Now we know our ABC?

After some rest and relaxation in Kathmandu (a post about our different to Kathmandu will follow!), we were back on the hiking trail. This time we were off to the Annapurna region to hike to Annapurna base camp. We took a short flight to Pokhara (involving a larger plane than our last flight and no challenging runway).

Pokhara airport

The Annapurna region has many different trails, the highlight of which is Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). At the lower elevations, there are many different villages and trails to create multiples paths towards ABC. Once at Chhomrong, the trails converge and there is only one way up!

Hiking trails are marked in yellow

To get to Chhomrong, we took the typical approach of people that have some time! We drove out of Pokhara and after about 90 minutes, we reached our trailhead. Our first major destination was Ghorepani and Poon Hill. It is one of the taller regions in the area so it afforded great views of the multiple Annapurna peaks (there are 5, I, II, III, IV, and south) as well as Machhupuchre (also known as fishtail) and Dhaulagiri.
This stretch of trail was one constant incline, accomplished mainly by steps. Our visit to Poon Hill was an early morning visit to watch the sun rise over Annapurna. the weather cooperated and we had some amazing mountain views! 

Lush green views from the start of the trail

Early morning views from the top of Poon Hill

As you can see we were not the only ones who got up early

After Ghorepani, we made our way to Chhomrong, via Gandruk. It was an up and down affair with many steps. On the trail outside of Ghorepani, we were once again treated to great views of the Annapurna range. Once in Gandruk, we were able to visit the Annapurna region museum as well as the Gurung culture museum. The Gurung people are the natives of the region and produced the famous fighting regiments known as the Gurkhas. 

View of Fishtail through the bamboo

Unexpected sunrise view of Fishtail on an early morning bathroom visit

Looking down over Old Gandruk

Once we reached Chhomrong, we hit a snag that would change our trek. Like EBC, our accommodations are typically booked a day or so in advance as there is enough for everyone. However our timing with ABC was not to be. It was holiday time for Nepal as well as most European school systems. the trail was essentially overused. When we reached Bamboo (the first stop after Chhomrong headed towards ABC), we supposedly had a room but the innkeeper said otherwise. Because there were less accommodations the higher you went and we didn't want to run into that issue again, we called an audible with our guide and just decided to keep hiking around the region and not worry about base camp.

Rup did a great job of adapting. Once hikers had come down from ABC back to Chhomrong, they typically take 2 days to get to a place where they can transit back to Pokhara. We extended that to four days and ended up walking right into Pokhara.  Our first stop on our new way down was Jindha. This village is home to some hot springs that sit right along the river. We spent the afternoon at the springs treating our legs that had become sore from all the steps! Our timing couldn't have been better as we had about 15 minutes to ourselves before the crowd started showing up. When we left, both pools were full and we passed a large group on their way down! From there we headed off to Landruk for an evening before blazing our new trail. 

The view behind us as we walked out of the valley

The sign writer had a good sense of humour!

Our new trail took us over another ridge and down to the village known as the Australian camp, even though no Aussies lived there anymore. From there it was down into the outskirts of Pokhara. Our trail became less woods and more urban. We started walking through more villages and dealing with roads and cars. Our final stop was Sarangkop, which sat on a hill overlooking Pokhara. It is a popular destination for Nepalis to vacation as well as for paragliding. It is currently undergoing a building boom with new guesthouses going up as well as a large hotel that has been under construction for five years! Our final morning we awoke and wound our way down the path that dumped us out right on the lake in Pokhara. We caught a small cab for four people and 5 bags and somehow all fit to make it to our destination. All in all, we arrived in Pokhara one day earlier than our initial itinerary. 

Sarangkop - where we celebrated our last night of hiking under an orange moon

Hiking down into Pokhara

How many people and bags did we fit into this taxis?

Overall, this was a completely different hike than EBC though I definitely found myself too often comparing it to EBC, which was just an epic trek and tough to live up to. 

We certainly encountered the same cast of characters. We shared the trail with cows and mule trains as well as porters, though the loads were much more manageable and appropriately sized than with EBC. Our porter was Dipen. He was a family friend of Rup. He was training with Rup to work on getting his guide license so we saw him much more than our EBC porter. He was also good at cards so it was tough for either of us to pull out a victory in crazy eights! this region also saw quite a bit more of both female guides and porters. This is much more common among the Gurung people. 

