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Jaisalmer and bit of Jodhpur

August 19, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Jaisalmer and bit of Jodhpur

I took a train from Delhi, leaving at 5:35pm, booked the best class possible (2AC, around 1800Rs), so only two bunk beds on one side, leaving me with more space which was great. What wasn’t that great was the fact the I booked the upper bed. One could argue it would give me more privacy which would probably be true, but the thing is that I was like 40cm away from a huge AC fan. And with jeans, shirt, hoodie, jacket and scarf on, plus covered with blanket, I was freezing. It felt like I’m somewhere in Siberia and the result of that came very quickly – cold sores near my mouth (thank god not on it directly! It will heal quicker).
Well anyway, we arrived to Jaisalmer with ONLY – and I really mean it – 30min delay. Which is incredible since the whole journey took more than 18h and we covered almost 1000km. Then again the tuktuk hassle started and surprisingly I managed to bargain a ride for only 20Rs to the city center.
I found my hostel, seen my room and diceded I will rather lose my deposit of 1,2$ than sleeping there (Backpacker’s Panda – don’t even try it, no windows there and it smelled terribly). But manager seized the opportunity and quickly offered an alternative – Lonely Planet’s recommended Shahi Palace hotel (above my budget so I didn’t even try to book it at the beginning) and he gave me a room for the same price of 450Rs, and quite nice one! And the conclusion here? Don’t book rooms in advance during low season through a booking app. Prices are high there and if you come to a hotel directly, you will manage to bargain a good price, because little money is better than no money at all for them
I showered the train ride off me, stepped outside, sweat covered me from head to toes so shower effect got cancelled immediately and went exploring the fort. Entrance fee to the palace was 600Rs with audio guide and it was quite interesting, going through the royal rooms etc. plus beautiful view from the roof over the city.

View over the city from JSM fort

And then I just strolled around, had lunch here amd lassi there, then took a nap and went for dinner😅 Yeah I know, what a hard life.

But in the meantime I booked a camel safari for next day, leaving in the afternoon and coming back the day after. I went to the LP recommended Sahara Travels and prices have gone up since the book was published – 1500 for tour starting in the afternoon (1900 from morning – guide says 1500 for the longer one). What to do, bargaining not possible.

So next day I had a breakfast at a hotel rooftop and like 6 hours to kill before the safari starts. So I went to the fort again, sat in a restaurant and read a book. And had banana lassi, yum yum. Then had lunch, ate very slowly and then booked a bus ticket to Jodhpur for after I’ll be back from safari.
We set off with jeeps towards some ruins of an old village (30mins ride, 10mins inside), then to an oasis (another 15mins ride, 2mins there because it was just a dirty lake) and then another 30mins to the place where camels were awaiting us. Finally!!
I knew exactly which camel I want to ride, we had a connection from the first sight – pink blankets on him (her?) and it had dots on it’s skin, like a dalmatian. So special! Just like me. Haha, just kidding.. Or am I actually?😂 And the camel was very friendly and walked smoothly and I totally enjoyed the ride.

My camel

Just the group I was with (Turkish people) didn’t share my enthusiasm for camel rides and wanted it to finish as soon as possible, so after like 40mins we arrived to the dunes, desert guys prepared dinner and beds for us and we went to watch the sunset. Beeeaaaauuutiful! The sky changed its colors so quickly and it was magical. Then the stars started to show up amd again – wooow. Saw like 5 huge shooting stars and Milky way and Orion’s belt and so many more constellations! But up in the mountains the night sky is more clear, here we still had quite big light pollution.
Our guides and also the Turkish guys started to talk about weed and took out some bhang from its bags (I think it’s the whole plant smashed and crushed into a thick, pasty like ball). Guide said it’s better to swallow it, with chai or lassi but we didn’t have any so the guys decided to make a joint out of it which didn’t work to much. Bhang is quite wet. Well I didn’t try because I just don’t try new stuff among strangers.
But to explain more about bhang – it’s totally legal in Jaisalmer to use it and very close to the fort first gate, there is a bhang lassi shop-govt.authorized So if anyone wants to legally try marijuana lassi, go to Jaisalmer
So next morning I woke up in the desert A bit with shock cuz of some weird dream I had but otherwise to a beautiful sunrise that was just starting. I thought I would be super warm during the night so first I slept only in my underwear and covered with scarf, but then I put on my long sleeved shirt, then pants and then the bedsheet (blanket, still quite wet, was my mattress so that was out of question). And I was very moist/wet all over – hair, face, clothes, all unpleasantly sticky. But masala chai brought better thoughts and warmer feeling, and morning sun dried us up during breakfast.

View from my bed in the morning☀️
Breakfast

Then we rode on the camels back to the camp and then back to Jaisalmer. And I could feel my butt from the previous day!
It’s also a custom to give some tip to the camel caretakers, so I gave mine 100Rs..

