Posts

Showing posts from October, 2000
Image
Nepalupdate I I have completed my trek round the Annapurna Circuit, and have picked up some new souvenirs en route; an impressive collection of blisters and a pair of seriously aching knees. While fantastic fun it turned out to be much harder work than I expected (perhaps the fact that I was walking up and down the highest mountains in the world should have been a hint.) The first day in particular was a wake-up call; first I nearly got run off a ridge by a runaway mule train, then I ended the day with a steep heartbreaker climb up a ridge which resulted in blisters on both heels. Fortunately they only bother me when going uphill, which I did for the next nine days. It is amazing how much the altitude changes things. Started off amid rice paddies and palm trees, then climbed up through cornfields and apple orchards, then to rocky scrubland and desert, up up up and more up. It's easy to see how Buddhism took root here; when you've climbed 200m up and then look around and rea