Most Satisfied ... Part 2 Upper Mustang

Upper Mustang was a complete surprise for us ... I am struggling to find words to describe our experience trekking through here. I think I mentioned that Greg Rood had suggested that we go to Upper Mustang if we had time. We decided to take his advice ... it was a lot more expensive than the Annapurna but oh so worth it. Pete was surprised by the cost and was a little reluctant to spend the money, but he came around. The landscape here has been the most dramatic and inspiring we have ever seen. There is so much space, so much peace and quiet, the only sounds we could hear were the poplar trees blowing in the wind, or the wind singing through the power poles and the river. There are absolutely no distractions here. I felt moved by the Upper Mustang, I know I sound like I have lost my mind. When we came to the end I felt quite tearful. The Upper Mustang stirred my soul in a way that no other landscape ever has. I discovered something in myself. We have never been so tired or so cold! We walked some very long days always with big climbs and big descents. Our highest point was 4300m. We lost heaps of weight and were really challenged!

Walking into the Upper Mustang ... I really think Rob & Carly would love it here. Pete read Mustang a Lost Tibetan Kingdom written by a French anthropologist who spent 6 months in the Upper Mustang in 1964. Rob and Pete would have talked about his story all the way through here, then the conversation would have moved to the evils of the French and their sinking of the Rainbow Warrior ... and so it goes, I am sure you can hear them like I can. On the Annapurna we met new people every day, but this wasn't the case with the Upper Mustang as we didn't see that many hikers. Perhaps the cost puts them off along with the requirement that you have to have a guide. We did bump into a party of  French trekkers, a German mountain biking group and an expedition of Dutch climbers but most of the time it was just us.

The Kingdom of Mustang was founded in 1340. It's people are Buddhist and every town has an old fort and a monastery.  The forts are mostly in ruins but the monasteries are still in use and are beautiful and full of colour. Some of them are very old. I love the colours they use and they are decorated beautifully. This is the gate to one Monastery we visited. I think we have hundreds of photos of monasteries ... I could not stop photographing the colours. 

This is the view looking out from the Monastery in the picture above. The pass between the two peaks on the left is the pass from the Annapurna trail we would have climbed over if there had been no storm. The village of Manang where we ended our first trek is a few hours away on the other side. We have trekked both sides of the Annapurna, just not over the top.

Pete loved this fence. He thought it was the most amazing fence he had ever seen. It is made from rocks and is built round an apple orchard. There are apples all through here, heaps of apple orchards all the way out. They are yummy too. I had apple and porridge with honey for breakfast and I never got sick of it, all I needed was some of my favourite yoghurt from NZ to complete it . They have really nice honey here, but I think I already said that in our previous post.

We saw more horses than mules in Upper Mustang, which lead me to believe that possibly Upper Mustang is a little more affluent than the villages on the Annapurna. They use them for carrying goods, food, trekking gear and sometimes trekkers. We saw trains of ten or more horses and mules while walking. There are no traffic jams here but we did get caught in the odd horse jam.

This is the remains of an old fortress. Every town had one fully garrisoned with soldiers. The forts were the way the Kings of Mustang kept control of the Kingdom and warded off attacks.

Have I mentioned that we love, love, loved the landscape here in Upper Mustang so there will be a few photos like this one on this post.  There was a real sense at times of standing on top of the world. 

Chorten ... where ever there is a Buddhist monastery there will be one of these. They are usually dressed up with colour and flags. They are beautiful. You have to pass them on the left to show respect and generate good karma.

The autumn colours of Upper Mustang ... stunning!

Another landscape ... On the cliff is the village of Tsarang. There is a fort right on the cliff edge. It's still in good shape and has four or five stories. Here we really are standing on top of the world! Doesn't this look spectacular ... the contrast of white snow, brown earth and blue sky I find breath taking.