It was 9:30 when we arrived to JSM and my bus was supposed to leave at 12:30 so I went to the bus station and managed to get a seat at the one leaving at 10 – better! For extra charge of 50Rs. I booked the bus one day ahead in some travel office in the center for 250Rs.
I was sitting on the wrong side cuz sun was baking me through the windows and the bus got so unimaginably full!!! No AC and people just kept coming! Then suddenly we are 3 people sitting on two seats – skinny guy, fat lady in the middle and me. I looked around, saw I’m the only one who has it like that and decided to be more proactive ( – some people will get this internal joke). So I told to the guy to stand up and let the lady have the whole seat. First he babbled something, looked like he will do it but no action. So at the next stop I basically pushed him away, pushed the lady to the seat and finally could breathe again. I mean come on! I paid 300Rs. for this f*cking ride and others only 80 or how much, so I deserve my whole seat. Especially when seats behind me were occupied normally. No squeezing happening over there.

I arrived to Jodhpur after 5,5h and didn’t like the city from the start. Big, dirty, meh city with fort in the middle and 600Rs for entrance to the fort? To see sth similar as in Jaisalmer? Sorry but nope. I drove to the fort with tuktuk, took few pics and went to the train station to book a ticket to Mt Abu. Very snap decision but probably a good one. Finally some nature and more human temperatures are awaiting me Will stay there for 2 nights probably, looks like I might like it quite a bit – mountain, lake, forests, temples.. I could even have a morning run around the lake!‍

Markha valley trek – day by day

August 17, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Markha valley trek – day by day

Day 1
So Dinesh and I set off for a trek nearby Leh where we will trek through Hemis and Markha valley.
The official starting point is at Spituk but we would be walking on an asphalt road through some construction area and because that doesn’t look like trekking at all, we started at Zinchen (around 12km further amd taxi from Leh can take you there for some extra charge).
First day should have been quite easy – from Zinchen to Yurutse, around 6km, 400m of elevation. But somehow I couldn’t manage. It was super difficult for me to get to the village, at 4000m I got a bit dizzy and short of breath. There was a possibility to go up to the lower/upper base camp of Ganda La which was another 30mins/one hour further but I couldn’t. So we stayed at the only home stay in the village which was pretty cool! Very ancient-like and authentic with no electricity nor running water. We showered in the nearby stream, had dinner and went to sleep.

Day 2
Next day was a big day because we had to cross a pass at 4900m and with my previous day’s performance in mind, I was quite afraid that I won’t manage. We set off after breakfast around 8am and I felt great! 800m of elevation, 6km to reach the pass and we made it in 2 hours💪 yay! But then my beloved descent was awaiting. 13km, 1400m of elevation.. First half was quite ok on a dusty trail but second half sucked a big time, mostly going through a river bed with huge rocks so the trail wasn’t as smooth as I expected, which also took more time. We arrived to Skio at around 3pm, after 7 hours of trekking all together with breaks. Description of the trek said that it takes 8-9h with 25km to go – no idea where they got this number, since it really is only 18. Maybe my maps don’t consider all the turns and zigzags but I find it hard to believe it. Let’s see about tomorrow – should be 18km with graduate climb of 440m so if my feet regenerate properly, it should be long but not so difficult day.

Day 3
Today was also quite a long day, although maybe not so difficult. Our destination was Markha village and we walked for about 20km. However, walking through a river is quite exhausting and my feet were already telling me since yesterday that they are not happy in my boots. There were quite many tea tents on the road and I was counting meters until we reached each one of them to get some chai – 400m seems like forever when everything is hurting! Total ascent wasn’t that crazy either, from 3400m to 3770m but still… And I’m especially nervous when I’m walking in a horse ‘caravan’, gosh.. Always worried that a horse will try to overtake me and hit me with it’s load (which already happened several times).
We reached Markha after 3pm, so again 6h of walking, passing by Sara village where there is also possibility to get a room in a home stay.
Markha was so beautiful! On a hill above a river, set amidst wheat fields and we stayed at a very cozy home stay, little bit further from center. But we were the only ones in a room and basically lived with the whole family for that evening – got typical ladakhi dinner (cooked vegetables with pasta-like noodles) and kids were sleeping in the dining room. It was also last place where we could take a shower and wash hair – so bucket it was, filled with fresh and cold spring water, which almost gave me a heart attack and surely did give me a brain freeze cuz I couldn’t rinse the shampoo from my hair at all😰 But! At least my hair was clean again😊

Day 4
Markha to Tatchungtse (4000m). Again not so difficult ascent with only 13km to walk.
We (again) started as the last ones and (as usual) finished first. We’re just the best, I know😜
Anyway, we passed through two villages – Umlung and Hankar. Hankar had a nice tea tent and we refreshed ourselves with fresh apricot juice (I didn’t even know you can squeeze an apricot and get some juice! Thought it’s too pulpy to do that) and then continued. At that point my right pinkie toe gave up and I thought I won’t make those 5k that were still ahead of us. It’s incredible how such a small thing on your body can cause so much pain. As it turned out at the end of the day, my pinkie toe became one huge blister, ugh..
When we reached Tatchungtse, we thought that there will be some guesthouses available but not this time. Only tents were available at the local camp and we got one just for ourselves. Nothing fancy, simple tent where there is hot during the day and cold during the night. Well at least we had somewhere to sleep😉

Day 5
Tatchungtse to Nimaling (4730m), 7km. That was a really easy day and we deserved it. However, at the beginning when full of energy and blisters-free, we thought that maybe we could merge the trek to Nimaling with Kongmaru La crossing. Well thank god we didn’t pursue this idea at the end. Nimaling was such a beautiful place to stay at and chill, in a wide valley between two mountains with crystal clear river running through it. This was also the place where all trekkers met at once and the dining tent was packed for dinner!
It was probably my favorite place during the whole trek and maybe if we had more time, we would stay one night longer. We also did a mini acclimatization climb up to 5000m to get ready for the pass next day and the views were amazing – we clearly saw the pass in front of us, Yang Kartse mt. next to us (above 6000m) and to sum it up, it was a perfect day all together.

