Annapurna Base Camp trek (part 2)

Back in Singapore.. After half a day of unpacking, washing of dirty laundry and cleaning up of the house, I've finally beginning to pick up my life from where I've left it. Fetch the kids, paid my bills and parking fines, sent the car for maintenance servicing.. Now we're on our way back home on the mrt...
I've actually been blogging along the way as I was traveling thru Nepal.. But those entries really sound more like documenting the trip than the actual blogging of my personal thoughts.. I'll considering posting those again k?

Lying on the opposite sides of the Himalayas, Nepal is to India like Tibet to China. We've got an impression that that Nepali does not get along well with the Indians.. From Lonely Planets saying they want to distinguish themselves from Delhi with a mere 15min in timezone difference, from the expression I get from a porter when I mentioned Nepali music sound Indian (oh come on Indian music is the nearest I've come across in Singapore mah)..

Other than Old Pokhara, and the stretch of Kathmandu outside Thamel tat we walked on our last day in Nepal, the places where we stayed is very much like any other tourist-overpopulated street.. Like Kuta beach in Bali, that backpacker area in HCMC, Chatuchak in BKK, the marketplace in Siem Reap... So I did rather enjoy the walk in Old Pokhara and outside Thamel.. Lets me see the real Nepal.. Nepali engaged in simple trades, at least tats from wad I saw.. Selling meat, peddling vege and fruits, goldsmiths, selling flowers, spices, dentists, selling household items.. The Nepali were in the midst of their 4-day Dewali (Deepavali) celebration, great chance to catch a glimpse of their activities..

The trek.
In summary, I enjoyed the trek very much.. It's similar to Mt. K trek, in the sense of altitude, thin air and the cold.. It's like the G.Tahan trek in terms of the length.. But this is better of the both.. Very nice scenery, very good pace.. We didn't have to start damn early and end damn late, didn't have to trek in the dark other than the 2 sunrise treks.. G.Tahan was horrible such that we stop only to eat and sleep.. In Nepal, we usually reach our destination by 3pm in the afternoon, plenty of time to change into cleaner warmer clothes and settle down, have some hot drinks, even a few games of bridge... We had plenty of rest, usually asleep by 8pm even though each day breakfast was at 630am.. 10 hrs of sleep each night!! Mt. K was tough such that we ascend so much in 2 days.. And on day 2, trek starts at bloody 2am, 4hrs to sunrise, and then ends only when u're out.. That's abt 15hrs of climbing and descending on the 2nd day!! In the ABC trek, we trekked for 4 hrs before lunch and 2-3hr after.. That's it! Even for sunrise treks we only start at 430am.. 2hrs to sunrise.. The only grouse I haf was my stamina in the cold and in thin air.. I had the same problem the 2 times I was in Mt. K.. Think when I do go for the Everest Base Camp trek I really do need to train really hard...

View from Ghandruk, our teahouse on Day 1 of the trek, Excellent View Guesthouse

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