{"id":5778,"date":"2014-05-04T15:02:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T09:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2014-05-04T16:43:14","modified_gmt":"2014-05-04T10:58:14","slug":"trekking-report-pt-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2014\/05\/04\/trekking-report-pt-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Trekking Report, Pt. 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian hostel-mate, when asked if he\u2019d got any tunes on him, lamented that his player had been stolen by Monkeys \u2013 along with his hard drive. And I thought: Monkeys Stole My Hard Drive<\/em> would make a great album name.<\/p>\n

Israeli hostel-mate, in attempting to get the attention of another hostel-mate whose name she did not know, called out, \u201cHey, Mr. Dude!\u201d And I thought: Mr. Dude would be a great name for a band. (Yeah, there\u2019re already King Dude and Dude York, but I think there\u2019s still some room left for more Dude-named bands.)<\/p>\n

Australian hostel-mate related that he\u2019d won a Yak playing poker one night during the Everest Base Camp trek. And I thought: traveling is the best!<\/p>\n

The early-onset Monsoon, it turns out, was a false alarm. So my explorations of Kathmandu were able to continue after all. A great city! However, it means I\u2019m so far behind in the ol\u2019 blogging games that I fear I\u2019ll never catch up. But, let\u2019s have a try\u2026<\/p>\n

Day 9 \u2013 Danakyu to Jagat<\/h3>\n

The day began where the previous two had left off: stunningly.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a good trekking tip (not that it\u2019s any sort of revelation): make sure to start out as early as possible each day. Not only will it allow you to tear off a good chunk of mileage before the heat sets in, and to get your sweaty clothes washed and dried while<\/em> the sun\u2019s still pounding, but also to catch those luminous glimpses of the rising sun\u2019s ray\u2019s as they just begin to peer in through the clifftops.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

Rather than being dominated by the ever-majestic Annapurna peaks, this day was about the ever-majestic Marsyangdi river (impossible to accurately capture the river\u2019s colour, photographically, alas)\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026and the ever-majestic valley walls.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

Began to think, however, that I\u2019d maybe taken a few too many shots of said walls, and thought I\u2019d goof around with the camera\u2019s \u201cPinhole\u201d setting. Not bad, I guess.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

But \u2013 would you believe it? \u2013 even up here in the very centre of nowhere, one can still purchase oneself a lottery ticket.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

Shortly before Chamche, I arrived to my favourite waterfall of the entire trekking. We\u2019d not passed this on the way up, as we\u2019d split off the road to take the trail to Tal. (I decided to utilise the road all the way down, partly to get a different take on the scenery; and partly because, trekking now by my lonesome, I thought I\u2019d more quickly find somebody to help me if I should fall down, or twist an ankle, or some such-like.)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PG28XFAdnLY<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

\n

Neither photos nor footage can do this little beauty justice. But something about its different levels, its misty snowflakes-like drop from the brink, and then finally its meandering, forking wend down the vegetation-covered rocks just slayed me dead.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-10<\/a><\/p>\n

In Jagat, scored a second-floor, corner room (i.e., lots of windows) overlooking the river. The view was great, and the river\u2019s roar was mighty \u2013 made all the louder by its being warm enough to sleep with the window open.<\/p>\n

Met a most interesting party at dinner that night. It was a couple, names of \u201cMike\u201d and \u201cJudy\u201d, who\u2019d been hiking in Nepal for decades. He\u2019d started up the country\u2019s first-ever rafting outfit, and was a font of knowledge about trekking in Nepal, and the history of the region. Trekking with them were their nineteen-year-old grandson, name of \u201cKen\u201d, as well as the twenty-one-year-old son of the partner with whom he\u2019d started up the rafting outfit.<\/p>\n

Name of \u201cHasith\u201d, the son spoke incredibly fluent English, and his broad scope of interests ranged from politics and activism to the German national soccer team \u2013 and much in-between. He said that if I were still in Kathmandu when they finished their trek, he\u2019d like to introduce me to his family and show me around the city. But I\u2019ve not since heard from him, so it may have to wait until a future time.<\/p>\n

Day 10 \u2013 Jagat to Ngadi Bazaar<\/h3>\n

My recollection is that this day wasn\u2019t as much fun as the previous three had been: I recall it having been hot and dusty, with more traffic on the road, and far fewer trekkers, headed in the opposite direction, with whom to stop and converse for a while. (Surely, they were all avoiding the road, using the trail through Tal instead.)<\/p>\n

But reviewing the pics, I did find that the scenery, at least, had still on this day been insanely delicious, especially for the first few hours.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

When one passes jeeps on the road, there\u2019s almost a teenaged kid riding atop. And they almost always are eager to wave and say Hello.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

In the village of Syange, there were some quite nice Chickens\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026as well as a rather strenuous hike up to another<\/em> impressive waterfall. Probably, the footage won\u2019t give the impression, but this fucker was loud.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XKcotPU8bDk<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a series of canals up-top, used to channel the waters to the village below.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

