Tag: Trekking

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Chame (2670m) to Ghyaru (3670m) via Upper Pisang – October 3, 2014

Yeti Hat

3 Things:
– Holy Annapurna 2 views! (that’s a mountain)
– Nepali sheep hats
– Altitude – really starting to feel it! Over 10k feet… Maybe 11k now

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Best part of the day:
Making it to Ghyaru. It was a crazy steep long climb up, about 600 meters up in a mile and a half at the end of our day. I was feeling the altitude. But the little tiny village was so endearing and had incredible views!

Yeti Hat

Worst part of the day:
Breaking my sunglasses! Ugh!! I’m SO mad at myself, I just wasn’t being careful and bent them and pop out the lense. Rick got them semi back together, in a fragile state… And swears he can get them back to new once we are back to town and he has a screwdriver and lighter. Yea for skilled husband!

I’m thankful for: 
Good Nepali home cooking. The guest house in Ghyaru served the best food we’ve had so far! I had Dal Bhat which is the official dish of nepal. It’s varied as to exactly what the flavors are, but it consists of rice, a lentil soup and some kind of other stewed/curry bowl of something (can be veggies, yak, chickeb) this one was rice, lentil soup (dal) and what they call a vegetable curry, but this one didn’t have the overwhelming curry flavor to me… Just good flavor. It was so yummy! And made from the garden outside our window.

Accommodations

Memory verse: 
Assurance of Answered Prayer – John 16:24
“Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete.”

Rick’s take on the Day:
As we’ve been hiking we keep passing these walls of Mani Stones. Intricately carved rocks with Tibetan Buddhist prayers carved into them. Thousands of them are pilled into walls like the one below:

Prayer rocks (mori wall) Prayer rocks (mori wall)We almost stopped in Upper Pisang, but our team of 4 (with David and Molly) rallied for the big 2 hour push to Ghyaru at 12,000 Ft with is higher than Manang (the next town on our trek) which will help our acclimatization. Everyone seems to be dealing with the altitude well so far.

Liz, Molly and David
Liz, Molly and David

The last hour and a half from Pisang to Ghyaru was an absolutely crazy uphill 600 vertical meter climb. I was glad we bought walking sticks for 250 nrp north of Dhilur Pokhari to help with the climbing. Our reward was some of the most wonderful views of Annapurna 2 from Upper Pisang and the amazing views of Annapurna 4 from Ghyaru.

The accommodation in Ghyaru are much sparser, but very endearing none the less.

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Liz and RickTrekking is feeling good!

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Danakyu (2300m) to Chame (2670m) – October 2, 2014

Scenes from Danakyu - Chame

Scenes from Danakyu - ChameToday we had a much easier walk. While the trail is marked pretty well, occasionally there are challenges…

Two signs pointing opposite directions to Chame?
Which way to Chame?

I also realized that trying to capture all of the details of every day in a blog is going to kill me! So we met some great folks from California today (the first Americans we’ve met in Nepal) who had a great idea; A daily journal with, where we started and ended, and 3 words/things/phrases that best highlight the day, and maybe a sentence or two… I’m changing it a bit to answer our “family dinner questions” (Jacobus family shout out!); Best part of the day, Worst Part of the Day, and What I’m Thankful For.

So that’s my new goal! And pictures of course! More detail when we can. So far on our hike we’ve been trying to memorize a bible verse a day, so I’ll add that too.

3 Things:
– California friends (Molly and David)
– First mountain views and Apple country
– Hot springs

Best part of the day:
Meeting fun new friends to hike and chat with, who have a much better guide book than us!

Worst part of the day:
Nothing bad really… Our new friends getting stomach sick

I’m thankful for:
A wonderful patient husband who takes my hangry-grumpiness, random freak-outs and poor trail singing in stride and still loves me

Memory verse
Assurance of Salvation – John 5:24

“I tell you the truth, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life. He will not be condemned, but has already passed from death into life.”

Kids selling apples on the road side.
Kids selling apples on the roadside
The "Hot Spring" in Chame.
This was the “Hot Spring.” It was hot and fairly relaxing.

