A flavour of the Orient
Rai & Stephie in Asia

Last time we saw our nepali friend mr Rabi  was in Paris in 2008. Our final memories with him remain pretty blurred due to the number of pints we managed to down together in Montmatre.  When we told him we would be coming over to his  home turf for some trekking in the Himalayas, he was stressing out trying to sort out a suitable trek as his last visitors struggled to go up Poon Hill known as the baby trek of Nepal. I guess he thought we would walk at a snails pace...maybe he remembered my beer belly too much!

 Weeelll we proved him wrong! This was our fifth trek since the summer and we were feeling healthy and ready to go ! So armed with an amazingly strong porter and some handy cereal bars, we set off on an 11 day trek around Manaslu peak (8156m) located nearby the well known Annapurna circuit but waaaaay less busy.

Most trekkers need lots of sleep. We were fast asleep earlier than a newborn baby  in cosy teahouses found along the trail. For food, we had a delightful variety of dhal bhat (rice and lentils) , chowmein noodles, eggs in all their varieties, nice thick porridge and more dhal bhat. On the really lucky days exotic dishes would suddenly appear on the menu like swiss rosti and spaghetti covered in melted cheese. Raimon also found time for some cheeky guitar practice,  learning the 16 bar blues at 3860m to be precise !

The scenery from start to finish was breathtaking. We walked through steeply carved river gorges, beautiful autumn leave coloured forests with rhododendrons and monkeys; neatly arranged rice paddies alongside tibetan villages, tall wild cannabis plantations and huge braided meandering river systems. Around the half way mark we had views of the more serious looking snow covered himalayan mountains with numerous mind blowing glaciers and stunning lakes. The 7000m plus mountains looked massive....a big thank you to plate tectonics for creating such beauty 55 million years ago! Even at the pass (5106m) some of the peaks were towering 2-3km above us. If only we could have touched them. The weather was generally well behaved  clearing when it mattered most. Seeing Manaslu, the 8th highest peak in the world free of nasty clouds after 5 days of walking was unforgettable.  Less unforgettable were our poor toes that had to put up with temperatures of at least of -10 degrees C. I guess the socks need replacing ! And so did Rabi's ridiculously sophisticated water "straw"  attached to his bag. It simply froze before the pass. Stick to the water bottles mate!

More than a 1000 brilliant photos later we were back in Kathmandu breathing the smog, eating juicy peppered steak and recovering at a 3 day yoga retreat. We also had to smarten up for Rabi's cousins wedding which meant going for some quick shopping!  It was the perfect ending to our 2011 adventures in the Himalayas. We will back in Nepal sooner rather than later and maybe one day we will climb to the summit of Manaslu !

Http://www.stephieandraigoasia.blogspot.com

Photo of rai and our guitar on the trek.