Some of the nature encountered along the way

One of the more interesting loads we encountered being carried up the mountain

Accommodations were similar. It was a bit easier to find a hot shower and western toilet much to our benefit. The food was tasty as well, though here it was a bit easier to eat meat. We tried the local favorite of roast chicken in a cast iron skillet doused with alcohol and set ablaze. Once you got past the taste of alcohol, the chicken was quite good! We also frequently found ourselves eating more and more dal bhat. It was once again the staple of our hiking diet.

Some of our accommodations

House specialty was flambeed chicken

One of our favourite plates of  dal bhat

The scenery and weather were also something completely different. The nice part for us is that with the lower elevation for where we hiked, it was sunny most every day, allowing us to hike in shorts most of the time (only up at ABC was there good snow). Then late in the afternoon, clouds would roll in. The first for days, it hailed every day in the late afternoon/early evening time frame. We even had a time where there was a double rainbow and hail at the same time!

Sun, rain, hail and a rainbow

Dramatic rain  and hail clouds parting to reveal a view of the mountains

This landscape was also very lush and green. All the valleys we walked through have rivers fed by the snow melt from the mountains meaning plenty of waterfalls to see. This also made farming a huge part of the local economy and way of life. However with the steepness of the terrain, all of the farms were very heavily terraced to maximize farm land.

Lush green trails

One of many waterfalls

terraced fields

Annapurna South dominated the landscape. Even walking out of the valley, you always knew where it was at just by turning around. Even walking towards Sarangkop, you could catch glimpses of the mountain through the smog. At some points, Annapurna South looked like it was a cloud itself.

Nighttime view from our room looking up he valley

One big thing missing from this hike that really made the EBC hike stand out was the spirituality of that trek. That was really missing on this hike. The only real bit of it we saw was a small part by one of the streams where a bunch of prayer flags and cairns were set up. 

Annapurna was a nice region to trek and was completely different from EBC. If anyone has altitude concerns, it's a great region to go hiking in because of how much flexibility it has in its route planning. My only warning is that I hope you like steps, because there are a lot. It's a constant up and down as you cross between valleys and hills. I didn't find the quality of hiking that great because of all the steps. the scenery was beautiful enough that switchbacks wouldn't feel bad but all the steps really took away from enjoying your surroundings. If sore knees and legs are OK, then there is a great place to rest them when you are finished in Pokhara!

Just a few of the many steps we climbed

We used our time in Pokhara for some more rest and relaxation. This r&r time also called for another massage from the folks at Seeing Hands (see our Kathmandu post for our first visit). We arrived into the city the day before Nepali New Year's Eve. As a result all of the hotels were very busy and we spent our extra night in a "simple hotel". All was fine until everyone in the hotel decided to get up at 5am and congregate outside our room!

Pokhara is a tourist destination for Nepali and foreigners alike. The town is situated on a lake and, when there is no haze, has beautiful views of the Annapurna mountain range. It also has many hotels, shops and restaurants to meet the tourist demands. Several of the restaurants we had seen in Kathmandu had second restaurants in Pokhara. We sampled a number of the restaurants, using Tripadvisor to highlight the favourites of previous tourists. We really enjoyed Rosemary's Kitchen, which had delicious food in a very nice outdoor setting. We also spent a relaxing late afternoon and early evening in OR2K sitting on cushions at a low table, eating a selection of middle eastern dips and bread and playing scrabble as we watched a storm rolled in over the lake.

The sun setting on 2073

A highlight of our time was the trip to the Movie Garden. Built into the side of the hill with a variety of seating options, it offered amazing views of the lake and sunset before the movie even started. It had a full bar, free popcorn if you checked in on Facebook and you could order pizza from one of the popular pizza restaurants in town to eat by candlelight. It was a great way to kick off our new year's eve as we watched Seven Years in Tibet (although Brad Pitt's Austrian accent was terrible).

Movie garden

Our seat for the movie among the rockery

While this was a popular tourist destination, you never forgot you were in Nepal. Traffic would still grind to a halt as a cow would just sit down on the middle of the road. They also enjoyed grazing by the lake and especially enjoyed sneaking up on people's picnics on new years eve!

The new year's celebration brought a very lively atmosphere to Pokhara. There was a large fair set up in the park across the street from our hotel, where we could hear the screams of people as the were enjoying riding the rides. It also meant constant music throughout the day. After the movie, we stopped by one of the many lakeside cafes for a drink and to take in the celebration. There were at least three different stages within earshot playing all kinds of different music, from traditional to western. As we walked back to our hotel, the streets were packed full of scooters and motorbikes as people were filling up all of the bars and dance clubs. Midnight was marked by a few large fireworks but nothing like you'd get in the UK or US. Amusingly enough, within three songs from midnight, the fair had shut down and all was quiet.

- Jess & Nick