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Chamje (1430m) to Danakyu (2300m) – October 1, 2014

Chamje to Danakyu Photo Collage
 Chamje to Danakyu Photo Collage
We set off from Chamje (1430m) after breakfast with our new friends, but quickly, they outpaced us (helps that they had porters!)  and then we took “the scenic route” from the fancy guide book Rick got ([amazon text=Trekking the Annapurna Circuit&asin=B00F1X3LQ6]). In my estimation, it was just on the other side of the river and had massive ups and downs, while the road was a steady climb and faster. So we lost our friends. The waterfalls were crazy incredible though.
It was so much more lush than I dreamed!! And gorgeous flowers everywhere – like all of the ones you see at the florist just growing everywhere – zinnias, gladiolus and a bunch I can’t remember the names of! And the most beautiful butterflies ever!
We are hiking along side the river at least every day so far. Not because it’s pretty, but because it’s the only way you can get around the enormous mountains. The mountains are so different here. They are so straight up, so steep, so sharp. This days hike was incredible with the lush forest and waterfalls, but it was a LONG day and bit of a beating.
Suspension Bridge
We happily ran into our friends later that afternoon when we stopped for the day in Danakyu (2300m), and found the BEST guest house yet!!! I think we were the first people to stay in our room – they are amazing craftsmen here. All hand made out of wood and perfectly cut. The room smell of fresh pine and I could’ve sworn the mattresses were Tempurpedic!! At least compared to previous. If you’re ever in the neighborhood we highly suggest the New Manaslu Hotel!
Danakyu Tea House Accommodations
We got our first view of some BIG mountains not the ones we’re hiking, but the Manaslu Range and it was incredible! The mountains are so big they look like clouds!
I have to say I felt like I was staying in a 5 star hotel! HOT shower (which is rare, they all say they have hot solar showers, but that only if you are the first to take it and take a 45 sec shower). Comfy bed! Clean squat toilet! I felt like royalty!  (And they had this awesome Tibetian Dog!)
And my highlight of the day was being allowed to sit in the kitchen next to the fire while our hosts cooked dinner and chat with Leonie and Maryse! In Nepal the kitchen is a private place, you don’t let guests in there, you don’t hang out in there – the best comparison I can think of is like our master bathrooms, kinda. So anyway, we felt so privileged to get to sit and enjoy our Nepali hosts.
Danakyu Tea House Kitchen
Yes… That is fresh goat meat curing over the wood stove.
We ordered dinner and got to watch them make it… From scratch. And from scratch has a different meaning here! We ordered Vegetable Momo – these delicious little dumplings they have here. As soon as we ordered one of the girls goes out to their garden and harvests a bunch of spinach and onion and garlic. And then they start making the dough. It’s an hour and half process. Every step so intricate and so cared about! Folding the Momos is such an art. I couldn’t stop watching and they laughed at me. But they are truly individual pieces of art. And of course tasted delicious!
We so enjoyed getting to know Leonie and Maryse! They have created and fund a home for at risk girls in Pokhara –  they have about 25 girls in the program, from 5 years old to 16 years or so. And they pay for their school — all of the way through!! Which is rare here — and help find them good jobs. Leonie, please send me your school info, once you are done with your trek, so I can share!  They visit the girls every year, and as part of their trip do a trek so we got to learn from the experts! Perhaps we will get to visit them in Switzerland! 🙂
View from Danakyu Tea House
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Pokhara to Chamje (1430m) – September 30, 2014

Our first day out from Pokhara. We hoped to take a bus to Beshishar and from there get a jeep all of the way to Chame best case, worst case no jeep at all.

 

The bus ride wasn’t bad at all – we had heard it could be scary, but it wasn’t. Unless you were the goat strapped to the top of the bus!! It was a huge goat. Rick had to climb up to get something from our packs so got to see it up close! This week is the big Dashain festival – which means lots of goats going places!! LOTS! … And eventually they’ll all be slaughter as sacrifices.

 

 

We chatted with a couple of ladies from Switzerland, Leonie and Maryse (so sorry, I’m probably misspelling that) on the bus who had a guide, and were kind enough to let us hop on in on their jeep. We made it Chaymche/Chamje and it was getting dark. Our new friends picked a lovely guest house and we spent the night.

 

First day was fairly uneventful – very rainy!