Lo Manthang ... this is where the King of Mustang lives with his family. They live here during the summer and then go to Kathmandu for the winter because it is soooo cold here. We always felt as if the sky was so close.

 Buddhist prayer wheels in Lo Manthang. Like the Chortens, we always walked to the left of these and made sure we gave the wheels a good spin. We really liked Lo Manthang ... a very old village, which is near the Tibetan boarder, but we were not allowed to go any further than here. We regret not staying here longer. Pete and GS went to meet the Prince of Mustang. Pete really enjoyed meeting him. Then when we got of our plane from Pokhara to Kathmandu the Prince got on the same bus as us and started to talking to Pete, he had remember meeting him. Pete was impressed.

Women at a village washing station. The Mustang people look more like American Indians than Nepalese, they are originally from Tibet. This is where they bring their dishes and their washing and sometimes they wash themselves. I have noticed how the women work in groups ... I love watching them, I get a real sense of relationship as I see them working together. Sometimes I see my own life as a Mother working in the home reflected back to me in their work and I find myself getting emotional. They work hard!

Nepal is a country of colour ... the colours they use to paint their Monasteries and Chortens are beautiful, so rich I feel drawn in by them. I love the shades of blue they use ... and the colour marigold is stunning. I love it. The combinations are so bold and beautiful.

Meet GS our wonderful guide. We have really enjoyed meeting him. If any of you are planning a trekking trip in Nepal this is the man you need. We had a wonderful time with him. He is quietly confident ... 'slowly, slowly' was his mantra. Dahl bhat was his meal every day. We are planning to return to Nepal and do another trek with him in a couple of years. We took this photo of him just out of Lo Manthang ... there was a storm brewing behind him and he looked so dramatic, I had to take a photo. 

The oldest Buddhist Temple in Nepal ... built about 800 AD.

I told you there would be a lot of landscape. In a lot of the photos we took I am GS's shadow and here I am. We are walking out ... 

We had to put a photo in of the Red Rock ... looks a little like Arizona red rock. According to Buddhist belief this red rock is the blood of demons that were killed by a famous Lama. I really hope you are getting a sense of the magnificence of this landscape which is so hard to capture in a photo, particularly for us.

Another landscape with Chortens ... Pete wanted me to put this photo in.

We discovered these biscuits when GS bought a packet. They were yummy and sugary ... just what we needed when we were feeling tired and needed some quick energy. Which was often.

Too cute not to capture ...

One tree hill ... we had walked what felt like down into the bowels of the earth to visit a cave that Buddhist monks use for spiritual retreats. There is absolutely no heating or insulation in any of the homes here. The cave is exactly what we say ... a cave with no door and tin hole for toilet and a hose with running water from the river below. It was a fantastic walk down and a 2+ hour walk up ... straight up ... this tree is near the top. That is me (liz) in the background.

These beasts are a hybrid of yaks and cows and they are huge ... get a load of their horns.

I bought this small bowl on the way out of Upper Mustang. There are some wonderful Tibetan antiques that can be bought along the trail. I thought of Joanne Scott and thought that she might really love some of the treasures that can be bought here. I love the yellow and blue together ... 

Usually photos are prohibited in these Buddhist Monasteries but this little monk said that we could take a photo. These Monasteries are alive with colour. We visited this Temple in Marpha ... the apple capital of Nepal.

 This is where monks used to go for their 3 year, 3 month, 3 week, 3 day, 3 hour meditation retreat. They must have frozen here ... they do austerity really well. 

We caught this bus from Marpha to Tatopani ... where we soaked in hot pools for an hour or two. (We had not durnk much during the day ... when Pete stood up in one of the pools he fainted and hit his head/ear against the concrete wall, nearly drowning himself. He had a black ear as a result.) They pack their buses to the max with people and luggage. We broke down at the river behind the bus ...  the driver took about 40 minutes to fix it. Riding in a bus in Nepal is a unique experience and everyone has to do it at least once. 

