In November 2021, I had the privilege of going on Annapurna Circuit Trek for 16
days. This was the time when the world was on the recovery path from the
COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide vaccination rate had improved close to 60-70%,
Maharashtra had started reporting daily COVID patients’ count in two-digits. So
although uncertain conditions, things were getting hopeful. How I decided to go
on this trek is a story for another day, but the decision was made, initial
hurdles were crossed, and I started preparing for this trip.
The trek started from landing at Kathmandu. When we landed there, we got to
know that US citizens with OCI cards as well need a visa. When I filled up all
the information and submitted the form it gave me a warning in red bold
capitalized letters- “DUE TO PANDEMIC, ARRIVAL-ON-VISA FOR ALL FOREIGN
NATIONALS HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED!” I had a panic attack, and thought I had to
return from here. That’s it, I should have checked this basic information
beforehand. But to my amazement, the immigration officer came to my rescue. He
said, “Mam, don’t submit the form, just take a screenshot of your form and go
to that counter.” I did what I was told and got the visa approved. Second
shocker was at the immigration counter. The officials handed us the form for
reporting our stay, purpose for the trip AND a checkbox to do home-quarantine
for 14 days! I was hesitant to check that one but was told that this is a
formality and everyone arriving here is known for going for trekking and yet
fill that form. Well, when in Rome…
After passing such initial hurdles, we drove to our hotel Dom Himalayas in
Thamel. Thamel, is Mecca of trekking gears shopping. We rested for a while and
went on a quick walk to get a glimpse of what it meant. One could see all the
big brands outlet stores there- North Face, Columbia, Sherpa, Marmot & so
on. Along with that you can find the majority of local shops flowing with
“first editions” of these brands which were replicas of branded items but at
really cheap pricing. We made a note to do some shopping here once we return
from the trek. Returned to the hotel to meet our local tour guide to discuss
the itinerary. With that we called it a night and decided to have an early
morning start.
Our itinerary included a route that had driving from Kathmandu to Dharapani, a
small village at elevation of 1900 meters/6,430 Ft. Actual hiking route was
Dharapani-Chame-Lower Pisang- Manang- Rest Day at Manang- Tilicho Base- Tilicho
Lake (4,950m/16240ft )- Yak Kharka- Thorang Phedi- Muktinath at3,750 Mt/12,320
Ft(en route crossing Thorang La pass at 5,416Mt/17,770 Ft) and then driving to
Tatopani-Pokhara, flying from Pokhara to Kathmandu. Resting at Kathmandu for
getting RTPCR done and then fly back to Mumbai. Original plan had an additional
Poon Hill trek after descending to Muktinath, however, we decided to take an
additional day at Tilicho base and not hike anymore after descent.
Many have
asked me about food, accommodation facilities and overall difficulty level of
the trek. So I will start with food, as you might know I love food!
This route
had many small villages along the way, equipped with famous Teahouses! A
Teahouse could be considered as a place which provided basic accommodation with
a restaurant. Funnily enough all tea houses had the exact same menu throughout
the route. As if all of them came together and finalized that this is it, we
cannot provide any further options and settled on a common menu. So after a
while, we stopped even looking at the menu card and ordering Nepali staples
like Daal-Bhat or Veg Thukpa (noodle soup). Nepalis swear by Daal-Bhat. There
is a popular saying amongst Nepali porters/guides-“Daal-Bhat power 24 Hr!
Around the mountain, no toilet, no shower!” They prefer eating that every single
day for every meal. This popular dish is served with papad, locally made pickle
preserved in vinegar and some sabzi. Dal is predominantly made with black udid
& sabzi is a combination of cabbage, carrots & potatoes. Although
fulfilling, overall it lacks the spice level that Indian taste buds are used
to. Our experienced teammates had suspected this, so they had taken “shengdana
chatani/lasun chatani” to give us that satisfaction. I am a foodie and was
blessed with the teammates who respected food and prioritized it all along the
trek. They carried chivada, chakli, a variety of ladus including “Aliv ladu”
for elevation, chatanis, even Gul-Poli!! My friend is a great cook and loves to
cook while trekking as well. So he treated us with Khichadi and Pohe a few times
as well. This was possible, because many nights our crew were the only people
staying at the tea house. So they would allow my friend to use the kitchen.
