As easy as ABC

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Annapurna Base Camp Trek: Schedule

Day 00, (10 May): Kathmandu-drive to Pokhara (7 hours) and overnight in hotel
Day 01, (11 May): Pokhara-drive to Nayapul (1 hours) and trek to Tikedhunga (4 hrs) and overnight in teahouse.
Day 02, (12 May): Tikedhunga trek to Ghorepani (7 hours) and overnight in teahouse.
Day 03, (13 May): Ghorepani hike early morning to poon hill (View point) (1 hrs), trek down to ghorepani and trek to Tadapani (6 hrs) and overnight in teahouse
Day 04, (14 May): Tadapani trek to Chhomorung (7 hrs) and overnight in teahouse
Day 05, (15 May): Chhomorung trek to Himalaya (6 hrs) and overnight in teahouse
Day 06, (16 May): Himalaya trek to Machhapuchere Base camp (5 hrs) and overnight in teahouse
Day 07, (17 May): Machhapuchere Base camp trek to Annapurna base camp (2 hrs) and overnight in teahouse.
Day 08, (18 May): Annapurna Base camp trek to Bamboo (7 hrs) and overnight in teahouse
Day 09, (19 May): Bamboo trek to Jhinuwa Danda (Hot spring) (5 hrs) and overnight in teahouse
Day 10, (20 May): Jhinuwa Danda trek to Ghandruk (5 hrs) and trek to Kimche(2hrs) overnite
Day 11, (21 May): Kimche trek to Nayapul (2 hrs) and drive to Pokhara (1 hrs), End of the trek

For the past 1.5 months or so, I’ve been training real hard in preparation for the first leg of my trip – the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek. By that I mean – weekly runs (a 5km run a week), Muay Thai lessons once a week, and weight-training/’stair’-climbing training at Bukit Timah Hill 3 times so far. Yep, that’s it.

Please tell me I’m not screwed. Hello loads of body aches and pains.

Truth be told, I’m feeling utterly unprepared (fitness-wise) for the ABC trek. To make things worse, I’ll be trekking with 10 other people, all of whom are either experienced mountaineers or NIE PE teachers to-be (read: exercise freaks enthusiasts). In other words, I’m the weakest link. Oh boy.

On a brighter note, we will only be walking an average of 6 hours a day, we’re staying in tea houses (ahh comfort), there are porters to carry our things if we so choose to not carry our own things, and we don’t need to cook our own meals.

Compared to all the other previous trekking trips I’ve done (at least 12 hour-days, 1-3 hour sleep in tents that we pitch ourselves, no porters, cook our own food over gas canister stoves), this sure sounds like a luxury. Hey, perhaps trekking to ABC will really be as easy as ABC after all. Then again, the last time I did such a trip was when I was 18, and trained four times a week.

Unfitness aside, I’m really looking forward to the 11 days in the Himalayas. Imagine waking up to this sight every morning:

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Sigh.. What a beauty! I sure hope this sight will make all aches and pains go away. Yes it will!

(And you know you’re jealous. Or envious. And you want to hop on a plane to Nepal too.)

6 days to departure