Hiking ABC, walking on Annapurna

After traveling most of China, it was the first time I set foot on a foreign land.

Twenty years old, Nepal, one person, one package, two cameras

ABC Hiking, Hang Gliding, Two Days and One Night at Buddhist College Life

I planned to take EBC this fall a year and a half ago

But I never considered its difficulty factor

So much so that I was “fearless” when I decided to take ABC

I have lived in Shanghai since childhood, where there are no mountains or snow. (I automatically ignore the Sheshan Mountain with an altitude of less than 100m and the light snowfall that occurs every few years) I particularly like snow and mountains, especially the continuous snow-capped mountains.

When the plane flies over the Himalayas, every time I encounter snow-capped mountains, my eyes are always moist and my mood is a little complicated, as if I had lived on a snowy plateau in my previous life.

Landing in Nepal, I stole two hours and fifteen minutes. The words in English and Nepali are everywhere in front of my eyes, which is unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

When I walked out of the airport, I faced many local drivers who spoke Chinese and wanted to take me to the Thamel area. I ignored them and went straight to the money exchange office of the Little Red House recorded in my guide. Unfortunately, the Little Red House did not appear there. In my sight.

I began to feel confused. A local driver came up and insisted on asking me what I was going to do and told me that he was not a bad person. At this time, Getral Rinpoche came over and asked me where I was going. I replied that I was going to Thamel. But you need to exchange rupees first. After hearing this, Rinpoche took out 2,000 rupees from his wallet and found a taxi. "This is 800 rupees. When you get to Thamel, give the money to the driver, and you can use the remaining money to eat." In order to change it well. After receiving the phone card, I promptly returned the money to Rinpoche, and I added Rinpoche’s WeChat account.

When I came to Thamel District, because I had no extra money to pay for the room and no phone card, I tried to go to a Chengdu hotel to exchange money to buy a phone card. "We don't have money to change it for you" with an indifferent tone. I couldn't believe that this was the kind Chinese person I thought. After buying a phone card in a Chengdu hotel, I finally ended my life of being disconnected. But when the important information in the guide was inconsistent with reality twice in a row, I was filled with despair.

Still holding on to the idea that the exchange rate would be higher when I exchange money at a Chinese restaurant, I walked to the Phoenix Hotel. "Hello, our exchange rate is 1:16.25," said a smiling Nepalese sister. Touching the heavens and the earth!

After leaving the Phoenix Hotel, I walked back to the hotel. Facing the check-in form, which was all in English, I realized how little I had accumulated in vocabulary, and I fell into despair again.

After finishing everything, I transferred the equivalent amount of RMB to Rinpoche. Rinpoche said " There is no need to give me money. It is my honor to help others and it is my responsibility to help others."

It was the first time I came to a place where the language and environment were unfamiliar, and I faced several discrepancies between reality and plans. On the first day in Nepal, my heart almost collapsed, but Gedral Rinpoche’s help and concern eased it. My breaking situation.

In the evening, walking on the streets of Kadu, the crowded shops, slightly dirty roads, and the Nepali men standing at the door of the shops looking at the crowds on the road were my first impressions of Kadu.

My first night in Nepal, I didn’t sleep well.

I got up early the next morning and drove to Pokhara. I followed the road pointed out on the map by the hotel, but I didn’t find the pick-up point. I didn’t see any people carrying hiking bags along the way. Looking at the approaching time, I Extremely anxious. When I was about to find a car to ride to the bus pick-up point, I was lucky enough to see a few locals carrying big bags. "They must be hikers too!" A local guy saw that I was confused and offered help. I followed them to the pick-up point before departure. grateful.

The road condition from Kadu to Pokhara was very poor. When I arrived in Pokhara, I lost 50,000 steps. The roads were spacious, clean and comfortable, which was my first impression of Pokhara. Later, I really loved the city of Pokhara.

Maybe it’s because I was hit hard the day before, or maybe it’s because I got help from others this morning, or maybe it’s just because I’m thick-skinned. I started to proactively and actively communicate with others, and everything is going in the right direction.

