"So how was Nepal?"
Put on the spot hundred times like this - every day for a good week or so - is truly tough. Even harder is to estimate who's actually interested in the answer and who's just running the typical water cooler chit chat in the kitchen where even responding "horrible, half of our group fell off the cliff and died in agony" would be met with "that's great to hear, see you later".
My secret plan was thus to finish writing up a blog from the journey before I'd be back and then send around a link, which would turn the kitchen chit chats back to the much less pressure-inducing topics, such as rainy weather or the spoiled milk in the fridge. But since I did not get around to that so quickly, I chose a different strategy of responding to the dreaded question by saying:
"It was great"
That's it. And let those people ask more if they're interested! Muhaha!
But that said, Vinny - always being original - did come with a different question that got me off the rails and had me crash to a huge brick wall at full speed:
"What was the highlight of the trip?"
BOOM! I was utterly speechless and unprepared, trying to pick a single highlight out of all the good stuff that happened.
And so, since I have the whole trip in detail at Fero Writes blog (ok, as of now only 3/5 parts finished, but the main bit done!), let this pizza hunt blog post be the cherry-picked highlights, the best of the best, the brightest of the stars on the Ledar's night sky. For it is together that these highlights make for the most awesome and diverse "highlight pizza" on the menu. Not exactly an edible one, but enjoyable anyway. At least for me. And if you're not interested, then why the hell are you still reading? Go watch funny YouTube vids instead!
So here we go, 10 highlights - in no particular order!
1) People.
OK, no order to the highlights, but this WAS no 1!
When I was going there, I had this irrational fear that I won't meet any nice people and will spend a month discovering my inner self through silence and contemplation. This somehow did not work out, however, and the people I've met were simply the biggest highlight of the trip. For just like jamming with others makes you a better musician, getting to know other people makes you a better person. And there on the Annapurna circuit it's not only easier to meet the often much more open-minded people, also the get-to-know-you process is somewhat accelerated - by having to share rooms, agreeing on trekking plans or calling each other asshole in the same-name card game.
Yep, meeting new people is like bouncing off the walls in a maze of life, and seeing yourself more clearly in the occasional mirrors that are to confuse you and lead you astray.
They also inspire you to talk psychological shit like this.
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| My Nepali family - couldn't have asked for better people to trek with! |
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| A friendly Welsh, partly French contingent that I joined for a couple days. |
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| Ri-angelo, a super nice Dutch Caribbean company for exploring Kathmandu |
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| Elbrus home is just the perfect place to meet cool people |
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| An Austrian couple and their guide formed a great company for the descent from Ghorepani |
Cheers everyone.
2) Tilicho lake
If there was one highlight that's hard to describe, it's the views. You can wave you arms, widen your eyes, and talk in high pitched voice like an idiot, but the person you're describing the views to will be still prefer you to finish off soon and return to filling out Excel spreadsheets instead. You simply must see it.
And although there were so many, if there's one highlight to mention in terms of the views, it is the one from Tilicho lake area. The pointy Khangsar Kang and Tilicho peak with their huge snowy glacier coats, the incredibly navy blue lake with the desert around it, the whole valley where Margsyandi river is born, peaks of Annapurna III and Gangapurna in the distance and even Manaslu, or the whole range of Chulu peaks somewhere at the horizon. An absolute treat, a view that I doubt to ever get dethroned in my memory...
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| Can it get better than this? Gangapurna, Annapurna III, Manaslu in the distance and much much more... |
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| Tilicho lake - completely unique, but freezing cold with bursts of wind that get to you |
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| It's a place of close encounter - here the surrounding giants of Tilicho peak and its glaciers literally meet the trail to Tilicho lake |
3) Pokhara
I don't know if the ancient civilizations planned it this way already, but the combination of hiking the Annapurna Circuit and ending up at the chilled lakeside of Pokhara with all the bars, food and music seems as if it was planned by God himself. If there's indeed a paradise somewhere, I imagine it's kind of like Pokhara...