The famous marijuana herb. This grows freely along the track. They use it for the same purposes as Westerners do ... relaxation and self soothing.

Poon Hill. We got up at 4am ... along with about 300-500 other people, to watch the sun rise on the mountains. We stayed at Ghorepaini, the walk to Poon Hill is about an hour, in the dark and uphill the whole way. We followed a trail of torches to the top and the views were spectacular.

I love what they do with blue here ... 

We came across these women threshing millet so I decided to join them. I thought our children would really like to see this photo. When they were young I used to cook them hulled, kibbled millet for breakfast with raisins and honey ... yummy. They revolted and wouldn't eat it. This is where it comes from. These women sit for hours bashing the millet with sticks. Everything is done by hand in Nepal.

The finish ... we have had a spectacular experience on the Annapurna but the high light has been Upper Mustang. 

Mum, Aunty, Grandma, Liz, Lizzie

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Mum.

I love you so much and just writing this makes me miss you even more. Today is your birthday, day of birth, existence. You are amazing and bring life and life to every part of my life. I an so glad that you are my mother. You make everything better and no matter what you are wlays there and always have your children's well being on your mind.
You are currently traveling the world. You simply packed up your life, after a few years of hell you took yourself on an adventure. I admire your strength to leave you home behind and embarke on this amazing adventure and endeavour. It takes great strength and sacrifice to leave the comforts of home and what is familiar behind and yet you didn't hesitate you just went with it. I think i can speak for many when i say that you have so manny people in your life that love you and are so happy to have you in there lives.
My whole life you have given up your time for those you love. When I was at intermediate and decided to be home school you supported me in every capacity, despite the difficulties we have at times (maths) lol. On the days i came home sick from school when i wasn't really sick at all, lol, you took care of me and loved me.
One of many things i love you is that we are so similar, we love you, delicious food, cheese, exercise music, movies, we are both equally indulgent in the hippie life. I can't think of a better person to be like and i love it. I love how when i come home its like if never left we do everything together, go the market, movies, exercise together, even sleep together sometimes (even though i'm 23, lol). Everyday you make me feel like i'm special and loved.
You are blessed with the spirit of celebration, birthdays christmas you never fail to go crazy with celebratory treats, amazing food, decorations and a general feeling of love and excitement. growing up in the Cammock house meant having a birthday to remember. Very large delicious breakfasts, presents, family, life and colour was always present on those days.
Being almost December if you were home, you and i would be planning christmas day, ordering ham, berries, cherries, cheese, bagels, etc, you would have made your christmas pudding and the christmas energy would already be present. You always make sure that there is enough food and there is always to much. lol.
Mum i love you more that words can say and today me and everyone who loves you want to make you feel special and loved even though your not with us.  Have a fabulous day  and always remember that you are amazing, full of life, love and are the most amazing mother, aunt, grandma, liz, lizzie. I have one giant hug and kiss for you. I can't wait to see you again and to do all the liz alice things we love together. 

You are beautiful and Awesome

"There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love

All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky

The holy books are open wide

The doctors working day and night

But they'll never ever find that cure,

That cure for love"

Love love love you heaps, Alice

Just a little birthday song for you....o the memories of you dancing around the lounge, look forward to making many many more.  You definitely have a hungry heart. lol xoxox

Happy Happy Day Momma!

I am so pleased that you get to spend it at a hippie yoga retreat doing what you love.

I feel so lucky to have you as my Mum.  I love how you love each of us, and how much effort you have made to let us know that you love us unconditionally.  I feel so grateful to have been raised in a home where you have set such a strong example of kindness and goodness, but simultaneously provided an environment where we can question everything and trust our our own judgement.  

I have never known anyone who works on themselves so fearlessly.  As an adult I realise how difficult it is to change things about myself, areas that I wish I was better or patterns that I want to change.  I am constantly impressed by your ability to see things that you want to be different and work and work on yourself till they are.  

