Annapurna

Day 5 of the annapurna circuit, and so far I am in love with this trek. The verdant scenery, small towns on terraced hillsides, wild river carving deep slot canyons in the mountain, transition in flora from steamy jungle to Pacific-northwest-esque fir to high desert: the trek is beautiful and varied, with a much more organic feel than the Everest region. I feel here like I am on a trek that for so long was one of the world's greats, fast becoming one of the world's great motorbike rides (larger vehicles beware, "shoulder" doesn't translate in Himalayan road!).

I fell under the spell of annapurna even before arriving at the trail, on the 8 hour bus ride that was beautiful, cramped, and hilarious. I'm instantly a fan of overland travel after the experience, but to enjoy the ride you must value the journey, not just the destination (because the destination is gonna be a while...). I believe that, if you can dream it, it can happen on a bus. People board with huge bags of flour and live chickens, 4 year old children hop off alone in the middle of nowhere, and vendors board to sell anything, from popcorn to fabric, all to the tune of the "door guy", who tirelessly yells the bus destination out the door to gain riders. I'm convinced if you had a broken-down motorcycle, they'd toss it on the roof and give you a lift to the nearest mechanic.

Back on the trail, I'm walking with 2 frenchmen and an Italian man at the moment, Ludo, Thomas, and Luca.  We see the same crew daily, so trail camaraderie is growing. Luca and I met on trekkingpartners.com and are a good match for trekking speed. It's nice to have a pal, and today we had an adventure stumbling upon a service at the local monastery, complete with monks chanting and blowing the monk horns, whose sound echoed so perfectly off the avalanching Annapurna II...did I mention I'm in love with this trek? ;)