Starting the day in the hipster-smoothie-yoga Juicery cafe (where, if you're up for it, Vish will beat the shit out of you with the morning HIT training), continuing with the boat trip on the lake with back-flips to the water and sipping chilled beers, then enjoying some lunch and an afternoon nap in the deckchairs of the lakeside restaurants before heading for a massage... Finally the indecision of choosing among the many choices of live-music venues, open mics and bars which do not match the "Western standards" only in the high prices back home...
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| Getting ready for the outdoor screening of The Beach @ The Movie Garden |
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| The Doors cafe - open mics every day. A truly awesome place. Did I join? |
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| With Angelo and people from his hostel - sailing the lake Phewa, back-flipping to the water, sipping beer and listening to Pokhara Love. The ultimate chill |
Yep, Pokhara love, baby.
4) Yak meat
Sorry vegetarians. And sorry yaks. You're such amazing creatures. But being a mortal, I was simply too tempted to try, and once I did, I was an addict. A simple chow mein was a treat already, with added yak meat it was simply a ceremonious feast.
But now seriously - yak meat tasted great, but all the food was just excellent, be it with or without it. Simple, tasty, digestible and inexpensive, I would gladly stay on the Nepali diet for much longer. Time to learn new recipes!
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| Yak sizzzzzlerrrr |
5) Lemon ginger honey tea
When the omnipresent cold gets to you after the sunset, when you undo your sleeping bag in the morning, or when even huddling together like penguins in the down jackets doesn't help, there's always the ultimate combo to save ya:
"Lemon ginger honey tea".
It is everywhere, it is superbly tasty and healthy, and it is fucking expensive. Up in the 4000s and above, a big pot of LGH tea (~2.5 litres) could easily leave you 15 quid poorer.
In fact, if I ever return to Annapurnas, I'll gather some data and plot a scatter plot of the altitude vs. the price of this warmth-bringing brew and I am sure we'll see at the very least linear, at the very most exponential trend. I mean, I would not return just for that - I'd also sip gallons of the best tea ever ;-)
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| Rounds of card games + lemon ginger honey tea. Beat that |
6) Nepali people
I don't recall such hospitality - ever. One simply feels safe and welcome wherever they go. Ok, perhaps not wherever, as I did not really venture too far off the beaten track, but wherever I did go, I left with the best of impressions.
They may not always be super positive or carry a wide smile, for people have lives and they have shitty days too. Those that know me know that I call this principle "authentic", and that's what makes the true moments of care and smile even more enjoyable.
It was the young waiter in KC's who did not speak a word of English but still tried to talk us through the food on my first day in Nepal, the random guy striking a conversation on the street and not trying to sell or advertise anything, or the crazy taxi driver who'd drive pedal-to-the-floor in the opposite direction lane after finally getting out of the stuck traffic in Kathamandu.
Ok, perhaps not always safe, but welcome for sure!
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| Bunch of students of hospitality, once I've responded to their questionnaire |
7) Pandas
It's an excellent Python package for data science and data wrangling.
Ha, in these days (and my circles), one would almost forget that pandas are first and foremost THE BEST animals ever that make you smile even if you just got off a long Ryanair flight in the middle seat. Looking at them is simply like a constant stream of funny and cute YouTube videos, only it's not videos but REAL shit! Sometimes real shit literally, but most often it's the opposite thing - these guys snack on bamboo virtually non stop, and the rest of the time they seem to be filming for those YouTube videos, the kind that gets million likes in first five minutes. The one I filmed in Chengdu's Pandas research center during a long layover back to UK got only 49 likes (at the time of this writing!), but nonetheless it's simply cuteness overload. See for yourself.
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| Cute pandas |
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| Very cute pandas |
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| Cute and hungry panda |
And give me a panda, please...
8) Deluxe buses
Right. To put things straight, the buses in Nepal are almost without exception ultra-old, bombed out, jumping around like crazy and one wheel off the cliff wherever there actually is a cliff (it's a traffic rule in Nepal and you could get fined if all the wheels are safely on the road). Nothing to fancy, right?
But then, after Peter told me that "he actually enjoyed the journey to Tatopani" - true, a bit of masochistic statement - I came to see the point. The experience is definitely surreal and memorable, even if not something you'd want to repeat. It's just another type of adrenaline thrill that people seek...
