The ancient Newar town of Bhaktapur, located 30 minutes by bus from Kathmandu, was my favorite cultural destination. It was cleaner and less commercial than the other places I have visited and one can imagine that this is what Kathmandu must have been like in bygone times. I spent the entire day roaming within the gates of the old city.

The siblings pictured below are children of the street. At no point during several visits to this particular square over the course of the day did I see a parent anywhere. The older girl never let the baby from her arms. What they did for food I have no idea.

The city is graced with carved wood at almost every turn. The artisan seen working here was preparing a new railing for the guest house in which I was staying.  All the work is done by hand.

Durbar Square in Bhaktapur was easily my favorite cultural destination. The architecture and craftsmanship are unrivaled and the layout of the square is more open than most others by virtue af an earthquake that destroyed many of the original structures.

Yesterday I complained about all that is wrong with Kathmandu. Today I covered about 25 miles on foot trying to capture images of all that is good. Most tourists take taxis between the main attractions. By walking you get a much more intimate view of the city. In no particular order.

As I was getting ready to make the 8 hour bus trip back to Kathmandu, I noticed a very unusual scene. A man suspended by a rope was collecting honey with little apparent regard for the swarm of bees that was attacking him as he did so. No amount of money in the world could induce me to perform this work in this fashion. I departed with a greater appreciation for the honey I was having each day with my lemon tea. The bus ride went quickly as I spent the hours conversing with a young woman who worked in Bhutan as an eco-tourism adviser and was in Nepal visiting friends. That evening I found a quiet guest house and went out for a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant.

Tomorrow I will walk throughout the city visiting the many cultural sites in the area. My photographs will be carefully taken to show all that is beautiful. Today, however, I must comment on the fact that Kathmandu is the most polluted city I have ever visited. It is truly depressing to witness what little regard the Nepalese have for their environment. The air is thick with smog from unregulated engine emissions, the open burning of trash, and the use of fires for cooking and heating. The rivers and waterways are filled with garbage and sewage. Residents urinate, defecate and spit where they please. Car and motorcycle horns are beeped incessantly all day long and well into the night. People discard refuse and organic waste wherever they are standing. The homeless live in squalor. It is hard to imagine how people who can be so friendly to strangers can be so uncaring for their own environment especially in a country so blessed with natural beauty.

I logged another 10 miles this morning while making the return hike to Sauraha with my two guides. We saw very little in the way of wildlife but did arrive just in time to watch the local elephants bathing. Handlers scrub their elephants from top to bottom and all involved seem to really enjoy the daily ritual. Hearty spectators can climb on top of an elephant if they wish to take a very cold shower.

Once cleaned, the elephants return to duty carrying up to four passengers at a time into the jungle. I joined one such tour this afternoon and was treated to several wildlife sightings including a mother and baby rhino.

At day break I met my guides by the river where we started our two day jungle trek with a 4 mile boat ride in a dug out canoe. Dense fog reduced visibility to almost nothing. Our boatman clearly knew every rock in this river and guided us expertly downstream even though we could only hear the rapids as he set up for them. A few miles in, the head guide whispered to the boatman who quickly brought as to shore. We scampered up an incredibly steep bank and then stood silently until we could hear the sounds of a very big animal moving through the brush. I was instructed to climb the nearest tree as did my guides. In a few minutes a huge one horned rhino emerged from the mist. Their eyesight is rather poor but they have excellent hearing and a great sense of smell. We waited patiently in our perches and I was treated to some great photos as this magnificent animal, one of 2000 remaining in the world passed below my tree.

When the coast was clear we climbed down from the trees and returned to the boat to complete our downstream journey. After landing, we set off on a rather brisk pace through the jungle. Having just returned from high altitude and with three days of recovery time on my blisters I was moving in high gear. We covered no less than 20 miles during the ensuing 9 hours and I could have easily gone further. During that time we encountered all manner of wildlife as documented below and paused for lunch in the safety of an observation tower. We spent the night in a small lodge just outside the park which we reached just as the sun was setting.

