My experience Climbing annapurna base camp during monsoon season (end of aug).
- Made it in 4 days 3 nights - climbing day
- Buffer day - few days extra to get ready for uncertainty - landslide, bad weather, sickness
All together, 1 week in Nepal.
Summary of Hike
1) Ascending - 25.4km in 2 nights
2) Descending - 27km (jhinu hotspring) in 1 night
Flight Timing will Shape Your Hiking Plan
1) This will be the first thing, get the flight timing - when you will reach Nepal and start planning your hike from there.
2) Hiking bag of 55 litre with measurement of 56cm(H) x 36cm(L) x 23cm(D) is according to allowable dimension thus can be treated as hand carry in flight cabin. Make sure the weight is less than 7kg. Just in case the flight attendant ask to weigh the bag, u can still raise a dispute on this.
3) Flight cost now is not cheap like previous years (RM1.2k for return flight), it cost around RM2.2k - RM2.5k return flight (batik air, Mas).
Visa
1) Compulsory to get visa. To save time, please do visa at nepal embassy in malaysia, RM130 per pax for 15 days. Wednesday to friday only (visa application). Once Making payment (by cash only, no online), they will hold your passport, then collect the next day (thursday - friday only starting from 1pm i think). Please go to their website for more info. The process is quick, 10 to 20 minutes. They will paste the approval in your passport.
2) travellers can also do visa on arrival at Kathmandu airport. Don't waste your time here. Please do it at Malaysia (or your country of origin).
Travellers Insurance
Compulsory. Becareful when selecting your insurance of choice as they might NOT cover Nepal. Please try Berjaya Sompo - RM60 - RM120.
Covid Health Declaration
1) Compulsory (at the time of writing). Online registration through https://ccmc.gov.np/ .
One for arrival to Nepal and another, depart from nepal. Please check nepal embassy website on this.
2) please print your vaccination status from mysejahtera as once you arrived at Kathmandu airport, they will check on this first before passsport check.
3) No need to do covid test, in or out malaysia
Hotels and lodges
1) according to hotels in pokhara in Kathmandu, the peak season will be in mac, apr, may, sept, oct, nov, dec where most hotels have 80-90% occupancy
2) meaning the lodges up in the mountain are also experiencing the same. But fret not, there will always room for hikers (even the dining halls are occupied).
3) not suggesting to book early the lodges in abc as you don't know where your hike will stop for the day. It might be too near/early or it might be your team member having issues like fatigue or AMS or your hike interrupted/stranded by rising river water, thick snow, landslide etc
4) hotel in pokhara was booked online while I'm still in the jeep from matkyu to pokhara...haha
Permit - acap and tims
1) need to do acap at nepal tourism board either in Kathmandu or pokhara (opens at 9am - 5pm)(usd27.5 per pax)
2) No need to do Tims as the checkpoint in bire thati and chomrong will only check acap permit
3) they accept usd and npr cash payment only
4) please prepare 2 passport size photo
5) fill the form at the counter - get ready info such as entry and exit point, insurance number, date in, date out, duration of hike, address in nepal, emergency contact in nepal (just write the hotel name, address and phone number...any hotel will do)
6) less than 5 minutes transaction if no queue
Watch Out for Public Holiday
Since doing acap permit dealing with government, please be wary with the country's public holiday as the office will be close too.
The best transportation method to reach pokhara
1) by flight - yetti airlines or buddha airlines (usd74 per pax, one way)
2) 30 to 40 minutes of flight duration
3) it will save your overall hiking time
4) please invest a little bit on your finance package on this flight cost ya
5) not recommend bus ride even if it is tourist bus as the duration is too long, 8 to 9 hours depending on traffic and the road are terrible like off road ride using jeep. Not suitable for a person who is having motion sickness on a moving vehicle - which will make the journey really unpleasant/uncomfortable to u and to other passengers
6) the bus ride - tourist bus cost one way is from npr800 (jetbus klia2 seat) to npr1500 (sofa type seat). Regardless of what type of seat, once if there is a big hole on the road (belive me... it's too many!), All passenger will jump to the roof! And your head will spin then vomit.