On the first day of hiking, I got up early to apply for the ACAP permit and TIMS card. On the way to take a taxi, I was told that the office would not open until ten o'clock. Then I remembered that I had been tricked by the taxi driver who intercepted me yesterday . That's all, the worst case scenario is waiting for another three hours.

At 10:50 in the morning, I finished applying for two permits. When I took the bus from Pokhara to Naya Pul, then transferred to Jeep to Kimche, and arrived at Kimche at 2 pm, the real hiking had just begun.

Because the departure time was late, there were only packmen along the way and there were no more hikers. I can’t even believe it’s peak hiking season.

When I met cattle, sheep and horses on the road, I pretended to be a wooden man standing by the roadside, for fear of disturbing the cattle, sheep and horses. Yes, I was really afraid of them. I encountered a ferocious wild dog on a narrow path and was so frightened that I almost shed tears. Passing by Ghandruk, my planned destination for the day, I didn’t stop because it was still early. Arriving at Komrong, the temperature dropped quickly because it was approaching sunset, so we settled in Komrong.

The mint green cabin is run by an old couple, and I was the only guest in the house that day.

When I woke up in the morning, I watched the sunrise and the sun shining on the golden mountains as I wished with a warm breakfast. After saying hello to the old couple, we continued our journey.

On this day, I climbed two mountains. As long as the downhill road was, you can imagine how desperate it will be to go uphill later. When I arrived at Chhomrong, I finally saw waves of people coming to hike. Compared to the day before when there was no hiker on the road, I felt very kind to the hikers who didn’t have any Chinese faces.

Arriving at my planned destination, Lower Sinuwa, at 2:30 in the afternoon, I continued moving forward.

Hee hee hee, what are you afraid of? When I left Lower Sinuwa and was about to walk towards Upper Sinuwa, there were two buffaloes in front of me and a few wild dogs (or domestic dogs? I think they are very fierce anyway!) that were barking behind me. For a long time, I fought psychological battles one after another. Finally, I moved forward cautiously. Very good. I passed the first buffalo. When I was about to avoid the second buffalo, it silently turned around to look. I was so scared that I accidentally fell down on a small slope and sprained my right foot. The buffalo was also scared by me and ran away. Hee hee, on the second day of hiking, I wanted to make some side dishes for my sprained feet. Even with a limp, I walked up to Upper Sinuwa before dark.

There are only three hotels in Upper Sinuwa. It happened to be a light rain that day, and the hotels were all full at once. Seeing that it was dark and there were so many hikers who couldn't find a place to stay, I felt sorry for them but also glad that I was still there. Hurry, or I might be the one without a place to live.

In the hotel, I met two Chinese uncles and their Chinese guide Samir who only spoke a few words in Chinese. My uncle saw that I sprained my ankle and advised me to go down, but I still wanted to keep walking, so he kindly gave me a plaster to put on.

That night, in order to receive a stable signal, I stood outside the house blowing the cold wind. After reporting that it was safe, I went to bed early. I was worried about my injured right foot while I was sleeping, for fear that the injury would worsen the next day.

Hee hee hee, I was lucky. When I woke up in the morning, my foot injury was more serious, but this did not prevent me from continuing to walk up. I walked with two Chinese uncles and Samir, drinking water and eating together on the way. Finally someone took care of me.

The starting road was pretty easy and we walked all the way to Himalaya. After lunch, the temperature dropped sharply and it began to rain heavily. So I put on my thickest coat and continued to work!

It was another uphill road with no end in sight. Carrying nearly 30 kilograms of bag on my back, I was tired and sore. But every time I looked at Samir, I could always see him. When he looked at me with a smile, it was considered a blessing. Got some motivation.

Before the sun goes down, here we are! Lame little dish! Finally arrived at Deurali!

After a stubborn day of walking, the foot injury became more serious, but by the end of the day I seemed to have gotten used to the pain, so much so that I could still smile while taking photos.

The fourth day of hiking, from Deurali to MBC and then to ABC, today is the day to summit ABC! Today is also a day when I have a headache as soon as I wake up!