I think what I am most grateful for is the sense of home I have in you.  Even though you guys are away and we don't have a physical home to go too, I feel such a homecoming in my relationship with you.  It is so comforting to know that I could ask you for anything, anytime and I have no doubt that you would do everything you could to give it to me.  

You are such a funny crazy presence in my life.  I love the weird things you come out with in conversations and how excited you get about music and movies.  I love how you want share every good thing you come across with everyone you love.  I love how good you are to the people you care about.  I love how you retain facts and bring them out at totally inappropriate times (Im thinking of the Elephant Penis size) and I love how you listen to me and always let me know that I am worth the most to you.

I hope you have an amazing day doing yoga and celebrating yourself.  I hope you feel at home when you read these messages.

I love you so much.

Lucy 

By all rights mum should have died from a heart attack because of all the worry that myself and the rest of the kids have put her through. From a very young age I was always prone to getting hurt – whether it was a bump on the knee or a broken leg at the age of 3, I always found myself with some injury. Because of this, you would think I’d be wrapped in bubble paper and prevented from doing anything remotely risky, instead, Mum never stopped encouraging me from living out my imaginations and my dreams. An example of this occurred during my second year in Dunedin when I decided to play rugby for a local team with some friends of mine. During the first game of the season I was knocked out cold and was not allowed to play for 7 weeks. Now most mothers would say – ‘why don’t you stop playing’ or something to that effect – but not mum. She was in Dunedin to support me my first game back and she even bought me some head gear so that I could keep on playing for the rest of the season.

Mum is fearless. She is willing to try almost anything and she loves to stretch her abilities especially in the outdoors. She is currently finishing up the Annapurna trail in Nepal, and is traveling around the world with Dad. It is this passion for life that has passed on to us kids. Over the last few years Mum has experienced the greatest change, she has become a grandmother to my little girl who was named after Mum. For those of us that no mum she is often regarded as outspoken and even crazy. Some qualities I see in my little Elizabeth. I guess some we chose the perfect name.

Mum is one of the most amazing women that I know, she has a strength and power that is inspiring.  I love you mum. I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you. Happy birthday. From me, Ite and Elizabeth.

Hi liz,

Happy Birthday over there in Nepal.

When I asked the kids something about you (as you will see in the video clip), Lars mentioned your hot chocolate (which the kids mention daily-no joke) and Roxcy mentioned your makeup.

Your master hot chocolate making skills is something you generously share. In the 10+ years that I have known you, I have had so many of your delicious hot chocolates. To me, they are just one of the many many many examples of your generosity. I will never forget how generously you welcomed, this American girl, into your family.

Roxcy mentioned your makeup. She loved all that, as you know but what she loved more is to be involved with you and have you spend time with her. You love your kids i love watching you LOVE your grandkids. They are so beyond lucky to have you.

You know me and my obsession with lip syncs. We were thinking of just the right song and Lars picked this one. It's our family song and we dedicate it to you. I know that you will love seeing the kids in this and Lars really brought it. I hardly coached him at all. He plays the part.

I am glad we have a day to celebrate your awesomeness.

Love you,

Chris

“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly.

But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t

ever see them fading.”

― Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

Happy Birthday Liz, you are apart of some of our most valuable memories.

Love always - The North Island Cammocks

Elizabeth Mary Cammock!

It is your day of Birth. I am wondering what outrageously expensive foodie treats you have found this day on your travels. I hope they are treats to be remembered for a lifetime.

I am so grateful to have such a strong loving woman in my life. I thank you for teaching me how to be a woman. How to be a mother. How to be generous. How to be loyal. How to resolve conflict. How to serve others. Im yet to learn the discipline, I guess some things cannot be learned eh?

You have touched my life and haven’t let go. You have bought joy and warmth to my life and have given me a place to be, a home, a family.

You really are, a great person. Not just in words but for “true God life”.