Hiking from the road, one can look across the valley to view the agricultural terracing system, as well as have a gander at the trail we\u2019d hiked on the second day.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

And then, along towards midday: Jackpot!<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-11<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, not yet ripe (and also, in somebody\u2019s yard).<\/p>\n

Arrived soon enough, to the nightmarish hydro construction project we\u2019d passed on the way up. Too bad, nobody\u2019d yet blown that thing sky fucking high. Stopped for the night in Ngadi Bazaar, and another riverside Lodge. Sitting eating dinner, spotted some Monkeys goofing off the far side of the river. Good times.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=izVWJKbvwxU<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

<\/h3>\n

Day 11 \u2013 Ngadi Bazaar to Pokhara<\/h3>\n

The three-hour hike to Pokhara was rather suck-ass. There were still some pretty nice scenes played out before me, and all.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-12<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-12<\/a><\/p>\n

But there was an assload<\/em> of traffic on the road \u2013 much more than I recalled from our first day\u2019s hike. Also, the road was much dustier than I\u2019d remembered.<\/p>\n

Arrived in Besi Sahar just in time to score some Grapes, and get the local (as opposed to tourist) bus to Pokhara. Being a local bus, it was super-super-cheap, but also, it stopped at every possible site along the way to pick up and drop off passengers.<\/p>\n

The d\u00e9cor inside the bus was pretty fabulous.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-12<\/a><\/p>\n

Kept waiting for an alarm to sound, those lights to begin blinking, and a million Pachinko balls to coming raining out of the recessed areas in the roof. But\u2026didn\u2019t happened. Like any Asian bus ride worth its salt, this one was hot, dusty, loud, winding\/mountainous, bumpy, over-crowded, and interminably long. Wouldn’t have it any other way!<\/p>\n

At the crossroads town of Dumre, tensions began to boil over, as the riders were unwilling to obey the conductor\u2019s \u2013 that\u2019s him, there\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-12<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026wishes in re optimum seating arrangements, much to the conductor\u2019s distress.<\/p>\n

Discovered, in Pokhara, that it was time for the Nepali New Year\u2019s. It meant the city\u2019s rooms were all booked solid with Nepali tourists, and those that were available were jacked up to double their normal price. But the proprietor of one such Guest House promised me that it would be a fun event, even for tourists.<\/p>\n

Days 12 and 13 \u2013 Interregnum<\/h3>\n

In fact, it was pretty tame. Lots of joyous singing, some live music, some fireworks. Pretty boring. But, the fruit available in town was so delicious! Eating some down by the lake, I had a nice conversation with a Nepali couple, in town for the holiday. Basically, he was trying to sell me on his trekking-guide services. But even when I wasn\u2019t interested, they continued to sit and talk to me for a while. He enjoyed my camera quite a bit, and we ended up trading pictures.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-13<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-13<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the wife in the background, trying to convince the kid that she\u2019d no desire to buy what he was selling. Some kind of hair-care product, I think. I<\/em> kinda wanted to buy some of this<\/em>, however.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-13<\/a><\/p>\n

Just see how thrilled she is to be eating it!<\/p>\n

On New Year\u2019s morning, there was a massive long line to catch a boat out to the little island.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-14<\/a><\/p>\n

And there was a parade and presentation from a conservation organisation.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-14<\/a><\/p>\n

And in the afternoon — as though the town\u2019s mountains of dust-coloured dust weren\u2019t enough — a nice, thick layer of coloured<\/em> dusts was lain down in the street, so that whenever a vehicle drove over, it would kick up a big cloud. I guess the dust-mask sellers’ lobby probably convinced the city of the hilarity to be gained from this little stunt.<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-14<\/a><\/p>\n

Around town, things were more less normal\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-14<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-04-14<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2026but down in the lakeside park, a midway was raging. There was a Ferris Wheel, and a Pirate Ship, and a miniature Pirate Ship, along with one or two carnival games. From the stage bumped a stream of taped music playing primarily Bhangra stylings. The only two songs I recognised were \u201cGangnam Style\u201d and \u201cSummer Of \u201869\u201d. Pretty weird hearing the latter, as Kieran and I had been discussing it just a few days before.<\/p>\n

By far the biggest attraction was this silly white chick playing hula hoops\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-04-14<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026and a friend of hers on the Rhythm Sticks.<\/p>\n

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And there wasn\u2019t even any Cotton Candy. The carnival was much more than made worth the \u2013 fiddy-cent \u2013 price of admission, however, by the stunning brilliance of the Haunted House. My god, how can you not be utterly smitten by this sight? I could\u2019ve stayed watching this shizzit all frickin\u2019 day. Hell, I half wish I were still<\/em> there watching it. Long<\/em> live the Pokhara New Year’s haunted house, say I!!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3v9i4Sn6At4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YmyNo18fcig<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian hostel-mate, when asked if he\u2019d got any tunes on him, lamented that his player had been stolen by Monkeys \u2013 along with his hard drive. And I thought: Monkeys Stole My Hard Drive would make a great album name. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}