On the way from Deurali to MBC, I was imagining the scene where I would connect to WIFI and make video calls with my parents and good friends to XX after arriving at ABC. I was very excited.

Arriving at MBC two hours later, the weather was nice and I was even more excited. After resting for a while at MBC, we headed towards ABC.

As I walked, the weather became worse and worse. The fog began to spread before noon, the temperature gradually dropped, and there was snow all the way. My headache began to worsen, and the pain of my foot injury gradually came over me. From MBC to ABC I walked very slowly. When I was about to arrive at ABC, I was accompanied by an uncle whom I had met several times on the road. The uncle praised my bravery and left a group photo of us next to the sign at the base camp.

Finally, I went to ABC. The temperature at the base camp was very low, and I was sweating all the way along. Coupled with the original headache, I got high. An Indian sister in the same hotel was taken down by her companions due to high fever and vomiting. At this time, I looked at them with high fever and felt uncomfortable in my heart. Mixed with the discomfort of high fever, I lowered my head and shed tears silently. Seeing this, the uncle said, "If you can hold on through tonight, we will go down tomorrow. Your high reflex will be much better. If you feel uncomfortable and can't stand it, we will go down together. Don't be afraid."

While I was excessively worried about whether I would collapse due to high fever, I comforted myself that "I have always been a very lucky person when traveling."

Because I felt uncomfortable, I stayed in the house all afternoon without even going out to see the snow. I went to bed with fear at night.

I woke up in the morning with a severe headache, but I still felt lucky, at least I survived the night.

While waiting for the sun to shine on Jinshan Mountain, I met Daphne, whom I met at the ACPA office. When I came to Rizhao Jinshan, it was a little different from what I imagined, but I was able to see a snow mountain at such a close distance. The snow mountain seemed to be less than a hundred meters in front of me. This scene of Rizhao Jinshan still shocked me. I am glad that I did not descend when I had ankle sprains, nor did I descend due to altitude sickness.

Hehe, of course, all of the above still couldn't control my misfortune. Not long after I set off, I fell twice on the snow and sat down on the snow. The moment I fell, the left side of my butt hurt. I thought I had lost the ability to walk.

The foot injury is not yet healed and the butt hurts from the fall. Now it seems that my traveling speed will be much slower.

Uncle Neimeng saw that I was having trouble walking on the snow, so he lent me the crampons on his feet and his hiking poles without thinking. My uncle said, "When I see you, I also think of my daughter." (My uncle's daughter is a freshman this year and is almost the same age as me)

As the altitude went down little by little, my high altitude sickness gradually disappeared. But my bad luck hadn't gone away yet. As my foot injury gradually improved along the way, my right hamstring was stretched again and lactic acid accumulated in both thighs. "I'm so miserable!", but I was about to leave here. After torturing me for several days, I am still full of motivation. It took us a day and a half to get out of ABC.

When the Jeep drove into the familiar lakeside area, I truly believed that this ABC hike was finally over. I hadn’t washed my hair in six days and only had a two-minute shower. My backpack was full of changes of clothes. When I returned to Pokhara, I just wanted to buy new clothes and take a good shower.

Two uncles from the north took us to eat and drink during one day and two nights in Pokhara.

On the first night back in Pokhara, I was invited by my uncles to go to the busiest bar in the area. I followed Daphne and tried smoking shisha. When my uncle was drunk, who would have thought that I, a very poor drinker, could help him stop drinking. At noon the next day, our uncles took us to eat at the best local pizza restaurant. The evaluation of "Sichuan Pizza" is still fresh in our memory. The next night, the uncles cooked Chinese food at the hotel where they stayed, and Sister Mary also entertained us.

After dinner, in the kitchen, Sister Daphne, Sister Mary and I washed dishes and made tea and talked a lot. I admire Sister Mary for being able to return to China, quit her job, and come here to run a hotel with her lover because she met the one she loves in Pokhara.

