Manang is the place where many people take a resting day while trekking the Annapurna trail. Many trekkers have guides and porters and some go pretty slow and I thought Manang might be overrated in that respect. But jenever can tell! I had been hearing so many opposing things along the trail about the trail and one really always has to see and feel it with his/her own pairs of senses to know what’s true or not, something very healthy to apply in many an are of life, if not all for that matter…
Soit, (anyway), I am in Manang now and I like it, I stumble upon Julia and Alan whom I met having a beer in Pokhara during happy hour time in between shopping for my trekking necessities. We would have more happy hours here with Chang. Chang is not a Chinese citizen (Jacky Chang) but a local brew, they call it beer but it is not, even though they do say so, just to be clear here…
Anyway, before having lots of chang in a cosy wooden place we hike up a nearby hill at 3800m to kind of acclimatise to the altitude from now onwards. After my experience with altitude sickness in the past I tend to be overly careful now. (even though you might rightfully wonder if it is good to have more than a few chang at the same stretch of time)
After our cosy drinking we head towards one of the movie theaters here to watch Life of Phi. Below is not Phi but Alan performing his English self in front of the cinema projector.
Next day I decide to stay yet another day. A Thai guy called Pong arrives and tells me he’s headed for Tilicho Lake (which is another sidetrek from the main trail) the following day with a bunch of people and says the road is a bit tricky (is it true?) so might be good to go in group. I decide to join them and the rest of the day I would spend being mellow in Manang, enjoying the rest and views in my gorgeous room and take more photos.