Here’s what happen on the second half of the Annapurna Circuit:
(I should note that the distances travelled are sort of best guess estimated from different sources… they’re not all likely to be correct).
Day 10:
The day after we got over Thorung-La Pass, we were given the option of taking a jeep to get to our lunch destination or walking there. Surprisingly (or maybe not) we all chose to walk in the morning. So we walked 21km to Jomson. We lost 1040m in elevation so it was a lot of downhill followed by some flat. It was pretty and I was glad we decided to walk. After lunch, we took a bumpy local bus ride to Ghasa where we spent the night. We were all a bit concerned when we got there because our tea house had no stove or heater in the dining room. We were anticipating a very cold evening but then discovered that since we were at roughly 2000m elevation, a heater wasn’t required.
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| Valley |
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| Cool rock formation |
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| River and mountains |
Day 11:
After spending so many days in desert-like scenery, it was really weird to wake up and see green outside the window this morning. We walked 13km from Ghasa to Tatopani (about a 900m drop in elevation). We got there by lunch and then went to the local hot spring in the afternoon. It was really relaxed and everyone felt like the trip was sort of ending, even though we still had a lot more walking to do. Most people also took advantage of the warmer temperatures to wash some clothes. Unfortunately, nothing dried overnight so we all spent the next couple of days trying to get wet clothes to dry (harder than it sounds!).
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| Bridge |
Day 12:
We walked from Tatopani to Sikha (8km distance and an elevation gain of 800m). It was a bit of a shocker going uphill again after two and a half days of downhill but it gave my calf muscles a much needed break. Apparently I use them a lot to walk downhill and they were really tight and sore. I actually didn’t take any photos today… I guess I was giving my photo taking muscles a break as well.
Day 13:
We walked from Sikha to Ghorepani, which was another elevation gain of 800m and a distance of 6km. It had been fairly cloudy all day and after we got to Ghorepani, the clouds lowered to the point where we were literally in a fog (some of us probably figuratively as well…). It didn’t bode well for the next morning when we were going to climb Poon Hill to watch the sun rise with a view of the mountains. Something strange happens to your perspective when you’re on the circuit – to the point where someone suggests getting up before 5AM to climb 300m to watch the sunrise and everyone thinks it’s a fine idea.
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| Hello |
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Sometimes there were delays due to
local wildlife |
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Every now and then, my pack
would feel a lot lighter |
Day 14:
At some point during the night the skies cleared to the point where we got to the top of Poon Hill in time to see a cloudless sunrise. It was really pretty and I had a surreal moment where I realized that in the past few months I had seen the sunrise over the Mekong River, the South China Sea, a Thai elephant sanctuary and the Himalyan mountains. Quite an amazing few months!
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| Shhh... the mountain is sleeping. |
After returning to Ghorepani and eating breakfast, we walked 10km to Birethanti. It was a challenging walk as most of it was down stone steps – 1835m worth of stone steps, not including the descent from Poon Hill. My legs were pretty shaky by the time we got to Birethanti.
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Crappy photo but the only one I have
showing all the terraces |
That night was our last night with our porters and our assistant guide so we had a special dinner all together (Dal Bhat… eaten with our hands in Nepali fashion) and then lit a camp fire in the middle of the (pedestrian) street and had a dance party. The porters supplied the music (both by singing and with a stereo) and we all danced to the amused (I hope) horror of the on-looking locals. Man, could some of our porters dance! They had us all try a Nepali squat dance, which my legs really did not appreciate the next day (… or maybe that was just all the downhill).
Day 15:
Today we did our last bit of walking, an easy kilometer to Nayapul where we caught a van to Pokhara. We had the rest of the day in Pokhara. Some of us took a short boat tour on the lake before meeting the whole group for dinner and saying goodbye to a couple members of our group who were staying in Pokhara.
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| Morning mist |
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| Last view of the mountain |
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| Phewa Tal |
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| Butterfly |
The next day, we took a van to Kathmandu and our tour ended. I was sad that it was over. I had an amazing time with some great people!
