Nepal (नेपाल): Annapurna: Tadapani to Chommrong I

As smelly as I was I had a great sleep that night... But by 4 am I was awoken by a very loud noise.. A rooster's crow.. right next to my window.. I opened the window and splashed them with some cold water...

The crow didnt stop but at least its no longer perching on my window sill.

By 6, I woke up again because I felt some light touching my face. And the view that greeted me that morning was magnificent.  I didn't even have to get off the bed to view the sunrise, but that wouldnt make a good fb/blog picture no? 

So, for you guys, I forced myself out of the bed in cold, just to get a couple of pictures.. The sacrifices.. for the strangers.. Maybe I should make my blog private..

So I stepped out and was greeted by these views...

Then by 7, we were ready for breakfast.

I had chapatti with curry and masala tea.

After breakfast we're ready to move to Chommrong - Jhinhu.  According to the guide its going to be a downhill one... but after like 6 days... you got the point.  It will be another 8 hrs of trekking as well..

The first hour was through the mossy forest. It was cold and wet...

Then we enter the field (on top of the mountain).. This portion was downhill and slippery... medium category I would say.

But there's a lot of closed gate that you had to climb over.. or through..

With lots of locals staring at you....

Then we stop for a tea break.

And mandatory group photo.. before everyone turned into banshees (mak lampir)..

Then the guide pointed ont he other side of the hill.. we go there after this.. and behind the hill... oh dear... down and up

Lets keep moving...

dah makin malas aku nak menulis... hihihi

Nepal (नेपाल): Annapurna: Ghorepani to Tadapani II

After like 10 minutes of waiting, the guide finally arrived.. phew... and told me that we're stopping for lunch? What? already.. I wasn't hungry yet... Okay if you insist...

As usual, lunch would take sometimes to be prepared, and we just waited there and it was cold!  I wandered around but not that far... The area has about 4-5 teahouses/inns.  I think no one really stayed here overnight because the rooms looked run down and a bot spooky..  This is a valley part where the wind was strongest.. and once in a while, the fog sets in.. kinda twilight zone.. Nope, not a nice place to stay at night... hihihiihi

It looks so delicious.. I almost eat them raw...  After like 1 hr of waiting, the food was ready.

First it was noodle soup.. Tasted like maggie ayam. But delicious though..

Then we had macaroni + mushroom + veggies.. Sarah (plate in front of mine), doesnt like spinach, so I had her portions.. yum yum... and we wash them down with masala tea.

Tonite was diwali, so everyone wore nice dresses.

After lunch we continued our journey to the next pit stop... and this time its more up than down.. I was like.. what gives? I thought we're going down...

 

The guide was like.. oh yeah.. we are going up 'a bit'.. Pffttt.

 

There's no more snow, thought it still cold-ish

And the path was getting smaller... I dreaded to think if there's a donkey in front.. I dont know where to go...

Maybe down.. and hang on the water pipe for my dear live until it passes. You were cold and dizzy (from the altitude).. its easy for you to fall.

After liek 2 hrs of climbing, we finally arrived at the teahouse area.  The porter was waiting for us (i was among the last again, hhihiihih) so that we wont get lost...

For tonite's diwali feast or pray.

Our tea house.. Yeay finally.  There were no electricity though for the whole town for the past few months.

Be responsible!

The town center.. COLD and these nuts still want to buy stuff.

Poop eating chicken.. whats up with them.. drinking blood and eating poop. and their fleshes are red in color... not like usual chicken white in color..

Quaint little town.. reminded me of the top of the Maxwell hill, Taiping.. but 10 times colder.

The bed... very nice.. but as you can see.. windows everywhere.. it was hell at night because I cant put my head under the comforter or I get suffocated.  and sleeping with my tocang hair means I could not turn my head.. oh well, better stiff neck than frozen head i guess..

And because there was no electricity, there were no hot water... not being able to wash/bathe after 8 hrs of trekking was torturous. 