You have shared your most precious parts with me, Your incredible kids.I love your kids and the parts of you that surfaces in their personalities.

I admire how you laugh out loud at your own self! Often! It’s so innocent and yet so crazy all at the same time. The world feels right when you are laughing.

Happ Happ HAppy day to you Liz

love you long times

Jonelle

Liz

I am missing you guys majorly. I had an awsome trip in Australia with the girls. Would have been great to do it with you though.

Cant wait untill you return. I hope you guys are having fun. 

I’ve been missing your hot chocs, 

Im missing the markets and movies with you. 

I really miss your laugh and smiles

I miss you chit chatting to me

I love that you love me

I am missing your reading to me.

I wish you were here to see my new uniform.

I cant wait till we have a new Baby in our lives to have fun with.

Happy Birthday Liz

Love Harriet

Happy birthday Liz, did you get my send present. I think I want to say happy birthday to you.

 Love Henry

Happy bithday Liz thanks for the pink delight. It was exciting. I wonder when you are coming home, we had such good times before you left forever.

Love Meg

Sitting upstairs listening to the kids play at the school I can’t help drift off into happy thoughts of you on your birthday. I am surrounded by you despite being thousands of miles apart. The things that mean a lot to you, the choices you make about furniture, the way you keep your home, bowls, tile, colours to surround yourself with are here as lovely reminders of a woman I admire and love so very much. They make me smile. You make me smile. You have always been a safe place for me Liz, no matter which HOUSE you've lived in. You have welcomed my loves into your life with grace and acceptance and always looked for the good. You have given me shelter from many storms and no one can quite tell it like it is like you can. I miss your laughter, I miss your excitability, I miss the little things you stress about only to talk yourself through a solution 5 minutes later. I miss your wisdom and your banter…It’s adorable.

We wish you a happy birthday, I can only imagine the delicious food you care for yourself with today, I love how you celebrate all in your life. You are a wonderful example of womanhood, grace and challenge. My favourite combination of attributes. I love you. I thank God for you (and Pete) I am honoured to know you. Happy Birthday Love Gail and whanau

-- 

Gail Pomare

Happy Birthday Mum. 

Chris edited a video of the kids doing a music video for your birthday. Hopefully Alice will figure out how to hack your blog so we can post it…

In additional to that I just wanted to say happy birthday to you. I wanted you to know what an excellent Mum you have been. It is so cool to see you doing such great exciting things with Dad! Above all else you have been an example of a life that i can aspire to. It doesn’t seem to matter what the context or pressures have been you have always been able to find a way to do things that are exciting and worth something. Thanks for teaching us that no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in we should always find the time to have fun, push ourselves, and do something worth doing.

That said… after the Nepal tramping experience I hope you revisit your staunch, “the weather does not determine the activity” motto. Sometimes, just sometimes, it might be an important factor.

Love you and keep enjoying your trip and inspiring us all at home.

Mike & Family

Mum, Grandma, Aunt, Liz we love you heaps and heaps

Happy Birthday from us all.

Pete & liz's Magnificent Adventure Part 1

This Way ... Track marking painted on a rock walking on the Annapurna

We are back! We have had an amazing time ... taken heaps of photos ... as usual not sure how to put our experience and photos together into a post. I really wish our photos could tell our story, but as you know already our photo skills are very amateur. Sharing our story is sometimes hard ... hard to express or describe what we have seen and experienced. I find myself overwhelmed by photos, emotions and experience ... where to begin and what photos to post. As I have said before, I hear lucy's voice in my head ... 'photos, lots of photos of you both.' As many of you know I am camera shy, so I find it hard to pick photos of me ... but I have tried. 

