My Nepal Itinerary November - December 2013

I love to trek. A less strenuous and extremely scenic sporting activity that will take you places. Our first experience was at Sapa, Vietnam. But the Annapurna Base Camp trek was our first serious trek. One which we at least made some attempts to train for. Half-hearted training is better than none! 

Click link and pictures to link to the posts. 

Annapurna, Nepal: Planning your Trek

Nepal: Some Shots of Food. *Burp*

Tracking Meals on the Annapurna Base Camp Trek

November - December 2013

23 November - Kathmandu

We didn't book any tour before the trip. We did some research but we finally decided to just book accommodation and spend the first day in Kathmandu sourcing for tours.

Kathmandu, Nepal

24 November - Kathmandu to Pokhara


Pokhara, Nepal

25 November - Trek begins

Day 1: Nayapul to Ulleri

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 1 - Nayapul to Ulleri (7 ± 2 Part 1)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 1 - Nayapul to Ulleri (7 ± 2 Part 2)

Day 2: Ulleri to (Nangethanti) to Ghorepani

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 2 - Ulleri to (Nangethanti) to Ghorepani (7 ± 2 Part 3)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 2 - Ulleri to (Nangethanti) to Ghorepani (7 ± 2 Part 4)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 2 - Ulleri to (Nangethanti) to Ghorepani (7 ± 2 Part 5)

Day 3: Ghorepani to (Poon Hill) to (Ghorepani) to  Tadapani

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 3 - Ghorepani to (Poon Hill) to (Ghorepani) toTadapani (7 ± 2 Part 6)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 3 - Ghorepani to (Poon Hill) to (Ghorepani) toTadapani (7 ± 2 Part 7)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 3 - Ghorepani to (Poon Hill) to (Ghorepani) toTadapani (7 ± 2 Part 8)

Day 4: Tadapani to (Ghandruk) to Chhomrong

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 4: Tadapani to (Ghandruk) to Chhomrong (7 ± 2 Part 9)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 4: Tadapani to (Ghandruk) to Chhomrong (7 ± 2 Part 10)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 4: Tadapani to (Ghandruk) to Chhomrong (7 ± 2 Part 11)

Day 5: Chhomrong to (Bamboo) to Deurali

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 5: Chhomrong to (Bamboo) to Deurali (7 ± 2 Part 12)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 5: Chhomrong to (Bamboo) to Deurali (7 ± 2 Part13)

Day 6: Deurali to Machhapuchere

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 5: Chhomrong to (Bamboo) to Deurali (7 ± 2 Part14)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 6: Deurali to Machhapuchere (7 ± 2 Part 15)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 6: Deurali to Machhapuchere (7 ± 2 Part 16)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 6: Deurali to Machhapuchere (7 ± 2 Part 17)

Day 7: Macchapuchere to (S: Annapurna Base Camp) to (Macchapuchere) to Deurali/Doban/Bamboo

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 7: Macchapuchere to (S: Annapurna Base Camp) to(Macchapuchere) to Deurali/Doban/Bamboo (7 ± 2 Part 18)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 7: Macchapuchere to (S: Annapurna Base Camp) to(Macchapuchere) to Deurali/Doban/Bamboo (7 ± 2 Part 19)

Day 8: Deurali/Doban/Bamboo to Chhomrong

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 8: Deurali/Doban/Bamboo to Chhomrong (7 ± 2 Part 20)

Annapurna, Nepal: Day 8: Deurali/Doban/Bamboo to Chhomrong (7 ± 2 Part 21)

Day 9: Chhomrong to Syauli Bazar

Day 10: Syauli Bazar to (Birethati) to Nayapul and Taxi from Nayapul to Pokhara

5 December - Pokhara to Kathmandu

6 December - Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Nepal: Pashupatinath Temple

Kathmandu, Nepal: Boudhanath

Kathmandu, Nepal: Swoyambhunath 

*For some reason or other the days and dates don't tally, but I assure you they are in chronological order. I think. 

Nepal: Some Shots of Food. *Burp*

Try some traditional Nepali food and more.

These are shots of some of the food we had in Nepal back in November last year outside of our Annapurna Base Camp Trek. You can find food with Nepali, Indian, Tibetan and Chinese influences in Nepal, and the beauty about food is that each chef interprets it in his/ her own way, and you probably can't find the exact same dish anywhere else. I don't remember the exact Nepali names of these dishes, but I can well tell you its generic/ Chinese name, so while I won't make a mistake with the photos, I might with the names. Here goes my best shot!

Never. Go. Hungry. In. Nepal.

Namaste. Our first night in Thamel, Kathmandu

Generic Name: Fried Noodles with Chicken

Unofficial Chinese Name: Chao Mian 炒面

Nepali Name: Google tells me that fried noodles is called "Chao Chao" in Nepal so this dish could possibly be Chicken Chow-Chow

Generic Name: Nepali Set (With rice, curry, lentil soup, and curd/yoghurt etc)

Unofficial Chinese Name: none

Nepali Name: Dal Baht - Dal (lentil soup) and Bhat (rice), with plenty of side dishes.

