March 1 first day of Annapurna Circuit

First days of a trek are always filled with possibility but also hesitation. I left well fortified as my pancake breakfast was mountainous, as was the rest of the day’s hike. It was curious to see many small sheds in the village which had fires inside but no chimney. They tilt up an edge of the steel roof, and the smoke escapes that way. Would not want to spend too much time in one of those. After warm goodbyes I left the village-near-the-bridge and headed up river. For the next few days, the path will follow a tumultuous river, crossing regularly on pendulous and not always trust-inspiring swinging bridges. Most on this part are steel and feel more secure than those on Helambu, but they are very long and high. When crossing one I noticed animal dung on the treadway, wondering how anyone could convince an animal to cross such a machine. Moments later, a man leading a string of pack burros walked by, answering my question. In the morning, when I was still in the lower part of the river valley, I walked through fields and villages. Even though the terraces are narrow, up here they use teams of cattle (not quite oxen) in yokes to pull simple wooden plows. I sat and watched as two teams broke a narrow field. Later, as I was walking up a narrow path through a small cluster of buildings (not quite a village) I passed a man cutting a mortise in the top of an oddly shaped timber. I assumed it was for a rafter tie as the angle was sharp. Later I met another man doing similar work and realized he was fashioning a plow. They chisel a groove in the blade section to affix a thin strip of steel which serves and the plow edge. They pick the material to make the plows from stumps. I saw a pile next to a shed that were possible candidates for plowdom, the rest were firewood. Trees here are the usual lower altitude mix, though there are many tall spindly ones looking very much like our tulip poplars, though they are covered with bright red tulip-like blossoms. As I recall, our tulip poplars are not real poplars but instead a species of magnolia. I’d guess these red tulip trees are close relatives. As the day wore on, the river valley narrowed and the path got steep. Passing through one village on a narrow part of the path I saw two women working with large flat baskets and a heavy brass mortar and pestle. They were grinding and drying turmeric root. The baskets had the most beautiful yellow power. At a rest stop I met trekkers from Finland, South Africa, and Oregon. I guess we will cross paths in the days to come– nice folks– though I have much more time to make the circuit and will probably take it (you can live well on 15$ per day while trekking here) and I really have so much to learn from this, definitely not in a hurry. Near the end of the day, coming up over a rise in the late afternoon, I could see a wide bend of the river making a broad sand beach, and just up river, brightly colored, was Tal, the day’s end point. Walking down Main Street I was surprised at how many hotels there were which claimed lots of amenities, including hot showers and wifi. This is definitely not like the Helambu. I checked into the Mona Lisa hotel, cleaned up and had the signature Tal dish which is a potato, bean, pumpkin, corn bread curry. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Great first day, though I am sore!

Feb 29 a day of road transportation

Today was a day of transport. To begin the Annapurna circuit, I needed to get to a village just north of Besishahar. Everyone warned of the road to Pokhara from Kathmandu, with good reason. It is paved and two lanes, but just barely, and it winds through narrow mountain edges with an unbelievable amount of heavy traffic, everyone passing each other on sharp narrow turns. The road is dominated by huge Tata trucks with massive chrome fronts which are wonderfully decorated with paint, ribbons, images of shiva, nicknames, one even had the images of the starting lineup for Real Madrid. I opted to take a tour bus as they are larger, less crowded, and are reputed to have good maintenance– read: the brakes work. Definitely was not going to fly as the local airlines have had two major crashes in as many days. The Green Line is maybe the most expensive, but it left from a point just across from my hotel (saved taxi fare) and included lunch at a riverside resort which was pretty much the fanciest place I’ve been in since arriving. Still, the trip to Dumre (my transfer point) took six hours. My seat partner was a man from Spain on his way to work seasonal labor in New Zealand, and the guy behind me was from London on his way to start a new job in Hong Kong. Nice folks. Even though it was a highway, the bus did have to stop several times while people herded goats across. At one of those points, I could see a man slaughtering a goat on the side of the raid. I was the only one to get off in Dumre where I was taken in hand by Chris, one of those people who offer to help out and generally at some point get a decent tip. We sat in a cool restaurant for the hour between buses, me drinking a beer and he telling stories of being a guide on the circuit. Out the window in the back I could see people doing their laundry in the river. Particularly interesting was a couple– she worked on the clothes while he washed two large incredibly beautiful wool patterned rugs. One was a blue I’d never really seen, which he scrubbed carefully in the current of the river. The minibus I got from Dumre to Besishahar was a standard 15 passenger van with 26 people (including baggage) in it. The road was still paved, but was increasingly narrow which did nothing to dampen the driver’s enthusiasm for acceleration and horn blowing. Besishahar was the last large town, and I finally got the bus Nadi — a classic Nepal bus with loud music, lots of tassels, and people crammed in every possible spot. Lots of stuff ends up on the roof with the ticket taker climbing up while the bus is moving. We passed one bus that I thought had a person riding up there, but it was two goats. No idea how they got up there or why they stayed. The surface of the road gave out and the third bus did not go much faster than I can walk. Techincally that section was part of the circuit, but it is an industrial area where a large Chinese company is building a hydro electric plant. All the guides say not to walk it and I’m glad I took the bus to a point just about the project. A man on the bus recommended I stay in a guest house just north of Nadi at the foot of a huge steel swinging bridge. A really great guest house run by Hari who is studying Korean language. Sat by the river for a while, then had a beer and curry. As I ate I could see lights in some of the buildings with people gathered around, then someone began playing a flute that was so plaintive it was almost like listening bagpipes. Then someone played one of those small fiddle/guitars they have. The music echoed around while I finished dinner, getting me ready for a good night’s sleep.