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Articles About Nepal

7 Ways to Trek Like a Supermodel

Himalayan Trekking Stew: A Recipe for a Life Experience

The Annapurna Circuit: A Slideshow Treasure Hunt

7 Treks that Made Us Gasp

More Photos from Nepal

Nepal: Best Of

Trekking the Annapurna Circuit

People of the Annapurna Circuit

Colorful Kathmandu

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 10 comments

As if our trek around the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal wasn’t interesting enough, we accomplished it with Australian supermodel Gemma Ward close at hand most of the way.

Unfortunately, the rumors regarding Gemma’s identity didn’t begin circulating until the final days of the trek. “I think she’s a model. I’m sure I’ve seen her on Fashion TV,” echoed among the young Israelis – fresh from military service – trekking with us. [Aside: Fashion TV piped into Israeli military barracks?!]

And we only truly believed them when we connected to the internet and found the photo above. By then it was too late to play alpine paparazzi. But we did get a peek.

The prevailing supermodel image is one of air-walking stick-thinness and a perfect runway hip sway. However, our first glimpse of Gemma on the second day of our trek was anything but all that. She appeared rather – um – sturdy, and laden – huffing and puffing, red-faced, her camera dangling from her neck as she tried to keep pace with her guide.

In other words, she was quite like the rest of us.

Trekking is a great equalizer between mortals like us and supermodels like Gemma. We shared the same outhouses (Dan literally ran into her on two occasions), slept in the same bug-ridden lodges, ate the same repetitive food (although she did splurge for yak curry when the rest of us were too cheap), experienced the same altitude anxieties and faced the same prospect of being trampled by yaks.

However, brutal standards apply when you grace the cover of Vogue and the catwalks of Fashion TV. You are public domain – for better and for worse – and speculation begins immediately. Fortunately, Gemma was never within earshot of the bruising traveler buzz:

“Maybe she fell off the catwalk.”

“A hand model, perhaps?”

But we digress.

The Seven Step Plan
There were a few things about Gemma that set her apart from the other trekkers cutting their way through the Himalayas. Whether you are a supermodel or just want to trek like one, here’s how:

1. Grow a large head – not figuratively, but literally. The significance of this feature hadn’t occurred to us until we related this story to a friend knowledgeable in the business of entertainment and television.

“You know, we hiked with a supermodel around the Annapurna Circuit.”

“Did she have a big head? All famous people have big heads,” he responded without skipping a beat.

To answer that question, we relay the words from one of our fellow trekkers: “She’s got a hu-uge head. Head like a yak.”

Then, as if to redeem himself. “Oh, but she’s got GREAT lips,” he gushed with upturned eyes, as if imagining an alpine interlude with the woman of his dreams (see #7).

2. Make sure that every day is a good hair day, even days with cold (or no) showers at 5000 meters (16,000 feet). Ensure that your blond tresses fall from your woolen cap a la Rapunzel as you doff it.

3. Decide you want to learn to play guitar while trekking and have your guide carry your acoustic guitar up and over a 5,416 meter/17,700 foot mountain pass. Make sure you know how to play absolutely nothing and spend 5-10 minutes plunking around a new chord after each meal.
If you really want to stand out: Next mountain climb, take a tuba.

4. Trek with a guy in a Rastafarian cap who carries his own pack and desperately seeks to look like Johnny Depp. Rasta Depp didn’t share a room with Gemma, so no romance rumors here (now that would really boost our readership!). Other speculation heard on the trail: he was Heath Ledger’s brother, even though the web confirmed later that Heath didn’t even have a brother. Perhaps Rasta Depp was Gemma’s personal stylist. See #2 above.

5. Hire a porter to carry two fully stuffed body-sized waterproof bags and be mysterious regarding their contents. Audrey innocently thought that perhaps they contained materials for anthropological or scientific research and inquired as to the bags’ contents. Gemma’s dismissive response: “Stuff.”
Our take? Hair care products!

6. Drink bottled mineral water at 5,000 meters. For our porter, this was the clincher that classified her as famous. While the rest of us disinfected the local water with iodine tablets or chlorine drops, Gemma quaffed her small bottles of mineral water at $5 a pop.
Did we mention that mineral water is good for your hair?