Lunch at a stopover from Kathmandu to Pokhara

Generic Name: Noodle Soup with Dumplings

Unofficial Chinese Name: Mee Hoon Kueh with Dumplings 饺子面粉粿

Nepali Name: Google tells me this might be Tibetan Thenthuk* with Momo

Generic Name: Noodle Soup with Chicken

Unofficial Chinese name: Ban Mian with Chicken

Nepali Name: Google tells me this might be Tibetan Thukpa* with Chicken

*We had these dishes for lunch in Pokhara with our guide and these names actually sound familiar. They might even be correct as Tibetan dishes have been brought in by the influx of Tibetan refugees to Nepal (According to Wikipedia).

Generic Name: Dumplings with meat fillings

Unofficial Chinese Name: Xiaolongbao without Soup 小笼包

Nepali Name: Momo (comes in a variety of fillings, we were looking for Cheese Momos)

These are how Xiaolongbaos (a Jiangnan, China specialty) look like

(Actually had this dish in Ding Tai Feng, Taiwan. See how similar they are?)

A candlelight drink along Fewa Lake in Pokhara, before we embarked on your trek

Probably the only KFC in Nepal, which is unaffordable for most locals

Desserts

The Diamond: Cashew Burfi (काजु को बर्फी) - most delicious diamond shape burfi made from pure ground cashew nuts, sugar, flavoring and garnished with silver varak paper.

I think this is a naan, or something similar.

More pictures are available on my Flickr (simply click any photo).

Tracking Meals on the Annapurna Base Camp Trek

If you didn't eat Nepali food, then what exactly did you eat?

Gurung Bread which really reminds me of Prata, Spring Rolls which resembled giant curry puffs, Papad which is similar to keropok and Momos which are really pan-fried dumplings! Only pizza and fried noodles or rice, looks and tastes like how it 'should'!

We were dining at a Nepali restaurant in Toa Payoh after our inaugural craft party (the portions were very generous, I must say!) when I lamented that I didn't know much about authentic Nepali food despite being there for 14 days last December. Only when I asked my crafters if they had seen my Instagram photos, and proceeded to search for photographic evidence, did I realize that I didn't take a single food shot during the 10-day trek with my phone! How uncharacteristic of me!

 And, that's how this post was sparked.

On trek, there was a fair selection of food available. The menus were quite standardized, although the actual standard varied among guesthouses. Meat, or in fact everything, got more scarce and expensive the higher we climbed, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Our guide budgeted and held on to the purse strings (our tour package included meals), so we had to stick to the suggested combination of soup, main and drink based on how much was left, which meal of the day it was, and the price. He was always genial and reasonable about it so we were fine with things. Any extra, (sometimes including hot or potable water), we had to fork out for it ourselves. Oh, lugging some snacks (OH Pringles!) won't hurt too.

We generally stuck to the same dishes to play it safe, and had a fairly good appetite (food didn't come easy, feed so you can hike further!). Nepali food is clearly influenced by Chinese and Indian cuisine, the food on the trek catered well for tourists. If I had to describe the food we usually chose, it would be "Western Food As Interpreted by Nepalis with a dash of Korean". You could never go wrong with pizza (at least for us), unlike with pasta or fried noodles. For soup at dinnertimes, we usually had Noodle Soup (the Korean Nongshim), because we needed the carbs. There were quite a few avid Korean hikers (solo, couples, groups of all ages) so it explained the Korean influence (some brought their own ready-made rice!).

It was recommended in the menus that hikers order the same food, but we couldn't, if the dish tanked, we'll both starve, it's probably more feasible for bigger groups. While our guide and porter could endure the same dishes everyday (milk porridge, Nepali rice), we couldn't, not when meal times were what we looked forward to and kept us going in between the punishing ascents and descents. It was then that I fell in love with various ginger-honey-lemon concoctions on the trip, they are a great pick-me-up!

Here's a compilation of the food we feasted on:

Breakfast: Variations of toast, milk porridge, muesli with milk, Gurung/TIbetan Bread with Egg (highly recommended!), Chapati

Lunch: fried rice/noodles, pasta, sandwich, macaroni, onion soup, momo (recommended), noodle soup (Nongshim really), pizza (highly recommended!), spring roll (looks more like a giant curry puff to me then the spring rolls I'm used to, also recommended!)

Dinner

Snacks: Fries, Papad (bought some packed ones home to try! Not bad, but not as good), cake, pie, curd

The Menu

If you are planning on a trek to ABC, and stumbled upon this blog, I just want to say, despite the pain, despite the cold, it was pretty worth it. Food kept us on 'trek', and we embraced the unique Nepali interpretation, some of which you can't savor anywhere else in the world. Enjoy!