Calling It Off (Day 25)

Today was the day we threw in the towel. It started like any other trekking day with breakfast and packing our bags. The weather was nice. The sun had chased the rain away. Machapuchchre, Annapurna South and Hiunchuli were in full view. It was a perfect day to be outside but secretly I didn't feel like walking.

We left Chhomrong via a long descent of steep stone staircases. My knees complained and my muscles were tired but still I plodded on. The stairs seemed to go on forever. The further we went the darker my mood became. We passed some children who repeatedly begged for "sweets." I told them "chhaina" (no). A small girl mimed her disapproval by swinging a little fist and hitting me in the leg. Of course it didn't hurt but it really caught me off-guard. These children have really come to expect Westerners to provide them with treats.

After the descent mercifully ended we crossed the Chhomrong Khola and started up another series of stairs. A group of porters had just finished resting and started out in front of us. We passed them one by one as they stopped to catch their breath. Children dressed in school uniforms were coming down the stairs and would taunt us with "namastes" in a mocking tone.

At the height of my dark mood we stopped at a chautaara (a resting place made of stone that is at the perfect height for porters and trekkers to drop their burdens). I guzzled some water and tried to figure out why I was in such a bad mood. The weather was perfect. I love hiking. What's wrong?

"Are we thinking the same thing?" Krissy asked. It was then that I realized we had been resting a for a while and I hadn't said much. I was really deep in thought.

"I dont know," I replied. "I'm in a bad mood. It's been hard for me to be happy today."

"Do you want to keep going?" Her question hung in the air for a moment. I was afraid to answer.

"I don't know. Honestly, when we were having breakfast, I didn't feel like walking today."

"Then we are thinking the same thing. Do you want to go back?"

I thought for a moment and it became plainly obvious. "Yes. I think I'm over it."

It was a hard thing for both of us to admit. We both are definitely not quitters. But we weren't having fun, so what would have been the point of continuing on? We had already seen the Annapurna range from many different angles. We had already experienced all that trekking has to offer. We had been walking almost continuously for 25 days! All we would accomplish by not quitting was to prolong our unhappiness and be able to tell people we completed the Annapurna Base Camp trek.

As soon as we decided to turn around everything felt right. We started to get excited about returning to Pokhara and taking time to relax. We were tired!

We took a look at the guide book and reasoned that we could make it to Ghandruk. It was 9:30AM at that point and we estimated it would take five hours to reach our goal. With our plan set, we shouldered our packs and headed back the way we had come.

A little before noon we reached Jhinu Danda. We stopped to have lunch and debated whether we wanted to visit the hot springs that were in town. Storm clouds started rolling in a handful of large raindrops smacked the ground. We decided it would be better to keep moving.

After lunch we descended another of the typical steep stone staircases. We passed through the village of New Bridge after a couple of hours. I was starting to get tired and it was becoming apparent that it was going to take longer to get to Ghandruk than we had planned for. We stopped a trekker and his guide to confirm that we were headed in the right direction. The guide said "Ghandruk that way. First Kyume, then up, up, up, then Ghandruk." The trekker told us it would take about two and a half hours.

Two hours later, we were progressing at a snails' pace up another steep stone staircase in a driving rain. Our legs were almost out of gas. School children, who we now expect to be snotty, passed us both going up and down the stairs. Predictably, they said "namaste" in their mocking tone. Instead of just ignoring them I decided to mess with them. I replied to one boys' namaste with "Howdy dude." Krissy followed my lead and responded to the next mocking namaste with "Arr matey."

We finally reached Ghandruk. Since the village was built on a hillside all the lodging was naturally at the top of the ridgeline to take advantage of all the views. So we still had some climbing to do, but after eight hours of walking, we were thankful that the end was in sight.

The village was full of trekkers. We were turned away from the first very pleasant and highly recommended lodge because they had no more rooms. We looked at some of the other lodges but they all looked to be in a state of disrepair.

I saw the Mountain View Lodge and it looked fairly nice. I also thought it was one of the lodges recommended by Lonely Planet. It turns out I was very, very wrong.

They put us in a room right across from a highly trafficked bathroom. This would later prove to be trouble. We each took a shower but discovered there was no more hot water. But, we were now clean and were about to get dinner. We were both famished.

We stepped into the dining room and immediately felt out of place. There were a number of guided groups that took up most of the space and all of the attention. We were largely ignored.

We did manage to get in our order of dal bhat. It wasn't a long wait and as soon as our plates were set in front of us we dug in. Krissy ate with particular ferocity and cleaned her plate so well it was hard to tell there had been food on it in the first place. And then we waited.

You see, when a trekker orders dal bhat, they expect seconds. This is the only meal where seconds are offered, so when I order dal bhat I expect that when I'm finished I won't be hungry. Not so in this case.

Krissy and I were already talking about splitting a pizza after eating the second round dal bhat. We watched one group get their seconds. And then another. I was too tired to care very much but Krissy was livid. A half hour passed before we were certain we'd been forgotten. Or ignored. Grumpily, we pushed away from the table and walked down the street to each get a mediocre cinnamon roll from a bakery.

That should be the end of the story. But it isn't.

Still hungry and roundly exhausted we retired to our room. I fell asleep shortly after seven and was on my way to pleasant dreams when I was awoken by a drum circle. I had a flashback to my days in the college dorms. Then I remembered I was in Nepal, in the village of Ghandruk, on a bed in the shitty Mountain View Lodge.

For an hour hand drums and tambourines were played and people were singing very loudly in the courtyard of the hotel. Were we warned that there was some kind of concert planned at eight o'clock? No. Did it last for an hour? Yes. Krissy and I were not amused. Down with the Mountain View Lodge. A pox upon it's foundation.