Farewell Annapurna!

Today’s route: Jhinu Danda to Pokhara

Elevation: 5,578ft
Distance: 1km
Ascent: 147ft, Descent: 301ft
Fitbit active zone minutes: 17
Quote of the day: “I’m basically a complicated house plant – Rachael

So a quick sidebar before I recap the day.  In these blogs, I’ve been including pictures directly from my phone, cos its (relatively) quick and easy to post them (except for when the wi-fi craps out and it takes aaaaaaaages).   As you can imagine, between all of us, we have taken literally thousands of images and have been sharing them with each other individually as well as collectively via the Circle app.   When I get home, I will take some more time to go through them all and will probably post a couple more blogs to include some more highlights as well as some of the video reels from the trail.

In addition to my cell phone, I have also been lugging around my OM System OM-1 Mark II camera that ManpanionTM bought me for Christmas after I’d had the chance to try it out during our trip to Antarctica.  Along with the camera, I also brought 4 (!) different lenses plus a tripod, so I would be well equipped for whatever photographic situation presented itself!  Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I probably would have made different choices – a) because all that shizz is HEAVY AF and b) it simply wasn’t as convenient to use while on the trail as my cell phone.   Also, it wasn’t all that comfortable to have a heavy camera hanging round my neck and everytime I wanted to use it, I had to disentangle it from my backpack straps and water bladder nozzle.  So while I did take some photos with my fancy pants camera, I didn’t take as many as I thought I would.  I also hadn’t had the chance to try out any astrophotography (the only reason I’d brought the tripod along) as the weather was either too cloudy or I was too tired to get up in the middle of the night or it was too fecking cold or I didn’t want to disturb my room mates.

SO, for this last night before we headed back into the city, I was determined to see if I could get a shot of the Milky Way to make lugging all the kit worthwhile.  The short answer – no.  The room I was in was on the top floor (I was back to sharing with just my OG roomie, Alison) and – very conveniently- had a roof top that was super easy to access just across from our room.  So I checked my PhotoPills app to see where and when the Milky Way would be in the right spot (I was planning to take a pic of it above the Annapurna range) and then set my alarm for 3am.  Alarm goes off, I head outside and set up my camera kit (having swotted up on all the correct camera settings earlier in the evening) – and see nothing but, yes you guessed it – thick cloud.   Grr.  But – given our Annapurna experience the day before – I figured there was a chance that maybe the cloud would clear up and reveal the night sky, so I set the alarm for 3.30am to try again.

3.30am.  No luck.

OK- well, what about 4am then?

Yeah… nope.  Still SOL.  I could see only 2 stars and I’m pretty sure there are more than that out there – at least a dozen or so, right?  At this point, I gave up as it was obvious the cloud wasn’t going anywhere and soon pre-dawn would start to kick in and obliterate any chance of seeing the Milky Way anyway.  I did try, Blog Watchers – so I guess you’re going to have to wait until I go to the Lofoten Islands in Norway in September to see some tasty tasty star pictures!

That was a lot of excitement to start the day off with and, even though I didn’t get any pictures worth a damn, I still gave it a go so well done me.  I pounded some coffee at breakfast along with a couple slices of toast (all I could face), ignored the burnt plastic smells that were coming out of the kitchen (maybe unwrap the food first before cooking it?) and wandered out to the gorgeous terrace at the back of the hotel to enjoy the sunshine and incredible views of the Annapurna valley (now there’s no clouds?!).  From our vantage point up on the hillside, we could look down and see the long suspension bridge that marked the true end of our journey.  Apparently it’s about a kilometer long – but I asked Sandip and no-one really seems to know just how long it actually is.  For some of our group who hate heights, I’m sure it felt like the Infinite Bridge!

The hike down to the bridge was pretty short and, all in all, I am feeling pretty darn smug about 1) not having fallen at all during the hike and 2) that my knees were Totally Fine.  Admittedly, I had been taking some fairly industrial strength anti-inflammatories (thanks, ketoprofen!) but I was happy with how my body had coped with the rigors of the trail and the altitude, all while being sick (did I mention I had a cold?  I had a cold).  My quads were a bit sore and I think you could probably crack walnuts on my calf muscles right now – but nothing crazy and certainly nothing that a few days rest and a couple of massages couldn’t fix.   Crossing the bridge was straightforward enough – a bit jiggly in the middle – but by that point, you just have to trust that the bridge is not going to go all Indiana Jones on you and collapse.  We had to wait for a couple of donkeys to cross first – I wonder what they must make of it all?  Do you think donkeys have any concept of bridges and that they are suspended hundreds of feet up in the air?  Whatever is going on in their brains, they looked pretty chill about the whole thing.  I guess to be a horse or water buffalo or beast of burden in Nepal you’ve got to be fairly relaxed about heights and steep ascents and descents and stairs and the like otherwise evolution would weed you out pretty quickly (ish).