Telecommunications
1) most what u read will suggest to engage Ncell or NT but mine is using Umobile with 15gb roaming. Umobile is using NT for roaming, good reception at the mountain but mostly no reception...haha. chomrong, bamboo - good reception. Deurali - no reception.
2) 15gb is more than enough by umobile. Please convert to umobile with 1000gb at rm98 per month.
3) most lodges will have wifi at npr300 per user.
Permit Checking Points
1) In - bieranthati and chomrong
2) out - chomrong and bieranthati
At bieranthati, the jeep driver will stop here.
At chomrong, u have to do it on your own (abc trail will pass through chomrong)
Hot shower, food, drinks and facilities at abc route
1) most of lodges will have hot showers either using solar or using pressured gas (like cooking gas - cylinder type, maroon colour).
2) the hot shower using pressured gas - when u turn on the water pipe, it will have a "boop" sound - the gas being transferred to an converter which will heat up the water.
3) the cost for hot shower may vary - npr300 per pax, per shower
4) food and drinks are aplenty along the way - coke, fanta orange and sprite are most common
5) when i was in bamboo, there was no electricity as they are using solar powered, no sunlight during the day as it's been raining most of the time
6) rooms, shower, toilets, dining hall are standard built up for each of the lodges. So, please do explore their dining hall - its in proper settings, nice and cozy after long day hike
7) average cost of meals per day per person is around npr600 - npr800 (RM25 the most per meal). For me, as I'm on a fast hike, i only eat dinner on most days, other days were having lunch and dinner. Rarely breakfast.
Abc Routes
1) There are few common routes for abc i.e phoon hill, ghandruk chomrong and jhinu chomrong
2) phoon hill - if u have time to spare, phoon hill will offer spectacular view on mountain range. Coming down from poon hill, it will connect to chomrong
3) regardless where u start, it will eventually being connected in chomrong, then one single trek to abc
4) most previous hikers will start hike by foot from nayapul (it's a long journey ahead, lot of time wasted,not much to see at earlier stage) but in recent years, there is a short-cut, starting from matkyu-jhinu
The short cut route
The yellow line - From birethati to jhinudanda (jhinu) by jeep instead of walking. Plus minus 15km (hope my calculation is correct).
How to get to matkyu (if u choose Jhinu as starting point of your hike)
1) make your way to nayapul - by bus or by taxi. Get a taxi from anywhere in town or get a jeep (to Matkyu) at Ghandruk Bus Station in Pokhara (normally jeep from Ghandruk bus station will depart early in the morning.
2) taxi will cost around npr4000, if u share 4 persons, it will cost rm33 per person. Acceptable right?
3) 1 hour journey from pokhara airport/town (taxi is the fastest)
4) ask the driver to drop u at nayapul jeep station (not exactly like a station, more likely like a rendezvous point for jeep/taxi)
5) ask the taxi driver to find the jeep to matkyu or jhinu (its the same destination) and negotiate the price. The jeep ride will cost npr5000 and can fit 6 - 7 pax. If 6 persons, it will be RM27 per person, acceptable right? Even if u share 4 persons, it will be RM42 (more or less) per person, still manageable on your finance.
6) the jeep ride took about 2 hours from nayapul to matkyu stop. Many river crossings and landslide areas that will make your heart stop beating. At one point, the jeep tyre was on the edge of a cliff. Please close your eyes.
7) on the way to matkyu, about 1km from nayapul, the jeep will make a stop at birethati for permit check.
8) once the jeep at matkyu stop (the jeep cannot go any further, it's a dead end), u can see the long suspension bridge crossing two hills to jhinu. This will be your starting point of abc journey
9) from matkyu jeep stop, u able to see jhinu not far away about 1km.
