SAT, 31MAR2012Braka (3450m) – viewpoint (~4200m)Braka – Gunsang (3900m)4km/ 450m

Good coffee this morning! One thing we would not go without was our Java House coffee, drip filters, and a homemade plastic drip filter holder thingy I rigged up. Either our technique is improving or we are trying to lose weight by using more coffee. Today tasted like espresso!

We decided to rest today (a little) and ditched our packs for a short acclimatization hike. We were either going to see the ice lake or just a viewpoint depending on how we felt. Wendy’s hop was really bothering her, so we went for the viewpoint after about 1:45. I think we made the best choice because we had 270deg views and they were INCREDIBLE! I was so excited I had laid out the topo map on the ground and identified all the peaks & glaciers. We could see Annapurna II (7937m/ 26,040ft), Annapurna IV (7525m/ 24,700ft), Ganggapurna (7454m/ 24,455ft), Pisang Peak (aka Jong Ri @ 6091m/ 20,000ft), Khangsar Kang (aka Rock Noir @ 7485m/ 24,900ft), Om Myurpa (5039m/ 16,500ft), and some minor Chulu Range peaks (~6000m/ 19,700ft).

We got back and had a nice lunch of pasta with yak cheese and more local mushrooms (your standard trekking fare). We learned that the lodge (Hotel New Yak) no longer serves any meat because it is apparently too expensive to buy a yak (>$1,000US) and the only part to sell is steaks. But the steaks are then too expensive and the trekkers don’t buy them. Other places (according to the proprietor) apparently falsify their goat meat as yak… also, all the places in Munji (one town earlier) advertising yak yogurt and yak cheese don’t actually have any. Everyone makes either yak butter or sells the milk directly, both to a company in Kathmandu that processes it and sells the cheese back to Braka! If only I had time to stop & teach them how to make their own cheese… and no ones milks these beautiful goats, either!!

After lunch we trekked onward through Manang (one of the biggest trekking towns) to Gunsang. It was cold & windy as we followed the contours of the mountains, but when we came out into the sun we baked in our rain/wind shells. Tough conditions to manage, but at least Wendy had finally caved in and tried my diclofenac, so her hip pains had vanished like magic! I hope it does not interact badly with the diamox!

Manang is a crazy town. The shops are stocked with everything a trekker could need or want, from water tablets & bandages, to softshells & trekking poles (all knock-offs). We went for the basic “yak wool” mittens to go over our light gloves, but I made Wendy put back the dark chocolate Toblerone – it just seemed too weird! Then we passed restaurants offering Lavazza espressos, yak steaks, fajitas, bean burritos, and incredible looking desserts…too weird! Finally, we passed 2-3 projector cinemas with daily showings of: Touching the Void, Into Thin Air, 127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire and The Hangover! Believe it or not! Go on an adventure and watch adventure-gone-wrong movies on your rest day!

Marshyangdi Hotel

My hip has been bothering me the last couple of days. It’s ok on the flat, but really painful in spurts going up, which is worrisome since we have 2000m more to ascend. On our side-trip up the mountain behind the town of Braga, I started getting sharp pains on the steep bits that stopped me in my tracks. I used my trekking poles like crutches and leaning all my weight on my hands when I stepped fully on my sore leg. I desperately wanted a walker and was having flash-forwards to being 80 years old.

We followed the trail towards Ice Lake then took a detour to the right and followed a ridge out to the tip of an outcropping. From there, we could see almost 360 degrees around us, peaks on every side and up and down the valley. The Annapurna range in front of us stretching as far as we could see to the right, and the Chulu range over our shoulder to the left. Breathtaking.

We came back for a quick lunch, strapped our packs on again, then headed toward Manang and beyond. In Manang we passed several little makeshift ‘projector cinemas’. The offerings were: Into Thin Air, Touching the Void, 127 Hours, Into the Wild, and The Hangover.

As we’ve ascended, the villages have more and more old stone construction with beautiful craftsmanship. Many homes are probably hundreds of years old. The villages are built vertically against the mountainside. The animal sheds are often under the house to keep the family warm. They use zero grazing techniques and the animal manure is taken in basketfuls down to the terraced fields. It seems they also collect pine needles and either compost them or mix them with the manure.

In the older villages, there are prayer wheels built into the small alcoves in the stonework framed by beautiful old wood. Rarely, we’ve seen wooden, painted prayer wheels. Mostly they are tarnished copper with Nepali script embossed in parallel rows. Some are as simple as an empty paint can or dried-milk tin.

These little reminders of religious life- prayer wheels, stupas, chortens, mani walls and prayer flags – are everywhere. You can rarely walk 30 minutes without seeing one.

We fell asleep listening to a dog bark menacingly at his own echo.