Although portions of the Annapurna Circuit were more dangerous than I had expected, I must say that nothing compared to the risk of riding the buses in Nepal. I left early this morning on a 7 hour journey to the Chitwan National Park located near the southern border with India. Much of the bus route is along a narrow road that is carved into the sides of the mountains. Between the terrible conditions of the roads, the lack of maintenance on the vehicles, and the generally reckless nature of the driving, one could expect to see a disabled vehicle or accident every thirty minutes or so.

The city of Sauraha, located on the Rapti River, is the eastern gateway into Chitwan, the first national park in Nepal. It was established in 1973 and granted the status of a World Heritage Site in 1984. It covers an area of 360 square miles, mostly jungle, and visitors must be accompanied by two guides (forward guard and rear guard). I shunned the group packages and hired two local guides this evening and made arrangement to meet them at sun up. I spent the remainder of the day exploring near the river.

Pokhara is the third largest city in Nepal with a population of 250,000 and is situated on beautiful Phewa Lake where visitors can rent boats for a day on the lake or to visit the Taal Barahi Temple located on an island in the middle. I spent most of the day reading by the water with my feet up. I have the complete works of Sherlock Holmes on my iPhone and finished several volumes while my toes basked in the sun. I did manage a few photos that did not require much walking.

In light of my badly blistered feet, I have decided to skip the remaining down hill section of the circuit. Instead I will fly to Pokhara for a day or two of rest and recovery before heading further south where I will continue trekking in the jungles of Chitwan National Park. The 40 minute flight through, rather than over, the mountains was delayed by 5 hours. I was told that this is quite normal and that some people are forced to wait for several days for clear weather. The saying here goes; “The clouds have rocks in them”. Planes on this route are not equipped with avionics so pilots must rely on visual navigation.

I spent more time people watching than walking today hoping to give my blisters a chance to heal. Soccer is played everywhere and you are as likely to see girls playing as boys.

I treated myself to a 90 minute massage which did wonders for my aching muscles and left me entirely relaxed for the remainder of the evening which ended in a nice sunset.

A long day of descent featured a visit to the romantic fortress town of Kagbeni located in the Kali Gandaki River valley which defines the western side of the Annapurna circuit leading all the way down to Tatopani. Here one finds medieval buildings and terracotta Buddhist figures with interesting details (examine the photo carefully).

Extensive use of terraces enables the agriculture needed to sustain the local community.

I enjoyed lunch here while observing the locals at work and leisure.

Covering a lot of ground, I continued down the desolate and wind blown Kali Gandaki River valley until I reached Jomsom by which time I had developed a serious set of blisters under the toes of both feet and on the heel of my left foot.

Most people consider the climb over the Thorung La Pass (at 17,769 feet) to be the most difficult day of the Annapurna Circuit trek. You start before the sun is up and will not arrive in Muktinath much before sun down. It is a long day with a huge ascent and an even more punishing descent. For me it was a piece of cake compared to yesterday because the trail was not nearly as treacherous. The downside of doing this trek in December is that it is very cold and the winds can be very strong. My hydration reservoir water line froze in my first five minutes on the trail. A rookie mistake, I failed to blow air back into the tube after taking my first sip. That mistake cost me dearly as it meant no water until it thawed at about 2PM, 8 hours later. At the top of the pass, I paused briefly for pictures.On the trail the winds seemed to be in the 30 mph range. At the top of the pass I would say they were closer to 50 mph and the windchill was insanely cold. My gloves came off for only a millisecond as I set the timer on my camera and tripped the shutter. I had to spread the legs of my tripod to their most extreme angle to prevent the wind from knocking my camera over. The descent took its toll on my knees but with every step the air got thicker, the winds weaker and the temperature warmer. An entirely new set of views appeared and a real sense of euphoria set in. Perhaps this or the lack of water caused me to take a wrong turn. I descend down the wrong side of the valley and had to add an hour to an already very long day to correct the mistake.

