Annapurna Circuit

Where on Earth do I begin?  We spent 17 AMAZING days trekking and we enjoyed every minute of it!  The mountains, the views, the people, the culture, the trekkers, etc. that we met along the way were some of the most beautiful and interesting that I have ever come across.  We started in the town of Besisahar, ended in Nayapul and for the sake of simplicity I'm going to break this up between the circuit and the sanctuary treks.


We passed through absolutely amazing landscapes throughout the entire trip.  Vasae and I both were constantly surprised as to how drastically and quickly the scenery changed as we hiked along.  We went through endless terraced farms carved out of the mountain sides that yielded more shades of green than imaginable, through harsh and jagged mountain tops lightly covered with snow, immense river valleys populated with as many yaks as Nepalese people, a desert-like terrain which felt like walking through a tornado of dust while descending 2,000 meters, plains of blossoming buckwheat (my absolute favorite), apple fields and flowers and even came across monkeys towards the end when the climate turned tropical as we entered forests that immediately felt sacred and unexplored... needless to say, it was incredible.  Trekking in the Annapurna Region is something that I have been dreaming about for years and I'm so happy that we are lucky enough to have done it!

Now a word about altitude sickness... blisters, bruises, soreness, being out of shape and such, these are the things I expected when planning on hiking for 20 days but not altitude sickness.  Well, I had myself a big ole piece of humble pie served graciously by altitude.  At fist I denied and ignored the symptoms- lightheadedness and shortness of breath.  It's been awhile since I've had it handed to me by something I couldn't "beat" through a stubborn amount of will power and persistence but after a certain point it became clear that I was experiencing all the classic symptoms of altitude sickness.  It probably didn't help that Vasae and I charged through some of the days and didn't really take enough time to acclimatize- lesson learned for sure.  While I gradually got my butt kicked by the altitude, on the day we woke up to summit the Thorung La Pass (5400 meters!) Vasae woke up vomiting- 100% sign of altitude sickness.  We finally wised up and stayed put for a day.  


And as things always do, they worked out for the best as a group of fellow trekkers that we befriended caught up to us and we were all able to hang out for the day and hike the pass together the next day.  Our little trekking family consisted of a lovely couple from Hawaii that taught us about everything from the basics of acupuncture to working with autistic children to exemplifying a truly beautiful and growing relationship- they got engaged on the pass :) And 2 guys- an Aussie and a Brit who are both fantastically funny, introspective, and inspiring individuals full of wonderful stories and life experiences.  Vasae and I felt extremely lucky to have had such incredible company while on the trail and plan to keep in touch with our new friends long into the future.

The Annapurna circuit will now go down as one of the best experiences in my life and I highly recommend it to anyone who has has ever thought about it even for a second.  Now onto the sanctuary...