Today, “get up” is more than breakfast options and another hiking day, it means that we enter serious height levels. Beginning on 3.550m in the morning, the upcoming night will be beyond the threshold of 4.000m above sea level – for whatever sea level this may refer to. While local farmers work hard for their…

What looks like half-finished buildings of untreated stones is in fact one of the larger villages on the track. Manang is milestone of the Annapurna circuit where all trekkers come through – and it is famous for German bakeries. Looking back now I damn myself for not having taken pictures of the fantastic pies and…

Today is joker day: We leave our luggage in the lodge, enjoy a late breakfast and combine sightseeing with a bit of a hiking tour around Manang. Before getting lost in mountain names, here comes the orientational glossary: Annapurna II is the most beautiful mountain in my world that we half-rounded these days. Annapurna III…

The first four days of the trek left me exhausted almost every day. The hiking portions have been more than I have ever been used to and secretly I wonder if and how I will make it over the pass… Although I never figured NOT getting by, I do know that there is a fair…

On our 4th hiking day the daily routine becomes a habit: Wake up and change into hiking clothes. Condense Fred down to merely 5% of its size. Go for coffee, wait for breakfast serving. Then out and off we go, straight to Chame’s big mani wheel. The route starts easy enough, but my bones and…

Departing the next morning, we see white peaks of significant height all around us. “Significant” in this context is more than my front-yard Alps ever can be – the 6.000-m-mountains here have a similar look, but the magnitude is just a scoop more. The scenery presents itself in excellent picture mode: a bit of a…

Another day shows up with 100% sun and tropical temperatures, The trek of today is beautiful, following the shimmering green water of the river in mainly uphill direction. We are surrounded by steep hills in green and brown and witness km after km how the landscape slightly changes: The river turns into a torrent, the…

Isn’t life about reality versus expectations? Contradictions and tension? Well, in this context we are blessed with daily distances that surpass our expectations. With a group of 14 trekking tourists it is more than likely that some show up with modern GPS world- and fitness-measurement equipment and it caused a bit of a riot when…

“Liebe Gäst…” is our guide’s standard introduction whenever he explains his world  or tries to get the inert mass of us moving. After the stupendous culture of Bhaktapur, we will now take off for the trek, the main sensation of the Nepal journey. We leave the Sweet Home hotel and start our lesson about Nepali…

Based on the Nepali calendar, we are in the middle of December 2074 and the preparations for the New Year festivities have begun. Thus, it is no wonder that the first thing we see in Bhaktapur is a ritual mask dance. Our first destination in Nepal is Bhaktapur, one of the ancient Newa kingdoms. Thanks…