International Roaming

Finally managed to sort a load of Nepal photos and get them online.... I’m so bad at doing this and clearly to trigger happy.

Cheeky beer after work?

Day 10 Chomrong to Kimche to Pokhara Ok I'm nearly done now, it's all about getting "home" as quickly and painlessly as possible. I hired a porter as the knee was really hurting now and the right knee had started to hurt from doing all the extra work. We set off around 7:30 with an approximate 5 hour hike to get to the nearest road so I could get back to Pokhara. It was a truly beautiful day and amazing scenery, stopping only for quick breaks and water. Finally at Kimche where the busses and Jeeps head to Pokhara and I'd missed the bus by 12 minutes... During my time up the mountain Nepal has been at the mercy of a border import and fuel strike due to recent political unrest. This meant that fuel was scarce and everything is affected. The jeep price is usually 500 rupee per person but faced with having to get one alone the guys offered me a jeep for 8000 to get me the fuck out of there. I haggled down and we agreed 6000 if nobody else had arrived by 3pm (1.5 hours off). At 10 minutes to 3, four Nepali guys turn up, so I charged them 400 each to jump in and just as the last bag was on the jeep at 3pm, 2 German guys appeared from the trail. I shouted over if they want to go to Pokhara and they were all good to go, 1000 each in my pocket and the 6k sting was a much more acceptable 2.4k and I had had a stroke of luck. The ride back was crazy off-road down the valley and it was well worth the money. Back in Pokhara and I met up with Joon (my ex) for dinner and we ended up getting drunk on Belgian beer with me holding her hair (to be sick) in the street. Some things never change :-)

Day 9 ABC to Chomrong Waking early to catch the sunrise and it's not actually as spectacular as I imagined it to be. What is beautiful though is the light and shadow as it creeps across the mountain. After shitloads of photos I grabbed my bag and pointed my nose down the valley. I knew I'd have to take it easy today as the knee really hurt going down and it was a really tough trek with lots of pain. Just after the lunch stop at Bamboo the trail gets really steep and I had to reassess the situation. Just as I'm pondering what to do a train of porters come past on their way back from ABC, half of them not carrying anything. One guy offered to take my bag, the conversation when like this. "Do you need a porter?", "yes, where are you going?", "chomrong", "great, me too, how much?", "1000" (about £6.20), "DONE!". It was still hard work as any pressure on the knee was painful, but not having 12kg on my bag made all the difference... A long time and much muttering and swearing later and we arrived in Chomrong to the best shower ever, and a beer and a burrito! Still up on the mountain but after descending from 4100m to just over 2000m I wasn't worried about alcohol and altitude. From a fitness point of view, returning from high altitude exercise made me feel super fit and although much pain, no breathlessness (for a refreshing change).

Day 8 MBC to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp) Finally the last day of climbing was upon us and it was up at 5:30 for the sunrise. At 3700m it is pretty cold in the morning so I set off with some layers on and a Swedish winter jacket. Naturally after 10 minutes I had to stop and strip down to tshirt again as the sun came over the mountain and warmed things nicely. The Spaniards and Hongkongers had set off a bit before me today as my plan was to take the last 500m slower to give my knee a break. The view as I ascended was stunning and at one point quite emotional. I had expected some emotions as the original plan wasn't to do this trek alone, and typically today was the day for it to happen, midway between base camps. Moving on though and reaching the top was stunning with panoramic views of the spectacular Annapurna mountain range. Annapurna is the worlds 10th highest peak at .... and she doesn't disappoint. The rest of the day was spent taking photos, relaxing and waiting to take more photos of the sunset. Tomorrow I head down the mountain and I will see how the knee holds out. I'm pretty pleased to make the top on my own though carrying an injury, I guess it was the constant Rocky movie music in my head spurring me on - elevation 4180m

Day 7 upper Sinuwa to MBC (Machhapuchchhre Base Camp) Early start again as I was planning to jump ahead of schedule even further and hit MBC instead of Deurali, giving me a whole extra day to which I might end up needed with the knee problem on descending. Lots more beautiful scenery and pretty steep climbing, the first half of day was quite easy but after lunch I really struggled. Luckily I met 2 lovely Spanish girls who are volunteering out here and they dragged me along and set a good pace to get us to MBC well before dark and easily beating the recommended times between villages. We arrived in the fog and clouds and it was a pretty bleak looking camp, luckily we had the funniest two Nepalese guys at the camp and the best Dal Baht so far. We shared a funny night around the heated table and were joined by a lovely couple from Hong Kong who were tracking just behind us. Next stop ABC - elevation 3700m

