Annapurna Round
in
Fifteen Days

Day Seven, 2nd October - Manang to Yak Kharka

2/10/10 Yak Kharka, overnight stop - 4018 metres

So much for the plan! Dhan was up and ready, so we left together at seven after a quick breakfast . . . but it was bloody cloudy, so the light wasn't great anyway. Typical. Oh well, hopefully I still got some nice shots anyway. The scenery was great - just the stark, rugged landscape I enjoy. At this height there are no trees to speak of, just shrubs and low vegetation. We stopped for morning tea at a cute little teahouse in Gunsang, where a French woman with a Scottish accent was staying for three months, cooking muffins! Great views from there. We saw two Brits coming the other way - one with the biggest backpack I've ever seen, almost twice the size of mine. The boys, originally from Manchester, had been trekking in remote Mustang. They had crossed Thorung La the previous day, going the hard way - 1,600 metres ascent followed by 1,000 metres descent. They were planning to reach Pokhara the night after next (a journey that had taken us seven days - admittedly we were going up and they down, but even so). They hoped to cover 50 kilometres today. Fair play to them. I think they must have been ex-army or something.

Not long after we'd continued our journey we passed a man sat on a rock looking rather forlorn. I asked if he was okay; he wasn't - another victim of high sickness, he was descending with a defeated air about him. I guess I'd be the same, but he'd done well to spot the signs and act accordingly. It must be terribly disappointing though, having got so far. That said, after a day or two acclimatising at a lower level, and he'd be in a position to try again. When we arrived at Yak Karka I chatted to two more English lads, who I'd seen at Pisang - one of who was complaining of headaches and increased pulse-rate back then. The said they were planning to continue on to Thorung Phedi, a whole 1,000 metres about Manang where they'd started out from. They were hiking without a guide or porter, and neither had any diamox with them (which aids acclimatisation, and can be taken as a preventative measure or in an emergency to lessen symptoms - although you should then either stay put or descend). I tried to persuade them not to, but they took little heed. As they wandered off, no doubt annoyed by my interfering, I heard the one who'd been having problems since Pisang say, "let's have lunch here, and I'll see if I can clear this headache."

I was struggling with the thin air today, really puffing uphill. I'd hoped to go out and take some photos this afternoon, make the most of getting in early enough to do something, but it clouded over big time, so I slept and read in turns. I'm staying at the Thorung Peak Hotel, as are the loud French group, whom I was just chatting to. Just four of them are walking to whole way to Pokhara, as the rest are flying from Jomsom. They were amazed I'd been in the country so long; I forget that I am an anomaly here - mostly it's short-term visitors, and not so many backpackers.

Apart from a slightly sore finger from my hiking sticks, and a shortness of breath going uphill (fine at rest or going down) I doing well. I've not even got the cold that everyone seems to have, judging from all the coughing and sneezing. Jessie's guide (the solo American) seems like a nice guy, but the noises he makes sucking back his snot and swallowing it turn my stomach. I'd hate to be in Nepal during a flu epidemic!

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