Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) - 07 to 21 October 2013
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| My Italian girlfriend
along the trek - Ms Vita Lotito and her email is: Vita.Lotito@hotmail.it She is
a nurse back home in Italy. |
Day 11 (17.10.2013) Trekking day 09 - Jhinu returning to Ghandruk (6320ft, 803.hPa)
08.00 depart Jhinu and at 09.10 we stopped at a shop for a 10 minutes rest.
11.20 arrived at Ghandruk and checked in at Muna Lodge and Restaurant and had lunch there.
02.30 We walked around the Ghandruk village and bought two chicken for chicken curry dinner.
Many thanks to Datin Yogaranee who sponsored the 2 chickens.
06.30 A truly Malaysian dinner after 10 days.
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| Datin Yogaranee Balaratnam and Sitta V. Kanagasabai was seen ready to trek down hill. |
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| (L-R) Myself and 3 guides: Lama Babu, Bikas Tamang and Pemba Sherpa at
Hotel Evergreen getting ready to go - today we are cutting over to a new
leg of trail leading to Ghandruk which is opposite of Landruk - in
Nepali standard, the trail isn't clearly marked and we had to keep our
eyes opened at every junction so as not to get onto any wrong trail. |
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| If you can remember - we are now overlooking the opposite side of the
mountain which we were trekking below the waterfall on our 4th day from
Landruk to Chomrong. |
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| The beautiful valley and the wheat farm. |
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| All trekkers would take a rest here at the farmhouse and looking over the open valley below. |
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| Our guides too taking a break here and learning from the farmer on basket making. |
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| We were crossing the field of Millet - the world's healthiest foods. |
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| Field of Millet - a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses. |
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We then traversed along
the hillside, cross-country over gaps in the trail
washed down to the river
hundreds of feet below and after crossing the
bridge, it was a grueling uphill
trek through farms and finally jungle on
a muddy, boot-caking trail until we reached
Ghandruk Village. |
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| We were just about to walked into Ghandruk Village up the slippery stoney steps. |
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| 11.20 am arrived at Ghandruk and checked in at Muna Hotel on the main trail and had lunch there. |
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| An old traditional Gurung house overlooking the breathtaking valley and mountains. |
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| The Gurkha family in the village. |
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| Ghandruk is a big Gurung Settlement, kind of modern town of this trek where you can see local museum and Buddhist monasteries. |
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| We stayed at Muna Lodge for the last night on the mountain before going to Pokhara the next day. |
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| At the Muna Lodge rooftop we had magnificent view of the surrounding areas and the landscape. |
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| This beautiful traditional Gurung village with orderly
rows of neat slate-roofed houses are clustered on the canyon wall amid a
completed network of terraces where wheat and barley are grown. |
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| Donkeys and mules transporting goods into the village and then to the cities. |
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| The popular dahl baht for lunch at Muna Lodge. |
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| All the smiling faces during lunch time - and after lunch I have to go to the village to buy chicken for dinner. |
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| The ancient Gurung village house with the corn hanging out to dry. |
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| Visited the Tibetan monastery just below our lodge overlooking a school. |
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| On a clear day, Ghandruk is one of the best places from where you can
have best view of the Annapurna, Hinchuli and Fishtail very close by. |
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| Some of the beautiful houses in Ghandruk with nice open garden full of flowers. |
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| At the farmhouse, I bought the two chicken here for R1.600 each about RM60 each. |
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| These were the chicken for my curry and as well for frying. |
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| There are many such mountain view lodges all over Ghandruk where visitors stay for weeks. |
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| We had very nice hot masala tea and apple pie at this German Bakery. |
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| A cute your girl. |
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| These two lady were dancing in front of me. |
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| Another Gurung Museum in the village. |
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| The girls in their traditional dress for a wedding function. |
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| The thick cloud that rolled down the valley. |
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| All the copper plates and cups at the Muna Lodge and Restaurant kitchen. |
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| Cooking time - while she was frying papadam I started to fry the chicken first and later the curry. |
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| I went on to cook the chicken curry with three packets of Ibrahim chicken paste brought by Song Poh and some curry leaves. |
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| The fried chicken ready to be served. |
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| I do not know what you call these (Nepali salad) - how to eat the raw chillies! |
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| Dal bhat has been our regular meal for the past 10 days on the trek. |
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| Wow! This definitely smell good and taste good as compared to dal bhat - many thanks to my cooking. |
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| Wong was seen digging for more chicken curry and the rest were happily eating unconditionally. |
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| 06.30pm - A truly Malaysian dinner after 10 days. |
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| Truly our second celebration for a successful journey to ABC. |
Wow,NB, you shared the e-mail address of the charming Italian lass friend of yours to your netizen friends? She'll have busy time answering emails!The view must be breath-taking from the mountain edged Ghandruk lodge. Looks comfortable too from its outlook. The stone slabs lined the walkway path and its sides is typical of its locality. One could see this too in Taiwan's native villages at the highlands. Kampung chickens abound when you'd two fat succulent chickens to choose for you to show-off your culinary skill. I'm sure your trekker mates
ReplyDeletewere grateful and appreciative of your 'contribution'. It's rare to see you captured some candid shots of the mountain dwellers lady folks in close encounters. Nice shots! I like the kid girl, old man and the two women villagers entertained you with their dance steps. You sure are popular, aren't you?
Regards,
Alan Kok