Day 4-5: Dharapani to Chame to Pisang

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164_6445-4.JPGI’ll try to make up for two days of writing. The past two days have been my favorite so far. Luckily, we awoke in Dharapani to a sunny morning, which was great considering we fell asleep to the sound of rain on our corrugated tin roof.

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The landscape has changed a lot in the past two days too. Mainly, its become less humid as we’ve increased elevation. The vegetation first changed from tropical/jungly to foresty/coniferous and now to more deserty (although there’s still some trees around).

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Arriving in Chame last night, it was extremely cold. Luckily our guesthouse had a big fireplace right in the middle of the dining room. We began the evening with tea with the New Zealanders, but we all finished the night with rakshi. For the those uninformed on rural Nepali alcohol, rakshi is a distilled spirit made from millet. It tastes almost the same as sake and its also drunk warm. Our guides introduced it to us in Ngadi and they’ve had a few cups every night since. I like it and have joined them a couple times too.

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This morning was sunny again, but still cold. The trekking today was short, but absolutely amazing. The trail is now right under the snowy peaks of the Annapurnas. On the right side of the valley are desert mountains. The scale of the mountains on both sides is bigger than anything I’ve ever seen- most of the mountains in this area are around 25,000 feet. Down here though, there’s still a few trees, which are all sporting their autumn colors.

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We arrived in Lower Pisang around 1pm and took a quick hike across the river and up a million steps to Upper Pisang. There’s a new monastery (less than 10 years old), which was awesome to see because all the art was beautiful and unfaded. There was also an incredible view of Annapurna II. The sun set fairly early, as it has the past few days (and am told will for much of the trek)- the high mountains really cut down the amount of direct sunlight.

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The place we’re staying tonight is one of my favorites so far. Its just a cluster of cabins, but everyone hangs out in the big dining room with a central fireplace. I really like these wooden dining rooms that fill with the soft sounds and smells of evening conversation and smoke. I really enjoy the warmth of the mountains, as oxymoronic as that sounds.

A couple other things I’ve been thinking about are: Nepal’s development (or lack thereof) and the tourism system here. I think I’ll write a full post-trek post on Nepalese Development, but I can vent on the trekking tourism system now. Within every village, each restaurant has the same food and prices. This is because each village has a tourism committee that sets the menus and prices. This cartel system obviously only has negative effects. Firstly, the food is all overpriced. I don’t mind paying more for a Snickers bar or for a Coke, because some porter had to carry them for x number of days and the restaurant/hotel bought it an increased price. But charging us five times the Nepali price for a plate of rice or a cup of tea is ridiculous. Secondly, the standards of everywhere is lowered. What’s the point in cooking better food if you cannot charge more for it? There’s no competition, so quality slips. Charge me a little more- fine. Quote a high price and lets work from there- fine. But charging me how many times the price that Nepalis pay pisses me off. Its the whole idea of “lets rip off the foreigner” institutionalized. Racism or capitalism, I’m not sure. Anyways, the trek is beautiful and there’s nothing I can do about getting ripped off (often paying more that I’d pay in the US even), so I’ll try to not let it bother me.

joylani 130pxToday was a fairly easy day. There wasn’t nearly as much uphill as the last two days, and I think the distance we covered was shorter as well. Yesterday the scenery started to change, but today it was definitely different from the tropical plants and terraced rice patties we walked through at the beginning of the trek. Now all the trees are conifers and the scent of the fallen pine needles smells just like it would at home. Plants are getting sparser, but they are beautiful in their array of greens, golden browns, yellows, and reds. It’s nice to get a taste of fall after spending so much time in warmer climates. We got our first good peak at the snow-capped mountains today; they are truly amazing. I can’t believe we’ll be walking up in some of them. Matt and I were able to talk more today since the paths were wider and more level (usually we tend to walk single file). We went over our vague SE Asia plans which will hopefully start to solidify in the coming weeks. After arriving at our stopping point (little orange and black cabins), Matt and I were finally able to do some laundry, albeit in freezing cold water, and take a quick shower (lukewarm water, but SUPER cold due to bursts of wind coming through the window and cracks in the bathroom walls). Afterwards I had a little bit of time to enjoy the last bit of sun on our doorstep before retreating inside.

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Matt and the others went to go see a monastery, but I am content to stay warm (sort of warm) inside my sleeping bag. The river isn’t too near (and therefore not as loud) and the only sound breaking the calm is wind blowing in the trees…and maybe the chattering of my teeth.

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