From yesterday - Sunday 22nd
So accommodation last night was one of our better ones. We had attached bathrooms to our bedrooms. This means that for some of the team....without mentioning any names, didn't require the use of their pee bottles, hummus container or Jalna yoghurt container. It also meant there wasn't a need to stick the headlamp on and traipse down the end of a corridor to relieve oneself. Last night I went to bed quite excited about this fact knowing somewhere between midnight and 2am I'd be woken with the urge. But guess what? No urge came. I woke feeling totally annoyed that I didn't need to use this luxury facility that had cost us an extra $2.
Sue has started Diamox to help with her breathing and it seems to be doing the job as she's trekking along nicely.
The morning was an early wake up call of 5am and we were heading up the trail under headlamp to watch the sunrise. It was so mild at that time of the morning but when we got up the top our extra layers came out.
Jason's knee is giving him grief and he is taking panadol and anti inflammatory tablets along with a knee brace. He's trying everything from the local Tiger Balm to a massage from Prakash. We have already discussed the possibilities of what if........he is prepared to try and manage it at this stage but is in a fair bit of pain. Bill Brown, along with managing his knee issue, he also has another small problem that you discussed earlier on in a comment. Yep the old bunch of grapes. How right you were.
We got to use our crampons today and everyone commented it was the best 1200 rupees ($15) they had ever spent. No sooner did we get off the ice and take the crampons off, someone in the group slipped over. See the photo and who can guess who belongs to the bum.
Quote of the day goes to John Gerring. And sorry David but John has commented that "the Annapurna walk is looking to be harder than Everest". Now this will cause a stir amongst some blog followers but the picture of John at our lunch spot sums it up.
Today - Monday 23rd
Another hard slog on the mountain today. Our walk started with a 1000 metre very steep decent. Jason is a walking junkie dosed up on anything he can to relieve his knee pain issue. Determination should pull him through.
Sue has discovered that a bowl of vegetable soup for tea simply isn't enough fuel to get you through the next day as she struggled the last 1.5 hours of today's walk. A good feed of Dahl Baht which is the food the porters eat twice a day and the meal I tend to order will see her running the mountains tomorrow.
We have had a dog follow us for the past two days. We were calling her Annapurna, until we found out her name is Carley. Alasdair, don't be surprised if mum smuggles it home. She's fallen in love with it.
After a hard morning walk, we arrived at our lodge at 1.30pm. Our only early day where we had a chance to shower.....yes hot water. We all smell so so sweet. We have even done some washing. A good opportunity to rest our legs before tomorrow's attack on the mountains.