Hey-ho, hey-ho, a-trekking we will go...

Our big adventure around Annapurna started on March 8th with a 6:30am departure and a 6-hour busride to Besisahar at an elevation of 820 m. We had a nice easy walk to Bhulbhule where we spent the night in a lovely lodge on the banks of the Marsyangdi river. The morning started off right with delicious Bodum coffee that Karma schlepped all the way up there and kept serving us fresh every morning from thereon. On March 9th we trekked to Jagat at 13oo m. Along the way we got swept up in a herd of about 300 sheep and goats. We crossed 3 suspension bridges (much to the "delight" of Zena and Jude), saw lots of natural waterfalls and enjoyed tropical scenery with banana trees, papaya, peach, mango and wheat. Checked into the Paradise hotel and lights out by 9pm. Destination for the next day was Dharapani at 1860 m. We took our sweet time to get to the lunch stop in Tal and encountered some amazing scenery, lots of donkey trains and beaches. After lunch, Karma made us hurry up a bit to get through the construction zone on the new road along the river valley before they started blasting at 3pm. March 11th we finally started to see huge mountains and dramatic rock faces and cliffs. Lunch in Timang at 2550m and overnight stop in Koto at 2640m, where we stayed in cute little cottages. This was the first night where we had a few serious rounds of our favourite card game. Trekking destination on March 12th was Lower Pisang at 3250 m where we woke up to 2" of snow on March 13th. That changed our route from the very steep and challenging high road to the much easier, yet very interesting low road to Manang, gateway to the challenge that lay ahead.