Finally, one simply must be amused by the fact that all of the buses are without exception marked as "DELUXE" and are (as advertised with stickers at the back) featuring A/C, Air suspension, MP3, DVD or even Facebook (whatever that means for a bus). Is all of that really there? Find out for yourself ;-)
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| Deluxe bus from the back |
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| Deluxe bus from the front |
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| Fancy a free wifi or air suspension? |
9) Ledar
It was a day when I split off for a bit from our group. I was in need of some quiet thinking time and this moment - a couple of days before crossing the path - felt like the right choice, with a plan to re-join the fellowship for the D-day itself.
I trekked by myself to Ledar and got into the first guest house I've seen - which turned out to be the best choice. Was it only because it had the nicest guitar I found on the trek, the beautiful Givson electro-acoustic that took 2 hours of my life, playing almost my whole songbook to the rest of the dining room? Yes, kind of.
But also, good company of Kirsten and Jack, great food as usual and the nice peaceful atmosphere of the sun-lit dining room all played an important part. The whole plan worked out great, including re-joining the others the next afternoon at High Camp.
After all, it's nice to have time for yourself. But the best memories come from being with people ;-)
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| Mine was the left-most |
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| The best guitar of the trek. The color symbiosis with my "North face" jacket is purely coincidental :-) |
10) Godfather's pizza
Now we're coming to the point, and to the reason why these words are published on my pizza blog. Maybe the pizza wasn't good enough to make it to the top 10 of Nepali highlights. But the evening for sure was.
It was the first - and only - evening in Pokhara when almost all of the nice people I've met on the trek were around. I have to say "almost", as it would be impossible to fit everyone in, or to align the stars so that all the varied schedules would get an overlap. But the original Fellowship made of Chris, Oli (A) and Oli (G), Emma and Maik was there, so were Jack, Kirsten and Amy. Add the new friendly faces of Pokhara - Julie, Angelo and George - and the starter was mixed for a great night.
After a few "sex on the lake" drinks and having two Aussies present, the discussions inevitably turned to snakes and spiders, and how usual it is to find these lovely creatures hanging around Australian rooms in the sweltering nights, when it feels like a sound idea to crack the windows open to let some air in. Emma listened carefully and seemed reassured about her upcoming trip to Australia, following Nepal.
The pizzas were surprisingly good too - I was quite impressed by the quality of the crust, which was kind of in the Roman style, my all-time favorite. The base was nicely cooked too, with the right shade at the bottom. The only more obvious lacking for me was some more taste from the ingredients - the Godfather's special that I got could have been tickling the taste buds some more with all the ingredients it was loaded with!
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| I forgot to say it looked SPLENDID |
Nicely in the mood, we continued exploring the lively music scene of Pokhara, ending up in Busy bee with a swarming dance "pit" full of Nepali people. The end of the night seems as bit hazy, but I recall me and Oli behaving like idiots getting some fast-food momos, Oli shouting "Freedom!" in German on the streets and (once more) Oli making a lot of noise trying to open a gate to our hotel for good two minutes, after which we simply entered through the adjacent door.
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| Awesome people, and a random guy in the pic (who's probably also awesome) |
Good times...
What else?
Well, there's still too much to mention...
But perhaps if you pushed me to say one more thing, I would say this. Nepal and Himalayas are simply the place where one can rest. Where one can free the mind from the worries and nuances of the everyday life, which seem so incredibly far away. A place, where one can distance themselves from the ordinary and look for answers to questions.
It's simply a place where you can change, if you're up for it. For as the guidebook put it:
"Nepal is there to change you, and not for you to change it."
Wise shit. But true shit.
Cheers Nepal
PS: If you want to read some more - which I doubt by the time you've reached here (if at all) - check out the detailed version.
PS 2:
Dough - 8/10
Ingredients - 8
Sauce - 8 (can't really remember, but good)
Atmosphere - 10 (obviously - thanks to the people present :-))
Service - 8 (can't really remember, but always good)
