Annapurna VIII, Upper Pisang to Ngawal скачать в хорошем качестве

Annapurna VIII, Upper Pisang to Ngawal

Wednesday, 23 April, 2025 We all had a fitful night's sleep, but met at 6:30 for breakfast. As so often happened, they messed up our order, neglecting to bring me the omelette I'd ordered until I chased them down. Nevertheless, it was an inexpensive stay. The rooms were nominally free. Our total cost (for the three of us, dinner & breakfast) was 8,500 NPR, or US ~$21 each. Ken was still sick. He got better during our two layover days, first in Bahundanda and then in Jagat, but now he seemed to be getting worse again. We decided to take it easy/easier and only go 6 miles today and stop at Ngawal, but we still had a 1,800' climb to get there. Joey hiked with us all morning. We set off following a balcony route with spectacular views of Annapurnas II and III, but then had a very steep climb of over 1,500' to the small settlement of Ghyaru, where we hung out for quite a while at lunchtime. I had a coffee and a pretty good apple pie. Continuing, it was fairly level, but we were now at 12,000'. Joey left us at the village of Ngawal. He stopped for lunch while we continued, looking for the highly-rated "Kangla Cottage". The guided Italian group who'd stayed at the same place as us last night were there when we arrived, but they'd only stopped for lunch. Kangla Cottage only had 6 cabins, but we were able to score two of them for only 500 NPR (US $4) each. It was really windy in the afternoon. Patsy took a shower and said it was fabulous, so Ken and I also took showers. It was a gas-fired shower, but the temperature kept fluctuating so I don't know what happened, but it wasn't fabulous for me. We had expected it to be quiet here, but in the mid-afternoon a group of Nepali porters arrived and set up a large tent right in front of our cabin. We thought this was unbelievably cheeky, but as we're guests in this country, we figured it would be even more rude to complain. For dinner, Patsy and I shared a surprisingly good mushroom pizza. I also had dal bhat with chicken, and Patsy had chicken curry that arrived as chicken soup, so they took it away and changed it to chicken curry. Ken had veggie dal bhat. Meanwhile, the power went out. My watch says we're now acclimated to 5,100' and my SpO2 is 87% (usually it's ~98% in San Diego). We're progressing very slowly, but that's to our benefit since it facilitates our acclimatization.