We felt like crying when our trip to Valley of Flowers was postponed due to Rudra's Tandava in Uttarakhand. Then we did not realise that the Lord had already arranged another opportunity for us to cry.
 |
| Annapurna Himalaya |
Members of "Padatik", Abhisek, Niladri, Sudip and I sketched a draft of a trek to Annapurna Base Camp in mid November.
After lots of research and information gathering we finalised our plan of 12
days (23-11-2013 to 06-12-2013) and reserved four seats in 13021UP
Howrah-Raxaul Mithila Express.
 |
| from bottom: Abhisek, Niladri, Sudip and Myself |
The real beginning
 |
| Phewa Lake, Pokhara |
Next day was our
acclimatisation day in Pokhara. Besides, we had to meet Mr. Devi Bhandari for a guide and permits. ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area
project) and TIMS (Trekkers' Information Management System) are two necessary
permits for entering Annapurna region. Mr. Bhandari is an experienced guide in
this region. He arranged Mr. Rajendra Rai as our guide-cum-porter. Rest of the
day we spent on the lakeside of Phewa. Pokhara is a beautiful city beside Phewa
lake. Phewa is the second largest freshwater lake in Nepal (Second after
Beganus Lake, 15Km. away from Pokhara). There is a temple namely Taal-barahi
situated on an island inside the lake and accessible through boats. Pokhara has
two highest points for viewing panoramic view of the the Annapurna massif, Dhaulagiri massif and Ganesh Himal. Sarangkot,
in the North side of the lake and Shantistupa on the South. Sarangkot is
famous for its majestic view during sunrise and Shantistupa for sunset. We left this
spots for visiting after completion of our mission. In the evening we roamed
about the lakeside market in Pokhara. The market is full of
restaurants-cum-bars, trekking gear shops, Tibetan curio shops and most importantly of
winter garment shops. A night walk in Pokhara streets after 8'o clock is very
much rhythmic, as every hotel and restaurant organise open air music parties to
entertain boarders. Mainly English and Bollywood songs we could hear, but in our mind the only rhythm we were listening to, was Annapurnesvari's (Goddess Annapurna)
rhythm:
".... Bhikśām déhi kripābalambanakāri Mātā Annapurneśvari ...."
[.... O Mother Annapurnesvari, Please grant us the alms of your grace....]
[.... O Mother Annapurnesvari, Please grant us the alms of your grace....]
"Hui ze lili kortise..." - Ghandruk is just beside those fluttering flags.
Raj, our guide, was also a bird of the same feather. So in no time, we became a team of five. Our journey began at 8am from Mr. Bhandari's office in his indica. |
| Machhapuchhre, the Matterhorn of Nepal |
The actual trekking begins from Nayapul, a village on Modikhola, 45kms away from Pokhara on Pokhara-Baglung highway. In Nayapul trekkers
have to register their journey showing TIMS permit and in Birethanti, another
village 30minutes from Nayapul ACAP permit is to be registered. From Birethanti
check post the road is divided into two routes. Both leads to Chhomrong, one via Poonhill and
another via Ghandruk. We had chosen the second one. The road from Birethanti
to Syaulibazar is basically plain and wide.
Watching beautiful Annapurna
Dakshin (Annapurna South), Hiunchuli and Machapuchhre, the matterhorn of Nepal, we reached
Syaulibazar around 12:30PM. We had our lunch here with momo and fried rice.
After Syaulibazar, to avoid the dusty motorable road and to reach an hour
earlier, our guide insisted on taking a shortcut. We also agreed with him and
started walking through steep steps to Ghandruk. At the beginning we started counting
the numbers of the steps, but after 50 we stopped counting because as far as we
could see, it was more than one thousand. In the mid-way we took rest in a
tibetan curio shop, where we saw two direction boards, one showing
"Syaulibazar 1500 steps" and other "Ghandruk 2000 steps".
