Annapurna Circuit Trek

I happened to make the long Annapurna Circuit trek in the months of September and October, 2013. I left from Beijing and went with two Chinese friends. Since one of my friends had already been to Nepal before doing the Everest trek, and since she is such a good and jealous organizer, I unfortunately didn't do as much research prior to the trip as I should have, other than insisting to visit Lumbini, because I wanted to visit the birthplace of Lord Buddha. So, I was mainly expecting a sporty trekking, and Nepal (especially the Himalayas) proved to be much more than that.

After our long trip Beijing-Hong Kong-Kathmandu, we stayed 1 day and 2 nights in the capital, and then took a bus to Besisahar village in the lower Himalayas. From there we began our 15 days trek through the mountains, villages, with our main purpose to go through the Thorong-La Pass at 5416 meters. The nature, environment and magic of the mountains range is amazing; but the real highlight is each of the ancient villages we walk by or stay at for eating, drinking tea or lodging. Some of these are over a thousand years old, founded by Tibetan refugees that settled long ago, and where the Tibetan culture is still as immaculate as it was hundreds of years ago. This is the case especially with the villages from the region or district of Mustang, also know as the Forbidden Kingdom. Still today, inner Mustang is considered one of the most inaccessible places in the world, and that explains why in no other place in the world do the ancient Tibetan customs survive as pure and original as there, were even remains of the pre-buddhist Bon religion exist. Foreigners are not allowed into Inner Mustang, unless they get very special and expensive permits where they pay for the day, and are not alowed to go alone. Even so, it's very unlikely to meet Westerners who have been there. And those who dare try it at their own risk may be imprisoned for a very long time in Nepal, or, even worse, just stoned to death by the ultra-protective locals.

However, we were lucky enough to reach and stay at some few villages in "outer-Mustang", which for me were the highlight of the whole trip, and the main reason I'd like to go back. The main villages in outer-Mustang where we stayed were Muktinath, Kagbeni and Marpha (Or Marpha outside?).

Out of the many treks that Nepal has to offer to tourists, the main ones are Annapurna Long Circuit, Everest trek, ABC trek, and short Annapurna circuit. The longest is Everest trek. Annapurna Long Circuit is the second longest, but the most fascinating one from the cultural point of view and if you are interested in religions and ancient rituals.

After we descended from the Himals we went to Pokhara to spend 3 or 4 days. There is a huge lake over there, many Westernized restaurants with live music, a couple of Tibetan refugees, and several Hindu temples. Also, you can trek to the nearby mountains and even do paragliding. However, I found the city too damn touristic. It's the most expensive city in Nepal, and culturally I found it to be the least appealing.

Afterwards we went to Lumbini, where we spent 1 full day and 2 nights. The highlight of Lumbini, which is a small town very poor in infrastructure, is the Mahadevi Temple, where Lord Buddha was born, and in front of which still stands the Ashoka Pillar, where the ancient Indian Emperor wrote that this was the birthplace of the Buddha Shakyamuni.

Also, inside the international protected area where the Mahadevi Temple stands, there are tens of other temples and monasteries, built and supported by different countries in recognition of the importance that place has for humanity.
 

Note: if you go to Lumbini, The Korean temple offeres free lunch and free dinner for everybody. This is specially good if you don't have much time to waste to leave the protected area and then get in again to continue your rounds around the temples. The Chinese monastery offers Puja every morning at around 6 30 AM and at 6 or 6:30 PM.

Pictures of Kagbeni

Our trip ended in Kathmandu, where it had begun. There don't miss Durbar Square, Pashupatinath temple, Bodnath Stupa and Tibetan refuge, Swayambhunath Temple (also known as the Monkey Temple), and walking around the old city around Durbar Square, and stopping at an old-shabby local tea house to have a Nepalese sweet milk-tea. Kathmandu is a fascinating town full of mistery and history that you will enjoy, unless you are the kind of person that cannot cope with earth-roads, horns and the typical traffic caos of most Asian cities (most, not all).