We were lucky enough this morning to again wake up to picture perfect blue skies. We really can’t believe we haven’t had a drop of rain yet despite it supposedly being Monsoon. God bless the rain shadow and long may it continue!!! Our route today would take us up about 600m elevation so we would finally be sleeping over 3,500m tonight. We decided to start taking Diamox to help us adjust to the altitude and took our first dose this morning. Our day started with porridge and cappuccinos from our fancy “resort” which was nice, but I think we were both excited to get out to somewhere that felt a little more real. 

The first few hours followed the river valley through a number of villages and side valleys, climbing down to bridges across side streams and then back up multiple times. Along the way we had great views back to Ganesh North West and surrounding peaks. They were hazy and in the distance but looked amazing, a great backdrop to the beautiful valley. We also met a few interesting animals, a Jopke (half yak half cow), a pair of huge eagles circling us from above, cute baby cows and a gorgeous trail dog who followed us for most of the morning. As we are getting higher up the Tibetan influence is huge. Most of the communities now are Tibetan people, and there are Tibetan Buddhism stupas, chortung, mani, archways and monasteries. Everything is very colorful and the level of detail and quantity in the stone carving is amazing. If you were here on a Buddhist pilgrimage or a more devout Buddhist you would walk around each of these clockwise three, five or ten times, but we don’t have time (or energy) for that!! We do try to always walk on the correct side (in a clockwise direction) and I like to thank the universe for reminding me to be compassionate and kind to all beings, including myself. This section of the track was also where we saw Manaslu for the first time, in all her glory!! It was very cool to turn a corner and see the iconic double peaks come out from behind the ridge! 

We reached a village called Lho at about 11:15 AM, the last in this section of the track. The different agriculture spread around the town was super interesting, and the town itself was bustling and busy with everyone going about their day to day life. A far cry from Namrung which was all but boarded up out of the main tourist season. We walked up to the top of the town and got the most amazing views of Manaslu, framed by a monastery gate. In Lho we decided to keep on pushing further for lunch, and we faced our hardest ascent of the day. From Lho we had to climb about 400m up a place called Shyala. To start, we actually had to drop about 150m to cross a side stream, before walking up a gorgeous creek all the way to Shyala. As with most challenges we’ve faced on this walk, the idea of it was much worse than the reality. We were starting to feel the altitude but if you just focus on the next steps in front of you, you make it to the top! The tracks here are also all in pretty good shape (makes sense considering the donkeys that need to traverse them), and when you’re used to near vertical root scrambles like we have in New Zealand bush, it’s a nice change to just be able to walk up step by step, even when it’s hard. 

As soon as we came out of the bush at Shyala the vibe was totally different. The best way to describe it was feeling like we were in the moutains, instead of looking at them! It was nearly 2 PM now so most of the peaks had clagged in, but you could still tell it was nearly 360 degrees of big mountains around you!! It’s also much drier, we’re basically at the tree line now, and also much more open. Waiting this late for lunch was pretty hard and we were both exhausted before eating and feeling the altitude. After a quick nap in the sun, a big feed of Dahl Baht, lots of water and a rehydration sachet we both were feeling much better. After lunch we only had an hour or so through to Samagaun, so we plodded along up and down a couple of side valleys and bridges before dropping down to our destinataion for the night. 

Again, stunning views obscured by clouds, but at this stage we’re pretty confident it will open up in the morning! We got to walk through a meadow like area with lots of flowers, one of the benefits of monsoon season. We also saw possibly the cutest animals we’ve seen on entire trip, baby yaks! Then we walked through the more local area of the village to reach our guest house, village life here looks simple with amazing views, but a hard life. So remote and so extreme. Despite the challenges, we’ve met some lovely friendly people, everyone says namaste on the trails and gives us a big smile. 

Our guest house is Tibetan and Mayla told us that up here we can switch out “Namaste” for “Tashi Delek” which is a Tibetan greeting. We suffered through a freezing cold shower to clean the dirt and sweat off our tired bodies. It might be one of our last showers until we cross over Larke pass in a few days time, as the accommodation higher up is simple. For dinner I had a delicious Thukpa soup (Tibetan dish) and Josh had a big plate of egg noodles to load us up for tomorrow. It’s so exciting to be up in the mountains proper! Tomorrow we have an acclimatisation day before we continue up to the pass, and there is an amazing Buddhist monastery at around 4000m which we are planning to visit.