Firstly, thank you for your FB messages of concern for us during the tragic snow storm that hit the Annapurna circuit on October 16. There are lots of things about the storm that were tragic as well as the people that died! There was a lot of confusion in Manang, no official information about how many people had died or were missing, whether to go over the pass or not. In the first two days there was an exodus of people. Guides stopped taking parties over for about 2/3 weeks. It took a few days to remove bodies and longer to remove their belongings that were left on the pass. The locals that lived in villages along the trail said that it was the worst snowfall in October for 60 years.  

There were quite a few individual walkers who stayed in Manang and waited until they thought that it was safe enough to go over the pass. We had a 10 day permit dated October 24 to go into Upper Mustang and there was no flexibility with the starting date and this gave us little waiting time. We also felt uncomfortable going over the pass when so many people had lost their lives. After thorough consultation with our guide GS, we decided to turn back and go to Pokhara and catch a plane to Jomsom so that we would be in Mustang on time. This was a hard decision for both of us ... we felt sad turning back, we had got so close! There are moments when we realise that we are not in control and this was one of those moments. On this occasion the mountain and weather had made our decision for us, as hard as it was to accept. On the way out we heard some very distressing stories from fellow trampers and this affirmed our decision.

Anyway let's get started on our trip ... 

Our bags all packed and ready to go. Our poles were great, especially on the uphill ... 'my pole is my friend and I will not let it go!' Yes those are our bladders on the outside ... we did not have enough room on the inside. My pack was too heavy for me. On day two I transferred some things to Pete's pack ... I tried to be a man but I couldn't quite do it. We were climbing from the beginning and doing regular 8-10 hour days and I knew I would never make it with the weight of my pack. Pete very kindly took some things for me. The heaviest part of our packs were our sleeping bags. We didn't have much gear but our sleeping bags were the biggest and heaviest thing in our bags. Next time we'll buy some proper light-weight, down sleeping bags. They were a combination of heavy and cold. Pete cursed them every night of the trek.

On Nepalese buses they have a drivers assistant. He's always male usually a smooth, street-smart teenager. They take the money off passengers, open the side door, call out to potential customers as the bus is still moving, help the driver reverse by hanging out the window as above and banging the side of the bus... I am not sure how that helps the driver, but it does. Not sure how OSH would deal with the above!? The bus was moving when he climbed out the window to check the bags on the roof and continued to do so while he was hanging there. Meanwhile in front of us a Nepalese woman was spitting and vomiting into a blue plastic bag that the coach provided for free and when she had filled it threw it out the window and grabbed the next bag. She did this many times.

The beginning of our tramp ... Pete eating under the 'Tree of Enlightenment' ... a little too much footpath and not enough tree! 

I really think Pete looks like Rob here ... what is your verdict? Certainly a Rob Hat.

I had to take a photo of this ... Nepal is second in the world for water. The Annapurna trail walks along some amazing rivers! India has sealed a deal with Nepal to build a damn that supplies electricity to India who then sell it back to Nepal, I think that is how it goes. India has contracted the building of the dam out to China. The above sign was at the damn building site. I particularly like #1 ... 'Come to work happily, go home safely'.

The Nepalese dress up their trucks and buses inside and out. Most of the trucks are Tata's made in india. They decorate them with ribbons and paint them lots of different colours as you can see and paint slogans on the front and back like 'Speed King' and 'See You'. Lots of the decoration is religious and designed to generate good karma. I loved them, they have taken something so ordinary and made it into something colourful and eye-catching. These trucks were at the damn site we walked past.

All along the Annapurna trail are villages that have 'Tea Houses' or what we could call hotels for trampers to stay in, they are very basic but oh so appreciated at the end of a long hard uphill walk. In these villages there a lot of vegetable and crop gardens, like rice and barley. I saw this basket of chillies out in the sun being dried for winter. I love the colour. Corn is hung over balconies some with husks and some without, to dry. They look an amazing marigold colour when they are drying.

In all of the 'Tea Houses' they sell water, biscuits and snickers bars. I discovered that I could walk for two hours and then I could literally feel my energy drain away and I had to have something to eat, like right now ... snickers bars were it, the amazing blend of chocolate and nuts that my body needed for the next 2 hours.

