Annapurna Circuit Trek: Days 5-6

On day 5, as indeed on almost every day of the trek, I woke up raring to go. On the trail, however, I started to find the walking slow gloing. It was the altitude (we were over 2500m by this point). Fitness-wise, I felt fine. Being forced to slow down my pace wasn't all bad though, as I got to enjoy views such as these:

After lunch the views started to open up. This rock face was particularly impressive, a testament to the power of glacial erosion:

As with the day before, I relished the fresh air and the pine smells. We saw lots of butterflies and I loved the juxtaposition of their delicateness against the solidness of the mountains. I was very aware of the colours around me. Every one of them seem heightened somehow. The blue of the sky was particularly plue, the leaves particularly green, the snow on the mountains particularly white. The scenery was so lovely that even my bad blisters couldn't detract.

We were in the district of Manang and, of all the ethnicities we met, I liked the Managis best. They all seemed like decent people, with smiles and a expressions that radiated warmth and kindness. They are buddhists and the region is covered with rows of prayer wheels and stupas:

As I lay in bed on that night, I realised I had a massive grin on my face. I just couldn't stop smiling.

By day 6 the scenery was becoming noticably sparcer. Our itinerary for the day was to get from Pisang to the village of Manang. There are two possible routes, the higher route which is the harder of the two but more rewarding in its views or the lower, flatter route. We opted for the latter, since Maria was not feeling well and, my blisters being the way they were, I was happy to go along with that. The less good scenery was stunning nonetheless, with the mountains feeling ever closer. I was walking on my own and for a while I couldn't see anyone in any direction. It was just me and the mountains, trees and skies. At first it felt wonderful then overwhelming and I started to feel a little anxious, especially when I thought I'd lost the group. We were reunited soon enough, though. Since days our itinerary called for us to cover less distance once walking at altitute, we had time after lunch to explore the medeival village of Braga and its 600 year old monastry. Despite the brightness of the interior (a total sensory overload), I felt remarkably calm. I was glad to be feeling the cultural, as well as scenic, aspect of the trek.

Then onto Manang, which I liked more than I expected, given the guidebook's description of it as the commercial hub of the region. The commerical hub of such a sparce region, however, is hardly Oxford Street. I also immediately got a got vibe from the lodge we checked into. It was our group and dozens of Israelis, including our hippy friends. I was excited by the prospect of the next day being a rest day so stayed up later than usual, playing cards and reflecting on what a great day it had been.