Day 6
Crossing Kongmaru La (5285m) and then all the way to Shang Sumdo (3730m) and back to Leh by taxi. The trail to the pass was only 2,5km long and we reached the top in like 1,5h. First 500m consisted of a steep climb up, then 1,5km was a graduate climb and last 500m again steeply up. Dinesh was always in the front and I didn’t mind, but few meters before the top he stopped, waited for me, took my hand and said ‘let’s reach the top together’. And that was like the sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced❤️ It was around 9:30 when we reached the top.
The way down was long, sometimes boring, sometimes difficult and my feet were hurting a lot. It was around 1500m to climb down, through river beds and steep and dusty trails on cliffs but finally around 3pm we reached Shang Sumdo and met our fellow trekkers with whom we also shared a taxi to Leh. Then we had a nice dinner at the Penguin restaurant (meet and beer!!!!), shared stories with friends and went to sleep. And it took only 2 beers to have a mild hangover next day😅

Some information to note
Staying at local guesthouse/home stay is around 1000rs per person. Also in the tent, except for Nimaling, they charged us 1200rs
The price also usually includes dinner, breakfast next day and packed lunch (egg, potato, puri bread, chocolate and juice).
You can do it alone, without a guide or agency without any problems.
Having a tent will cost you much less – you don’t pay anything for the tent space.
No need to bring any food, there are plenty of tea tents on the way (chai 20rs, maggi noodles 150rs for example). But it was nice to put some cheese and chunks of tuna to the noodle soup, just sayin’😉

Manali, Leh and around

August 17, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Manali, Leh and around

Manali was great except that it was raining most of the time so we couldn’t do much. Din still had his clients over there, finishing their bike tour so I spent those first two days (night and half a day) with them. They were French and although I don’t speek a word in French, I had quite a good time. Beer eliminates all the gaps and differences between people😄
One evening the weather got better so we went for a short bike ride around Manali. Roads were good and views were amazing – clouds very low, floating slowly between the trees and nature around bursting with life. Sometimes it even seemed like it’s all arranged – perfectly mowed grass with small bushes and stones all around the roads, like it all was designed by a garden architect.
I also tried Indian street food for the first time. I already forgot all the names but everything was delicious and I had no stomach problems afterwards (and I’ve been fine until now, fingers crossed).

And because it was raining all the time and weather forecast promised rainy weather for the next days as well, we decided to take a bus to Leh.
Bus was supposed to pick us up at 4am, it came at 5am (I’m slowly getting used to this) and the whole journey took more than 18 hours. We arrived to Leh after midnight on Friday. Bus wasn’t as comfy as the one from Delhi to Manali – regular seater and not much space for legs (my knees are still pretty bruised up) so I couldn’t sleep at all. However Dinesh slept through most of the ride which I just can’t understand – I mean, the roads were sometimes so crazy that the bus was jumping from left to right, up and down and I was barely holding myself to not fall off the seat and then I look at Din and he is sleeping like a baby next to me. Incredible.
The views were amazing though, totally breathtaking. We also managed to cross 4 high passes (three of them above 5000m). I had only mild headache but some people didn’t feel good at all – huge headaches, vomiting.. Completely understandable if one was never that high before.

So now we’re at Leh (pronounced ‘Lay’), at around 3500m above the sea. The town is very ancient and dry, with small oasis of greenery here and there, giving me very relaxed vibes. You can see Royal Enfield bikes everywhere since this is the starting point of many bike tours which you can take here. We were on one mini tour already (lasted two days) – driving (me sitting in the back of course) from Leh to Pangong lake (4200m), through Chang La pass (around 5300m). It was almost 200km to get to the lake and it took us 6-7h on a bike 🏍. The lake was gorgeous – crystal clear turquoise water surrounded by 6000m high mountains, stretching from left to right as far as one can see. The lake even continues to China and since Chinese borders were so close, Indian army was very present all around us.
We slept in a tent very close to the lake. But it wasn’t normal tent as we know it, it was super luxurious huge tent with attached bathroom (with western toilet, sink and shower) and normal bedroom with proper, ultra comfortable bed.
Just imagine going out right after waking up – all you see is the lake, mountains and beautiful sunrise right in front of you😊

Then we rode back the same way because the other road to another destination was blocked and today we were just chilling, getting ready for our 6-7 days long Markha Valley trek which starts tomorrow. Bags are packed, supplies bought (some Indian snacks for Din, cookies for me, and Czech salami and slivovice for both of us😎) because non of us has any idea how it will be like during the trek there. We will be crossing two high passes – Ganda La at 4900m and Kangmaru La at 5280m. Hope I’ll manage😆

Btw, the internet in Ladakh is almost nonexistent and although I have an Indian number and phone says I have 3G available, I don’t. And hotel/restaurant wifis are pretty much the same so I really can’t upload any pictures yet. Will try later on😉

