NEMY, ULLERI TO GHOREPANI, NEPAL - TREK DAY TWO

MAY , 2011(close enough)

TREK DAY TWO

ULLERI TO GHOREPANI

ANNAPURNA SANCTUARY, NEPAL

Before we left Canada we had an idea of where to come and a few prospective routes to hike but were waiting to arrive and finalize our plan. We initial thought we would hire a porter to carry part of our possessions, but through good fortune we were introduce through our hotel to Tikka, a guide with over twenty years experience in the area.

 

Will write more about our new friend but hoping some of the photos will tell half the story.  We were a little skeptical about having somebody tag along for our five days but we can’t say enough how great it was for both parties

It seems that most any travelling we have done on our trip has always been in the range of six/seven hours. Towards the end when we did car hire or any thing we needn’t ask when will we be there.  Our daily hiking was the same. Mixed with more than enough breaks at little outposts for our reward of surviving the most recent sections.

There are so many stories to tell of just the little part of this world we saw.  We touched just a handful of villages in the area and one amazing thing is that all their goods, and anything sold or provided for tourists comes up the valleys via mule train or literally on the backs of the locals. It was not uncommon to see a bag of cement on the back of young and old. It was slightly discouraging to see that some were quite young and quite old. There are literally no roads and no easy in and out.

NICOLA NEMY

It was much to our amusement that our trail would be occasionally be blocked by a mule train or the odd water buffalo.

Apparently in the prime trekking months of October and November these routes are very heavily traveled. We are just at the end of the second most popular season.  A season that brings heat, which we had to deal with at the lower elevations, and then ultimately the monsoon. We had intermittent rain but fortunately after we had finished the day and were tucked nicely away in some little lodge.

We found the number of trekkers to pleasurable enough to give the sense of not being alone, having a chance to exchange some stories, find out what lies ahead or embellish what great mountain pass we have just conquered.

One such pleasurable enough trekker that we seemed to have joined up with on our first day was James. A young New Zealander that was taking a look at  the world before he started UNIversity.

James proved to be excellent companion over the next five days, providing a card playing partner in the evenings for the girls, an excellent wrestling partner when Tikka needed to give us a first hand display of some local tradition and generally a patient and pleasant hiking companion.