Himalaya home of the Indian Gods
Reaching Manali.
The icecold rain had long ago penetrated my lousy raingear and I was beginning to loose sense of my body.That is not so good when you're driving a
motorcycle.The good thing was that it was only 56 km left to Manali.
A few days back it had been snowing so I was feeling positive.The beautiful Kullu valley had somehow lost it's lackluster in the rain.
I stopped for a chai and forgot my gloves,and when I turned back for them they were stolen.
Hmpf, they cost almost two dollars.
As I reached Vashisst I was near frozen solid, luckily I made it warm again and no cold did I get either.
I had a couple of weeks with beautiful weather exploring the area.
See pictures and video
Later in Pokara
The Nepalese air stewardess buckled up in the narrow seat of the small propeller craft. I felt an exitement surge coming through.
Finally I was going treking in Annapurna.
As I am a bit untried as a walker I had decided to cheat by taking the plane from Pokara to Jom Sum wich is pretty near cutting the Annapurna cirkel in half.
The small plane managed to climb steadily upwards and soon I was completely blown away by the scenic beauty. We kept a low ground
clearance and I could really see the natural wonders below.
The plane slammed into the runway.
I never landed this high before and understood that altitude and landing has its little secrets not to be unraveled by the untrained pilot.
You could also only land in the morning because after midday the mighty thermal wind was coming, roaring.
The first thing I noticed was my own heavy breathing. It was kind of hard to get enough oxygen. I strapped on my newly bought backpack and moved my
almost new hiking boots into forward mode.
Shit I'm done for, and I only walked 1 click. Hmm let's cheat more. First day I took a shared jeep to Kegbeni and stayed three days.
These days were beautiful and needed for aclimatizing. See some pics from there on the Himalaya section.
Walking back to Jom sum and heading down was a breezer. I stayed in nice guesthouses and met fun interesting people and one week later I was back in
Pokara. With a lot of nice pics you can look at.
Coming back to Kathmandu after 21 years was a bit of a shocker but I soon got used to it. It was of course much bigger crowdier noisier and more
polluted and so on and on, But! The Nepalese people are world class champions in being nice and I soon found my bearings.
See pics and marvel.
1 month went like a dream and I cheated again by flying down to Delhi. It was worth it just for the sideway view of the Annapurna range,
as a perfect roundup of a perfect trip.
Traveling is worth it.
John Benjamin
The icecold rain had long ago penetrated my lousy raingear and I was beginning to loose sense of my body.That is not so good when you're driving a
motorcycle.The good thing was that it was only 56 km left to Manali.
A few days back it had been snowing so I was feeling positive.The beautiful Kullu valley had somehow lost it's lackluster in the rain.
I stopped for a chai and forgot my gloves,and when I turned back for them they were stolen.
Hmpf, they cost almost two dollars.
As I reached Vashisst I was near frozen solid, luckily I made it warm again and no cold did I get either.
I had a couple of weeks with beautiful weather exploring the area.
See pictures and video
Later in Pokara
The Nepalese air stewardess buckled up in the narrow seat of the small propeller craft. I felt an exitement surge coming through.
Finally I was going treking in Annapurna.
As I am a bit untried as a walker I had decided to cheat by taking the plane from Pokara to Jom Sum wich is pretty near cutting the Annapurna cirkel in half.
The small plane managed to climb steadily upwards and soon I was completely blown away by the scenic beauty. We kept a low ground
clearance and I could really see the natural wonders below.
The plane slammed into the runway.
I never landed this high before and understood that altitude and landing has its little secrets not to be unraveled by the untrained pilot.
You could also only land in the morning because after midday the mighty thermal wind was coming, roaring.
The first thing I noticed was my own heavy breathing. It was kind of hard to get enough oxygen. I strapped on my newly bought backpack and moved my
almost new hiking boots into forward mode.
Shit I'm done for, and I only walked 1 click. Hmm let's cheat more. First day I took a shared jeep to Kegbeni and stayed three days.
These days were beautiful and needed for aclimatizing. See some pics from there on the Himalaya section.
Walking back to Jom sum and heading down was a breezer. I stayed in nice guesthouses and met fun interesting people and one week later I was back in
Pokara. With a lot of nice pics you can look at.
Coming back to Kathmandu after 21 years was a bit of a shocker but I soon got used to it. It was of course much bigger crowdier noisier and more
polluted and so on and on, But! The Nepalese people are world class champions in being nice and I soon found my bearings.
See pics and marvel.
1 month went like a dream and I cheated again by flying down to Delhi. It was worth it just for the sideway view of the Annapurna range,
as a perfect roundup of a perfect trip.
Traveling is worth it.
John Benjamin
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