First few days in India 🇮🇳

July 31, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

First few days in India 🇮🇳

So I’m in India, finally. I was super anxious several days before my departure, mostly about how the heck am I gonna pack for those nearly 3 months I will be spending here? Since I will be in the mountains, desert, beach, city – every location has specific set of clothes and other gear, and it all had to fit in one 65l bag. Well it did fit. With total weight of 18,1kg (+ 7kg daypack)🙄 I know that some people manage to pack themselves for a year of traveling but I’m still learning.
I know, the weight sounds terrible. But almost 1/5 of that big bag weight is alcohol (😅) so I won’t be carrying it for too long. Note: nope, I won’t be drinking it by myself btw😄

So on Friday (Saturday 00:20 actually) I landed in Delhi and got myself to the hotel. As soon as I stepped out of the arrival hall into the hot humid air outside, I realized I will be sweating until October, nonstop. Just standing there waiting for taxi to arrive cost me at least 0,5l of sweat but I must say I got used to it pretty quickly – waiting at the railway station for 5h without AC helps I guess, but I’ll get to it yet.

I didn’t want to waste much time in Delhi so I took a train to Agra right away – next morning. We were supposed to leave at 14:05, we actually left at 15:05 and I got to the hotel in Agra at 7pm or so. Train was okay, with AC, sometimes even too cold inside. Hotel, well.. I decided to go relatively low budget this time so hotel ok I thought. Until! Until I went to bed relatively early cuz I wanted to wake up for the sunrise at Taj Mahal and suddenly sth ran over my legs!!! Just imagine, lying peacefully in your liner, almost asleep, earplugs in, eye mask on and suddenly this shocker! Heart rate over 200 and thoughts as follows: ‘WTF! A ghost! A cockroach! WTFWTFWTF! It felt heavy! Take the eye mask off!!’ I turned on my phone torch and was looking, nothing on the bed, nothing in front of or next to it. But there was one more place to look – under the bed. Every time I’m about to look under the bed I feel like I’m gonna witness a gateway to hell or something similar, so nervously I moved my head down, expecting the worst (a cobra maybe even!) I shed a light there and what I saw in exact order was this: disgusting carpet, ton of dust, breadcrumbs, garbage and a rat. I looked her into the eyes (she probably couldn’t look into mine because of the torch that was blinding her), shivered and was glad it’s not a cobra. I called the manager, he called two guys to take care of it, they turned the room upside down and rat was nowhere to be found, so of course they didn’t believe me. But I could even hear her squeaking there, somewhere! And then one guy moved the curtains and there she was – 30cm long! Yuuuuuck! So she ran away through the door and guys were all so happy that rat is gone, telling me that now I can sleep peacefully there. Yeah, right. Not after I saw the rat poop all over the carpet from underneath the bed (the breadcrumbs from earlier, as I thought).
The hotel was fully booked so I couldn’t change the room so I agreed with the manager to at least not charge me for the AC. But still, for the rest of the night I was half expecting to feel sth running over my legs again.
After 3-4 hours of sleep I went to see Taj Mahal. Clear skies, no line at the entrance, not so many people inside, perfect conditions for great pics. And I took some nice ones, I must say. Taj is so indescribably beautiful, especially when this soft orange sunlight is slowly shining on its white marble, while the palace reflects itself in those small pools in front of it. I really was amazed.


Then I had nice breakfast and went to the railway station to catch a train at 10:15 to Delhi because then I booked a bus at 17:15 to Manali. Train arrived 13:40. Guess what – I didn’t catch the bus. Luckily, some nice Indian family in the train helped me to agree with the company to go to Manali at 8pm with another bus. And maybe it was a good thing because the earlier bus was seater and the later one semi-sleeper, so I even managed to sleep for good 7h. You see, everything works out in the end. Because if it’s not ok, then it means it’s not the end yet😜

And so today, on Monday morning at 10, I arrived to Manali. I took a shower – first hot shower in India (previous hotels had only cold water), had an excellent chicken biryani for lunch – my second warm meal in India so far (you see, I was careful about eating on the street or at the train station so at the end I ended up eating nothing at all..maybe some biscuits) and then I thought I will go for a walk but it started to rain so I decided I can just chill on my balcony. I have plenty of time for some exploration.

Don’t know how long will I stay here, boyfriend will arrive tomorrow (yay!😍) and then we’ll decide. But since it’s supposed to rain all week, I guess we’ll move to Ladakh sooner than later.

Annapurna circuit tips and summary

May 24, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

It’s been almost a month now since I returned from Nepal and I still feel like piece of me stayed there left behind, unwilling to go back to the western world, waiting, until I come back again. I must say that Annapurna circuit disappointed me, but just a little. I think I was spoiled by the spectacular scenery in the Everest region from last year when I did the Three passes trek and spent most of the time in an altitude around 4000 meters, where the mountain views are just utterly breathtaking.
 
I think weather played a big part this time. Every day, from around 11am, strong winds started to blow and due to relatively dry environment, haze started to form and blocked the mountain views around us. I remember one day in Manang, where there was raining and partially snowing at night and the sky next day was just crystal clear. The memories I have from that day are one of the nicest of the whole trek.
So next time I’m gonna go in autumn, most probably. It’s definitely worth the wait.
 