Coming to
accommodation and facilities. This seemed like a luxurious trek, I will tell
you why. We had porters to carry our luggage, so all we had to carry was the
day pack. Since there were tea houses along the way, no one had to carry
cooking supplies or worry about reaching the base camp to set up the tent and
cook to be able to have food. We didn’t even have to worry about drinking
water. There is drinking water available everywhere. Tea houses charge you to
give hot water which is nominal. Our guide had provided purification drops as
well and the overall observation was that the tap water was good enough for
everyone to be used as drinking water. We had rooms with attached toilets for
most of the night. Having said that, taking shower was a luxury. We took
showers in Kathmandu, Manang and then directly in Multinath! So yes, that gets
tricky and wet wipes and deodorant became our reliant friends! Toilets are
Indian style toilets and while hiking you as well can find basic toilets with
some shade/metal sheets and & or some privacy. So we didn’t have to suffer
with usual issues while trekking for multiple weeks and that’s why I felt that
this was a comfortable trek.
Coming to
the difficulty level! I want to tell you that if I could do it, you can do it,
but that would be misguided. Because, I think every trek heck, every day on the
trek is different and how your body, mind and breath is going to act up is
always different. This is a trek where we walked anywhere from 15 to 26 Kms
every day, back-to-back for 9-10 days, at an elevation ranging from 6,400 to
17,700 Ft. The route is laced with landslides, patches covered in ice making it
dangerous as on the other side there’s roaring Marshyangdi river ready to catch
anyone who would slip, and in general treacherous rote. Acute Mountain Sickness
is real. I personally witnessed multiple people going through it. So don’t take
it lightly. It can appear out of nowhere and gets worse rapidly causing
fatality, if you push yourself through it. Per my understanding, no one can
train for it, predict it, so you HAVE to go there and experience it for
yourself. Although you can take all the precautions, follow what locals are
recommending and trust yourself to go through it smoothly. In short, I believe
don’t compare notes with anyone, trust yourself, prepare enough and go for it,
if at all that’s what you want to do. It was difficult to breathe through the
nose and hike after Tilicho base, but one gets used to breathing through the
mouth fairly quickly. Thankfully, I didn’t suffer from any AMS symptoms and
many are saying that’s due to my regular Yoga practice. Which could be true but
then, fellow trekkers who were not Yoga practitioners didn’t suffer either. So
don’t hold yourself back considering anyone else’s fitness level.
Another
question I got asked upon my return was how I prepared for this trek. Honestly,
this was all of a sudden plan. So I didn’t have much time to prepare for
fitness. I am used to walking and that’s what I did. I bumped my daily walking
to 10 Kms every day for close to a month prior to the trek. I started hiking to
local hikes twice a week during this period. And Yoga is always my go to
practice for stretching, and relaxing.
This had
been a breathtaking experience in every sense! I was reminded of my blessings
at every step. There was certainly some energy, some Guardian angel looking
over me to keep me safe for sure. There were sooo many things that could have
gone wrong and yet they didn’t. Ranging from flights running late, missing
luggage, sprained ankle, AMS, bad weather, falling sick, slipping and falling
into Marshyangdi, mind and body simply giving up when going got tough, to
pandemic causing getting quarantined, or worse travel bans, I could think of n
number of things going wrong and jeopardizing my grandeur plans of completing
this trek. There were patches when I would be walking for hours by
myself, not a single person in the vicinity, admiring nature and
solitude. Couple times I felt like I was lost and didn’t know how to proceed
further. Either because there was a river that had to be crossed showing no easy
pass or it seemed like a landslide path was washed away showing a dangerously
slippery path disappearing in a majestic waterfall! However, every single time
some or the other person would appear out of nowhere to guide me to get through
that patch. It could have been coincidence that I missed seeing those people
due to switchbacks and thought I was all by myself on that path. Nonetheless
help appeared when I needed it. Similarly that protecting energy kept me safe
through numerous falls through ice/snow/scree and kept me scratch free. I was
completely aware of this trek being a privilege. My husband and kids encouraged
me to go on this trek, and cheered for me throughout this journey. Without my
husband’s support this journey was not possible. He single handedly handled kids
schools drop offs-pickups, cooked three meals a day without compromising on
nutrition! He was up in the nights when I didn’t have any range worrying for my
safety and would pick up my phone at any odd hour of the day without showing
any negativity or worry in his voice, so that he could keep motivating me to
complete this trek. I missed him and kids the most and would have loved to have
them with me on this journey for sure. Apart from them my whole family,
in-laws, close friends were my cheerleaders. They kept on checking on my
progress, prayed for me and definitely everyone’s blessings helped me. One of
my friends kept on dropping food for my husband and kids every single weekend,
without me even requesting such. I feel utter gratitude to have such loved ones
in my life. For some, going on a trek is just packing bags and leaving whenever
they want, whereas anyone raising a family of young kids could relate to my
emotions why I feel that it was a privilege and a blessing! Thanks everyone,
thanks Universe for making it happen.
If
you’ve any more questions on this trek, please feel free to reach out to me.