After making tea, everyone sat around drinking tea and chatting. During the meeting, a big brother from Henan who had been in Pokhara for several years came. I forget exactly what we talked about that night, I just remember that I was very emotional that day. In this world, there are really many people who would stay in a strange place because of love. This night, I fell in love with the city of Pokhara even more.

I like the experience of bitterness first and then sweetness, so I came to experience gliding after walking ABC. It took about thirty minutes to fly above the forest and above Phewa Lake. In the first half of the year when I was 20 years old, I completed the ABC hike and experienced gliding. Thank you for being 20 years old.

Because I was invited by Rinpoche to go to the Buddhist Academy, I adjusted my schedule and took the night bus back to Kadu on the third day in Pokhara. I hugged Sister Daphne goodbye.

I arrived in Catalonia at five o'clock in the morning. Carrying a large bag on my back, I found a breakfast shop that was already open and sat down. I ordered a meal and a cup of hot water. I sat there for two hours until the shop was ready to be cleaned. At that time, the old man in the store still kindly told me that I could sit here wherever I wanted without worrying. Watching the sky getting brighter, I did stay for too long. I was ready to get up and leave. In order to thank the grandfather for his kindness, I left 200 rupees.

After wandering on the street for a long time, I received a reply from Rinpoche, so I took a taxi to the Buddhist College.

As soon as I got off the bus, a lama at the door learned that I was invited by Gedral Rinpoche and called a group of young lamas. One of the young lamas took my 30-pound bag and ran to Rinpoche's house. It was also at that time that I realized that the lama who had helped me before was actually a Rinpoche.

Rinpoche took me to visit the Buddhist Academy and said that I could stay and teach the young lamas Chinese. I am still not sure whether this was a joke, but this sentence really appealed to me. Maybe I will go there next time. When I was in Canada, I would actually go to the Buddhist Academy to teach Chinese to young lamas.

During the two days and one night at the Buddhist College, I also had five meals at the Buddhist College. The rule in the Buddhist College is that the young lamas must wait until the older lamas have finished their meals before they can queue up for meals. The elder lamas always ask me to prepare the meal first. Looking at the elder lamas in front of me and the young lamas sitting at the table waiting to prepare the meal, I have to wait for them to finish preparing the meal first.

The time of my visit was unfortunate, as it happened to be the day when the little lamas were having a rest. I couldn't watch the little lamas in class, but I was very happy to see them playing and playing.

Throughout the afternoon and morning, Rinpoche arranged for the lama to take me to the old temple in Kadu and take me around the Buddhist college. One of the lamas, who knew a little bit of Chinese, always tried to talk to me in Chinese.

Everyone in the Buddhist college is very friendly, including Sister Dolma from Ganzi who always cares about me, the aunt who manages the Buddhist college, and Rinpoche’s driver friend who took me to the airport.

The first time I met Rinpoche was when I was waiting to fly from Chengdu to Kadu. At that time, Rinpoche was preparing to return to the Buddhist Academy with several lamas. When I met Rinpoche and the others again, it turned out that the guy in picture 2 also had an impression of me, because he looked very similar to one of my classmates, and I took a group photo with him before leaving.

When I left, I took a photo with Rinpoche, and Rinpoche presented me with a khata. Buddhist Academy, I will definitely come again next time.

When I write this, I still have a lot to say. But I decided to keep it simple.

Before going on ABC, the longest hiking route I had ever walked was the three-day light hike in Yubeng. This time, it was a six-day hike with heavy equipment, and the altitude ranged from 1,800 to 4,020. I underestimated its difficulty, but fortunately, my physical fitness was enough to support me to complete it. But this time it made me understand what to bring and what not to bring for multi-day heavy hiking in the future. It was also this time that made me no longer afraid of many hiking routes.

Even when I had a cold, ankle sprains, high reflexes, hip pain, or hamstring strain, I never had the slightest idea of ​​giving up. This is what ABC taught me.

From the initial language barrier to being able to communicate with others shamelessly in broken English, this is what this experience taught me.

Bravery does not mean that you are not afraid of anything, but that you still have the courage to do it despite knowing you are afraid.

Next time, I will definitely go to EBC!