Moneywise the Annapurna circuit (2 weeks) has cost me almost the same as Three passes (almost 3 weeks) and I think it was mostly my fault, because I should have booked everything through an agency, and not through the guide alone. Lesson learned☺️
Generally speaking, you really don’t need a guide there, nor porter. All the trails are clearly marked and even if you were lost by some accident, locals are more than willing to help you get back on track. The only downside of not having a guide is the risk of getting an altitude sickness while nobody is around to help you (as I described in my post here, while we were crossing Thorong La pass). So that’s the risk everyone without a guide must accept.
Oh and regarding porters – the whole Everest region was swarming with them and trekkers that carried their own bags were seen very rarely. Which is the exact opposite of Annapurna. I felt like the biggest pussy in the world when I had a porter to carry my bag. Really. So if you are in a relively good condition, just push yourself a bit more and do it without a porter. You will be much more proud of yourself that you carried everything all alone and your overall fitness level will increase as well, as a nice side effect 😉
 
How much money should you bring to the trek? If you are paying all of your meals and accomodation, 20 USD per day is the comfortable minimum. I forgot to bring enough cash and had to operate with 15 USD per day, which was ok during the first few day where the altitude wasn’t that high. But the higher you go, the higher the prices of course.
 
Accommodation works differently in Annapurna region as well. Around Everest, guest houses are offering nights for free or for as little as 1 USD per night, as long as you buy dinner at the guesthouse you are staying. This doesn’t work around Annapurna, however. ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area Project) changed the rules in order to create a fair environment for all guesthouses around. Every village area had predefined (ACAP approved) prices for food and accommodation so at the beginning, one could pay only around 150 rupees per night/per room, while in Thorong Pedi for example (village right before the pass), price for one night could get up to 500 rupees.
The same applies for food and drinks. The range for black tea was 30-150 rupees per cup, and for vegetarian dal bhat from 300-800 rupees (a Snickers bar might even cost 500 rupees when close to the pass!).
 
 I found the Annapurna circuit trek a little bit less physically demanding than Three passes. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because I trained for half marathon for 8 weeks right before the trek, or because there was only one pass to cross, or maybe because we went up gradually and not starting at almost 3000m, or maybe because I still had some acclimatization left in me from last time, I don’t know. Maybe it was a combination of all above.
 
 Transportation is another topic. Depending on where you want to start your trek, there are many transportation means available for you and it’s really up to you what you will decide for. From Kathmandu you can take a bus (AC, no AC, for locals, for tourists and price is always negotiable.. you can even pay only 100 rupees but be prepared for a nightmarish kinda ride), jeep (shared or just for yourself – price can get up to 500 USD per car so sharing is much better), taxi is also possible but it’s even more expensive. You can even rent a bike. And in the mountains? If there is a road available, busses and jeeps are always running. Further away if you feel sick or tired, you can hire a donkey, horse, yak, bike… One time I felt like I can’t go any further and was thinking to hire a bike. There was still 10-15km ahead of me and they asked 25 USD for the ride but I decided to walk instead because I felt a bit better after lunch 😃 So that’s all I know about the prices.
 
It’s very obvious that this trek is the most famous one in the world and Nepal is trying really hard to make it even more accessible than it already is – you can take a jeep and ride up to Manang without any problems. But that doesn’t really impress me, I’m a fan of unspoilt nature without any obvious marks of civilization. I don’t need to have a hot shower and nonstop internet access all day every day. It’s pretty cool to be just with yourself or with other people without the disruption of social media, electronics and all those 21st century inventions (with exception of Kindle😜). And honestly, that is very hard to find around Annapurna. But if you prefer some level of comfort and you feel uneasy to go offline for several days, Annapurna circuit is the right choice for you 😉
 

Jomsom, Pokhara and chillax

April 21, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Jomsom, Pokhara and chillax

For the past couple of days I’ve been lazy to write my posts.. But now, while chilling at OR2K (amazing vegetarian/vegan restaurant btw) here in Pokhara, I have a great opportunity to catch up on all the backlog I have.

So on Wednesday we set off towards Jomsom. 10k walk, mostly through the river basin so no ups and downs and we did it in 2 hours. I really didn’t like Jomsom and wanted to leave it ASAP so I was mentally preparing for a 9h jeep ride. Unfortunately, no jeeps were available that day to share, according to my guide. I find it hard to believe though, but ok. All the flights were canceled that day so everybody hired a jeep but I still saw many of them leaving Jomsom. That’s why I didn’t want to rely on a plane next day because what if they cancel it again? And I would have to take the bus/jeep anyway and arrive to Pokhara Thursday evening. Anyway, after some hassle we got on a bus to Pokhara. 

Ugh. Bus to Pokhara. Well, where to start? We got tickets for standing but somehow I managed to sit all the way – thank you some Nepali stranger to tell me to sit down😉 The bus ride was never ending. With extremely loud music playing the whole time, bus going very fast through mountain roads full of potholes, bumps, mud and rocks, I was jumping on my seat in all directions. People were also sitting in the aisle and while one guy was trying to get through them to the front, he elbowed me right into my collar bone when being next to me. And not in a way ‘oh, sorry, I remove my elbow right away’, he just kept it on my collar bone for like 10 seconds like no big deal. It hurt a lot.. And he stank.

