The Hike from Pisang to Manang ( part 1 )

Morning comes and we need to get ourselves ready to continue our trip. Small reminder – order your breakfast after your dinner along with the timing when do you want to have your breakfast or else you have to wait for around 1 hour or so. Finishing our breakfast, packing up, we always check if we have enough water supply until the next stop. Along the way you will find some water sources which our guide said it’s common for local to drink but he’s worried that it might not suitable for us. Hence we decided to go with bottled water along our way. Funny part is the price raise around 50 – 100 rupees following the raise of elevation.

Once we are ready, we continued the journey from Pisang to Manang. We took the upper trail. If you google it you will find lower and upper. Upper trail will really blessed you with a great view but the trail is more challenging. Doable but tougher in which you will see how within this writing.

Started with a walk along the village where we stayed. We noticed that the structure was built by mailny by using rocks, woods, and something which looks like bushes but we weren’t really sure. At the gate where we went out of the village there is another spinning prayer wheels. You could see quite number of it within the trail. Well, don’t forget to pray for everyone’s health, safety, and happines!

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Once we were near and passed the gates, we could see many farm fields. This is where we learned from our guide, these farm fields were also the reason behind it’s named as Annapurna. Anna means grain/food and Purna means Full so basically the name itself saying that the place is full with grains/food. it’s very beautiful to see though it’s a bit sad to see some of them are abandoned. I think this phenomena happens anywhere in the world. The youngster left the village and go to the city so now the village population are consist with more elders and kids.

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the first part of the journey was mainly within the edge of a cliff and rocks and slight inclination. All is well all is good. There are some parts within the trails where the sun kicks in and the clouds went away until we could see the tip of Annapurna Mountain and the look of lower trail.

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Walking for a while, we finally meet another prayer walls. This time it’s bigger than the previous one and our guide told us to have a rest. We enjoyed the view and taking a look at our surrounding until we reached the end of the prayer wheels and see the next trail. That point of time, we are all asked ourselves with fainted laugh –> “Why did we do this to ourselves?”. The next trail was no joke. You literally crossing a valley going with a steeper inclination. Get your hiking stick ready. It comes handy.

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Here we go! First you will need to cross a bridge. By now i am quite used to it. Not to worry it’s safe though it may get shaky due to the wind and all the movement along the way. Once you crossed the bridge, the road starts to incline no need to be quick just go with your pace as this point of time if you are not used to it breathing itself may have become a sport. We are already above 3,000 m. Our heart and lungs work hard already so just adjust your pace wisely and stop where you need it. Here are some pictures out of that experience.

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When i finished the trail, sitting there i looked at what i have just been through. wew… it was a long way down. Is it the end? LOL. Definitely no! not even half of the day yet felt so long already. there were a lot of people passing this trail too. It may be confusing without our guide. Left and right looking the same turned out that the trail could lead to different places. hufft… just let’s have a break for now. the wind was pretty strong and the sunshine strike through your eyes. Cover yourself accordingly. Good sunglasses is a must have. A polarized one with UV protection will be good for you.

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We can’t stop for too long as it wasn’t even half of the journey. At the peak there are some small housing and village but off we go to the higher place. Overall, the view is about the same as the previous village where the building was made by using rocks and woods. It’s quite enjoyable to pass through the area.

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Off from the village, here comes another journey of us. It is still going up and up and up. Rocks makes the road slightly hard to walk on the inclination is no help either. The view though.. Blue Sky, serene environment, and the sound of the wind. All that makes you concentrate on what is really lies before your eyes and to live in the moment. Things that we usually forget or take for granted. Over here every seconds really is felt by the whole body. Tired yes happy yes. Here we come Ngawal.

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After that point around 3,700 m above sea level, we were going down to stay the night. This is something that i learned from the trip go hike to higher elevation is okay but stay in lower elevation. This is to avoid the AMS ( altitude mountain sickness ). That and also keep yourself hydrated, pacing ur walk accordingly, and perhaps some medication will do the trick if you need it. Some of us started to drink acetazolamide 2 days before the hike. There are some side effects that you needs to be aware off. It may cause you to feel thirsty yet at the same time push you to have a more frequent toilet visit which could be challenging at times but that spices up your journey, doesn’t it? 😛 Ok, from here off we go to get our late lunch. The trip was quite long this time it was already past 2 PM.

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Continuing the journey of going down consist of flat surface, slight inclination due to the contour ( but manageable unlike morning hike ), and a steep slope in one part. This part is rather dusty. Wear your mask. Somehow the road started to have sands here and there and more trees this time. We took a break in between within the flat surface to enjoy the ridge and to check our health indicator. It was really is a long walk for the day and we haven’t finished yet. I recall when i sat down my brain feels empty. I was incapable of thinking as i used to. LOL. So.. my suggestion would be leave anything that you work on and things behind and just enjoy the moment. You have come a long way.

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When the pact is complete and ready to go on, we carried on the journey. Along the way, our guide keep on telling us that it was already near but well.. he has been telling us that since hours back and yet here we are still walking. Honestly, i was a bit worried because the sun is about to set and i know we haven’t reached Manang yet. However, our guide took a quick calculation and i think he has the whole map in his head. He planned ahead and we finally end our journey in other city than Manang. It was Mungji.

The stop in Mungji was something that out of our plan but necessary i would say. Remember, when you are in a pack you need to make sure the whole bunch could carry on and i think it’s better to stop since it’s going to be dark soon. I was amazed by how fast the new arrangement could come into place. New accommodation arrangement and stuffs and there we went to that day place to stay. too bad that there was no picture. Haha..we were all just too tired.

let me pause it over here, by bidding you all a good bye and to see you on the next post related with how we reach MANANG. FINALLY!

Wish you were there to hike the mountain and bring our luggages.. *oops 🙂

Cheers!

Triana Mustika Rukmi