Raj pointed some tibetan flags and assured us that Ghandruk was just beside those fluttering
flags (in Abhisek's translation, to Bengali, "Hui ze lili kortise"). It took 2500 more steps to reach those flags. After an exhaustive journey we reached Meshrom guest house, our night shelter, at last at 40' clock in the afternoon. The
first day of trek became a bit strenuous for us. We took soups as dinner and
went to bed at 7:00PM.
 |
| Modikhola, our co-traveller |
One’s own feet - the only available vehicle
 |
| Sunrise at Annapurna Dakshin, from Ghandruk |
The alarm rang at
5:30AM and we woke up to witness the sunrise over snowy peaks of Annapurna. We
could see the first ray on Annapurna Dakshin, Hiunchuli and Machhapuchhre. Our
journey began at 8o'clock. Throughout the entire route there is a rule, that
the boarder have to take dinner and breakfast from the room provider or have to
give 2/3times room fare. We had to pay for our ignorance in the second morning
of our trek. This day’s journey can be divided into three parts, ascent of
2-2.5hours to Kimrong dara (local pronunciation: Kumrong), then a steep descent
to cross Kimrong khola (1.5-2hrs) and finally the famous steps to Chhomrong
(ascent of 3.5-4hours).
Kimrong dara is a hilltop with 2/3 restaurants. The
rocky trail from Kimrong dara to Kimrong khola was through a deep forest and
demands more attention while walking. Carelessness for a fraction of second can
leave one with broken dream of being blessed by Annapurna. Trekkers must follow
the "Stop, watch and then walk" rule. Crossing a wooden bridge over
tiny Kimrong khola we halted on a beautiful riverside dhaba. The most strenuous
portion of our journey started at 1o'clock, after regaining energy with a glass
of nimbu paani followed by a plate of noodles.
The sky was becoming cloudy. We
did not feel it too strenuous as we had crossed a similar type of steps just
one day before, though the distance and altitude covered were far more than that of
day before. Probably we got acclimatised with Himalayan weather. We feared of a
heavy downpour from the thick cloud just above our head, but locals assured,
that this cloud appears every afternoon but downpours very very rarely and finally it did not rain. Our second day of walking came
to an end at 4:30pm.
 |
| The bridge across Kimrang khola |
 |
| Trail to Chhomrang |
"Ore yaar, maro maro… (Hey friends, look sharp...)" - Raj’s only advice.
On our third day of
trekking, we left behind the civilised world with all its facilities. This day
we crossed four villages, lower and upper Sinua, Bamboo and Dovan. Starting
from Chhomrong the trail goes down to cross Chhomrong khola. This downhill was
not as tough as of Kimrong khola. On the other side of Chhomrong khola there
was an ascent of 1.5-2hours upto lower Sinua and 45 minutes more to upper
Sinua. After upper Sinua the trail was through dense forest and our guide made
it mandatory for us to walk together. The forest was teemed with mainly Bamboo
trees (that is why the only staying place inside the forest is known as
Bamboo).
We were walking slowly and enjoying the silent beauty of Himalaya. It seemed that, we were on a different
planet, where there was no one other than ourselves and snow capped Himalaya. Bamboo
is a place inside the forest where we stopped for a mug of orange squash (Rs.
80NC) in one of the 4 hotels. It took 2hours to reach Dovan from Bamboo. The
trail was same as before. Here we halted
for an hour to have our lunch with veg fried rice. When we started for Himalaya
the sky became overcast as usual. Raj’s plan was to stay at Deorali, which was at
4 hours’ distance from Dovan. But we insisted on staying at Himalaya, between
Dovan and Deorali. The trail was muddy and obviously through denser forest.
When we reached Himalaya it was fully covered with clouds, visibility was too
low, so we could not move farther. This night we went to bed at 7o’clock at
night.
 |
| Trail to Bamboo |
 |
| An hour before Himalaya |
Voilà Annapurna
This day the
destination was the Annapurna sanctuary. The voyage began early in the morning,
through jungle trails. Our first halt was Deorali, (2hrs journey from Himalaya)
via Hinco cave. Hinco cave is a large cave for travellers to have some rest.
After Hinco the downhill trail leads to a tiny stream to cross. As the altitude
was getting higher, the green beauty of Himalaya was turning into pale. Instead
of age-old trees, in a wet jungle, dry yellowish grass covered both sides of
the trail. The sky looked bluer. In Deorali we left behind the only facility of
modern world that followed us even after Chhomrong.
Deraoli has the last tower
of Namaste telecom. The medium for keeping in touch with outside world
remained, was satellite phone. The trail from Deorali to Machhapuchre Base Camp
(MBC) was through the bed of Modi khola.
