Annapurna Circuit Commencement

Today was mostly a travel day. Krissy and I woke up at 5AM so we could catch a 6:30AM bus from Pokhara to Besi Sahar: the village where the Annapurna Circuit begins. The bus ride turned out to be quite an ordeal.

First off, the tourist bus station is no fun. Vendors, hustlers and beggars hounded us while we just tried to figure out which bus to get on. Turns out ours was the one that looked like an explosion had occurred in the engine compartment. We had some help getting our bags on the roof and then sat in our seats. We then were amused by the spectacle of three Australian kayakers trying to cram all their gear aboard.

It took us five hours to get to Besi Sahar. Along the way local passengers were picked up and crammed aboard with the tourists. Some got off off but most stayed for a significant amount of time. Usually there was someone sitting on a little stool in the aisle next to me. One of these people was an old man who for some reason faced me and put his arm on my seat with his hand firmly resting on my butt. He also began to nod off and I was worried he was going to fall asleep in my lap. I may be easy going but I would have protested at that point. At any rate, that was an uncomfortable 45 minutes.

Towards the end of the journey we were still adding and dropping pasengers but whenever we stopped the bus would stall. Krissy and I were not amused.

"Do you think we'd get our money back if the bus broke down?" Krissy asked.

I told her I didn't think so.

We did make it. The town was very unappealing and looked like the Nepali version of a strip mall town. So we booked it out of there and had a pleasant walk. We stopped in the village of Bhulebule and had a late (3PM) lunch at the Thorung Guest House. Lunch was good and we wanted to check out the Marsyangdi Khola (River) that flowed past the town so we also booked a room.

Huge boulders line the river banks. We spent the rest of the afternoon boulder hopping and taking a quick cold dip. After that we had dinner and went back to the room to read. It was a fairly uneventful day as far as days can go in Nepal. I can say that both Krissy and I are really stoked about this trek. We agree that, already, it's much better than the Royal Trek.