P.S: These might get a bit shorter now as we get higher, we need to focus on being more sporty and less academic (aka the altitude ruins our brains). 

It was another early start today at 6am as we had a big day ahead of us. We were still so full from our enormous plates of egg noodles the night before, and had to force down some breakfast before we got on the track at around 7:15am. We are yet to actually be walking by 7am despite our best intentions.

Mayla had warned us that today would be a harder day, so we set out at a good pace and stopped less than the day before. It was amazing how much energy we had from our carb loading the night before!! We felt amazing and once our legs had warmed up we started making good progress. 

As we started walking we joined with a pack of donkeys heading to the same place as us, and for most of the day we walked nesr them. They are amazingly strong and move so quickly up the steap rocky sections. We continued following the river up the gorge which was still quite narrow and sheltered from the sun. Walking early in the morning is best because the sun isn't fully out yet and the temperature is much more pleasant. We are definitely starting to notice it getting cooler as we gain altitude.

Today we saw some amazing bridges high above us that connected some of the villages from one side of the valley to the other. We also crossed a lot of bridges ourselves, but none of the big ones!

I thought the circuit would be totally remote with no civilisation nearby, but that is not the case! There are villages dotted all around the valley, often way up above where we are walking in the mountains. Mayla told us there is a monastry perched way up above us in a remote valley where 100s of monks live. It's quite incredible how people are able to live in such remote places. They are very self sufficient growing most of their food and farming animals. Anything else they need is transported by donkeys up the small village trails.

Speaking of donkeys, today we saw 100s of them carrying all sorts of goods up the trails, and then coming back down again. It must be a hard life being one of these donkeys, as they do this all year round and carry around 80kg each!! Mayla said he said he hopes they will come back in the next life as someone very rich who never has to carry a thing.

After a delicious lunch of dahl bhat in a small village called Ghap, we started out on the afternoon section. We still had a decent climb ahead of us, around 550m climbing to go, but fueled with "dahl bhat power 24 hour" it wasn't hard. We kept following the river until it got very narrow and the rapids were tremendous. At a final bridge crossing we said goodbye to the river for now and began a steep climb up to our home for the night, a gorgeous town called Namrung. Near the top we found a lovely little stream, and decided to take a dip as we might not have many more opportunities once we go higher and it gets too cold.

The ecosystem has totally changed now and we spent a lot of the day in primarily coniferous forests. It feels much drier, there aren’t as many bugs around, and the undergrowth in the forest reminds us much more of home than the lush rainforest feel lower down. Lots of ferns, mossy trees and other plants that resemble five finger, hebes and other species we are used to at home.

We powered up the last part avoiding endless streams of donkeys returning from their delivery run, and soaking in the scenery which had finally become a proper forest. We even spotted a dear which seemed like it was being chased by something (there are bears and snow leopards in this area!!)

We arrived in Namrung just after 4pm which was so nice as it gave us rest of the day to relax. When Mayla told us to follow him in to the accommodation we were a bit shocked, as the place is a full on resort!! Our first thought was that this can't be where we're staying, it has to be far expensive for us!? But we were proven wrong, the room price was the same as everywhere else. The beds are so comfortable, and they even have duvets so no sleeping bags needed! Also, the WiFi is fast which helps us a lot with posting the blogs, yesterday's blog was a bit of a nightmare to post with bad connection.

After skipping the 3,500 ripped sauna (much to Alice’s disgust) we went for a walk around the village. It was interesting to see how this village is totally catered to trekking visitors, rather than a mix of local life and some guesthouses. Another quandary for us in the world of the ethics of travelling, especially in these remote areas. The place we are staying is so lovely though, and they have lit a very efficient pot belly stove we’re sitting around while writing this. It clouded in this evening, and we are really hoping to wake up to clear skies in the morning, especially as tomorrow we should get some views of the big mountains for the first time!!

