'Sometimes I just wanna book a helicopter and throw my pole into the deep valley of the Himalaya'

A diary written by a traveler who is meeting her best travelbuddy along the way.. 

Nepal is a fascinating country with influences from India, Tibet, China and even Mongolia. The country has more dan 30 ethnic groups, with multiple religions as well. 

Beside of the mixed interesting culture is Nepal given with beautiful landscapes with 10 peaks of the world. Max and I met in May 2018 were we became friends and traveled along the way short periods together. We’ve lived the same life. Working in the Netherlands, living together, having a relationship but quit this life to live in freedom. After meeting up in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand it’s time to meet up in the wonderful Himalayas! 
Wow, so excited. Max is flying from Japan, I fly from Myanmar. At the airport we see each other again after +- two months. We start in Kathmandu where we notice that walking alone on street is not a brilliant idea. We decide to stick together wherever we go. 

Mount Everest
If you are in Nepal you must see the peak of the Mount Everest. So we book a trip in an airplane with sunrise to the peak. Early in the morning the taxi picks us up, drops us at the airport and there we go. WOW, I AM EXCITED. The top of the world rises with 8800meters above sea level in front of us. Unbelievable how beautiful this world is. It’s a pity that I had to drink that much with the hostel owners that I'm more focused at ‘no puking’. Beside this side effect, is bloody spectacular! 
One by one we were allowed to stay five minutes in the cockpit and I’ve never seen anything this pure and clean. What an amazing nature.

Making the plan to trek without guide 

The plan is to walk the trek Annapurna Basecamp with an altitude from 4300meter above sealevel. The trek takes in total 10-12 days. Go to the pharmacy, buy some altitude sickness pills, purifying water tablets, betadine and painkillers. Maybe a extra travel insurance is also handy because you never know!  Ready to go!!

 

Annapurna trekking
Day 1- Nayapu to Ulleri
We bought a map of the Himalaya but didn’t take one look at it till we already started haha. Oh we are so organized! The hike to the Annapurna base camp is one of the most popular in the world, so the trails are well preserved. It’s not exactly a wild path; there are a lot of stairs, some paving stones, bridges and signs in many places to make your experience easier. The walk takes us to stairs, which takes two whole hours! The my bloody hell, I wish I didn’t drink that much while my travel and did some more exercise. Maxime did exercise by the way, she is way faster than me and disappears into the million stairs. I am complaining, panting every five minutes. People think it’s kind of funny and actually me too haha. By this way I make so many new friends along the way while I'm dying haha. After more than two hours I'm arrived. Woohoo! Max is sitting there, filming me and arranged already a place to sleep. She is amazing! Again we meet a new friend with diner, Wilbert from the Netherlands, and we spend the night together. We never saw him again but eh Wilbert, if you see this! We are happy we met you along the adventure! 

 

Day 2- Ulleri to Ghorepani
Every day starts with sunshine in the mountains. The morning ritual starts with John Mayer and Xavier Rudd music. Waking up with a smile, playing chill music with the sun in our faces living a dream. What else do you need! Full of energy we continue the trek to Ghorepani. On the way we meet again our German friends I met yesterday when I was dying on the stupid stairs. Of course a good cup of coffee, some fruit and perfect break belongs to the journey.
We continued our journey uphill. Another day with lots of stairs to reach the small village of Ghorepani. This part of the trek passes through beautiful green areas and rice paddies. Still full of energy we arrive Ghorepani 2 pm and the village is gorgeous. A small square where people sell fruits or accessories, were some horses got parked and some travelers walking into the village. Peaceful.

Day 3-Ghorepani to Tadapani
Today the plan is to walk 5hours. We climb till 3000 meter and go down again. This helps the body to acclimatize to the altitude. We cross a mountain; we walk over the mountain and go to the next one. Now it starts! Deep valleys appear, big waterfalls everywhere and huge mountains. Wow!!
This day is ours, no company on the way, just us and we love it. To keep the flow we got a speaker, and sometimes you just need some music. The side effect of doing this trek without a guide is that it can happen that all the guesthouses are fully booked. (We sleep always in a dormitory of in a private room in a guesthouse. Normally there are only 5-6 guesthouses for all the travelers) This time bad luck! No place to sleep. A local gives a place to sleep in the dining hall. We got our sleeping bag and wait till everybody goes to bed so we can sleep too. But first we meet up with a couple we met earlier, a lesbian amazing couple, four other young couples. Some chitchats, some drinks, good food and good laughs further we sleep like babies on the wooden benches. 

