Archive | April, 2012

Lhasa, Tibet

We jumped on a China Airlines plane to make the skip over the Himalayas into Lhasa, capital of the ‘autonomous’ region of Tibet. In reality it has been governed with a rod of iron by the Chinese since they ‘invaded’ it in 1959. Along the way, we got our first view of Everest across the […]

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Pokhara

We have swapped the necessity of climbing into a thick sleeping bag fully clothed in a room in which ice forms on the inside of the windows for the joy of slipping between the sheets naked whilst the bedroom is cooled by an air conditioner. Frozen squatter toilets that have my thighs quivering have been […]

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Annapurna Circuit: Day Ten

Another bad night. This time I had diahorrea and becoming intimately acquainted with a frozen squatter toilet is not a life experience that I would recommend. I took the last two Imodium tablets and hoped that would prevent any unwelcome explosions on the mountain. The most annoying aspect of it all was that I had […]

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Annapurna Circuit: Day Nine

What a cold night! The temperature plunged well below zero, freezing everything including the toilet. I hadn’t had a good night, waking at 1.00am with a headache (a sign of altitude sickness) so I drank as much water as I could force down myself. At 4.00am I awoke without a headache but feeling sick (another […]

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Annapurna Circuit: Day Eight

I have to admit I hate starting the day with a strenuous climb. The body hasn’t woken up and the last thing I want to do is to break into a sweat. But that’s how it was departing Manang at 0720 in poor light and thick cloud which didn’t lighten the mood of the morning […]

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Annapurna Circuit: Day Seven

Being good people, after six days of toil, we have rested on the seventh day. Never mind that it’s a Saturday – that’s a minor issue. Resting in Manang isn’t a great hardship. Our hostal is relatively excellent – the bedroom may be unheated, cold and damp but we have an ensuite squatter toilet. At […]

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Annapurna Circuit: Day Six

We had a plan. If the weather was good we would trek the high route and, if not, we would go to Manang on the low route that followed the river. All the locals, all the guides and all the porters tell us that the high route can’t be done because it’s too difficult/too dangerous/too […]

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