Oblivious to the most important factor in trekking (ie, the weather), we set out for Annapurna Base Camp in North Western Nepal smack bang in the middle of the wet season. Of course we did.
While we knew all this rain we were witnessing in Kathmandu and Pokhara often came under the heading of 'Official Wet Season', and was considered a good thing by locals, we hadn't yet joined the dots as to precisely what this meant for our planned 10 day walk.
... into remote mountainous villages.
... where there were regular landslides.
... and creatures that only 'came out' when it rained.
... and cloud cover which would probably hinder highly anticipated (bucket list?) views.
The above image is our funniest wet season trekking photo from Nepal - thank you Yo! He walked ALL DAY looking like this! I must admit I was no better though (below). In my own defense, I didn't know this photo was being taken and had I known, clearly I would have adopted a far sexier stance.
SO. We had previously decided not to take a guide book to Nepal, but I can't seem to remember why anymore! It was one of those I-don't-want-to-go-to-the-tourist-areas-but-ended-up-there-anyway moments!
Regrettably, as a result we were not prepared for the leech onslaught every time it started raining. Which in the wet season was pretty much every half an hour. My two worst (or best?) leech stories are: the one on my jugular that stretched past my chin when I tried to pull it off, and the one curled up inside a burst blister!!
Yep, it's safe to say that I now have a teeny, tiny phobia.
It's not just me though, it seems. Companies advertise Leech Free Tours and Treks in Nepal (they're dreaming), others say Grow A Pair when explaining how innocent these wet season creatures are (lol), and others say what we did was wrong!
We now know the correct way of removing an attacking leech; stay calm, do NOT pull it off, and use a blunt, flat object like a credit card (!) to, (and I quote): "gently slide it off its narrow sucker end".
You go first.
Also, someone, for the love of all the gods has made a leech robot.
If I have to know this, so do you.
It's a big fat nope from me.
The below photos show the after affects of a leech freakout gone wrong - jumping around did me no favours that particular day! (And yes, unfortunately that is a thong imprint).
The wet season wasn't all bad though, and we did get to see some pretty amazing waterfalls and rivers that don't normally even exist, let alone seen and crossed!
Often while giving way to mules carrying crates of coca-cola and two-minute noodles - who knew life's necessities could be got at 4000 metres!
Can you tell who took most of the photos?
Oh wait, there's me!
Just as a comparison, Mt. Kosciusko is only 2228 metres high! When we reached Base Camp we were at 4100 metres and looking up at peak's above 8000 metres! Looking up at these snow covered mountains, it was hard to believe they were the same distance above that we had just walked below. It literally looked (and felt) like we could run to the top in about half an hour, and wave to everybody below! Very disorientating.
Everything has its place though, and I never say never when marveling at magnificent mountains.
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