Dinner time.. candle light.. I dont know how she cook but the taste was amazing..

After dinner (8am) we went to bed.. its to dark to read or do anything else... but by 10ish we were all awoken by a loud noise.. a celebration... oh it's diwali..(Tihar festial in Nepal).. and its five days long celebration.. woo hoo.. so tonite was the first night (or was it the second or third)...

They were dancing int he dark, and children were singing and laughing.. such a festival.. reminded me of raya eons ago when i was a kid... Sadly when you grow up, you dont feel a thing during eid (or was it only me)... So we were sitting outside listening to the drum roll and singing.. and some were drinking... there's no firecracker or any lights.. kinda ironic for festival of light.

Nepal (नेपाल): Annapurna: Ghorepani to Tadapani I

Same routine.. awoken by 4 from the rooster's crow and from the crowd movements preparing for the Poonhill (by 4 last nite, there's new crowd replacing the old one, the inn was never empty) When they left around 5, I get back to sleep, and woke up again at 7ish.

Repacked my stuff.. starting to hate the routine of unpacking and repacking everything. Breakfast at 7.30 and by 8.30 we're ready. Another day.. another journey...
  

The guide was pointing on another peak..  I was like.. youre kidding! I thought you said no more up after this?

and he was like, nope.. we go up and then down (turned out later he was just a big fat liar... its up up up - steep one, then down all the way like 2 hrs.. then crazy up up up and insane down down down).. I still think hes the best guide though.. maybe next time I'll take shree.. he's better looking.

Mahindra vs Shree.. not the real pic of them of course.. but comparatively its like this...you get the point.. aku tengok group Shree semua bersemangat.. hihihihi

Oh talking about group, there were actually 4 groups under Earthbound.  12 days Group A and B and 10 Days group A and B.  Shree was in group 10 days.. Group 10 days had to part immediately after Poonhill.. Mahindra and the other guys (oldest) was in 12 days group.. so we really dont have any choice... hihihiih

As for group A (12 days) we found out that 3 fell ill, all altitude sickness related, with 2 severe case.. so severe, he had to ride the donkey for 2 days to get to the nearest town with road access.   Scary!  SO yeah, dont rush when you climb.. get acclimatized and dont rely too much on medication.. it will suppress the symptoms.. but your body still sick.. could be fatal..  sick or not. you have to move on by now turning back or going forward will take about the same time.. be warned!

Wah jauh melencong... Back to the trekking story..

So the first hour was going uphill though the nice jungle..  Again Andre and I was like, this isn't easy (today's trek was classified as easy)...

Then we reached the peak... I was so relieved...

It was slightly lower than the Poonhill.  From here the journey was downward-ish..

And lots of ravine

LOTR tree.. or if you have dirty mind you may see something that cant be unseen.. hihiihih

Daisies?

The trek today was mostly covered in frost - ice.  Its super cold if you're inside the forested area, but could be cozy when you walked under the sun.

After like 2 hrs of walking (the downhill part was easy). I did stop a couple of times just to listen to the sound of the forest.. euphoric experience.. only me and the nature... but could be scary, because the trek have many forks.. but most ended up merging further down...

Then we arrived at another teahouses for break. 

and another chance to shop. After like 30 min of resting, we continued our journey.. and and still going downward.. i kinda love it...

except the stairs were kinda slippery and there's no wall protecting you from the ravine next to the stairs.

It was pretty easy.. my heart no longer beating fast..  This is not good.. I wont loose any weight .. SO i decided to jog for a good 30 minutes... the best work out ever (and the most regret I had ... details later :p)

On this route.. I was the first in the group.. Leaving everyone far behind... I kept on running and running... The air was cold, I was sweating, and I love it

Then we arrived at another tea houses.. As I was ahead of the group I had to wait for them.. and boy it was cold and my muscle started to contract.. o oh...

... to be continued