Kathmandu! That sounds so far away! So like sherpa, yak and Kashmir wool! And guess what I see mostly here: North Face jackets and Leki walking sticks. It's also true that I'm not staying in "real" Kathmandu, but in the district of Thamel, where all foreign visitors of Nepal seem to congregate. The streets are full of travelers, and all have this maniac smile on their face and in their eyes you read: Trekking! Trekking! Trekking! (Maybe that's also my impression because I see my own eyes reflected in everybody...)
Thamel is trekker's paradise: the streets are plastered with shops full of (fake and real) trekking gear, trekking equipment, maps, and in between them are pleasant cafés at every corner to take a rest from shopping. I spent the last two days stocking up my equipment for my trekking trip, and so seems to do everybody else on the street. In fact, it's difficult to see anybody without trekking pants - on the streets of a 2,5 million-city! That's funny.
My plan is to do the big all-time-classical: The Annapurna circuit. The idea to do it alone, without a guide, was not really fixed until this morning, when I went to get my entrance permit for the region. And at the same time, I had to buy my solotrekker certificate, which states that I acknowledge my full responsibility for everything that might happen to me in the mountains. I admit that I sway between fear and euphoria all the time: this trek is a well beaten path, but it IS a minimum of 17 days long, and it IS a high altitude trekking with a pass well over 5.000 metres, and I HAVE to carry everything I need with me because up there I won't get anything besides accommodation and food. On the other hand, this will be so very amazing that I probably can't even imagine yet!
I've never done such a long trek, and less alone, so this is a challenge for me - but I wouldn't do it if I didn't know from reliable sources that it's perfectly possible to do it without a guide. Anyway, in the teahouse lodges I'm going to meet more than enough other solotrekkers I can join for the more difficult passages, so I'm not going to be alone - I'm just going to be without a guide and a porter.
Tomorrow I start with a busride to Bhulbule and maybe a first 90 minutes' walk. And then I'm up there!
Ah, of course in these mountains there is not much electricity, let alone internet coverage, so I won't be able to blog. The trip may take up to 20 days - afterwards you get a full accounting of everything!