The nature of the trail changed dramatically today. Wide and flat has given way to narrow and slanted. Stable sand and rock has given way to fickle scree fields, often covered in ice. If I had to pick a single word to describe the situation I would say treacherous. In many places a single missed step would result in a long uncontrolled fall to certain death. For the first time on the circuit I was unable to manage my fear of heights and found myself paralyzed, unable to move forward and unable to retreat. In every case, I eventually forced myself to move forward as the fear of what was yet to come was never as great as the fear of what I had already been through. There was simply no going back and I knew that I would make it over the pass tomorrow because no force on Earth could compel me to travel this trail again. Most people have no more trouble on the trails today than yesterday and would be more likely to complain about how hard the elevation gain was in thin air. For the acrophobic, however, there is a world of difference. Had I known how psychologically challenging today’s trekking would be I would have never started the circuit. Now that I have done it, I would never do it again. That said, I feel a real sense of accomplishment having pushed through my irrational fears and making my way to High Camp. None of today’s pictures illustrate the portions of the trail which caused me terror. Once my anxiety gets triggered the simple act of taking a photograph becomes absolutely impossible. All I am able to do at this point is tighten my grip on my trekking poles, narrow my field of vision to the trail under foot and take one more step and then force myself to breath.

Above High Camp is a ridge leading to a viewpoint said to offer an exceptional panoramic view. Just looking at the trail I could tell this would be another test of my acrophobia but kept telling myself I had not come this far to miss one of the best photo opportunities of the trek. I had to get on my hands and knees at the very end but I made it to the top and can say it was absolutely worth the effort. I eventually mustered the courage to stand up so that a fellow trekker could take my photo in this spectacular setting.

All in High Camp that evening would be trying to make it over the pass tomorrow and that shared challenge made for a strong sense of camaraderie. We all huddled together to fight off the cold before we turned in for the night.

Looking back on Manang after an early morning start the consequences of using wood fueled fires to cook the morning meal were apparent. The trail has grown increasingly quiet with only the occasional trekker and very few locals. Skies remain unbelievably blue but day time temperatures are now on the distinctly chilly side.

With each passing day the mighty Marsyangdi River has grown smaller and smaller as I gradually hike my way to its source. Apparent on the other side of the valley are the landslides which routinely take out the trail and can be very dangerous at this stage of the climb.

Today I made the very short hike to Manang where I must spend the night to properly acclimate before advancing to a higher altitude tomorrow. After settling into my guest house I made several short excursions without my pack to explore the area. I found no shortage of subjects to capture my attention.

I can say with total confidence that this is the first time that I have ever used a pile of dung as a foreground element in one of my photos. I will leave it to my viewers to determine if this was a crappy idea or not.

I have now crossed the 10,000 foot altitude threshold and the big Himalayan peaks draw closer every day while the day and night time temperatures continue to drop. Even as I look back down from where I have come the mountains loom large in comparison to the little villages where I rest each night.

As I continue to advance ever higher, the lush pines start giving way to a much more arid environment with little vegetation.

I have been covering from 7 to 10 miles per day thus far. As the trail gets increasingly steeper and higher, however, my travel distance is limited by a maximum elevation gain of 500 meters per day. It is necessary to follow this precaution to ensure the body has sufficient time to acclimate. Hot water for showers is now non-existent and it is necessary to sleep with my hydration bladder to keep it from freezing at night. The skies remain as blue as I have ever seen. I have been reading for several hours each night and thus far have completed “Born to Run” and “The Lone Survivor” both providing different forms of inspiration as I trek. I also have with me the complete works of Sherlock Holmes which I hope to put a major dent in.

Pictured below is a long wall of prayer wheels, to be passed on the left hand side with the wheels to be spun clockwise. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers that are written upon it. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit on the outside of the wheel. The wheels are to be found in and between every village as well as inside and around temples, monasteries and religious monuments.