We stopped for a cooked lunch every day at the Tea Houses and we had some really yummy meals.  In most of the Tea Houses they use wood stoves for cooking, power is very expensive and there are regular power cuts. Everything is cooked from scratch and their kitchens are always neat and orderly as you can see from our photo. These two young women did our cooking, 16 & 12 I think. The people live off the land and are very poor by Western standards and the trekkers provide important extra income.

Lots of water falls ... just for your information.

This is definitely Planet of the Apes terrain on this part of the Annapurna. Very hot/humid and a lot of rain forest. I was so excited by these Apes. We also saw them when we were walking out. You can see the trees moving and leaves falling and then suddenly you see Apes, kind of creepy. They followed us for a while on our walk out. These Apes we saw on the way in.

I hope this gives you an idea of how much climbing we were doing. Every day we were climbing up, up, up into the mountains. Remembering to look up is so important otherwise you miss so many beautiful views, but sometimes we found it a little overwhelming looking up as there seemed to be no end to our climb. We got very fit and lost a lot of weight (most of it muscle)!

We are still quite warm here and as you can see the mountains in the background. The views through here are spectacular. The scenery got better and better everyday. We were totally blown away by what we saw. Its hard to capture on a photo (particularly for us) and so hard to describe. I don't think we've seen scenery anywhere in the world that compares with Nepal. 

Dahl Bhat ... 24 Hour Power. Dahl Bhat is a traditional Nepalese meal and most Nepalese eat this every day if not twice a day. I found it amazing how there are so many different versions of the same dish. I liked it. Rice, dahl, green veggie, potato and pickle. I love how they cook their potato dishes here. They are yummy ... I think lucy would love them.

The most common form of carrying things is on their backs with a rope or belt strapped around their foreheads. This is an older woman carrying rice ... sometimes all you can see are feet.

This is a Buddhist Chorton (a kind of mini-temple) ... whenever you see one of these you walk to  the left of it. They are religious icons that are built to bring good luck and keep demons away. They are usually decorated like this one. There are many different forms of these along the trail some modest and some ornate and colourful.

Hand sanitiser ... I am not sure if we have enough!! Pete was quite obsessive about hand sanitiser and using it. Even though there is heaps of water here in Nepal not all of it is safe to use because it is used for  everything ... you could be bathing and washing clothes in the same water and then there is all the animals that walk through it and do what ever they do in it. It might have paid off because we had very few problems with upset stomachs.

Another Buddhist Chorton ... we saw this on the way out of Chame which is the district capital of Manang. Chame is where we started to get cold and had to pull out our woollen gear, leggings and long pants. The storm hit on the evening of this day. The only indication we had of bad weather coming was from a German woman who had checked her iPhone and it said there was going to be rain for the next 3 days, we had no idea how serious it was going to be. 

Remember to look up ... the ceiling of the Chorton. The colours they use here are amazing ... particularly the blue they use.

Heaven's Gate ... we came across a group of women who had walked up here to pray in their best "Sunday" gear. They stayed over night and we saw them on their way down. The next day it was completely covered in snow from the storm.

Not only do the Nepalese dress up their buses/trucks they also dress up their donkeys/mules and horses. Donkeys really smell when walking down wind of them. When the storm hit mules were the only way to get supplies into the Annapurna. They are amazing to watch. One or two of the donkeys  wear bells (obviously the leaders), and the rest of the group follow them. The shepherds use very little noise or force ... they might whistle or call out for left and right and the mules seem to recognise their instructions and follow obediently. I wish parenting was more like that.