A note on the stats!! Total ascent and descent is off my watch, showing how much we climb and descend each day. This includes all the little hills so is much bigger than the actual altitude difference between our start and end point. The time walking is the entire day from guest house to guest house, all stops included. Today we stopped for at least an hour in Philim and then another hour at lunch, plus other little water stops. Distance is also off my watch so might not be entirely accurate, but is a great indicator.

I can’t believe it’s only our second day walking and we’re already having this much fun and seeing so many incredible views. We were on our way by 7:15 AM this morning, and it was nice to know that this would be our last few hours on the road before we left it completely. The road did make for very efficient walking though, and we smashed through nearly 5km in the first hour. We got our first views of some bigger snowy peaks, and Josh and Mayla spent some time looking at the map and working out which ones they were. 

The surroundings are already changing from yesterday, we’re noticing less diverse plant life, more intense rocky features and a dryer feel overall. Yesterday the vegetation felt really lush and dense, today it’s much more sparse and woody. Although we’re enjoying the lack of rain, Mayla told us that the crops (primarily corn) could do with some rain. Hopefully they can last until we leave because I’m quite happy with the lack of rain!! We’re seeing lots of lizards, some of them are up to about 20cm long and quite chunky. Also lots of beautiful species of butterflies in all different colours. 

After a little more climbing we dropped off the road and passed through a small village, before crossing the river (along with all the local kids heading to school), and continued up to Phillim. This town was a bit bigger and had a really welcoming feel to it. It had some amazing views and lots of nice houses, home stays and gardens. We found Josh a bandana to help protect his neck from the sun, and even found a coffee machine!! We all enjoyed an extended mid morning rest here with cappuccinos, it was such a treat. After another hour up the track we stopped for an early lunch at around 12, to power us through the rest of the afternoon. Mayla said it should be only another three hours from here, but it looks like a fair amount of elevation and distance on the map to me..! 

From here the valley got more and more narrow with enormous cliffs towering over us on either side. We continued following the river and gradually climbed higher. On the other side of the valley we saw the attempts to extend the access road come to an end (for now). They are basically cutting a road into the side of a cliff, and it seems pretty disruptive from an environmental perspective, but will really change the lives of people in local villages. It will also really change the trekking context, as you’ll eventually be able to get a jeep to much higher in the circuit. But for now, from here onwards it would be trail access only, and everything would have to be carried in by mules!

The main river splits into a few different valleys, and we passed the turn off to the apparently stunning Tsum Valley with a few regrets and second thoughts… maybe next time! We’re still following the main river but it’s significantly smaller now, and climbing steeply. 

The trail felt long after lunch, and Mayla’s estimate wasn’t exactly accurate… it took us a decent four hours to get to Deng. We were both getting tired and had a bit of a debacle with our map which momentarily lowered spirits. We’re using AllTrails, which is an app that shows trekking routes globally and good quality topographic maps. We’ve never had any issues with it. We were checking the map after a stop that was only two hours away from Deng, and we were greeted with what looked like a 700m descent and ascent, but still in the river valley. It was super weird, and we immediately quizzed Mayla to ask if we really had to descend and climb that far… I did momentarily panic! If we had used our common sense sooner we would have noticed that simple physics makes this impossible as we are literally walking up a river valley, but I’ve grown up reading maps and trusting them, so this really threw me!!! Thankfully, the map was totally wrong, and there was no major descent or ascent, just a mostly gentle climb up alongside the river. Turns out it was just a glitch in the map, we were in quite a steep gorge so maybe the satellites didn’t survey it correctly or something. 

We arrived into Deng at about 5:15 PM, and were greeted by a view of a snowy peak just as we reached the top of our final hill. The guesthouse here is awesome, we’re in a cute, clean, wooden room with a comfy bed and the whole place has such a nice, homely feel to it. After a cold shower and some stretching we had the BIGGEST plate of egg noodles for dinner, with Mayla insisting we eat them all to power us up for our big day tomorrow! We finished the evening by talking to a great young guy who is working here for a few months carrying wood for renovations, he was wicked smart, so nice and had amazing English. 

We’re now tucked up in bed for an early night, and we’ll be up at 6 AM for what promises to be a big day with more views of the mountains, and hopefully no more map glitches!!

