"Trekking - Stage 1" Bshorts's photos around Pokhara, Nepal

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• published: 19 Apr 2011
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Preview of Bshorts's blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bshorts/2/1209054540/tpod.html This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Pokhara, Nepal Entry Title: "Trekking - Stage 1" Entry: "So the trekking begins with a car ride from Pokhara to Besisahar, taking under three hours, better we thought than 5 hours on the bus in spite of the cost. But the bus would leave us with very little walking time on the day so car it was. Also buses are built for the average Nepali, men probably averaging 5' 6", so my knees tend to take a bit of a battering. Anyway I want to keep all this pretty brief and avoid the minutiae of 17 days trekking so here goes. Day one was from Besisahar to Ngadi, feeling pretty good. Stayed in a little guesthouse and had a good chat with the owner. The next morning was Easter Sunday and we rose to learn that his wife had gone at 5am to walk to Besisahar for Mass! Couldn't believe she was Christian, but apparently there are about 10 of them in the surrounding area. We had our Creme Eggs to celebrate, slightly melted and reset but delicious. So the first two days went fine with plenty of rest stops on the way. My bag weighed around 17kg (over 2 stone) and Maria's was around 7kg (just over 1 stone) so the breaks were welcome. Amazing how one minute with the bag off the shoulders provided a real refresher. On the morning of the third day Maria woke with an upset stomach so we made no real progress, although she insisted we move on. We made it 4km in about 3 hours (!) from Jagat to Chamche where we stopped for lunch and Maria went to sleep it off. That worked a treat and from then on we had no problems reaching Manang on Day 7. Manang is an important stop off point where everyone takes a rest day to allow acclimatisation. Its at 3500m altitude and given the fact that altitude sickness (AMS) can strike anyone once you cross 2500m its important to ascend slowly. Lots of things can help, like ginger (lots of ginger tea), garlic and most importantly following the advice of "climb high, sleep low". By climbing higher than the altitude you'll sleep at and staying there for a couple of hours the body begins to adjust quicker. Its not guaranteed and lots of people still have problems but its a good guide. A quick aside to mention the Germans, or Ze Geeermans as I called them. Due to our short day with Maria's illness a large group of Germans caught up with us, passing us having breakfast on morning. Now we move quite fast but take lots of breaks, starting after 8 in the morning generally. These lads left around 7 each morning, moving slowly and never seeming to take breaks. Anyway they seemed to march in the same order with this old lad with strange legs in front. He became Herr Sticks to us and everytime we took a break, just as we stood up we'd hear the "clack, clack" of his sticks on the rocks...then like the terminator they gradually appeared around the bend, merciless in their progress. Anyway the best thing about them was their eating habits. We stopped for lunch in Tal two days later and sat at an outside table with two other trekkers for our typical noodle soup lunch, only for the owners to ask us to move as the outside table was booked. It turned out to be Ze Geermans, all 15 of them arriving with their damned sticks. But what a surprise to realise that in their small packs they weren't carrying water, maybe a guide book or map or other things....they took from their bags some loaves of bread, cheese and .....Geman sausages!! Ruthless German Efficiency or what? Unbelievable to see that. Their porters must have ben lugging loads of sausages around the mountains. Amazing. Anyway the highlights of the first few days were the beautiful valleys we walked through, especially the walk from Dukur Pokhari to Upper Pisang the day before arriving in Manang. The landscape was almost surreal with not a hint of green and a sheer expanse of rock rising behind. We were almost above the tree line here and starting to see snow ..." Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bshorts/2/1209054540/tpod.html Photos from this trip: 1. "Waterfall at Bhulbule" 2. "At the waterfall" 3. "The valley" 4. "Traffic" 5. "Tired from climbing" 6. "Sick but determined" 7. "We grew to hate the donkeys" 8. "Quite a view" 9. "Getting to a higher altitude, snow behind" 10. "Beautiful village" 11. "I'm a trekker" 12. "Spectacular" 13. "Still spectacular - bare rock result of glacier" 14. "Still going" 15. "Prayer wheels in Upper Pisang" 16. "Upper Pisang as we left it" 17. "In Gyaru fter the toughest climb yet" 18. "Vultures eating a calf" 19. "Snowing in Manang!" See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0149-c7c2-034e?ytv4=1