Lynda's Hiking Adventures

When we decided we would make Nepal our next trip, I was so excited to go to a beautiful, spiritual country and a bit afraid of the sensory overload that I was expecting when it came to smells and sights. My worries were for naught though, because the smells that I was expecting were not to be found (at least where we were).

We decided to hike with Ace the Himilaya because they had excellent reviews and I found a discounted trip on "The Clymb" website.

We arrived two days after leaving Philadelphia and our hotel was wonderful! We had a suite with a living room, a small kitchen, a dining room, and a wonderful bed. The shower took a little getting used to, as there was no enclosure, but no problems.

We explored the streets of Thamel (central Katmandu) and did some shopping. The streets were busy with people, motorcycles (125cc), scooters and cars. There are no traffic signs or signals in Katmandu and we were amazed that there weren't constant collisions!

Nepal was welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping while we were there. Banners everywhere announcing the visit.

We visited the Garden of Dreams and the Kaiser Cafe. Beautiful oasis in the middle of Katmandu, built by Field Marshall Kaiser Sumsher Rana in 1920.

Interesting squirrels there!

Temple on the main street

We think they are building another floor - man stands on ladder and holds rods in concrete until it sets.

Tour day! Beginning in Bhaktapur

You can see several temples from the main square. This is being re-built and the craftsmanship and detail was amazing!

Shiva Temple - all around the temple are carvings from the Kama Sutra.

THIS was disconcerting! The Swastika is an ancient symbol for luck and the Star of David is an ancient symbol for wisdom. It took a lot for me not to seeth at the first symbol. Stars were on all schools that we saw.

Stray dogs everywhere!

Nandi guarding the Shiva Temple

Kama Sutra - XRATED WARNING

Lots of rebuilding from the 2015 earthquake damage

Street in Bhaktapur leading to pottery square

More temples

Typical of what we saw - families on scooters and bikes:

Boudhanath - largest Buddhist Stupa in Nepal. One of the legends is that a woman whose husband died wanted to build a Stupa with her four sons. She asked for some land and the king granted her the land that can be covered with the skins that she had (sheepskin maybe?). They sliced the skins extremely thin and were able to build this giant stupa on the land they covered.

The next area we visited was a Hindu temple - an area with many monkeys and many small temples to Shiva with her guard Nandi in front of each one of them.

We watched a cremation by the river bank

One of the largest Hindu Temples in the world

One thing to note about Nepal is the huge amount of stray dogs. They were all well behaved and didn't pay any attention to the people (unless they were given food). Some were skinny, some looked healthy, some traveled in packs and some alone. It was a strange experience to me that I did not pet any of the pups. We had been warned about rabies, so we steered clear!

The following day we went to Pokhara where we would begin our trek of the Annapurna Circuit. This was a bus trip that took 8 hours to go about 86 miles total. Two-lane mountain roads where we would pass cars and trucks going around blind corners and we would be passed as well. The motorcycles seemed to have the upper hand on this trip, but doubtful I'd want to ride there!

Our bus

Sacred cows on the road

We arrived in Pokhara to find that we had another beautiful room - a queen and full bed, outside kitchen and two balconies with views of the water. Pokhara is a lakeside resort town.

The trek began after another hour and a half journey in a van up to the beginning of Annapurna Conservation Area

Ken, me, Manu (our guide), other trekkers Maggie, Mark and Herman

Sigal (assistant guide and porter) and Ken

And the journey begins ...

Horses and mules on the trail

Mo mo - dumplings

After hiking up up up ... Ken is ok!

Hiking up ... up ... up

Our first nights lodging? Or was this lunch?

Porter Zey

There were a lot of suspended bridges. Everyone who knows me knows that I have a fear of heights, but these seemed strong enough that I was NOT afraid! (even when Ken jumped and swung on them to try to spin them over :-P )

Up up up ... then down to the bridges to cross a chasm

This was the day I was exhausted. I was so happy to see our lodging for the night!

Ken donated to a school along the way and they blessed him by putting red on his forehead. He then blessed me - his came off easily, mine did not!

Our lodging for the night ... always making twin beds into one ...

Fishtail Mountain - this is the one we seemed to always have in sight

First nights lodging had a wonderful view!

Ginger lemon tea and masala tea were always welcome

Exhaustion from the first day trek

3280 stone steps ... I felt every one of them!

Oxen and mules along the way

Cool stream that appeared to be golden

Another suspended bridge ...

Cats

Lunch - we were never far from the next town, lodge or shops on the trek.

Some interesting trees in the forested area.

Poon hill was one of the highlights of the trip. After hiking up for so long,

we would wake up at 4:30am to get up to the top at dawn.

COFFEE!!!

This was luxury for a bathroom on the trek - and it was attached to our room!

In the morning, I woke up for the Poon Hill Trek, but Ken was not feeling well.

Getting the permit

Dawn over the Annapurna Range

Me, Mark, Maggie, Herman, Manu

This was the guide to the mountains we could see on Poon Hill

Sigal

Ken was feeling MUCH better when we got back.

He even watched the sunrise from the roof of our lodge

Then ... back to walking up up up

My traditional yoga pose on top

Lunch again!

Herd of Oxen

Probably the most rustic of the lodging. They overbooked and our porters and guides had to sleep in tents for the night.

We only did a small portion of the Annapurna Circuit - we will be back to do the rest, and base camp.

Lunch in a very cool mountain town. We were supposed to spend the night in this town, but we had only hiked about 4 hours that day and wanted more so we continued on.

Breakfast on the last day - someone had these spring rolls for dinner the night before and they looked so good, I had them for breakfast!

Ken and his wingspan :-)

Coffee shop on the trail!

And we're done!

Relaxing in Pokhara with a beer and "the best lemon meringue pie in Nepal" It was indeed yummy!

My thoughts about this trip to Nepal: This was an amazing trip with an equally amazing partner <3

Rich in spiritualism, culture, and religion, as well as beautiful landscapes and colorful people (their clothing as well as their personalities), I will definitely go back - if only to hike more of the Anapurna Circuit and Base Camp.

If we use a tour group I would probably use the same tour company, Ace the Himalaya because they were very accommodating and the guide and porters were excellent. I would, however, try to find out if there are solo travelers in the group. People who travel solo seem to be more open to friendships and inclusion of everyone in the group (I like to think that because we've both traveled solo, Ken and I act as if we are solo travelers most of the time and interact with everyone!)

I am glad that we live in the part of Philadelphia with hills and steps - they did help prepare us for this journey!