ABC trek DAY 5

so we got up the next day in heaven!
no words can describe the sights we saw today...
yet i tried hopelessly>
the direct rays of the sun arent here yet, but the dawn is enuf to illuminate the annapurnas.
machhapuchre from MBC.

sam and i got up early, like 5am or something. since we had to be there (ABC) early to see the peaks b4 the clouds come over... so we did.
behind sam is the Mt fishtail or machhapuchre! its got 2 peaks , so like the fish tail!
from pokhara, we see the opposite side of this peak!

left MBC for ABC, u see the clouds over the mountains? they are actually evaporating snow over the peaks coz of the sun's rays! hence they follow the outline of the mountain.

tushar and me, look like a couple! hahah. stupid posing!

better pose. room mates, 'mates' !

ken looking on as he spoils a great pic by coming in the view, anyway, i'll crop him! haha

thats a better place for ken.

we have reached ABC!! i got acute diarrhoea on top on the Himalayas! yes, i went there!

didnt feel so well too.

tushar, joined the maoists and is inspiring the locals there!
i think this is a very nice picture, thanks sam,

yet u see ppl behind me. ok, its natural.

anu is holding little ken on the rock!

we had our lunch there! the room on the background.

zoheb. happy outside the toilets!


'i'll fly away'

porter, this guy had a big role in our trek. he deserves many accolades.
so do all of us. hey look , zoheb's got a fist! he'll hit anu on the head! haha.

zats me with 'mars' in my mouth.

ken and anu- 'the couple'!

ken and tushar - 'the mates'

looks like sam came 1st, me 2nd and zoheb 3rd.

wat we actually tried here is to pretend to lift sambhav!

i like this pic a lot, coz its got a lot in it.

from the top, it has dark blue sky, then the white snowy mountains, then the brown barren rocks/earth, then u have light green grass and also a greenish lake up here on the annapurna ranges!

never expected a lake up here.

ah, i remember zoheb's comments on this: he said it looked like its been downloaded frm the net! wow! not bad huh?

same for this.

Paramount pictures! ;)

this seems to be a glacial lake, when the glaciers evaporate, they leave lakes as such!

hey! dont push ppl with stick!


beautiful setting, beautiful friendships!

lake
snow & rocks ken and sam.

thats most of us guys far away on the rock!

we're so small compared to the huge white mountains! so humbling!

we all finally had our 'mars' which we had been saving for this day! except zoheb, who had no clue, so he just used a bar-one.

majestic. simply.

looks at the rocks above, they probably slide down the hill, avalanche! help.

this place ABC and MBC is covered with snow in the winter season. unfortunate 4 us, we couldnt wait!

another gd pic spoiled by an idiot tourist!

so we spent an amazing day there and moved on... with a great , empowering sense of achievement and accomplishment.

thrilled and fulfilled, we left ABC back thru the path to MBC.

and u can see how the clouds just started to come through!

look at the clouds, soon they just engulf us!

these sheep were all around MBC, i expected a yak on the way, but none found !

normally, zoheb looks this happy only when he's had a full stomach of a mouth-watering meal!

but here he's on top of his own mountain! he named it Mt. NOVA! yeah. hahah.


thats MBC back down there.. soon we'll cross it and head further down.

machhapuchre, shying behind the clouds.

water trickling down the rocky ground.... through the clouds.
another rare flower,

look, the rocks knew we were coming, our names on the rock! gyan and tushar!

walking thru the sky!

back over the ladder-bridge.

trekking back towards home...

ABC trek DAY 4

got up the next morning having a target of our destination - ABC
lets see how far we got...

wat a B E A utiful valley. not a bad photo either.

ah, the bridges get tougher. this one's just a mere ladder across !

hey, i have seen this guy b4! hmmm?!

clouds cover the view of the peaks.
there, u see a glimpse .

from my and zoheb's face u can tell that we don't look all so well.

that's when the effect of the altitude comes in, its the mountain sickness. and the lack of oxygen.

and the hard work has taken a toll on our bodies.

yet, we're still smiling and our goal is fixed! we move onwards!

silhouetted against the bright cloudy sky are ken and anu, they were mostly on the follow and we were ahead. so i turned back and got this gr8 pic!

looks amazing doesn't it ? on the bottom left u can see tiny spots of colour red and white, that's us on our path, minuscule compared to our gigantic mission.

eventually, the grass got scanty and barren rock begun! our terrain went yet another makeover.

now we knew its closer to home. wet rock in the pic.

anuragini gupta. i dun think i ever mentioned her full name b4, jus call her anu all the time.

she's from chandigarh, punjab (india).

tushar malik.

hey can u appreciate the clouds blowing over the hills just above him?

do you see the clouds better now?

ah! these clouds are not getting lower, we actually are at their level...

soon we walked through the clouds. it was an experience out-of-this-world.

don't u ever wonder when u look out the window in your plane, what it would be like to feel the clouds pass you?

well we did feel exactly that. it was amazing and kinda spooky too, coz these clouds are blown across by a strong breeze and u see 'white' all ard u!

talking about a new experience!

just wait for this. can u look at this pic and guess what that white thing is?

well, we came across an isolated piece of ice/snow.

yes! i guess it fell from the top of the hill/rock.

and of course, we couldn't stop playing with it.

that's tushar consumed by the giant ice mouth!

i tried to push it's belly , so it'll vomit tushar back out.

hey! it was cold, and at least i tried! so tushar did get out. he tried to hit the ice-monster with his stick. hahaha. lol

his stupid stick broke in 2!

then i climbed on top, celebrating our victory over the creature! haha.

haha, tushar tempting the giant again.

look at zoheb holding the big piece of ice! wow! Ahmednova!

time to move on... more clouds in our path.

it gets weirder! look at this tree, its growing horizontally out from the vertical face of the hill!

and its got no leaves, only those freaky-spooky twigs!

horror man!

zoheb's under the weirdo tree, see the sharp 90degree bend!

that's me, i dared to touch it! yeah!

haha, looks like i m lifting it up!

hey, maybe i actually was! waddayaknow!

nice inflorescence. ever seen them before? Himalayan flowers!

oh no! its dried up!


weird plant. its leaves were like 'hairy' , felt velvety.


a long walk later, we're finally at Macchhapuchre base camp (MBC).

that's me there , and zoheb.

here's ken.

we actually decided, that we'd not continue the trip, as our health was at stake (some got really sick = zoheb) and it was getting dark. and ABC was just 30 mins away, so we'd just go there the next morn.

sam hiding his face, he felt bad about having an affair with porter dai! lol.

that's the local lodge owner's son.

NO, the one on the right!

a fun night spent at MBC. playing cards with close friends after dinner. nice!

zoheb almost won that game! hehe. lol (*ask zoheb the details)

ken . haha. finally a different look on a photo. that's coz i shocked him . it was pitch black outside the rooms, and we were talking. he didn't know when i pushed the trigger, and snap-flash!

masterpiece! lol.

sam, gd night!

finally, we got to use the sleeping bags we brought along! it was so cold, we had to sleep in them to keep warm.

and they were so good, we started sweating inside.

tushar's sleeping soundly.

ok. good night. tmr the peaks will be conquered!