep. Staring at Rick sleeping. But it’s supposedly part of the altitude effects that it’s hard to sleep. Today I was over it. Need. To. Sleep. It’s making me crrrrraaazzy! So we got into Manang and met up with some American friends, they were saying they had the same problems and helped us find some drugs to help me sleep.  It’s the next morning now and I feel like singing!!! Yea for kind new friends with medical backgrounds! Rick’s best part of the day was Manang had “everything” for sale so he went a little crazy and got some Pringles, chocolate, TP, comb, sunglasses and cookies!!!

A tale of two drinks:
We stopped at a Tea House in Ngawal for a tea mid-day and they had two surprising additions the the usual, black, mint, ginger, masala teas; Local Herbal Tea and Sea Buckthorn Juice. Now Sea Buckthorn Juice was something I had heard to try and Rick was curious to try “Local Herbal Tea.”

Well the results are in and Sea Buckthorn Juice is the clear winner… “Local Herbal Tea” tastes like something they sell to adventures trekkers that don’t know any better (Rick). It looks (and tastes)  like it is comprised of stuff they swept up off the porch and steeped  in hot water. Basically it’s like drinking Magnolia Soup (The pretend soup our neighbor girls made for us out of things they found in the yard). Shout out to the Jacobus Girls.

Worst thing about today:
Made a bad choice on the tea house to stay at. Room was ok, but there were no common areas, the staff was not very good or friendly, and the promised hot shower, was neither hot nor a shower. But worst of all was dinner. See when you stay at a tea house/guest house, you have to eat breakfast and dinner there – so the cooking is as important as the room. We got excited upon seeing all of the yaks around that we could get some meat finally! Everywhere advertised yak steak!! So we ordered for dinner. Mistake. It was a sort of meatloaf-esque chunk (maybe 20% meat) seared and covered in mystery gravy, some chunks and a few soggy fries. Like poutine’s evil cousin. Even the plain rice at this tea house was bad! (See: Rick and I debating if the little brown oval shaped things were mouse poop or a special spice. I’m still voting mouse poop)
Our California friends stayed at a different one and we had major tea house envy… Tomorrow we move. 2 nights in manang for acclimatization.

I’m thankful for: 
Drugs to make me sleep.

Memory verse: 
We were slackers today 🙁

Tomorrow is supposed to be a “rest/acclimatization day” and we heard the “100 rupee monk” (as recommended by or “guide book”) is still alive but sick and in Kathmandu so no easy hike there.  New plan to tackle the Ice Lake tomorrow… our guide book says it’s an easy half day hike.

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