Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Location: Karte
Elevation: 1850m
Two days before leaving China, Peter started packing his studio to move to a new apartment and managed to spill half a gallon of peanut oil inside of his hiking backpack. Fail. We spent an hour washing the backpack and cleaning the studio a bit. I got oil on one of my dresses and had to wash it in the machine. We went out for dinner with his CTLC friends - since it was their last night together - in a Mongolian yurt and feasted on momos and lamb legs and the like. It was deliciously indulgent. Oh, before dinner P had a filling fixed at the dentist and I sat around for an hour in the waiting room.
Saturday morning was packing and moving Peter into his new apartment. We headed to the China-Hong Kong border, had difficulty contacting his friend in Hong Kong who was going to hold onto P's guitar and nice clothes, and ended up wandering around Central until we found a Starbucks with WiFi. A mere three hours before our flight took off we dropped the stuff off at Matt's, headed to the airport covered in sweat from walking so fast, and caught our flight HKG→DEL→KTM [Hong Kong to New Delhi to Kathmandu]. I watched New Girl, This Means War, and The Vow on the plane just because I sat next to a stranger; I didn't care about being judged for my chick flick tastes. P and I spent the night on benches in the Delhi airport, made it to KTM very early in the morning, had awful photos taken of ourselves for entry visas, paid $40 USD for visas at the airport, then were able to say that we're in NEPAL!
Sunday, the first day, we found dinner at a cultural center recommended by LP [Lonely Planet] and watched dancing while we sat on the floor while eating. It was good but nothing special - just atmosphere and something to do.
Monday is when offices opened so P applied for his Indian visa while I checked out how to get trekking permits. Turns out that I can't apply for someone else, so I walked back to the hostel and returned with Peter in the afternoon. We spent the evening shopping for altitude meds, lighters, balloon pants for me, and a hemp necklace for him. Dinner was a feast since it was the last night in a city for a long while.
Tuesday morning, just yesterday, we took a 7 hour "local bus" fride from KTM to Besibeshar, the start of the Annapurna Circuit. It was a grueling ride with up to 20 people crammed into a space about the size of a VW bug. It wasn't pleasant being squished against P's sweaty arm and leg. We arrived around 1pm, had our permits checked, ate chow mein, then decided to catch a bus to Bhulbhulbe instead of uselessly tiring ourselves on the trek. Around 3:30pm we finally set off on foot and reached Bahundanda round 6pm, where we decided to stop and sleep. Two other American guys, Mike and Rob, also stayed at the teahouse and we became friendly - the four of us hiked together all today. P and I did laundry but the clothes did not dry at all overnight. We went to bed around 9pm and were awoken at 2am from some of the hardest rain I've ever heard - the tin roof made it sound much worse than it was. P and I stayed up for a while listening and talking until I decided it was time to get more rest - with earplugs.
Location: Karte
Elevation: 1850m
Two days before leaving China, Peter started packing his studio to move to a new apartment and managed to spill half a gallon of peanut oil inside of his hiking backpack. Fail. We spent an hour washing the backpack and cleaning the studio a bit. I got oil on one of my dresses and had to wash it in the machine. We went out for dinner with his CTLC friends - since it was their last night together - in a Mongolian yurt and feasted on momos and lamb legs and the like. It was deliciously indulgent. Oh, before dinner P had a filling fixed at the dentist and I sat around for an hour in the waiting room.
Tuesday morning, just yesterday, we took a 7 hour "local bus" fride from KTM to Besibeshar, the start of the Annapurna Circuit. It was a grueling ride with up to 20 people crammed into a space about the size of a VW bug. It wasn't pleasant being squished against P's sweaty arm and leg. We arrived around 1pm, had our permits checked, ate chow mein, then decided to catch a bus to Bhulbhulbe instead of uselessly tiring ourselves on the trek. Around 3:30pm we finally set off on foot and reached Bahundanda round 6pm, where we decided to stop and sleep. Two other American guys, Mike and Rob, also stayed at the teahouse and we became friendly - the four of us hiked together all today. P and I did laundry but the clothes did not dry at all overnight. We went to bed around 9pm and were awoken at 2am from some of the hardest rain I've ever heard - the tin roof made it sound much worse than it was. P and I stayed up for a while listening and talking until I decided it was time to get more rest - with earplugs.
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