This is Upper Pisang ... the storm hit here about an hour after this photo. We were staying in Lower Pisang and went for a walk to visit the above monastery. We met this very nice Buddhist Monk from Bhutan whose motto (he told us) is 'Gross National Happiness'. He is 19 and had been a monk for about 18 months, he had moved from Kathmandu to Upper Pisang for a few months. We asked him why he was a monk and he said his parents made him. We asked if he liked it and he said 'No' ... he missed home and was cold and miserable and he cried a little. He has an older brother who is an Abbott which is quite the deal in Buddhism and his brother was getting ready for a 3 year, 3 month, 3 week, 3 day, 3 hour meditation retreat where they have no contact with anyone and are not allowed to have their hair cut or finger nails and toe nails cut. They are standing in the doorway of the monastery ... the colours around the door are beautiful and pretty much the same in every Temple. We saw a lot of these.

The deadly snow storm that hit on October 16th. The higher up the track the worse the weather. It was heavy rain lower down. We were stuck here for a day. The irony of this is that all along the Annapurna people are using cell phones ... there are no dead spots you can call anyone from anywhere in the world or Nepal on this track, but no one from official sources bothered to phone through to Manang and close the pass!! After the storm there were broken power lines lying everywhere. As a result there was no power in most of the villages and probably won't be for a while.

Note ... Heavens Gate after the storm ... 

After leaving Lower Pisang we were sinking into snow all day ... my feet were like solid blocks of ice. By the time we stopped to rest for the night we were very tired from having to pull our feet out of snow which was up to our knees in parts. It was a long hard day. We climbed from the valley below to the point where I am standing

We stopped here for lunch and took our boots and socks of to warm our feet ... this felt so nice, so warm!!

I know this seems out of place but we gave up on showers or washing ourselves with freezing cold water at day 2 ... baby wipes became our regular daily ablution ... I will never go anywhere without them now!!

A panoramic view of the mountains ...

Our last night in Manang which is the last village before Thorong pass which is 5416m high. It was only when we got here that we started to hear about the casualties caused by the storm. The outside world knew far more about it than people on the track. During the snow storm nearly 50 people died from exposure and avalanches including a number of people who died trying to cross the pass.There was so much chaos and uncertainty in Manang. Helicopters were flying for days bring bodies and stranded trekkers back to Manang. It was very sad and dramatic and then very difficult to find out exactly what was going on. In the confusion people were reported dead or missing who were quite safe. A couple of women we met were front page news across Canada after being reported missing (presumed dead). As some of you know we were also unaccounted for, for a few days.

A panoramic shot of an avalanche that came down during the night next to Lower Pisang. We came across it on our way out. We heard it come down when we were staying in Lower Pisang on the way in ... it made such a noise. I think the avalanche was about 30 feet high and was right across the road as you can see and it was solid ice when we walked across it. It was pretty clear that it was not going anywhere in a hurry. We have heard since that they managed to clear a path through the middle of it so that supplies could get through to the villages.

An out door bakery that made the yummiest deep fried bread! GS, our guide really liked the bread here.

Pete with a beard ... he reminds me of Andrew Stewart in this photo.

Inside a Buddhist Ghompa by Manang ... the colours are so beautiful in these Temples and some of them are so old ... the books in this photo are made of cloth.

We took five days walking into Manang and two days walking out. We were pretty tired walking out and walking long days. We got a ride from the above jeep the rest of the way out ... a Mahindra made in India. We had to get out here so that the driver could get the jeep through the waterfall easily. I need to say here that these jeeps are full ... there are people usually on the roof and 3 people sitting in the front, 3 people sitting behind the front and about 6 people sitting in the very back. As well as luggage.

I had to put this photo in ... it just seems so Nepalese to me, building a bridge on top of a rock that could at any stage be washed away by a flood.

These tasted so good ... we have been eating Vegan now for a while and by the time we got to Pokhara we were hanging out for something rich and disgusting. We found a western type restaurant and had pizza and cake ... it was delicious.

This post has taken ages ... uploading these photos has been very, very slow so there are a lot of photos that I have not put up. Look out for Part 2 in the next week.