We start our trek on the Annapurna Circuit tomorrow!
After a bunch of back and forth emails and interviews with three potential trekking companies, we decided to trek with a socially responsible trekking company called Social Tours. They were recommended by Jodi’s friend Brendan (thanks, Jodi!), so we feel pretty good about choosing them. They also were recommended by National Geographic Adventure magazine and have a well-established office in Kathmandu, so we feel comfortable that they will provide a good service and have the resources to provide support if we need it while on the trek.
We plan to trek up to 28 days. We start in Besi Sahar and hike counter-clockwise around the Annapurna range (the Circuit), cutting across to hike north into the middle of the mountains to reach Annapurna Base Camp (the Sanctuary) where we will be surrounded by the Annapurna range. The final leg of our trek takes us south and slightly east to Phedi, where we will be picked up and driven to Pokhara. We expect to reach Pokhara sometime between November 4th-7th.
We met with our guide and porter yesterday at the Social Tours’ offices. Bemba Sherpa (on the left) is our guide; he is studying to be a teacher (he gets a month off for the Dashain holidays) and has completed this trek about 20 times. Chhiiring (on the right) is our porter, and is from the same village as Bemba. They have known each other several years.
Our trekking team: Bemba (guide) and Chhiiring (porter)
We are going on a “teahouse trek”. What does that mean?
We will stay and eat at guesthouses in the villages along the trail. We’re told most guesthouses can accommodate between 20-60 guests. We are not camping; there are no tents involved.
In most guesthouses we will have a private room. Sometimes we’ll get our own bathroom, but often we will use shared bathrooms. Showers are a rarity; in many places we will get a bucket with hot water for our daily scrub (with biodegradable soap). If all the guesthouses are full in a village, we will bed down in the dining room for the night.
On most days we will hike 5-7 hours; less on some days, on one day – the day we cross the Thorung La pass – we expect to hike around 10 hours.
We will eat vegetarian food most of the time, because it is what the locals eat and what will already be prepared. It saves fuel and pots to plan our meals this way. We expect to eat a lot of dal-bhat, a Nepalese dish composed of lentils, rice and vegetable curry. Apple pie is also available in many villages, so our sweet tooths will be satisfied.
Our snack stash includes Kettle Chips, Toblerone, Cadbury milk chocolate with Crunchie bar bits, Japanese sencha, almonds, Trader Joe’s giant raisins, and grape Gatorade packets.
We are excited and a little nervous about this adventure. We wonder many things…
– How are our bodies going to respond to continuous hiking for almost a month? And at altitude? We’ve hiked up to 14,000 feet and it was hard. Our heads spun, our legs burned. We will hike to almost 18,000 feet when we cross Thorung La pass.
– What will it be like to disconnect from the world of media? No TV, no phones, no Internet. Will our minds think about different things? Will we experience any shifts in thinking patterns? If we do, will we notice? Maybe we’ll think more…
- …Creatively? (I’ll open a baklava food truck in SF! Painted yellow and green! I’ll make a vegan version using agave nectar instead of honey!)
- …Randomly? (Are there any odors that are *invisible* to dogs? How do drug smugglers cover up illicit scents?)
– When we reenter “civilization” in Pokhara, what will we eat for our first meal? What foods will we crave and fantasize about? Or will we not miss anything?
We are curious and excited to find out.
This will be our last post for awhile, until we reach Pokhara. We hope for flexible knees, strong backs, healthy bellies, and new friendships with Bemba, Chhiiring and other new friends we have yet to meet.
See you in November!
