2018

nepal : annapurna circuit

according to my research, july was the worst possible time to be travelling in nepal; mountains would be shrouded in permanent cloud, leeches would be leeching, heat would be demoralising. but on the flip side…teahouses would not be not crowded with backpackers etc. as someone averse to crowds at the best of times, let alone when attempting to have some kind of immersive nature experience, I was happy to compromise

the annapurna is mostly in the rainshadow anyways, being north of the himalayas, so we went; my sibs dan and sophia, and partner nic. we completed it in 11 days, taking a jeep convoy from jomson to pokhara with our new friends- two older jewish legends and a south african teacher/poet we met on the trail. also despite our initial resistance to doing it without guide or porter, we ended up finding an awesome weight redistributor in the form of sete, in the gorgeous little mountainside village of ghermu

we’d all packed for more australian-esque altitudes, carrying way more than any other trekkers doing the trail. I definitely gained a healthy respect for altitude on this trip, feeling like I was walking through molasses above 3500m as my muscles failed to get enough oxygen, and then getting something resembling altitude sickness the morning that we crossed the thorong la pass (5416m – highest navigable pass in the world). I was puking, could barely stand up, and had a splitting headache. it was scary and not fun. but then we descended the other side and as the clouds and my nausea lifted, we were gifted with the most devastatingly beautiful view of muktinath and the dramatic upper mustang region

we also happened to coincide with the arrival of the high lama of the buddhist sakya lineage, to open the first new gompa in hundreds of years. it was a once in a lifetime kinda deal, so we felt lucky to be there and to witness the procession