Day 8 Annapurna Circuit

Ghyaru to Manang

Both Yessi and I felt much better this morning after a day of total rest.  In the world of thru hiking where mileage everyday matters, we call this (a day with no hiking) a Zero!  We're up early today, the sun is shining, and we're ready to go.

The first hour of walking out of Ghyaru was slow.  Not because we were tired, but becasue it was so beautiful, with the fresh snow, sunshine, blue skies and amazing rock buildings and shrines.  We spent more time taking pictures than we did walking, but eventually we arrived mid morning at a precious village called Ngawal.

Ngawal would have been one of those perfect towns to hang out in had we more time.  To spend an entire day slowly wandering around trying to take it all in, would have been delightful.  It takes a while to slow down enough to begin to understand how different and simple the Nepalese villagers lives are.

dbBrad poses for a HOTT picture, for my fundraiser Heart On The Trail!

Unfortunately, given that we only had 16 days total in Nepal taking our time wasn't an option.  So we walked really slowly through town, but kept marching toward Manang.  It's important to recognize there are districts and towns within the districts and sometimes, as with Manang, the town is in the district with the same name. We were currently officially in the Manang District and would be at the town of Manang by the end of the day.

Uncanny how similar the mountain cliffs in the background and the white mud covered rock shrine in the foreground look alike.

Towns are frequent along the lower portion of the trail where there is considerable traffic.   We are getting better at finding trails on the other side of the river and avoiding road walking.  The trails are so much more interesting where donkeys haven't yet  been replaced by jeeps.  And, delightfully so much less crowded because trails are always longer and harder to walk than roads.  Most of the other trampers with guides were walking the roads.

One of my favorite Prayer Wheel buildings. Typically they surround Buddhist shrines and temples. This one is in the middle of nowhere.   A shrine in its own accord.

Braga was the next town of note for us.  Again a great place to spend a day or two.  There are hikes to the ice lake or the monastery and even up the surrounding hills freestyle.  Lots of interesting history and culture to see and experience.

Yessi Ye and dbBrad spinning the wheels as we walk (clockwise) around it.

Just being there and walking around the town is fantastic, but spying a little shrine up on a hill and finding your way up to it is amazing.  To think someone built this here with great labor and to ask why?  Then to look up and see that you're perfectly aligned with a valley and some amazing mountain.  This shrine was built to mark this special place so others could attend their own awakening.  It felt very special.

Yessi Ye, testing Chinese outdoor gear from TuTwo, still looks like a pro.  No wonder so many people thought she was my guide! 

Of coarse I'd like to think I don't look like someone that needs a guide!

TuTwo outdoor retailer, second largest in China, sponsored Yessi and dbBrad's adventure along the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal.  See article on AlpinePro's website.

We then marched on, pretty much without eating, taking short breaks only, to Manang.  Manang is  actually down hill from Ghyaru (200m lower).  It's a wonderful hike across a plateau like area well endowed with shrines and stunning views of the mountains. With the rest day yesterday, neither one of us had a headache all day and we were feeling like maybe we were going to complete this circuit yet!!

Holy cow!! Nepal temple and baby calf with one of the 8000m Annapurna peaks behind. However this is the east and Tibetan Buddhist side of the trek and the Hindu side is on the west side of the mountains.  It is the Hindi religion that believes holy cows are sacred animals.

We arrived in Manang which wasn't my favorite town.  It had hotel after hotel.  Big 3-4 story buildings set on either side of the widest road I'd seen in Nepal.  It's almost as if Western money had been poured into this town at one point.  Though it is hard to get far from charming in Nepal, the scale, construction and general designs of buildings in this town all felt out of place.  To me, this town was a cross between an old western movie town and the Flintstones!

There is a town down in that valley, over 15,000 feet below the mountain.  There's also a primitive hydroelectric plant in the valley.  It looks a bit like a landing strip.

After wandering around for a bit, we came across a smaller Tea House that was advertising yak steaks.  Not having eaten meat since leaving Kathmandu, both of our over exerted bodies were craving the kind of protein you can get only from a steak.  So we inquired and sure enough there was room.  So far we've been the only guests in our hotels every night.  We've only seen 5-6 other parties along the circuit.  Essentially there was no one else but us.   To avoid crowds,  December is definitely the time to do the Annapurna circuit, assuming you don't freeze to death!

One of the more simple shrines along the Annapurna circuit but it has hand made prayer wheels, as pictured below.

Handmade prayer wheels for a more recent shrine.  I wonder, as the world progresses and more and more money comes to Nepal via tourism, how cast bronze prayer wheels get replaced with coffee cans?

 The restaurant and tea house we selected was run by s single young man.  Hi parents are deceased and his brother is in the military.  This tea house was his place and it showed.  He worked very hard to accommodate us plus the large group of locals who had gathered in the dining hall for food and drinks.  They offered us a spot at their table  and we accepted.

There were dozens of Golden Eagles flying around these cliffs.  Huge magnificent birds known to prey on small goats.

What we didn't know when we sat at the table, was that under the table was a heater.  There was a thick table cloth (more like a blanket) which hung down on the sides touching the surrounding benches and when we put our legs under it we felt the warms and were delighted.  We didn't move for several hours and then only down the hall to our room for another great night's sleep.

I look at this town and I love it.  I've always loved venacular buildings and to me this architecture has such a human scale and such an earthy origin.  No running water or garbage collection, but I'll take it over suburbia any day!

Yessi Ye looks very much like a local Nepalese woman carrying this basket.  Most of the local women don't wear red hiking shoes and mini skirts though!

A lot of people take a day or two in Manang.  While its a great spot for aclimitizing, there really isn't that much going on in Manang and I'd recommend people stop earlier at Braga as is so much more interesting.

dbBrad on balcony in Manang getting ready to eat yak steaks.