Interlude - 'Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.'

Entering the Annapurna Conservation Area from the direction of Nayapul.

The kindness of strangers

As Ritu, Lal and I first set out on the Annapurna Circuit, we didn't encounter as many people as I'd expected. There were the people of the villages we passed through, the hydroelectric plant workers, a small group of trekkers going in the opposite direction and a quite a few lone female trekkers. But for the most part we had the path to ourselves and walked along chatting, plugging in to music or just enjoying the scenery. Ritu, who is Buddhist, said that if she sees something beautiful, she meditates on it and I could see how easy that could be in such surroundings and did try it a few times. I love walking because if you do enough of it, you can create a rhythm with your steps that lulls your mind and frees you up to unravel your thoughts.

The further we got on the trail, the more trekkers we began to encounter, which might be down to the fact that people join the trail further on from where we started to reduce the time spent walking on the road. The guesthouses in the early stages was more empty than full and so the opportunity for conversations with other trekkers were few and far between. Ritu also mentioned more than once that some of the Nepalese people she'd been chatting to along the way had thought that I was Nepalese, which explained why, whenever we met other trekkers, they often said 'Namaste' or just nodded rather than said hello. But at Manang, the stoic lady with the open features I mentioned earlier in this account whom we kept going past and who passed us for three or four days, finally stopped overnight at the same time as us and we got chatting - her name was Heidi. She was from California and was trekking alone, following in the footsteps of her daughter who had done the Circuit herself and had inspired her mother to come here. Heidi introduced me to another American lady she'd met and for the first time on the trip I sat and enjoyed chatting for some time with them. The following day, Heidi also came along with us to the lake for the acclimatisation walk. During our chats that day, I discovered that we had a similar attitude toward trekking - neither of us were in it for the competition but for the reflection and joy of it. Along the way I'd seen so many grim-faced, determined people and felt a little checked out by others as they passed me by or I passed them by. I will admit that I do have some pride at trying to go a certain pace but I try not to make it hurt and it was interesting to share these thoughts.

While we were staying at Manang we were caught up by the Australian cyclists, the Swiss cyclists and a lot of other people we'd passed on the way - as I mentioned Manang is a congregation point for acclimatisation and I can't help but think that if I'd been up to it I'd have made more friends there but it wasn't to be. If I ever do go back I'd like to stay a bit longer in Manang because not only is there an opportunity to meet people, there are many walks that you can do in the vicinity that in themselves look pretty spectacular. Not to mention the little home cinema.

Anyway, aside from walks and cinema there is also the Himalayan Rescue Association clinic in Manang. It's manned by foreign and Nepalese volunteer doctors and aims to help foreigners with acute mountain sickness (AMS) as well as treating the local people. In order to educate and hopefully prevent AMS, the clinic also offers a daily lecture to trekkers about the signs and how to deal with it.

On the way to Yak Kharka.


After Manang, we continued on to Yak Kharka, which is the last stop before Thorung Phedi or the base camp of Thorung La Pass. The walk, although shorter than usual at about four and a half hours, was a struggle and as I lay holed up in my sleeping bag when I got there, I was happy to see Heidi's kindly face as she popped in to see me and she also gave me some of her drugs. Ritu went above and beyond duty - she went back and forth fetching me soup, water, duct tape for my busted sleeping bag from Heidi's friend and anything else I needed while I slept and read and slept some more until I wasn't sure what time it was exactly other than night or day. She even accosted a doctor from the above clinic as he set out on a jog up to the pass (yes, jog!) and brought him up to see me. I was so delighted to see him when I shouted hello at him he thought we'd met before or something. He asked all the cursory questions and wasn't concerned but recommended that if the diahorrhea didn't stop with the immodium I was taking that I get hold of some antibiotics and descend in order to equip my body with more oxygen to fight the bug. After he left I felt a bit despondent - how was I going to get hold of antibiotics? It's not something you can get over the counter in the UK and it hadn't occurred to me to get some in Kathmandu. Then suddenly there was Heidi at the door, waving a packet of yellow pills at me - she'd heard from Ritu what it was I needed and gone around asking until a British couple (to this day I have no idea who they were) had given up the last of their supply as they didn't need them anymore. She gave me a hug and left to go on to Yak Kharka and after she'd gone, I suddenly broke down, perhaps because until this point I hadn't allowed myself to think too much and suddenly there was a glimmer of a chance I'd get to the pass. And perhaps it was also the kindness of people I barely knew. Coming from the city where, if someone even makes eye contact you get paranoid, it's this sense of camaraderie that was so pleasantly unexpected to me. Later on I happily divested my entire supply of tampons on someone as well as some immodium and dialoryte to someone else having stomach trouble. Here, they call it karma.

As it turned out, I made no improvement so I decided to descend to Manang - and after yet another day there I realised I just wasn't going to manage the walk back to Yak Kharka as well as over the pass. It was time to throw in the towel and go back to Kathmandu to make a doctor's appointment. By this stage I just wanted to get better and make sure I could get more trekking in - so it wasn't too disappointing to make the choice. By gentle, rolling horseback, bumpy (and scary) jeep and sweaty local bus (that needed a wheel changing), over the course of three days, Ritu, Lal and I retraced our steps all the way back to Kathmandu.

It would be easy to get bogged down with the fact that I didn't get to the climax of the trek - going over Thorung La Pass. I've also missed the temple at Muktinath and a few other sights, so if any of you reading this have done the walk and would like to talk about it here, you're more than welcome to fill in this blank. I still got to see what I'd come here for - the views of the high peaks of the Annapurnas were astounding.