Annapurna Mini Circuit Trek - Day 7

Day 7 I woke up at 5:25 am to watch sunrise. Since I could see the Annapurna II peak from my window, I saw that the sunrays had not hit the peak as yet. While I was wearing extra socks to step outside, I saw that the sunrays had started to hit the peak. So I got out in a hurry and was able to get some good pics. I then went to the monastery to get even better pics.

After a nice breakfast left the lodge around 8 am. It was a very easy trek, first going to lower pisang and then continuing on to humde. The scenery was fantastic with the Annapurna range on one side, Pisang peak on the other side and Tilicho peak in front. A usual there was a stream flowing mostly parallel to the trail. We reached Humde within 2 hours. I had the nice company of Mike (whom I had chatted with earlier) along the way and didn't realize time go by so quickly. The town reminds one of wild wild west. I was half expecting a cowboy riding on a horse. This town also has an airport. Looking at the town you wouldn't have expected that.

From Humde it was another gentle trek of about 2 hrs. to reach Manang. Comparatively Manang is a big town and almost everyone spends a rest day here to acclimatize to the high altitude. It is about 3600 mts. We reached Manang at noon and after checking in had our lunch. The room here was bigger than my previous rooms and even had an attached toilet. With such luxuries, I felt like a king.

This guesthouse was slightly on the expensive side and hence my fellow travelers had checked into other guesthouses. I had given my IPad for charging and so didn't have anything to do. For some reason Internet connectivity was down in Manang for the last 7 days with no hope of it coming back. ISD facility was also down. I sat in the sun outside the guesthouse. It was very windy and cold and it felt good to soak in the sun. Since I had gotten up early, I slept for about 2 hrs. in the afternoon. Later on in the evening, I bumped into my acquaintances and they invited me to a game of cards. Learnt a new game called Yanniv. It is a very interesting game and we spent a couple of hrs. playing it. I left around 8 pm to order my dinner. After that chatted with a couple of fellow Trekkers in my lodge. One of them was a girl from Israel and she had developed symptoms of ACM (acute mountain sickness) and AMCE (acute mountain cerebral edema). The latter can even be fatal. Thankfully she was trekking with a friend who forced her to descend (in spite of her opposition). They had come back to the lodge and that girl looked so exhausted that she didn't have energy to sit straight. I also spoke to a Korean guy who stays in Squeim, Washington. He is very well travelled and had many interesting things to talk about. I went to my room around 9 pm and read a book before going for sleep around 10:30 pm. However I had trouble breathing. This is one of the early symptoms of AMS I could barely sleep a couple of hours in the night. I could just feel that I was not drawing enough oxygen and hence had to consciously breathe hard. Since I had to consciously breathe, I couldn't fall asleep. Had to get up to pee at 5:45 and hence to got to take some sunrise pics as well....

Random Facts

Cost of pure drinking water - Rs 50/liter.
Altitude – 3600 mts