Day 2 - Australian Camp to Forest Camp
(Sylvia's Birthday - the whole reason we are here!)
We woke up to find the sun shining and a nice view of the Annapurna Range. Actually, we were woken up at around 6am by Jonag bringing us a cup of tea and some washing water. It is a strange thing that Nepal's time zone change is 2hrs 15mins from Singapore's. Not sure what the 15 minutes is for but they could do with being 3 or 4 hours different as the sun is up and shining by 5:30am!
We asked Steve about Carol who said that she was still "not well". To our relief she appeared from her tea house room looking quite refreshed and bearing gifts. She gave Sylvia some silver earrings in the shape of leaves. [I don't think she has missed a day with them on.]
Today we would be walking much further than yesterday - Mukti estimated 4 to 5 hours. The first part of the walk was fairly easy and on level ground. It turns out we were actually following the Annapurna Basecamp Trek. But, at a place called Deurali, we disappeared up a nondescript, unsigned track that is the Mardi Himal Basecamp Trek.
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This track followed the hillside before we discovered ourselves in a Rhododendron Forest. These trees are the size of our small gums and not to be confused with the cultivated rhododendrons you find in suburban gardens. This meant the terrain underfoot got more difficult as we were moving over exposed roots.
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The track was signposted with estimated times to our destination at Forest Camp. The first of these signs said 4 hours - and this was at least 2 hours after we had left Australian Camp. Mukti's reaction was to stare at the sign and say "ridickless". The next sign, a further 30 minutes walking along the track, said 3 hours 50 minutes. Mukti's only observation was "ridickless". This continued for quite a while - we would walk for 30 minutes and the sign would say we were only 10 minutes closer and Mukti would say "ridickless". In the end, he bet us it would take one hour to get to camp from where we were. By now the signs had disappeared - perhaps other guides removed them in frustration of how wrong they were!
Sure enough, right on the one hour mark we walked into camp. By then a light rain was falling, more of a mist really. Our tents were pitched and we were greeted with a hot lemon cordial. Very refreshing after walking all those "ridickless" hours. Carol was pretty tired but we were really proud of her efforts for the day, and glad we had arrived.
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