Day 6 Tandpani to upper Sinuwa I woke up this morning to an epic view of the mountains, it was really the first taste and it gave me so much motivation to get moving and get to the base camp for a proper look. After leaving camp my left knee started hurting quite bad as it was mostly downhill, but a couple of ibuprofen later and it held together. Today was probably the least impressive in terms of view but it was still fairly epic and so nice to be motoring along. I made some pretty good time and pushed on past my initial stopover village and on to Sinuwa. From here it was 1hr to upper Sinuwa so I thought why not and jumped ahead of schedule. Stopping at one of the guesthouses I met a cool Dutch guy on his way down from ABC who shared some amazing photos. Can't wait to get up there now - elevation 2340

Day 5 Ghode Pani to Tadapani Wow, absolutely epic. The day started slow as the weather was bad which made the trek up to Poon Hill rather pointless, this was to be one of the major highlights of the trip but you can't control the weather, still did it though. It is 3200m in elevation so nice to reach those heights. I met an Aussi chick going my way so we decided to trail together and what a trail it was. The only way I can describe it is that it is straight out of Jurassic park. Everything was so grand and epic, and I see a fair bit of nature but this was really special. The trekking was tough, relentlessly up and down, across rivers and through waterfalls, so many steps and slippery rocks with severe elevation that almost pushed you to hands and knees. We did get a view of the beautiful snow capped peaks through the clouds, a teaser of things to come as I push on further up the mountain tomorrow. It's so peaceful and quiet here the only sound I can hear is my breathing and the lightbulb 2m away from me - elevation 2690m

Day 4 Ulleri to Ghode Pani (and Poon Hill) The next morning was an early but wet start. I had planned on getting moving by 7 but I sat out the rain with a few others (following their guides advice) and took off behind them at 8:30 after the rain stopped. Today was a much easier day after acclimatising over night and although I was still climbing in elevation everything seemed OK. I was worried the night before about sore legs but to my surprise everything is working fine. The route today wound up through forests with a lot of up and down. I reached Ghode Pani in good time (around 2pm) and had a chance to get some food, eat some more delicious food (momos) and get some rest. The constant exertion and dehydration paired with my relative lack of fitness leaves me with a bit of a headache at the end of the day, so resting up is a good waste of time. The elevation will play a big part in this too. I'm also glad I remembered my kindle, boredom life saver. My eyes closed around 19:30 and let's see what the weather is like in the morning to hit Poon Hill early - elevation 2810m

Day 3 Pokhara to Ulleri The day started with a short taxi ride from Pokhara (elevation 820m) to Nayapul where I head off into the relative wilderness on foot towards a place called Ulleri. Beautiful pathways through the valley and past waterfalls until about 2 hours before Ulleri and it starts getting steep... Really steep! The next two hours were tough as my body desperately tried to adjust to this new activity. My legs screamed, lungs on fire, and completely drenched in sweat, my whole body was trying desperately to adjust to the sharp increase in elevation. As you go higher, especially quickly, the air thins and you can't take in as much oxygen. Even at rest it was noticeably harder to breathe and given this new extreme exertion I was struggling. I slowed the pace and lumbered myself step by step to this small mountain village. After much water, a shower and getting that kit off I felt much better. Some amazing local food and I lay in bed reading, trying to keep my eyes open. By 7pm I was done and couldn't resist falling asleep for a solid 11 hours! - elevation 2020m

Good morning from Annapurna

Day 2 and it's over to Pokhara. Shame about the dirty Windows on the old plane and lots of cloud hiding most of the mountains. Time to get walking...

Day 1 into Kathmandu. Nice view on the way in and I felt safer in the air than on the ground. Driving here is "Indian" style which means you drive everywhere as fast as possible while tapping your horn almost constantly. The bigger you are, the more people move out of your way, whichever side of the road you are on... The night was capped off with some Nepali singing and Bollywood style entertainment at a very local club. It's good to have a friend on the ground here but on to Pokhara I go...

Answer: 3 Americans talking (read:shouting) in a quiet coffee shop. 

Some photos from my travelling around on the moto. All taken on iPhone and GoPro