How to make the hike more manageable?
1) I installed gpx file of abc trek to my suunto 5 watch (downloaded from wikiloc)
2) so, with this watch and gpx route, I'm able to measure how long the mileage and expected time of arrival
3) knowing how far is the next pit stop somehow will influence your hiking psychology - to keep push ahead or to take rest at appropriate location (once i took a breather at one location without knowing my target destination is only 5 minutes away).
4) as the high u hike, the Altitude Mountain Sickness (AMS) will haunt u. It will make u dizzy and head spinning. Just put one step forward, stop and breath, then repeat. The hike may become slower but it will last longer and feel more comfortable.
5) For AMS treatment, please buy some ams pill at caring pharmacy, just in case.
6) Oral Rehydration Salt (ors) - u might become dehydrated without even knowing it. Just drink a lot of water and take ors before or after each day hike
Suunto 5 :
1 : time of the day
2 : distance i have made
3 : distance to next station - 980 meters more
4 : heart rate
5 : estimated time of arrival to the next station
6 : Altitude now
7 : distance of the whole course
8 : duration taken that I've made
Do your watch have these functions? Let me know in the comment section..
Leeches...! Eeeww...
Lots of them, jhinu, jhinu hotspring. Got bitten more than 10 times..demmit!
Aftermath of leeches bites
My gigantic powerbank. 3 days no sweat
What Things I Want To Improve if i come back Again
1) the timing - i would preferably go in march to may where the sky are blue without rain
2) hire a porter - though I carry my own weight with pride and dignity, i will not put all the weight for the porter to carry. It's just not right. But, making the bag lighter means i can speed up. The porter also can make profit out of this, they are one fast hikers. It may cost around usd20 per day for 2 persons.
It may shorten the hike to 2 nights only...perhaps...
3) bring slippers - yes, i thought i can lose few grams but it is an essential items especially when u have a wet shoes.
4) bring more plastic bags - for wet clothes, electrical gadget, personal care
5) i may avoid during winter because of the coldness and more gears, clothes and apparels which will added to the weight. But, it is also the best season to go. Blue sky but risky of blizzard
6) Leech socks - since it is a monsoon season, leeches are thriving. Especially at Jhinu, jhinu hotspring.
Currency Exchange
RM1 = usd4.4 (normal money changer in Malaysia)
RM1 = usd4.8 (klia1)
NPR1000 = RM33
Change the currency half in usd and half in npr
Nepal will accept payment in usd, they will return the balance using NPR (or usd) even up in the mountain (paying my dhal bat lunch using usd..hehe).
Price Rate of Food and Items
In Nepal, everything is expensive compared to Malaysia. Pringles - npr275 = rm8 plus.
A short taxi drive 2,3 km will cost npr400 - npr700 (RM12 - RM18). Becareful on your spending. Mentos - Npr150 = RM4. Just to name a few.
This is my abc trail experience without porter and No guide. 7kg backpack on my back the entire journey.
1) mostly raining all the way - shoes, socks, fingers are wet and cold
2) the mountain range view after the rain were mesmerising
3) got no chance to view the snowy mountains of annapurna, for this, i respect the mothernature and what they can offer, sometimes your plan is not what u expected
4) start hike from jhinu - chomrong route. This is the short cut which made the hike shortest time possible. (Normally, the hike will start from nayapul by foot)
Day 1
- Kathmandu - acap permit at nepal tourism board, opens at 9am (usd27.5 per pax)
- Taxi to kathmandu airport (npr400 per taxi)
- Flight bound for pokhara at 10.30am (usd74 per pax)
- Arrived at pokhara around 11.45am by flight (yetti airlines)(around 40 minutes flight).
- Took a taxi straight to Nayapul (NPR4000 per taxi) around 1 hour drive.