On the way we could only listen to, dancing Modi khola's sound, chirping
of some unknown himalayan bird (may be himalayan pheasant) and 'Namaste' from
downhill trekkers and could see two sisters, Gangapurna with Annapurna II on the horizon.
Mt.
Machhapuchhre kept staring on us from the opposite side of Modi khola. The trail through
the valley was gradually gaining height. We reached amazing MBC around
12o'clock.
From MBC we had the first glimpse of Annapurna I, the
10th among 14 eight-thousanders of the planet. Sri Shankaraacharya truly described Devi Annapurna as Soundaryaratnāṅkari (Mine of beauty). We were enamoured of her beauty in her
very first appearance. Though he also described Devi as "Barābhayakāri" (Goddess who dispels fear) Mt. Annapurna is the
deadliest mountain of earth. Annapurna I has the highest ascent to death ratio
(38%, nearly 8 times of Mt. Everest).
 |
| Valley of Modikhola with Gangapurna |
 |
| Machhapuchhre from MBC |
We bow to thee, O Mother!!
 |
| Annapurna I (8,091mt.) |
 |
| Our celebration at ABC |
 |
| We are sitting in front of Annapurna I |
 |
| Mighty Machhapuchhre |
Pheri bhetaula
 |
| Annapurna massif as seen from Shantistupa |
(শ্রীরামপুর, ২৩শে পৌষ, ১৪২১)
“Pheri bhetaula Annapurna, Pheri bhetaula Nepal.”
Few words for future trekkers
(specially for Indians):
- Don’t carry so much food with you. It is
mandatory to buy dinner and breakfast from the lodge you are staying at night.
Or else, 2/3times room fare will be charged.
Lodge owners want to prepare a Rs. 3000-4000 NC bill for you, no matter what
you do or buy to help them out.
- Accommodations are available in Sinua,
Bamboo, Dovan, Himalaya, Deorali, MBC and ABC.
- Train your heart in such way,
that it doesn’t stop working after hearing the rates of food. Fooding charge
increases proportionally with the altitude.
- Guide charge: Rs. 1500NC/day and Porter charge: Rs. 900NC/day. No fooding/lodging needs to be provided.
-
Wifi is available at every point.
- Mobile towers are available
upto Deorali. After that satellite phone is available. It costs Rs. 150NC/minute.
- Passport/visa for Indians are not required. But
keeping an original copy of a Govt. of India identity card is suggested.
- TIMS and ACAP permissions are required. For SAARC citizens the charge is Rs. 200 NC per person. Photocopy of Voter ID card or any other Govt. of India identity and passport/stamp size photos of individuals are sufficient to issue these permits.
- Indian currency is accepted upto Pokhara. But don’t carry ₹500 or ₹1000 notes, use of these are strictly prohibited. 160 Nepali rupees in exchange of ₹100 is available from agencies in Birganj and Pokhara.
- Though Nepali is the national language of Nepal, Hindi and English are widely used.
** NC = Nepal Currency, IC = Indian Currency.
*** Rates mentioned here are, as on Nov. - Dec 2013 and may vary with current rates.
**** For Sanskrit Verses IAST transliteration scheme is followed throughout.
*** Rates mentioned here are, as on Nov. - Dec 2013 and may vary with current rates.
**** For Sanskrit Verses IAST transliteration scheme is followed throughout.
Visit HIMĀLAYA
TO BEHOLD THE SURREAL BEAUTY,
TO INHALE THE PUREST BREEZE,
TO ENJOY THE TRANQUIL NATURE
&
COME BACK WITH MEMORIES TO CHERISH FOREVER ALONG WITH PLASTICS, BOTTLES, WRAPPERS etc.
LOVE HIMĀLAYA - THE ABODE OF GOD.
TO INHALE THE PUREST BREEZE,
TO ENJOY THE TRANQUIL NATURE
&
COME BACK WITH MEMORIES TO CHERISH FOREVER ALONG WITH PLASTICS, BOTTLES, WRAPPERS etc.
LOVE HIMĀLAYA - THE ABODE OF GOD.
KEEP HIMĀLAYA CLEAN, GREEN AND SAFE.