7. Ensure that your presence transforms male trekkers into adolescents. The same trekker who noted the size of her head (and dreamed of her lips) couldn’t contain his excitement at the possibility of altitude-induced erratic behavior: “Did she flash everyone at the pass? Did she lift her shirt up?”

We are very sorry to disappoint – there was no Gemma flashing at Thorong La pass.

While Gemma unintentionally dropped a few hints along the trek that she was a bit different, our hats go off to her for maintaining a low profile and hanging with the rest of us. We do wish that she had clued us in earlier so that we might have some better photos of her to remember the occasion. After all, it’s not every day that we’re sharing outhouses with a supermodel.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 41 comments

With bathroom books like 1000 Places To See Before You Die serving as life-prescriptive authorities, we’re hesitant to describe anything as a “must-do life experience.” “Must-do” sounds presumptuous and “life experience” sounds trite. But what the heck.

The Annapurna Circuit trek did prove itself to be a walk for the ages though. And like a good stew, it came together as an experience that proved greater than the sum of its parts. As ethnic and cultural local flavors found themselves accented by an expanding cast of international characters and personalities from the animal kingdom, a truly special experience unfolded around us.

So, onto the ingredients and directions for a well-rounded Himalayan Trekking Stew:

Local Cultural Stock

• Hundreds of Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags, gompas (temples), chorten (holy stone formations), prayer wheels, and inscribed stone tablets. All must be perfectly placed in the context of awesome mountain views, as if in a movie set.
• Hundreds of children with grimy smiles and wind-burnt faces offering greetings of “Namaste!” (Nepali greeting that literally means “I bow to you”), their hands placed together in a prayer-like fashion.
• Trekking porters with names like Babu, Madhav, and Hari (Hari Porter, of course) singing their way over the hills.
• A handful of stone Tibetan villages that look like they’ve withstood the elements since the beginning of time and will survive them until time’s end. The villagers – weathered, wind-burnt and protected by their amulets – appear the same.
• Dozens of human porters, each carrying up to 50 kilos of tourist chickens, tomatoes, pots, pans, biscuits and macaroni up well-worn Tibetan trade paths.

Note on Tourist Chickens: chewy local bicycle chickens (preferred by Annapurna natives) are an acquired taste, so plump chickens (“like mashed potato” according to our porter) are carried uphill on the backs of Nepalese porters to please the tastes of foreign visitors.

Animal Seasoning

• Hundreds of mule trains majestically maneuvering steep inclines and descents with remarkable agility. The mules help serve up a soundtrack by way of the variously-tuned bells draped around their necks.
• Dozens of yak herds bounding over hillsides in force. One herd should be well-positioned to stampede an Australian supermodel at 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). Never fear, it was a near miss.
• A sprinkling of graceful vultures circling and feeding on goat and calf carcasses scattered across stony mountainsides.
• Blue sheep. But they aren’t really blue – or sheep – for that matter.
• Countless aphrodisiac caterpillars (Yarchagumba) hardened by fungus, hiding in the high Himalayan brush, and being tracked down by Tibetan and Nepalese medicine collectors with ruddy faces and small backpacks. “Makes you horny…very popular in China!”
• 1000s of stubborn goats with crooked horns.

International Flavor

• 1 Israeli contingent fresh from military service, to negotiate all room prices. An absolute must for two lazy, but frugal, Americans.
• 1 Australian supermodel struggling to learn how to play guitar. The guitar must be schlepped by her porter up and over Thorong La pass.
• 1 Italian documentary film crew chasing blue sheep and carrying a quarter wheel of Parmagiano Reggiano (a.k.a. the real Parmesan) cheese. Cheese must be graciously shared with two cheese-starved Americans.
• 1 Russian photographer who wakes up at 4 AM every day to get the best shots with his arsenal of three Nikon D300 cameras. No, we are not green with camera envy : )
• A host of other trekkers variously seeking the meaning of life, the best views, the best photographs, and audiences to receive their monologues.
• A dash of flatland foreigner anxiety – and comparison of headaches – as everyone hopes to successfully cross Thorong La mountain pass (5,416 meters/17,700 feet) without suffering AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness).

