Friday 31 October 2008

People along the way

Laxmi ran a great, traditional style guesthouse in Khangsar. Her tuna, egg, cheese, veg fried rice was legendary. She was very welcoming and we were eating bread around the fire in her kitchen within two minutes of meeting her.



We trekked with Howard, Sue and Arran for over two weeks. They were great company and we look forward to catching up with them in Australia. Arran is busy enjoying his Yak Donalds burger meal.



Mangal was the guide for a couple of German guys – Ackhim and Gunter – who we kept bumping into. They had walked around Manaslu before joining the Annapurna circuit. Ackhim and Gunter had had a disagreement one day with Ackhim walking past us and glumly saying “communication is down”. They sorted things out soon after.



We met the 92-year old Lama in Manang who wished us well for our crossing of Thorung La pass. The oil was supposed to be applied over the head but we accidentally drank it. He also gave us a string necklace each. The going rate was 100 rupees per person. Andy, seeing a pile of 100 rupee notes, thought he'd get change back from a 500 rupee note. The Lama just smiled serenely. This generous donation gave us good luck for a long time.



We met Jeff at Annapurna Base Camp. Here, we indulging in some Mustang Coffee – a special blend of Nescafe and Bagpiper rum. It was very tasty. Jeff had a much nicer camera than us and he kindly donated the Diwali pictures and this one.



Whilst walking, we sometimes had a Tibetan Mastif accompany us for a while. This one didn't seem to suffer from ticks or a funny eye. At night Tibetan Mastifs are rumoured to turn into the 'Hounds of the Baskervilles', biting trekkers approaching villages in the dark. We never went out after 7pm.



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