ABC and back

Well I'm back in Pokhara after a memorable trek to Annapurna Base Camp. Tika (or Tika-Ram to give him his full title) proved to live up to the recommendation given and seems to know most of the people living in the Annapurna area. Events took a slightly unexpected turn on the second day of the trek when I decided for some reason to spend the day working in the corn-fields of the lodge at Tolka where we had spent the night. To be honest I think that the reason was simply that I was really impressed by the women of this household (Rada and Samita), and I was happy to accept their invitation to work with them. They really work so hard from dawn till dusk: cutting grass to feed the buffalo, milking, mucking-out, all sorts of field work, cooking, cleaning,... and all with the best of humour. I think the men mostly do a bit of carrying, and some praying - maybe a bit of strategic planning! My bit of weeding the corn wasn't much but it was a great eye-opener and gave me an added level of acceptance amongst the locals (even a modicum of fame which seemed to reach about 3 villages away!).
The rest of the trek went more or less according to plan, generally with very early starts and mid-afternoon finishes because of late p.m. downpours.
The whole route is pretty hard work, with lots of ascent and descent. ABC is a mere 4130 metres, but I calculate that getting there and back from Phedi involves over 5700m of ascent and descent. It is extremely interesting though, and the ABC area (or "sanctuary)" is a very special place. Up there you are surrounded by all the mountains of the Annapurna range and it seems to put the whole "circuit" trek into context. To add something special for us the weather decided to snow quite heavily on the afternoon of our arrival. At dawn the next day everything was crystal-clear again.
After the essential photo session we came down pretty quickly and got back to Pokhara today. Up at ABC, by the way, there is a party of serious mountaineers (joint Canada/Russia expedition) who have been there for the last 6 weeks waiting for the right conditions for an attempt on A1 south face. This should be the best time of year for this, but climate change seems to be making these expeditions even more difficult to plan. I'll include some pics taken at ABC (me and Tika posing with A1 in the background) plus some assorted pictures from the trek, as well as the field work at Tolka with Rada and Samita and having a joke with some other Annapurna ladies taking a break from their toils. I hope you are getting the impression that the Nepalis are a hard-working but good-natured lot! And there are some good mountains and other things to see too!

It has just dawned on me that my 8 week visa has just 2 weeks left to run; so I need to do some thinking about what to do next - an extension being a possibility (though not necessarily straightforward). Watch this space!