- arrived at nayapul around 1pm
- jeep from nayapul to matkyu jeep station (npr5000 per jeep that can fit 6 to 7 pax) (normally the jeep will wait for other hikers to board their jeep)(almost 2 hours drives 99% off-road, crossing rivers of death, yes, many rivers)
(matkyu is a village name, nearby jhinu aka jhinudanda)(there's few jeep operator at nayapul, a popular spot for hikers to begin their hike)
- 1km drive, stopped at biera thati - to check acap permit
- continued to matkyu, arrived at matkyu around 2.30pm something.
Nepal tourism board kathmandu - opens at 9am
Tiny glass milk tea
Having breakfast at nearby mamak shop
Suggest book the flight ticket over the counter (domestic terminal, thribuvan airport) as you may not know the exact time u will arrived in kathmandu and/or the permit process, traffic, etc.
Just pay by cash - in npr is recommended, (the counter still accept usd but need to deal with their backend office, 10 minutes)
Just after exiting pokhara airport here, just walk straight, there is a taxi station. Negotiate the price to go to Nayapul (1 hour journey, please ask the driver to stop by at some groceries store to buy redbull, coke, snacks, biscuits...if u haven't done so)
Pokhara airport
At bieranthati checkpoint
(1km jeep ride from nayapul)
After 2 hours jeep drive, arrived at matkyu drop off point.
Lets start the hike
About few hundreds meters from jeep drop off, reached at this suspension bridge, "New bridge" as the local call it. Its the beginning of the hike to jhinu
Arrival at Jhinu
Jhinu stairs...keep going to chomrong
Hiking starts here : (stage 1) - 3.6km
matkyu - jhinu - chomrong
- from matkyu to jhinu, 1km in 29 minutes
- then continued to chomrong, 1 hour 20 minutes, 2.6km. it's one hell of a climb! Lot of stairs!
- overnight at chomrong. Plenty of lodges. No need to worry, it's low season, not many hikers around.
- arrived at chomrong around 5pm something. (Sunset around 6.30pm)
Finally I'm here in chomrong.
Beautiful valley in chomrong
Having my first dhal bat (npr600)
Day 2
Stage 2 : chomrong - sinuwa - bamboo - dovan - Himalaya - Deurali, - 14.2km in 10 hours 20 minutes.
- Chomrong to Sinuwa, 3.4km, 2 hrs 11 min
- sinuwa to bamboo, 3.2km, 1hr 40 min
- bamboo to dovan, 2.2km, 1 hr 20 min
- dovan to himalaya, 2.6km, 2 hrs 30 minutes. having dhal bat lunch at dovan, shelter from the rain for 30 minutes.
- Himalaya to Deurali, 2.8km, 2 hours 13 minutes.
- (The journey Himalaya - deurali had been delayed at one of river crossing section, waited for the water to subside about 1 hour. If not, could make it to deurali in 1 hour.)
- (Caution: from Himalaya to deurali, river of death crossing. As it was raining, the river overflows and swept away part of the bridges. By the time i arrived at this sections, the bridge had been fixed. More like a makeshift bridge).
Overnight at deurali.
Getting ready for day 2
Few photos at chomrong
Few hundreds meters down the stairs, checkpoint at chomrong. Get your acap permit ready
The lowest point after chomrong, after this, it is up, up and up to sinuwa.
Reached sinuwa...one hell of a climb to be here
Yay! Reached bamboo
Next is dovan
Yes, dovan in the belt... it's been raining from bamboo
Stopped at one of the lodge in dovan. Escape from the rain. Dhal bat and pancake for lunch
Chocolate pancake
Next...himalaya...
Waterfalls on the way to Himalaya
Next is deurali
Himalaya done...
Crossing the river of death...
The water rises and swept away a section of the bridge. Balancing for my life crossing this river
Finally...deurali... overnight here
A nice hot lemon
Tomorrow....mbc and abc
Day 3. Stage 3.
Deurali - mbc - abc - deurali - Himalaya - dovan - bamboo, 15.2km in 10 hours 45 minutes.