Edible Garnishes

• Endless portions of dal bhaat, the local, ubiquitous Nepalese national food staple, consisting of rice, watery lentils and potatoes or the occasional in-season vegetable. In our experience, the best of the trek can be found at the New Yak Hotel in Bhraga.
• Snickers/Mars rolls (think slab of dough wrapped around a candy bar, then fried). Critical energy booster. We wonder whether Annapurna’s first trekkers were from Scotland, the purported origin of the deep-fried Mars bar.
• Pungent grated yak cheese scattered across improvised pizzas.
• Spicy fried dried yak meat to soak up an over-consumption of Marpha apple brandy.
• 1 Manang Coffee (rice kernels fried in butter mixed with a spoonful of instant coffee crystals and raksi, the local moonshine). To be tried once and only once.

Time and Distance

• 15 days
• 180 km or 112 miles
• 50 villages
• 5,416 meter (17,770 feet) Thorong La Pass
• 4,576 meters of elevation gain in 9 days
• 1 map with useful indicators such as “fields of marijuana” and “pleasant forest”

Preparation
In a slow-building climb, make your way on foot towards Thorong La pass along millennia-old foot-worn trading paths where nature’s kindness doesn’t extend to motorized transport. You can trust that anything resembling civilization (housing, food, drink) has found itself there on the backs of mules, human porters, or both.

Watch the landscape progress from lush valleys and verdant terraced hills to the contrasting and iconic severity of the towering Annapurna sub-range of the Himalayas. The various ethnic groups that live, move, and carve out their lives in this environment are what lend this trek its cultural heft. After a 10-day climb and summit, make your descent through the whistling Kali Gandaki river valley back to “civilization” again.

**Note: We each have such a list, initially drafted eight years ago, that we continually update during our New Year’s Eve ritual.

Photo Essay – Trekking Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit

You can view the large format photos included in the Annapurna Circuit slideshow here or watch the slideshow itself.