Day 4- Tadapani to Chomrong
The blondes are back on trek! BAM! Its freezing, of course because we are permanent on high altitude out of the sun. We complain, complain and… complain. Also normal I guess. It starts raining, the air is thinner, your breathing is shorter, your nose is leaking and your lips burst open. Summarizing- it’s not always sunshine and beauty in the mountains. 

I get exhausted, my legs heavy.. Happily we find a local place where they sell fresh smoothies and good coffee. In the middle of nowhere on the top of mountains we enjoy it so much, Continuing is shit but is unfortunately not a choice. After the stop we got lost in the jungle; it was so scary. We took even a ‘last’ video in case we never get back to the normal world. But eh, everything is gonna be okay! Find a open place, climb up, check where the small restaurant is and start over from there. Back on trek, now for real. 200 meters down now, shit that means also 200 meters climbing. It’s already 1pm and because we are lazy we still have to walk 3 more hours. Why are we doing this?

In the rain we walk and walk, I am done with it! I need a shower, (didn’t shower for at least 3 days I think) but oh wait, there is no shower! Dammit. Arrived in Chomrong we sleep at 7 o’clock haha. 

Day 5- Chomrong to Dovan
In Chomrong we had a good time. Met up again with the lesbian amazing couple. A small cute village with a German bakery, a little shop, some markets, trekkers everywhere. Love the vibe. Sunshine is present today, happy me. Less happier when we have to walk 2980 stairs down (I counted them),  that means this amount stairs climbing later. We see Annapurna getting closer. The top looks immense, a big snowy peak. 
After lunch we climbed out of the side valley to re-enter the main Ways Khola Valley, where we followed a rocky path through the bamboo forests. This bamboo is cut extensively to make ‘dokos’ – the carrying baskets as used by some porters – and woven mats for floors and roofing.
Along the mountains we enter other mountains. As ‘Tinie’ and ‘Lau’ the complaining couple from television we survive a day of trekking again. We feel it in everything- getting close to the end now! All the guesthouse are again fully booked and walking further is not an option so we are welcome to sleep again in the dining hall. This friendly owner let us laying down in our sleeping bag and fed us our ordered food. 

Day 6- Dovan to Machupurna Basecamp (MBC) from 2500 meter to 3700 meter!
It’s leg day, woohoo. Depart at 7am gives us time to be at time at MBC before it starts raining like every day and have a place to sleep. It’s going to be really tough. 
The valley became narrower, or at least that’s the feeling watching the mountains rise around you, making you feel like you’re walking through a terrible gorge. Already after 1,5 hour walk the next village Himalayas appears. Only 2 hours more and then we plan to break the trek for lunch. Deurali is the next village where we are having lunch. Okay, we are doing good! But I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes I just wanna book a helicopter, throw my stupid pole into the valley and drink a beer. But the same time reaching a ultimate goal is amazing to achieve. We feel the breathing getting tougher, the air thinner, the valley deeper, my luggage 20kg heavier. The stupid mountains, the stupid altitude but wow wow wow what a lifetime experience. Everybody on the way has black circles around the eyes, smells like shit and is completely exhausted. And everybody has the same goal- it feels like a strong connection. Two more hours and we arrive MBC- a basecamp with 3700 meters altitude just 400 meters under Annapurna Basecamp. Almost.. It hard but so beautiful. The mountains rise above you, snowy peaks, waterfalls everywhere again, landslides. Magical. It’s full of mountain goats, lambs, sometimes wild dogs. We are broken. The body is done. We gave almost everything but we made it again! Buddy, I am so happy we do this together! 

Day 7- MBC to ABC
Sleeping on a altitude from 3700meter is interesting. You dream more than normal, wake up earlier and it gives more energy. So excited as we are, we almost want to run that mountain. BUT at 4000 meter the story is not that like that. It’s heavy. The way between the basecamps look like a moon landscape. A rocky area, green but not too much grown forest. The high mountains give me such a magical, unexplainable feeling. I feel small and the same time so strong. I feel like I’m a guest in the nature and I believe it’s supposed to be like that. Giving the max and achieving the biggest goal in my life is so special. We made it! Maxime and me did it. So proud, so emotional, so full of adrenalin. Stay, watch, enjoy in quietness. Being thankful and the same time so emotional. ABC does crazy things to you!

The way back takes us two more days but it’s peace of cake! I still don’t believe we did it. 
Pohkara is the town we relax afterwards. Again here a lot of friendships develop. Renting boats with friends, nights out and relaxation in our luxury hotel room is appreciated. AND I met my buddy Dennis from Amsterdam here, who is now a friend back home.