Annapurna Circuit

After a week of culinery overindulgence in Kathmandu (and a couple of wasted days seeking medical attention for a mysterious back/chest injury(guess who?)) we set about assembling an elite walking squad to tackle the 19 day circumnavigation of the Annapurna Circuit. The elite squad never quite materialised but we found these guys(only joking guys!):

The Guide
Name: Kanchha
Favourite food: Daal bhaat
Hobbies: Eating mountains of daal bhaat, drumming, singing and dancing













The Porter
Name: Surya
Favourite food: Daal bhaat
Hobbies: Eating mountains of daal bhaat, singing, playing the leaf and breakdancing.













For info; daal bhaat is the staple diet of the Nepalese nation. It consists (funnily enough) of daal(lentil soup with herbs and spices) and bhaat(rice) and is consumed twice per day in mountainous quantities, traditionally using ones hands as eating utensils. Whilst it's quite a tasty dish, I'm not sure if I could eat it twice a day for 365 days a year.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking this time:























Day1, Hour1:
"Are we nearly there yet...hmmmph"













Altitude sickness can do funny things to people














Jools on a bad hair day

















Jools looking buff


































Ahem...we came across this in a backstreet











Jools' 19 day supply of potatoes














Corn on the cob












Corn off the cob.
We sat for hours one night (until our thumbs were blistered) helping the family to separate the corn from the cob.









Beans beans good for the heart,
The more you eat the more you...


















A few pics of Manang which was probably our favourite place enroute. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking:






































The 100 ruppee lama. He poured oil on our face and hit us over the the head with a big book - a blessing apparently!




























You dancin'?
You askin'?




















A typical sight on the trail














Kev enjoying the popular Asian game of tiddlywink pool













High point (quite literally) of the trek. Set off for the pass at 3am after a hearty breakfast of garlic soup. With the temperatures sitting at around minus 20 all our drinking water froze in a matter of seconds.







Other events of note included a couple of run ins with the maoists. The last of which ended in a heated discussion due to a difference of opinion over how much money they wanted and how much money we wanted to pay (i.e. nothing). They obviously hadn't heard about the Scots reputation for tightness with the pennies.

..oh and that mysterious back/chest injury I mentioned earlier - turns out it was brought on by the stresses of the Chino-Scots Arm Wrestling Championships a couple of weeks earlier....

Cribbage Update: Jools 19 Kev 16