Practical Details – Arranging an Annapurna Circuit Trek

Note: Regardless of what travel agents tell you, it is straightforward to arrange everything for the Annapurna Circuit trek once you arrive in Kathmandu or Pokhara. Doing so will allow you to evaluate your options and likely save you a significant amount of money. We were able to obtain our permit, arrange a porter, buy bus tickets, rent sleeping bags ($0.75/day) and pick up some random trekking gear (walking sticks, chlorine drops for water purification, windbreakers) all in one day in Pokhara.
Time Needed: There are several options for the Annapurna Circuit trek depending on your trekking objectives, seasonal weather conditions and the amount of time you have.
- Standard route: 14-17 days, from Besisahar to Tatopani (this is the route we took)
- Quick route: Besisahar to Jomson in 11-12 days and then fly back to Pokhara ($55-$80). Note: We and all the trekkers we spoke to found the landscape and experience on the eastern side of the pass (Besisahar to Thorong La) far more dramatic than that of the western side (along the Kali Gandaki river valley from Muktinath to Tatopani). So if you trek the whole circuit, don’t be surprised if you experience “post-pass” depression as you make your way down the western side of the circuit (Kali Gandaki river valley). The exhilaration and adrenaline from the ascent (and the summit of Thorong La) and its exceptional views rapidly wears off as you descend. That said, the Kali Gandaki valley (particularly above Jomsom) is still impressive, if a bit windy. If you make the trek all the way around and the weather cooperates, Poon Hill views are supposed to be worth the arduous climb at the very end.
- Long route: You can make side trips from Manang to Tilicho Lake, the highest lake in the world (4,900 meters), or extend the journey to Poon Hill for more great mountain views. Other trekkers we spoke to spent 21 days. Still others did a deep dive into the culture and landscape for over 30 days.
Trekking Permit: You are required to obtain an Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP) and a TIMS card (Tourist Information Management System). This is very easy to do this yourself in Pokhara with several passport photos (btw, the Pokhara office is open on Saturdays despite what the travel agents and local shop owners may tell you) for 2,000 Nepalese rupees (NPR)/$30. Alternatively, a travel agent can arrange both for 2,200 NPR.
Porters and guides: It is possible to trek the Annapurna Circuit without a guide or porter – the paths are well-worn and ad hoc tagging along with other travelers is possible. We decided to hire a porter to carry one big backpack (limit up to 20 kilos) for the two of us. We never regretted our decision. The porters not only carry bags, but also act as informal guides and make sure you don’t lose your way (after an experience in Kazakhstan, we are now wary of getting lost when mountains are involved). We hired our porter through Swissa travel agency in Pokhara – they were honest and straightforward. Ask anyone, especially an Israeli tourist, where to find the Pokhara Swissa office. Cost: 500 NPR ($8) per day (includes all accommodation and food for the porter) + bus tickets (450 NPR).
How to Get There: Take a bus to Besisahar from Pokhara (5 hours) or Kathmandu (6-7 hours). You can start the trek immediately from Besisahar or hop on a bumpy local bus with chickens and goats to Bhulbhule, the town that marks the beginning of the vehicle-less trail. We began walking from there. At the end of the trek, we took a jeep from Tatopani to Beni, then boarded a local bus from Beni to Pokhara – it’s an all-day, rump-bruising journey. If you hike past Tatopani up and over Poon Hill, you will exit the circuit at Nayapul and can hop a public bus or arrange a private taxi to Pokhara from there.
Where to Stay: Each village has a handful of guest houses – shop around when you arrive. The facilities range from very basic to relatively luxurious with en-suite western toilet bathrooms and hot water (after Thorong La pass). During low season, room rates are negotiable from free to around 150 NPR ($2.50) for a double room – the guest houses make most of their money from food. At Thorong La high camp, rates rise to 300 NPR ($5) per room since there is no other choice.
What to Eat: Cuisine – local or otherwise – is *not* a reason to do this trek. All the menus in the villages before Thorong La pass are exactly the same with “approved” prices for that village. The prices go up the higher you climb as everything is brought up on the backs of men and mules. The food variety and quality increases in bigger villages like Manang and on the eastern side of the trek (after Thorong La pass). Consider stocking up on granola bars, your favorite candy bars, biscuits, peanut butter, etc., at any of the large supermarkets along the main street in Pokhara. Our only regret regarding food: that we didn’t bring a giant jar of Italian pesto to add some flavor to the tasteless plates of spaghetti along the trail.
Cost and Expense Planning for Annapurna Circuit trek: We averaged about 1,500 – 2,000 NPR ($23-$30) per day for the two of us in food and accommodation. Bring iodine tablets or chlorine drops to sanitize local water instead of buying mineral water along the way – it saves you money and prevents plastic bottles from piling up in the mountains.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 10 comments

Yet until very recently we’d barely heard of Nepal’s Annapurna mountain range or the legendary path cut within it called the Annapurna Circuit. But as soon as we approached the border between India and Nepal, recommendations and ringing endorsements of “the circuit” from other travelers and trekkers hit the airwaves. More followed in Pokhara, the jumping off point for a host of great mountain hikes in Nepal. Still others arrived by email. Our choice was clear: make time and do the Annapurna Circuit.

In an attempt to give you a quick feel for what we experienced on the circuit – the land, its people, their culture, the drama and the progression of it all – we bring you a photo slideshow from our 15 days on the trail. We’ll be writing more and posting photo essays later – from A Recipe for Himalayan Stew to How to Trek like a Supermodel – to give the trek its full due.

You might be asking, “So where does the treasure hunt fit into all of this?”

Here it is: How many of the following can you find in the video below? There may or may not be a prize from Nepal in the end…

1. Yaks grazing
2. Mule trains
3. Water buffalo herder
4. Naked kid saying “Namaste!” (Hello, or literally “I bow to you.”)
5. Tibetans and their amulets
6. Blue sheep
7. Buddhist prayer wheels
8. Bath time
9. Dan and Audrey
10.Sadhus

Note: Press the play button on the video below in order to view the slideshow.

UPDATE: Original photos in the slideshow are now available here:

Photo Essay – Trekking Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 14 comments