Saturday 27 October 2007

Just 21 days and you too could have legs of steel

That's as long as you're prepared to walk 5 to 7 hours a day, pretty much relentlessly up and down, up and down. The rivers get in the way of the path, it's most inconvenient!

This pic is of Annapurna South at sunrise - you stand in this bowl at the base camp and all around you are mountains. It's just incredible.

Back from my trek around the Annapurna circuit and into the Annapurna base camp and now relaxing in the funky little part of Pokhara, just far enough away from the tourist hell that is the main drag. (Although compared to Kathmandu it's peanuts.) I really do have legs of steel now. I keep feeling them and getting excited - just in time for the ski season. No doubt I'll be forcing you all to feel them too when I get back. Watch out.

Follow the links above for the pics if you have a spare hour. I went a bit mad on the photos and I'm going to let them do the talking as far as the route is concerned. There are lots of trekkers but deservedly so - the route passes through such varied landscapes and cultures and gives amazing views of some of the highest mountains in the world. It has felt very much like a holiday as opposed to travel proper, it's all very set up for Western visitors - porridge, Mars bars, even lasagne for dinner. But it didn't get in the way of the experience, there's a nice "we're in it together" spirit about the whole thing, you see the same people each day and get to chat about how dizzy/tired/hot/cold/hungry/sweaty you feel and how long it took you to get from A to B. (Incidentally, my "trekking Nepali" now extends to all of these descriptions and I've impressed the guides and porters no end.)

It has however really made me think about the impact of tourism here. First off, I spent a lot of the trek fighting off my guide who became increasingly upset when I did not melt into his arms en route. He behaved like a petulant child and we ended up falling out almost daily. As my friend Kathryn said in her cute Canadian accent "God, it's such a high school relationship!". I decided enough was enough after a fortnight of it; we terminated our relationship and I headed into the Annapurna Sanctuary with Kathryn ("did I tell you I do triathlons?") and her guide instead. But it is partly us in the West who have caused this behaviour - it's not unheard of for guides to hook up with their female clients. Which would be fair enough if it was on an equal basis, but it's not. So many of these guys see a Western girlfriend as their ticket to the best sex of their lives... and possibly out of Nepal and to the West. Most Nepalis don't have sex before they are married so the men are fascinated by our freedom to have relationships with whomever we choose. And of course they see all the wealth we flaunt and want some of our "easy life". They don't realise that an "easy life" in the West for them would most likely be on some godawful council estate in a horrible dead-end job, struggling to make ends meet and to integrate into our world. (Unless of course they actually do bag the rich Western girlfriend... )

Moreover, the tourist dollar often doesn't go to the local communities, it goes to some businessman in Kathmandu who has the money to invest in the teahouses. It costs money to import all the goods we "need" as Westerners, goods and services the average Nepali can never afford. And my current personal favourite - Nepalis have to break the law to bring us steaks. As a Hindu country, cows are sacred and it's illegal to kill them, although they may well be passing yak or buffalo meat off as steak, I'm actually not sure. Consider that 30% of the population live below the poverty line, 80% live on under $2 a day and only 48% of women can read and write - and I think we should try and think about our impact a little bit more. There's lots of publicity about plastic water bottles but I think we're having more of a social and cultural impact - and I know it's not all bad either. Just worth thinking about.

I didn't see the same envy and lusting after a western lifestyle in Borneo, but then my experience there was very different. I'm aware I'm not even scratching the surface of the real Nepal, I'm only seeing a tourist version.

I'm still with Kathryn, we're having a lovely relaxing time in Pokhara. We were just saying this morning how easily we could get stuck here. I even look like a hippy, I'm blending in beautifully with the other travellers. Check out this pic. Oh dear, that skirt, call the fashion police.