Christine & Mike in Chame

Hi All,
Well here we are in lovely downtown Chame, 2600mts above sea level. There are quite a few trekkers here as it's a main stopping spot for most since it's about the only place in the last five days with phone access and internet.

We've had a great five days so far, the scenery is spectacularly unbelievable and changes from one village to the next. Everyone is happy to say Namaste and the kids just love to get their picture taken. As access to the internet is frighteningly expensive here, no pictures will be displayed unfortunately, but stay tuned, as soon as I can I'll share some great snaps with you all.

Our trail so far has been filled will beautiful waterfalls, steep gorges and high mountain ranges. We've only been able to see the highest peaks today as the sky is always so very smokey and often cloudy.

Donkey and Pony trains share the trail with us two legged travellers and more than often have right of way. They come hurtelling down steep slopes and I for one am happy to step out of their way! They are adorned with lovely coloured tapestery blankets and decorated headwear, some with no load as they're on their way back down for more, others filled on each side with kilos of food stuffs and an assortment of essential living needs for the locals. Many of the people in these high ranges are Tibetans who have crossed the border in the last few years to escape the rampage of their country by the Chinese and have quickly become Nepalese nationals. They appear to intergrate well with the Nepali people and are a peaceful, loving and extremely resourceful people.

As far as the track goes, Mike's statistics are that 50% of the track is do-able, 30% is only just manageable and the other 20% is f**king difficult and dangerous to the unwary. He says this after falling flat on his face on our very first day, 15 minutes into the trek!! Poor BaBa (his new nickname --- means Old Man, or Father), our Guide, Krishna thinks he's pretty good actually, strong and very Australian. Funny about that!
Actually Mike saw a really amazing thing yesterday, he was trailing along behind at one stage, walking with a team of donkeys and a group of young men on mountain horses came galloping full speed down the hill, yahooing all the way. They came smack bang into the group of donkeys and nearly knocked one poor animal off the cliff. The Donkey owner was yelling and roaring at these renegates who took off down the mountain without a care in the world. However, at US$800 a donkey, it was not really a funny ordeal for the poor donkey or his owner.

We saved a young Pommy girl from a day's agony today. Thankfully our walking phamarcy came to the rescue for this girl who hurt her knee ... gotta love anti-inflamatories and Nurafen Plus!!! We have caught up again with her this afternoon, and she feels MUCH better!

Thought we'd fill you in quickly on our trip so far, and let everyone know we're still alive and having a ball. We've met some very nice people along the track, most are more than willing to have a chat and natter about their days - mainly English, Swedish and a couple of Aussies - Oh and two Scottish lads who are actually doing the Annapaurna Circuit on mountain bikes - I don't know how they are doing it, but they're having a blast! Everyone is tired and weary at the end of the day, so there's not alot of partying after 8pm as most have totally crashed, resting up for early starts each morning.

We should be in Manang in two days and will be able to post another blog then, hopefully with pictures.

Love to everyone.

Christine and Mike