Start point: Machakhola, 860m 

End point: Jagat, 1,330m

Total ascent: 981m

Total descent: 511m

Distance travelled: 20.28km

Time walking: 9hrs

River swims: 2 

Goats seen: 357

It was a beautiful clear morning and we were so excited to be walking!! And not only that, but walking in the most beautiful  green and lush river valley. We got on the road at about 8 AM, after chappati and omelette for breakfast. Our route today would have us follow the Budhi Gandaki river, up to Jagat. The first couple of hours were on the road (if you can call it that), which was quite aggressively cut into the side of the cliff. On the other side of the river you could see the old track, which used to be the only access into these remote villages. Around us was a mixture of tree covered hillsides and agriculture, with villages dotted along every couple of kilometers. The villages weren’t only on the main road/track, there were also side tracks taking you much higher where you can see them perched on the hillside. 

Our bodies felt a little worse for wear after 14 hours in the bus yesterday, and it took an hour or so for the creaky joints to quieten and the achy muscles to ease up. We got into a rhythm and were making good time along this section of easy walking. Something that is really nice with this trek is that we’re not at high altitude straight away! Right now as we’re getting used to packs, poles, walking all day etc, we’re not also fighting altitude. Maybe the jokes on us though as this means we have to climb more in the long run? We’ll see! 

Something we didn’t expect was how hot it would be! It was such a gorgeous morning and temperatures were easily hitting 25 degrees plus. I enjoyed a few mossy waterfall showers along the road and we all found a great swimming spot in a beautiful tributary of the main river about an hour before our lunch break. It was a bit of a pinch me moment, getting to swim in a gorgeously fresh and cold river in Nepal on the first day of our trek, while being in the sun!!! 

At this point we had turned off the main road and were on a smaller local track which was so much nicer, we were surrounded by birds, bugs, trees and of course trail dogs! We stopped for lunch at 1 PM (Dahl baht of course) at a cute guest house just outside of Dovan. A highlight was literally watching the family harvest vegetables from their garden to cook our lunch, and when Mayla bought out a sauce he had made from some foraged chillis and tomatoes from the garden!! We asked for some sauce this morning with our eggs and there wasn’t any, so he made us some. So sweet. This is truly organic, sustainable eating. There’s lots of corn being grown in the area, as well as a fair amount of wild Marijuana!! We also saw heaps of goats, chickens, ducks and even pigs, which is a necessity when you live this remote, what you want to eat you must grow. For now we’re still loving Dahl Baht for lunch and dinner, let’s see if we’re saying the same by day ten! 

When we left the wind was picking up a little and the cloud cover was increasing, which gave us some shade for the second half of the day, but is a good reminder of the importance of getting up early. From Dovan onwards we stayed on this smaller trail nearly all the way to Jagat and it was so lush. Everything around us felt like it was just teeming with life. So many different plants and bugs and butterflies, it was really special. The river went through a gnarly rapid for about 600m which we had to circumnavigate by sidling along a pretty serious landslide, but before long we were back at the river again. Mayla found us one last spot for a (shallow) swim before we did the final 30 minutes into Jaggat. 

Jaggat is a bigger village, and seems very well set up for tourists. Lots of guest houses and facilities, and also our first check point for our Manaslu permits, we officially enter Manaslu Conservation Area tomorrow. We arrived at our guest house at about five, and did a quick yoga practice to limber up again after all the kilometers in the legs. The place is really cute with a nice garden and amazing river views! Fingers crossed the food is good too. 

Overall the day was amazing but a little harder than we expected actually! I hadn’t realized it would be 20km and by the end our legs were sore, bags felt heavy, blisters were forming… it was a bit of a shock to the body to be walking again!! I’m sure after a day or two our bodies will catch on, and hopefully we’ll be feeling great once we start  getting higher. 

Right now we’re further down in the village stealing some free WiFi from the permits office (surely that’s fair with our $300 USD paid), and will head back for dinner and a BIG sleep shortly. Such an incredible first day and we’re very happy with our decision to come and experience this amazing part of Nepal.

