Two's company...

Smithy and I have just found out that we will be the only two trekkers on the Tibet trip - a "private" group of two, as our trek company leader put it! Oh well, just as well we've had a bit of practice being a pair of princesses...

In 2004, we arrived in Kathmandu a week after the riots that resulted when those Iraquis kidnapped and executed 12 Nepali migrant workers, and discovered that everyone else booked on the Annapurna Circuit trek had cancelled! Now, this was to be a camping trip and it probably would have been very easy to convert it to a tea-house trek, but no Ama Dablam decided to forge ahead as originally planned. So there was Smithy and me, the trek leader Mukund, the sirdar Santa, the sherpa Dev, five kitchen crew and five porters. 13 crew for just the two of us!

Still, 13 people earned 3 weeks wages that they would not otherwise have got and we certainly got the royal treatment. Told one day that lunch would be just over the next hill, we crested said hill to discover a dining table, complete with pink table cloth, folding chairs, and an aluminium tea kettle all set up beside a burbling brook!

This year's Annapurna Circuit we'll be accompanied by Ms Libra and Bluey - a "private" group of four. But we'll be staying in tea-houses this time so there will be plenty of opportunities to meet other people. It won't be until we join the Peregrine trek to Island Peak that Smithy and I will be in a large group of strangers - 10 are booked on that one. I just hope we will not have lost the art of conversation by then!

It's Tuesday so we must be in...

A friend made the very good suggestion that we put the itinerary of our Very Big Adventure online so it can be followed by everyone we've left behind, so here it is:

30 Aug: Fly Brisbane-Bangkok

31 Aug: Fly Bangkok-Kathmandu

31 Aug-4 Sept: Sightseeing around Kathmandu

5th Sept: Everest Base Camp/Mt Kailash Trip begins with flight from Kathmandu to Lhasa

5-7 Sept: Sightseeing around Lhasa

8-9 Sept: Gyantse, Shigaste, Lhatse

10-11 Sept: Rongbuk Monastery and optional day hike to Everest Base Camp

12-14 Sept: Saga, Drugba and Lake Manasarover

15 Sept: Rest and exploration at Lake Manasarover

16-19 Sept: 3-day kora of Mount Kailash

20-24 Sept: Drive via Zangmu to Kathmandu

25-26 Sept: Rest and laundry in Kathmandu

27-29 Sept: Chitwan National Park

29 Sept-3 Oct: Pokhara. Includes meeting the three children we sponsor through World Vision, an ultra-light flight over Pokhara

4-10 Oct: Back in Kathmandu. 2 friends from Melbourne - Ms Libra and Bluey - will fly in on 6 Oct to join us for Annapurna Circuit trek

11 Oct: Annapurna Circuit begins with bus ride to Besisahar (altitude 750m)

12 Oct: Trek Besisahar-Bahaun Danda (1310m)

13 Oct: Bahaun Danda- Tal (1700m)

14 Oct: Tal-Chame (2670m)

15 Oct: Chame-Pisang (3200m)

16 Oct: Pisang-Braga or Manang (3540m)

17 Oct: Acclimatisation day at Manang

18 Oct: Manang-Kangsar (3734m) Celebrate Ms Libra's birthday

19 Oct: Kangsar-Tilicho Base Camp (4300m)

20 Oct: Day hike to Lake Tilicho (4920m)

21 Oct: Kangsar-Leder High (4200m)

22 Oct: Leder High- Phedi (4450m)

23 Oct:Cross Thorung La (5416m) and trek to Muktinath (3800m)

24 Oct: Muktinath-Kagbeni (2800m)

25 Oct: Kagbeni-Marpha (2670m)

26 Oct: Marpha-Kalopani (2530m)

27 Oct: Kalopani-Tatopani (1190m) and a well-earned soak in the hot springs

28 OCt: Tatopani-Ghorepani (2750m)

29 Oct: Climb Poon Hill (3193m) then trek to Ghandruk (1940m)

30 Oct: Ghandruk-Birethanti (1025m) Bus to Pokhara. Celebrate my birthday

31 Oct: Bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu

1-5 Nov: More rest, laundry and sightseeing in Kathmandu. 2 friends fly to Melbourne on 4 Nov

6 Nov: Island Peak trek begins with flight to Lukla (2827m) Trek to Phakding (2652m)

7 Nov: Phakding-Namche Bazaar (3446m)

8 Nov: Acclimatisation day in Namche

9 Nov: Namche-Mong La (3870m)

10 Nov: Mong La-Dole (4084m)

11 Nov: Dole-Machermo (4465m)

12 Nov: Machermo-Gokyo (4720m)

13 Nov: Acclimatisation day. Climb Gokyo Ri (5357m)

14 Nov: Gokyo to below Cho La (4950m)

15 Nov: Cross Cho La (5420m) and trek to Lobuche (4930m)

16 Nov: Lobuche-Gorek Shep (5160m) Climb Kalar Pattar (5545m)

17 Nov: Visit Everest Base Camp (5364m) and trek to Lobuche

18 Nov: Lobuche to below Kongma La (5380m)

19 Nov: Cross Kongma La (5535m) and trek to Island Peak Base Camp (5090m)

20-21 Nov: Climb Island Peak (6119m)

22 Nov: Island Peak-Dingboche (4360m)

23 Nov: DIngboche-Namche Bazaar via Tengboche

24 Nov: Namche-Phakding

25 Nov: Phakding-Lukla

26 Nov: Fly Lukla-Kathmandu

28 Nov: Fly Kathmandu-Bangkok-Brisbane

29 Nov: Home!

Ignorance ain't bliss

I'm one of those people that likes to do lots of preparation before I go trekking. I scour the internet for websites by other people that have done the same trek, I read the trekking guide books and any other books about the region that I can find. I even prepare my journals - gluing in pictures of the places I'm going to, copying out little quotes, writing in useful words in Nepali - one year I even pasted in the day-to-day trip notes provided by Peregrine just so I could compare them to the reality (not even close!). I like to learn a little about the villages I'm going to be trekking through, just so I don't miss out on special experiences - yeti skulls at Khumjung, hot springs at Chame, 900 year old monasteries at Braga. I like the feeling of being immersed in the landscape around me - knowing the names of the mountains, rivers, birds and plants - rather than it being reduced to just 'scenery' that I'm passing through on my way to my next destination.

To most people, I'm probably a little over-prepared. They're happy just knowing the name of the village they're staying in that night and how long they still have to go before reaching the 'final' destination and I guess that's OK. But there was one woman I encountered on my last trek who just astounded me. We were making our way up the Namche hill on the trail to Everest. I passed her as she paused for a rest. She was looking worn out and not as if she was enjoying herself at all. I stopped for a few friendly words of encouragement and asked her where her group was headed and she didn't know! She did not know what trek she had signed up for! That just does my head in, that does. What, did someone say to her, "Hey come and do this trip in Nepal" and she went "What the heck, sure", handed over her money, packed her bags and flew halfway around the world and never even found out exactly where she was going? She certainly had no idea getting to wherever she was going was as tough as it was and was not at all impressed with the Namche hill. I didn't have the heart to tell her she was only half way up it!