Anyhoo…we met up with our driver on the other side and soon were underway for the 3hr jiggle ride back to Pokhara.  We hadn’t been on the road from Jhinu before and this one was probably even bouncier than the one into Ghandruk!  After having just spent the last week deep in the Annapurna Valley, on the trail, surrounded by nature, the traffic was an assault on the senses – smelly, noisy and chaotic.  The first part of the drive was mainly through very rural areas – so the scenery was still nice to look at, with lots of terraced fields and agriculture, plus a few stressed out hikers on the road (clearly regretting their life choices!) and we even passed a group of schoolgirls all dressed up in native costume which was fun to see.  We made a quick pit/pee stop back at the same place we did on the way out – and the banana lady was still there, so I bought a hand of tiny bananas for 200 rupees (so tasty!).

The road started to improve as we drew closer to Pokhara – but the nice bits were still interspersed with lots of crappy bits, punctuated with roads and bridges in various states of construction.  It’s going to take a LOT of investment to bring all the roads up to a decent standard so I think that’s going to be the way it is for quite some time to come.   Eventually, we arrived in Pokhara – and we could actually see much more of the town this time as it wasn’t obscured in a thick layer of smog!  We were staying in a different hotel this time – and it was beautiful!!  Apparently this hotel is brand new (I think it opened only a couple of weeks ago) – its still so new I think they are still building some of the upper floors!  The lift smelled of fresh paint, workers were mopping up the construction dust from the hallways and I saw a couple of builders hauling a giant barrel of something down the stairs so it was all still a work in progress.  Looking around the part of town where the hotel is reminds me a lot of Phnom Phen – very nice, brand new boutique hotels that are next to literal trash heaps and semi-derelict buildings.  A real juxtaposition.

As it was only about 11.30am, our rooms weren’t quite ready, but we happily decamped to the very nice restaurant to wait where we enjoyed a very tasty lunch that Actually Had Flavor!!!!  Best food I’ve had all week.  We were also super efficient and booked ourselves spa treatments in the brand new spa that had only been open for 2 days!  Aqua was actually their first paying customer – and I was their second!  I choose to have the 90 min trekkers massage followed by a kiwi marmalade facial.  According to the blurb, “the Trekker’s Healing Massage was specifically designed to provide relief, relaxation and ease the stressed muscles after a strenuous trekking or hiking activity.  It is a mixture of shiatsu, Thai and Ayurvedic therapy that gives you an experience of a complete therapeutic massage”.    The Advanced Preservation Kiwi Marmalade Facial promised to result in “younger looking skin by reducing fine lines and repairing collagen and elastin bonds”.  YES PLEASE TO ALL.

Overall, it was a great experience – but perhaps not the most relaxing one.  The treatment room was fairly minimal but nice – but yet again, I was confronted by a too small donut hole!!  (maybe its my face??)  The ambient music was pretty nice for spa music (blessedly light on whale and dolphin noises) but it was often drowned out by both the traffic noise and the jack hammering and drilling that was going on inside the hotel!  I had the massage first which was still quite pretzelly – but thankfully less butt-cracky than the previous one.   At one point, the therapist seemed to be trying to turn me into a chicken, folding my arms back into chicken wings (hmm), while later she was bending my straightened leg behind my back and it got just too much (I really don’t think they are supposed to move in that direction – just ask any Barbie doll).  After she did the first leg and bent it twice, she moved to the other leg to do the same thing – and I finally squeaked “too much!” after the first time.  She did it again and then asked me – “is everything OK?” – to which I replied “yes, everything’s fine”.   Sigh.  Damn that stiff upper lip.

The facial was much more relaxing.  I’d deliberately not been drinking much water during the day because I didn’t want to have to pee during the long bouncy 4×4 ride into Pokhara and then again, didn’t want to be lying on the treatment table for 2.5hrs busting for a wee.  So I could feel the moisture being sucked into my face and rehydrating me from the outside in!  I thought the facial would also help the disaster zone that are my post-cold nostrils – and it did a bit, I think – but I did give her a super nice tip that was basically danger money as both a thanks and an apology.

After the spa treatment, it was time to head out for our team dinner with the whole of the crew, both guides and porters, to say thank you for an amazing trip and to pass on our thanks and present them with cards and gratuities.  Everyone went round and said what the trip meant to them and how the crew had been an integral part of making it happen and that we really did end up feeling like a big family by the end of the trip.  It was really nice and heartfelt and everyone left feeling all warm and fuzzy.  The dinner was nice but service was a little on the slow side, so I only had time for a very quick shop on the way home for souvenirs.  I went straight to bed just before 10pm – but then was kept awake until almost midnight by an incredibly noisy Indian lady who appeared to be having some type of meltdown and was basically screaming at the top of her voice for HOURS!  There were also kids running around screaming too – it was a complete shit show.  I eventually put my earplugs in and turned on the AC to try and block out the noise -but it was an unfortunate ending to what, up to that point, had been a very pleasant stay.

Tomorrow, we fly back to Kathmandu for the last official day of the vacation.  Amanda and I are going on the volunteer extension trip (more to come on that) but everyone else will head out the following day.  I can already sense that people are starting to turn their thoughts back towards their lives back home – but we can at least enjoy the time we have left together for one more day.

And with that – good night!