Start point: Pokhara, 822m

End point: Machakhola, 860m 

Elevation gain: 42m

Distance travelled: 160km 

Time in a bus: 14 hours 

The 6 AM alarm was a little bit of a shock to the system, but something we’ll quickly get used to I’m sure. It really felt like the morning of catching a flight or a big work event, and we were both a mix of excitement and nervous. Our guest house had kindly offered to hold the remainder of our gear so we could have smaller packs, but they still felt pretty heavy when we picked them up for the first time… bet they will feel even heavier at altitude! We met up with Mayla at the office and after a stop for a final Pokhara cappacino we headed to the bus stand. A lot of trekkers opt for the private jeep option to get to the start of the trail, but we went for the local bus. Cost difference was $300 USD for the jeep, and $20 NZD (total for three of us) on the local bus. We had been warned about goats, chickens and babies, but honestly it was very chill. The roads are a bit bumpy and slow here, but much better than I what I expected after hearing some horror stories. They are doing a lot of infrastructure development, and a large number of roads were single lane with the other lane still being smoothed out and tarsealed. Our first stop was Gorkha, about 108km from Pokhara. This took us about 4 hours including a couple of stops, one which included delicious chai, curry and samosa for breakfast. The views at the start of the drive were incredible, it was the clearest morning so far and we had panoramic views of the Annapurna ranges. Having Mayla with us was such a joy, he knows so much about all the peaks and is very open to sharing his knowledge with us. 

From Gorkha, things took a turn in the “eventful travel day” direction! It started with boarding a bus that in any other country would be considered full, but it’s amazing how many people, boxes, bags and kids they can fit into a bus here. We had been driving for about 10 minutes out of town when all of a sudden we joined a line of  stopped traffic. Josh and Mayla went out for a look and discovered that the road was completely blocked by a big truck that was stuck in some soft dirt where they had been doing landslides repairs. We must have been in the first five to ten vehicles on the site, and lots of people were helping to try and dig out the truck and get it moving. When it looked like it was going to take a decent chunk of time, we sat down and had a chai to wait. From here things only escalated, there was a broken digger in the way so they set to work repairing that, and used that to help try and push the truck, it was all pretty crazy. The police were there too and at any one time there were at least 50 people around the truck. Sadly, each of their valliant efforts only seemed to get the truck more stuck, and eventually they went for a technique of using the bucket of the digger to push the truck out of the way further so at least small cars could get past. But alas, our bus was too big, so we were informed we would be turning around and going a different way! This was about three and a half half hours after we first arrived, so we did wonder a bit why they didn’t choose this option earlier. We were all excited to be on the way again. 

It shortly became apparent why the driver waited so long to commit to this route, as we were going down a track I would be hesitant to drive at home in a Ute, let alone a bus!! Thankfully our driver was an absolute legend and got us back to the main road in one piece, but there were a few hairy moments for sure. From here we slowly travelled up the valley with the scenery getting more and more beautiful, and the road more and more shit. By the end it did feel like we were driving on a walking track, not a road!! It was so nice to be getting further afield, it definitely gives you a huge appreciation for the work that goes in to getting anything done up here, whether it be building, education, healthcare or food supplies. The last 25km took us a good couple of hours, with each kilometer more precarious than the last. It was only a small group of us on the bus by this point, and there was a strong sense of camaraderie with every crazy corner and big drop. It was the scariest road either of us can ever remember driving, especially given the fact we were in a bus! We all very happy to arrive in the small town of Machakhola, 14 hours after we left Pokhara, and only 160km away!!! 

Something I found super interesting was the way the roads develop here, especially up in these remote valleys. They often start as walking tracks, and then gradually more and more bikes ride them, and they turn into small dirt tracks. Then, eventually they get wide enough for the jeeps and then because of the jeeps, they’re wide enough for the buses and the trucks! Eventually you have a bit of a piecemeal constantly under construction situation! Add in the destructive landslides during Monsoon and it’s especially impressive that these roads and still functional. Existence up here is hard, that much is clear after only one day. 

We found a very basic but perfectly adequate guest house, and we enjoyed our first of many delicious Dahl Baht for dinner before bed. There’s so much more I could say, we’re noticing so many interesting differences from India and there are already things that have surprised us and also delighted us. But for now we’re exhausted and are getting up in just over eight hours for our first day of walking, so I’ll say goodnight. Even after a hectic travel day we are soooo excited to be here and can’t wait to start walking tomorrow!