Annapurna Circuit Trek - Part V

[Read the rest of the annapurna story here.]

Day 9. Yak Karka - Thorung Pedi
We left early in the morning and took it as slow as possible to Thorung Pedi, 4500m.


We are moving slow and steady to ensure that we acclimatize properly.

Even with the slow walk, we still manage to run out of breath sometimes. Was it the beauty of the trek?




At last, after 3 hours or so we manage to reach Thorung Pedi.



We settle quickly in one of the basic rooms and proceed to enjoy the mid-morning sun.
Marian takes out his solar panel which immediately makes him the target of curious stares, questions, and even requests for charging.
Some people near us do not feel so great, they have headaches and are grumpy. We are doing nice and dandy, although a bit short of breath. Claudia is complaining of headaches and at times we lie down inside the room.

We eat dinner around 5 and go to sleep quickly, not before selecting the music we are going to hear the next day.

Day 10. Thorung Pedi - Thorung La - Muktinah

We wake up at 4 am and I would have slept for at least two more hours- because Marian's sleeping bag was less thick than mine, we put his underneath and cuddled up with mine on top. Of course, both of us slept bad like this.

At 4 am, we quickly packed our bags and left the room around 4:30 am. At first going up was hard for me, because as we all know by now I am a bit of a sloth when it comes to early morning exercise. It did not help that it was cold as hell so when we stopped at high camp (4800m) one hour later, we all decided to drink some tea (without even having discussed this before). After high camp follows an exposed hill face where the wind greeted us with all its might. My hands, face, feet were frozen in a matter of minutes. Claudia's face was swelling pretty bad.



We stopped again at a high tea-shop where we met an old man with his guide. He really inspired us as his guide said that he was over 70 years old. Way to go!! The tea-shop (basically just some tin plates against the wind) induced us to eat some breakfast. I had a cereal bar although I did not feel like eating.

And of course I should have stopped eating it but the glutton in me persevered. Needless to say, the cereal bar proceeded uphill in about two minutes after we started walking again. However, to my credit, I managed not to puke it out.

By this time Claudia was feeling pretty bad so we had to stop every five minutes or so for her to rest. These breaks were more than welcome for the rest of us as well ... you know how it is ... the reason why weaker members are welcome in a trekking team is that everybody can say they are waiting for them when it's actually themselves resting ... It was a good exercise for Bogdan too, because I don't think he was used to helping her out in these situations.



We walk, we stop, we take pictures... We settle in the altitude routine, only disturbed by some Chinese kids who find it funny to shout and laugh and then nearly faint for lack of breath.


We next see the tibetan flags flapping in the wind and we know we have reached the pass. Marian makes a fatal mistake and tries to dash for it, but stops five steps later with a monstrous headache: altitude victim number 2! We are happy to arrive and take lots of pictures. 5416 m UHA!!!






The descend is horrendous. Our knees are tired, and the two victims are slowly recovering from their plight.







After 1300m descent, we stop at the first sign of civilization. A coffee shop where water is heated by natural means as well.


it takes us another 4 hours from Thorung La to reach Muktinah, a holy city with hindu and buddhist temples.







One cannot stay in Muktinah but right next to it is Ranipauwa, were we stopped at the first hotel that caught our eyes:



Good thing we did stop because it was the first hotel on the trek that had HOT water! Hot enough for me to sort of wet-clean my hair after 10 days.