This all happened within first 10-15 minutes. After that my mind just shut. For the next 4 hours I didn’t think – my mind was like a black hole. The whole experience was just passing by and I felt like I’m watching it from a great distance, while listening to my music all the time. That was good.
But then bus music started to play much louder (how’s that even possible?!) and my earpods just couldn’t handle it. Or maybe my ears actually. So I had to gave up my music and use proper earplugs instead. They blocked maybe half of the noise around me. But it still felt like I’m hearing the music on a very high volume anyway.

The roads are narrow so sometimes it takes even half an hour before two busses can pass by each other. The rain also didn’t help. Roads were becoming super muddy and wet. After 5h of driving, just few kilometers away from Tatopani, a normally small stream grew super big and completely broke and blocked the road.
I thought that this is it, that we are stuck here and can’t go further. I was mentally preparing to walk those remaining 7k to Tatopani, sleep there and take another bus in the morning. But dozer magically appeared and fixed the road in 30 minutes. One hour of waiting in total.

Can’t go further
Dozer dozing the road

So this interruption ended my out of body experience. After that I was fully aware of everything that was happening around me and it was very painful.
And after 11 hours we arrived to Pokhara. Hallelujah.

Booked a 4* hotel and that was the best decision I could have made. All I needed after that ride was to fall down on a big comfy bed and sleeeeeep.

Thursday was all about chilling, strolling around Pokhara and eating. That went very well. Didn’t have anything else planned and agreed to meet with one Enfield biker I’ve met in YacDonald in Kagbeni. And omg, I’ve had the most amazing day I could imagine! I rode on an Enfield bike! For the first time of my life and I loved it!!! We rode to the World Peace Pagoda on a hill near Pokhara (I didn’t have to climb there today then😉) and wow. I just didn’t want the bike to stop. I could go to the end of the world like that. It’s such a different feeling to ride on a bike – of course I wasn’t driving, just sitting in the back, and liked it even more this way. And I didn’t feel scared at all, it was so peaceful, fast, fun.. Perfection👌🏻
And the best thing was that you go up without any effort😄

World Peace Pagoda was beautiful and peaceful. You had to take off your shoes and go there barefoot – which was also the first time for me. But Din explained that it’s always like that in India. I loved the view from there. And then we just chilled in a nearby restaurant, over Everest beer, with great views as well😊 I wouldn’t have planned the day better. When you just let go and go with the flow, amazing, unexpected and exciting things can happen.

 

World Peace Pagoda

And today, on Friday, I chill again. I know, it’s the only thing I do here but I’m on a vacation guys! So no regrets.
After yesterday’s gluttony I decided to take it easy today. Fresh fruits, veggies, green juices and salads are on today’s menu – you know, there must be balance in life. And I’m not complaining at all, I love it and it feels great.
So I’ve been sitting here at OR2K for the past two hours and it’s been sooo gooood. Comfy sofas, perfect lake view, fresh breeze going through my hair, great music playing (like this one – https://youtu.be/WkZJSFd0Ghw).. I might stay for the next few hours as well. So good that I don’t have to rush anywhere today😊

Lunch
My view

Cheers with a green juice guys!

Muktinath to Kagbeni

April 18, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Muktinath to Kagbeni

Today we walked from Muktinath to Kagbeni – old, medieval kinda Nepali village, almost in Upper Mustang (restricted area). Now it’s only me and Aukje, the German couple (Max and Phina) left to Tatopani today. And the guides of course.

I was really glad we left the guesthouse at Muktinath, we were the only guests there and it looked very sketchy. Yeah ok, the shower was nice and room as well I guess, but the kitchen🙄 I saw a rat there at night.. And they didn’t have jam for breakfast. I mean, who doesn’t have jam for breakfast? It’s like the second most important item after bread..

So we set off at around 8:30 and it took us nearly 4h. And the landscape changed drastically! We were getting closer to the Mustang area and everything was dusty, rocky and very dry in there. At least this is what it seems like to me.
First we noticed Tiri village, this one is still accessible even without the Mustang permit and maybe we will visit it tomorrow. It lies on a bank of Kali Gandaki river that starts in Tibet and I guess the river is huge during the rainy season.. Although.. It doesn’t rain that much in Tibet so no idea.. Now it’s very dry and only few streams are running through the river basin.

Tiri village in the back

Kagbeni lies probably 2km further down the stream and it was so pretty when we arrived. Willows were planted throughout the city, alongside small streams that run through the village and the overall atmosphere is very rural, unspoiled and ancient. I like the vibe here. Especially I like it because it’s the starting / end point of the Mustang trek… Aaaaaaand that means only one thing. Mustang trek will be the #3 in the Himalayas. Ah I can’t wait😍

Beginning of Upper Mustang

We are staying at YacDonald restaurant/hotel. Yeah, just like McDonald’s😜 And the yak burger they have here is absolutely delicious! Yuuuummm!! No more playing it safe, I wanna eat everything.
After lunch we strolled around the village, saw the temple here (local monk gave us a nice presentation) and then we ended in the Applebee’s cafe for apple pie. Pie was good but when they brought freshly baked chocolate cake, I was regretting my dessert choice.

Kagbeni village

And now we are chilling at the sofas they have here, waitig to get hungry so we could eat dinner again😄 What a life!

