Cooking for Kings & Getting Back to the Mountains

So posts here have been few and far between, not because of a lack of interesting things happening or things to discuss, but just due to a sheer lack of time. Last week we had a huge 4^th of July event that catered to some 200 people (I had expected maybe 50), we had a great Friday night following with a friend of ours, who is a DJ, setting up a good dance party, and then we hosted the former king of Nepal for his birthday on Sunday. By the time Monday rolled around all I could do was lay in bed and sleep- as for the week prior I had averaged about 4 hours of sleep and consumed more alcohol than I’m used to. When every night is a party your life is the opposite of everyone else’s, all you crave is a night where you can get home and go to bed at 10pm and not have any alcohol in your system. With the amount of work I had to do to prepare and get ready for Sunday’s event I had shunned any drinking for at least a couple of days and I’ve learned to start walking around with a bit of cranberry juice with ice in a rocks glass and claim it’s cranberry and vodka so people don’t try to buy me too many drinks. This isn’t a problem I ever thought I’d have.

Grill House owners and staff with the former King of Nepal

While the other events were fun (although the 4^th was complete chaos) the royal birthday was a once in a lifetime experience that while very stressful, was something I’ll always look back at as a really great experience. I mean who moves to a foreign country and ends up hosting and cooking for royalty? Me apparently. I also think it may have been a first in Nepal, as normally they are hosted at the 5 star hotels in the city, and not at local restaurants, no matter how nice they might be. So this was not only something completely new to me, but was also something outside of what they normally do.

Annapurna Circuit in 7 days (Part 3)

In this post I'll go over the part of the trail that takes you over the north end of the Annapurnas and describe the trail between Chame and High Camp near the Thorung La pass. This was my favorite part of the whole trip and the scenery and villages in this section really made the whole trip worth it. Manang especially was one of the most scenic areas that I have ever been.

Cappadocia like Rock Formations just West of Chame

After being quite exhausted on my arrival in Chame, it was nice to get some serious down time and rest up for the next day's hike. I woke up feeling great and after a quick breakfast and some chatting with the Australian trekkers I headed out for the trail. The trail crossed a bridge to the north side of the river and hugged closely to the north ridge, at times the trail even was cut out of the cliff face. The further west from Chame I walked the dryer the environment got, and slowly the scenery began to resemble the American West, with some rock formations that looked somewhat simmilar to some of what you see in Capadocia Turkey. The mix was really beautiful, and the natural scenery through this section was amazing. Views of snow capped mountains continued to dip in and out of view to the south as well, providing stunning views.