My room at the Kalpana in Chomrong
My room at Kalpana Guesthouse in Chomrong
My stuff; all the rooms would be really cozy if you were sharing
was the best I had on the trek when it comes to a view as it had windows on two sides.
Annapurna South from my window
Annapurna South
Machhapurchhare
From Chomrong we take a different path for our return trip.
Today we'll walk from Chomrong to the Mountain Discovery Lodge at Chiule
Even though we are heading down, on this day we’ll end up higher than when we started. Chomrong is at 7,249′; the Mountain Discovery Lodge at 7,365′. In between, the trail descends to a bridge crossing at 6,332′.
We were out of the Sanctuary and back to walking between villages and among the fields. Our first “agricultural” encounter was a group of men sheering goats.
Sheering goats
Part of the flock
Nearby a new lodge was being built.
A lodge under construction
It will have some great views.
Annapurna South
For the first couple of hours the trail followed the contours of the mountains without any major ascents or descents.
The path was easy, with lots of views
We met non-trekkers,
Carrying wood home
and, for the first time on this trek, we met a mule train.
The last mule in the train that passed us
We were just over there
We also saw some birds, including this scarlet minivet.
Scarlet minivet
At the village of Ghurjung we began our descent.
Starting down to Ghurjung
The hills were aflame with rhododendron
A child at Ghurjung
I see a bridge and think we’re nearing the bottom.
A bridge over a feeder stream to the Kimrong Khola
But, it’s just a side stream.
The bridge is over this canyon
As if that wasn’t enough of a downer, my guide points out our destination at the top of the far ridge–the little depression minus trees coming in from the left in the photo below. We won’t make it there today, but early tomorrow.
We're heading for the lodge at the top of the far ridge
Just before the bridge, we stopped at the Green Hill Lodge for tea.
Green Hill Lodge
Children at Green Hill Lodge
Crossing the canyon
There were several more guesthouses and a school between this bridge and the river. At one guesthouse, a woman was carding,
A woman carding
and I finally found real tomatoes!
Tomatoes that look like tomatoes!
We finally reached the bottom and the bridge over the Kimrong Khola.
Bridge over the Kimrong Khola between Ghudrung and Siprong
From here it was a steep uphill climb to the British Gurkha Guesthouse where we stopped for lunch. There were several monks here, and this woman was filling butter lamps.
Melting butter
Filling a lamp
She had quite a few to fill
The courtyard of the guesthouse was a busy place. Along with the woman filling butter lamps, a girl was practicing soccer moves, and some of the locals were eating their lunch. Some people use a knife to peel a piece of fruit (note the Giants T-shirt),
Peeling fruit with a knife
but this guy preferred his machete.
Peeling fruit with a machete
Some parts of the uphill path weren’t so great,
I suppose these rocks are useful when it's raining, but--
but some places had stone steps, although they weren’t nearly as nice as those at Chomrong.
Crude stone steps heading up from Kimrong Khola
As we climb ever higher, there are great views of where we’ve come from.
We started way around on the other side of the mountain
Like in Bhutan, obtaining forage for the livestock isn’t easy. One favorite means is to denude whatever kind of tree this is.
A tree shorn of its leaves for forage
Bundling the leaves to carry them home
A less common method was to scrounge for dead organic matter.
More walking trees!
This was one steep climb!
Up, up, up, and we're not there yet
We took another rest stop at a burned out guesthouse which must have had great views from its rooms.
Looking north towards Annapurna South
Looking towards Machhapuchhre and the way we came from the northeast
We finally reached the Mountain Discovery Lodge on a small ledge that is used for pasturing mules.
Note the small eco-friendly sign
Additional rooms are being added to the 2nd floor
Hand-made building blocks
I assume the new bricks will be used for creating walls between the rooms
The partially completed new WC has a wall covering I never saw anyplace else. I wonder what they will put on the top part of the walls.
New WC
This was a very, very popular stopping place. It was full. A large portion of the guests were members of a Korean trekking club that brought their own chef. They had been camping, and some of their sleeping bags must have gotten wet as they were spread out all over the lawn. Did I say lawn? Yes, this place had a lawn.
Lawn of the Mountain Discovery Lodge
And it used recycled glass to edge its flowerbeds.
A novel flower bed edging material
In the sanctuary beyond Chomrong, bottles are not allowed. Both soda and beer must be in cans.
The Koreans were into karaoke. They played music and sang until about 10 p.m.–mostly American songs.