Crossing Thorong La

April 18, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Crossing Thorong La

Alarm at 4:50, breakfast at 5:30, starting trekking at 6:30.
The route was planned like this: 1h to reach High camp from Thorong Phedi, another hour to reach some tea shop, 2 more hours to reach Thorong La and 3-4 hours to get down to Muktinath. No killer pace, just normal trekking.

I must say I was a bit nervous before the trek today – don’t know why, I’ve been already higher than 5416m but still, you never know how your body will react at that altitude. And then suddenly after 30mins some guy from above us is shouting if we are able to contact the guest house we started from cuz his gf was sick. And when we reached them, for the first time in my life I saw what altitude sickness really looks like. And it’s bad. I wanted to cry when I saw that poor girl. They were alone – no guide, no porter – so my guide had to help them. He ran down to the guest house, arranged helicopter transport and then ran back up to catch up with us. And those are the situations when you really can’t be on your own. Anything can change within minutes and then you’re screwed. They were lucky that we started that late because there were no groups with guides climbing after us. Everybody else left at 5 or earlier.

And what a climb it was. Around 80% of the trail was covered in snow or ice and at the beginning I thought I won’t need my gaiters but then I saw the steep slope where if you fall you’re dead probably, and I didn’t think twice to put them on afterwards. And I felt much safer wearing them.
So the trail continued up and up and I reached the pass after 4 hours (3,5 of sole trekking). I can’t say it seemed it took forever to reach the top (as LP guide claims) – you know how long the trek is supposed to take so you can’t expect that the top will magically appear after 2h of trekking, right? Unless you are running up haha.
It didn’t even feel that tiring and exhausting this time for me, no idea why, I think the 8-week half marathon training helped a lot😉

So we ordered a cup of tea at the top (there was a tea shop up there!!!) and I ate my cinnamon roll with it. Cinnamon roll never tasted better😊
The weather was also amazing, no strong wind was blowing, clear skies without single cloud and we could chill there in the sun for a long time. Getting mentally ready for the long descent to Muktinath.
And it was loooooooooong. Yes, that long. I know that my knees can handle descending 1000-1200m at once, so at 1300m I started to feel them. And at 1700m I was just praying that I will be able to walk tomorrow.
We reached Muktinath at 16:30 so it took us 5 hours to come down (45min lunch break). It was steep, rocky, icy, snowy, windy, cold, warm.. Basically everything.

Muktinath reminded me of Shangri-La – kinda modern buildings in a Chinese communist style, and I didn’t like that. No more picturesque cozy mountain villages I guess. Also, apparently exactly on this day there is a Royal Enfield tour of Nepal stopping in this town. That was my reality check when going through the city – rumbling motors all around me. Funny though.. I never heard of Royal Enfield until one person started to talk about them, and since then I associate this brand with that person. And when I entered Muktinath and saw all those bikes there (for the first time in my life!), I was like wtf.. Sign from the universe? Common sense says nope, but I’m not a common sense person🙄 Anyway, so when I saw all those bikes, a very bittersweet feeling started to grow inside of me. Kinda fuzzy, comfy feeling because I still care about that person a lot but also kinda sad and aching because I know that person doesn’t care about me anymore.. And this is how life works, kids😜

And I got a massive headache from the beginning of our descent and it lasted until now – until 7pm. Until I took my super strong, last option pain killer that I once got for my lower back pain (remember when I pinched my byck last year before the trek?😜).
Shower helped a lot to recover from today – I have MY OWN SHOWER WITH HOT WATER. In my own room! And I could shower for as long as I wanted (which was long) and the hot water never stopped😊 Personal heaven.

Now we are waiting for dinner. There can be only light in the dining hall or light in the kitchen. So we are waiting in the dark. Hope the veggie burger will be worth it. They didn’t have apple pie in here☹️ So I guess gluttony will start in Pokhara😜

Update:
Burger looked like that, decide for yourself if it was wort it😄

And those Royal Enfields woke me up in the morning😠

Yak Kharka to Thorong Phedi and some high altitude no wifi thoughts😋

April 18, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Yak Kharka to Thorong Phedi and some high altitude no wifi thoughts😋

To reach Thorong Phedi (4540m), we had to hike for about 3 hours with around 500m of elevation gain. First part to Ledar was quite ok, even after that the Nepali flat. The last two km were more difficult for me – the trail was a bit dangerous because of landslides on some parts, strong wind was blowing and I started to feel the altitude. Luckily no stone hit me – but there was a guy who got hit.. So it’s not that rare.

We are staying in a really nice lodge this time, it’s the oldest one in here (built 1981) and the atmosphere is so chilled. Cool music, nicely warm, bakery inside, good food, amazing views.. I would even stay one more day. Or if I’m gonna do the Annapurna circuit trek again (and I’m sure I will), this will be the place I’m gonna looking forward to the most😉

After we arrived, I ordered chocolate roll with tea (sooo good) and shortly afterwards I set off for my acclimatization hike to Thorong high camp (4900m). The climb was really steep and it took me around 45 minutes to get there. But, at the high camp, I saw there is kind of a peak nearby and of course I had to climb it. I can’t just stay somewhere lower, if there’s a higher place to reach🙈 That took me another 15-20mins, the snow made it a bit harder. But the views!!! Omg, so beautiful. See for yourself:

So we chilled there for a while, took some pics and then headed back to Thorong Phedi, where I finally had a proper lunch. And now we’re just hanging out here in the dining hall, listening to cool music and I’m thinking what kind of sweets I want to eat. Maybe the apple pie? Or apple pie as a reward after Thorong La? Yeah, maybe… The other options are: my sugar free digestive cookies (nah, I need sugar), KitKat, Mars, Snickers or the chocolate roll from bakery again. Tough choices aaaaahhh😩 Or everything? Hahaha

On the way to High camp, I was also thinking a little. About life, universe, and everything, you know😜 The answer to this ultimate question was already answered – it’s 42 (read The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy) but it still didn’t stop me. I just can’t stop thinking that there’s something more than the lives we live, and I can feel this ‘something more’ here in the mountains. I feel like I’m successfully escaping this 9 to 5 routine back at home but it’s not enough to do it for 2 weeks. I’m not saying I don’t like my job, I do.. It’s just… It seems so shallow and insignificant compared to… Life, universe and everything. Even the traveling now – it’s not about taking the best pictures, traveling the most countries in the world, make people to envy you or just because one was at some place I gotta go there as well. No. I don’t care about others, I’m traveling for my own sake, to places that will enrich me in some way, that are significant for me at this point of life. I felt like I need to come back to Nepal, to do the Annapurna circuit trek. So I went. I feel like I need to visit India this year. So I will go. I don’t know why, if you ask me, I just tell you that 2017 feels like India. And if it feels like that, I should probably stick to my gut feeling and not change the itinerary.

Why does the regular life have to be so rigid? Graduate, find a job, get promoted, find a partner, get married, have kids, raise them up, work a bit longer, retire, die. It’s just so sad. And I know I can’t do that. I don’t know.. I’m not saying I don’t want to find a partner and eventually marry him.. I just wouldn’t like to be stuck in a routine. I would like us to spend all our money on traveling and to be flexible enough to decide one day that tomorrow we will leave for another journey somewhere else.
It’s so difficult to find someone like that. Almost impossible I’d say. Well, I’ll keep trying😜

Well.. It wasn’t my intention to start on this topic but I won’t delete what I wrote now. I should eat some chocolate I guess, maybe my thoughts won’t be so sad afterwards😄

Ok, so Mars bar with small pot of mint tea it was. Suddenly my thoughts are much more cheerful😂
And I just had the strongest dejavu/ memory of a dream ever. Yeah, because I’m not having dejavus anymore, I know I dreamed about this moment and now it finally happened.
So we were discussing what to order for dinner and we were at the dessert section. And there stands ‘custard pudding’.
So we’re like ‘what is custard? Is it the crust of a pie? Or crumbs? There’s also apple pie with custard so what is it??’
Then I remembered I downloaded English-Czech dictionary so I’m translating:
‘ok, custard means pudding, at least that’s what the app says’.
And Phina (German trekking friend) is saying (and this is what I dreamed about and where it started):
‘so custard pudding is basically pudding pudding?’😂
And I looked at the yellow menu and I’m seeing it exactly as I saw it in my dream. And we’re laughing because it’s so funny and I’m remembering that in the dream I thought that the pople are so nice, and they seem very familiar although at that time I didn’t know them. And I look out of the window in the dream and I see high mountains outside and I’m thinking where can this be? Nice people around, mountains, we’re laughing together..
And now I finally figured it out. And the feelingyou get when this happens is so weird, exciting, unbelievable and amazing at the same time. And it just reassures me that maybe, just mayyybe my dreams are showing the future sometimes😉

And that’s it for today. Pizza Margarita for dinner and then goodnight☺️

Manang to Yak Kharka

April 16, 2017 by Mirka Leave a Comment

Today’s hike was very easy. The steepest climb was right after Manang but lasted only 40 minutes or so and then we continued on Nepali flat for another 3 hours (total elevation gained was 510m). It snowed last night and the views were amazing today – clear skies, snowy peaks glittering, no haze – perfection. I will try to upload the pics so you can see for yourself. We had a short tea break in the middle with great views and even greater chocolate danish from Manang’s local bakery

We reached Yak Kharka (4090m) around noon and after lunch we did an acclimatization walk to get 200m higher. I must say my head was hurting a bit since we are over 4000 meters but after the walk (and one ibuprofen) everything went back to normal.

I’m testing what my stomach can handle since morning – first muesli, then the choco danish, macaroni with tomato sauce for dinner… Well, so far so good I must say, will see what the macaroni will do to me And if everything goes well, I hope I won’t have any problems crossing Thorong La.
For info, Yak Kharka is very small and quite cold village, probably only 6 lodges offer accommodation here and there’s also no Ncell.. Wifi works only sometimes and there are yaks all around. Yak Kharka = Yak pastures. So that’s probably it.
And because it’s ALREADY after 8, I’m gonna sleep soon There’s nothing else to do anyway – dining hall is cold, everywhere is dark (will watch the stars tomorrow when we are higher) and the warmest place to be right now is in my sleeping bag. So it’s pretty easy decision I envy the couples that are hiking together though, cuddling at night.. Because human warmth can never be replaced with bottle filled with hot water, strategically placed in your sleeping bag.. Haha. So, next time maybe?
And until then I need to think of those Himalayan monks that are drying wet sheets on their bodies when there’s -30 outside – being cold is only in my head, right?

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