- Deurali to mbc, 3.6km in 2 hours
- Mbc to abc, 4km in 2 hours - completed abc peak
it was raining with chilly wind, my fingers all numb.
Reached "Namaste" signboard around 11am. All the mountains are covered by mist. Proceeded to the lodges around 100 meters up, having lunch and shelter. At around 1pm, headed down.
Going down was rather easy (or not..bcos few sections have hard climb)
- Abc to mbc - 1 hour
- Mbc to deurali - 1 hour 5 min
- Deurali to dovan - 1 hour 16 min
- Dovan to bamboo - 1 hour 45 minutes
End of day 3. Overnight at bamboo.
Still at deurali
Ready for summit attack - abc and back
Reached MBC in a blistering cold, chilly wind in 2 hours from durali
Next..ABC...the toughest among all hike. Feeling tired, cold, wet feet, numb fingers, heavy bagpack
All white...dude, where's the mountains?
After 2 hours hike in blistering cold...out of breath due to high altitude, made it to this famous signboard.
I'm now certified.
Reached here at 11am.
Continue hike for another few hundred meters to these lodges to warm my body and lunch... don't feel like eating but to support their local business.
Let's speed going down shall we....My last dhal bat...after this, please don't mention dhal bat anymore.
At 1pm or so, headed down.
I should have stayed one night in abc at least to have a chance to view the sun rise the next day.
Met with some fellow hikers on the way, they said there is a window period between 5am to 6am where all the snowy mountains are clearly visible. I missed that golden opportunity.
It's all the way going down baby...
Nice view at deurali. No time to lose...continue to Himalaya
Reached mbc in 53 minutes ..haha...that was fast..
Yay! The only visible snowy mountain i managed to capture..mmmm...(rolling eyes)
Back at Deurali...oh ya, i left few of my wet clothes here to lessen the weight of my backpack. They can wash and dry your clothes with some amount of money.
Yay! Back at Himalaya
From Himalaya to here mostly stairs...need to have strong knees to endure the pressure (and tremendous amount of energy to climb the stairs from here to Himalaya..be prepared)
Back at dovan...oh yeah..easy
Back at bamboo...overnight here
By the time i arrived at bamboo, it was 5pm something...almost 11 hours of hike..Day 4. Stage 4.
Bamboo - sinuwa - chomrong - jhinu - pokhara
Started ascending from bamboo a bit late around 8am. Waiting for breakfast - 2 hard boiled eggs.
- bamboo to sinuwa, in 1 hour 24 min
- sinuwa to chomrong in 2 hrs 11 min
The killer stairs of chomrong! Tired like hell!
Had pizza for Lunch at chomrong.
- chomrong to jhinu, 1 hour
- detour to jhinu hotspring for a quick deep in the hot pool - 1km away
- jhinu hotspring to matkyu jeep station - 2km
Completed hike around 3.30pm.
- jeep from matkyu straight to pokhara, npr8000 per jeep (matkyu to nayapul - 2 hours, nayapul to pokhara 1 hour plus).
Eggs for breakfast...yummy...
Still at upper sinuwa
Lower sinuwa is in the background
Nice setting
Lunch in chomrong.. it's raining and did not take any photos outside
View From Jhinu...matkyu jeep drop off is at the Y junction (top left)
But before i complete the hike, let's explore Jhinu Hotspring. 1km away downhill
Didn't take much photo at the hotspringThe entrance ticket
After took a quick dip in 20 minutes or so, i climbed up back to hotspring entrace, then 1km downhill to matkyu jeep station. The time was aroun 3pm-4pm. There was 1 jeep available, waited a bit for few more hikers then headed down to birethati then pokhara.
The jeep availability is subjective - u may wait for other jeep to arrive which u don't know when or get the jeep contact number beforehand so u can call them to pick u up. However, the jeep service always available around 9am onwards as the hikers coming from nayapul departs maybe at 7am-8am.
Leaving Annapurna with thousand of memories.
See you next time.
