Mission Trek - Annapurna Circuit, April-May 2023.
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| 2023 Annapurna Mission team |
In April of 2023, after the festival of Pesach, I, Tony Suckla, took a journey to Nepal. I was in South India at the time but on my current visa I am required to leave India every six months. Nepal is the closest place to visit so I decided to take a mission trek of the Annapurna Circuit. I have previously visited and trekked in Nepal in 2001 and 2015 and the reports of those two treks in the Mt. Everest Regions are posted on my website at: www.tonyindia.in
So this was my third time visiting Nepal. At first five people including myself planned on going, but finally, me and two girls from our school area agreed to go. One Assembly member that works at our School named Vajrama and her sister’s daughter named Nikitha. I was 55 years old at the start of the trek, Vajrama is 53 and Nikitha is 29. Nikitha and Vajrama took off work to go on this trek.
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| Rajahmundry (South India) to Gorakhpur (Border near Nepal) Train Route |
While traveling on the train from South India to the border of Nepal I was considering whether to hire a porter to help in this trek as I wanted to carry some literature, and English and Nepali Bibles with me to distribute to people I met on the trek. Also, I doubted whether these two girls would be able to carry all their luggage on their own. So all three of us prayed and I asked Yahweh to show us what we should do, and I flipped a coin, it came up that we should hire a porter.
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| Annapurna Circuit Trek Map of Base Camp Adventures (Copyright, Ownership, Credits & Thanks to https://basecampadventure.com/annapurna-circuit-trek-map/ |
The Annapurna Circuit is a mountain trail that encircles the Annapurna mountain range in Nepal. It is the most popular high mountain trek in the world. It has an average altitude of about 2500 meters and is about 200 km (125 miles) long. It ascends to a maximum height of 5416 meters at the Thorung La pass. This trek is in the mountains, but there are little villages everywhere in this mountain range and thus it is not necessary to take a tent or food with you as you can purchase lodging and food in all the various villages.
Before leaving for Nepal one of our teachers in our school in South India is originally from Nepal and her family translated a tract I had written in English to Nepali. The tract tells why we have seven days in a week and it offers a free copy of the Bible to anyone who asks. In Nepal most people are Hindus or Buddhists.
From the border of Nepal at the Raxaul/Birgunj pass we traveled by jeep to Kathmandu, we stayed in Kathmandu for a few days and then on Friday we traveled about two hours east of Kathmandu to a village called Banepa to keep the Sabbath day at an SDA mission hospital called Scheer memorial hospital.
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| Close up view of Scheer Memorial Hospital, Nepal |
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| External View of Scheer Memorial Hospital, Nepal |
The SDA’s were very friendly to us and gave us rooms to stay in right on the hospital property. I attended their Sabbath morning service and when I went to leave on Saturday night I asked them how much I owed them and they said no certain amount but that I could just give some donation.
While in Kathmandu we bought backpacks, shoes, walking sticks, etc… that we would need for the trek. I had an old pair of hiking boots that I used in 2015 when I hiked to see Mt. Everest. By now the rubber soles had fallen off the leather uppers, I bought some rubber cement and glued the soles back on and had a shoe stitching man sew around the soles and they lasted the whole Annapurna trek.
On Sunday, April 23, 2023, we (me, Vajrama, Nikitha and our Porter - Mr. Suren) traveled from Kathmandu to a town called Gorkha. Most tourists that come to trek the Annapurna circuit will not start in Gorkha but will start further up the trail.
But my purpose was to meet the local Nepali people and distribute literature, plus I knew these two girls were not in strong physical shape and I felt they would need the extra hiking time to acclimatize and build their endurance for the higher, more difficult hiking. I personally prepared for this trek by doing 500 deep knee bends twice a week and 500 sit ups twice a week.
On Monday April 24, we started our trekking journey. We had planned on hiking to a village on the map about 10 kilometers away but we got misdirected and off course, plus our porter did not know the proper trail on this section as no one starts this far out on the trail. So being that it was getting dark and there was a road nearby we asked a taxi to take us to a certain village we found on the map that was about 15 kilometers from our starting point, somewhere a little past a village called Pauroti Bhandar.
As the taxi was driving it was not able to go up one hill, so we had to get out and push the taxi up the hill. We finally arrived, found a lodge, ate dal-bhat, and had a peaceful sleep. On Tuesday, Apr. 25, we had a long day and I hiked to a place near Tarku Ghat. That night we all had blisters on our feet and I had severe left knee pain. That night I prayed much to Yahweh about my knee that it would feel better so that I could complete the trek. The next day my knee was not paining and the more I prayed throughout the day and passed out literature and Bibles the better I felt. I went to a medical shop in that village and met a pharmacist who I gave my tract to. He was very happy and asked me for a Nepali Bible. He asked me to pray for him; he took me to a place in the back of his shop for us to pray.
On Wednesday April 26 we hiked to a place called Besisahar and spent the night. On the way to Besisahar we stopped at a small town and ate lunch. I gave my tract to a man there and after he read it, he told my porter that he wanted a Nepali Bible, so I gave him my last Bible. Then one school girl who was outside said she also wanted a Nepali Bible, but since I had just run out of the Nepali Bibles, I took her postal address and sent her one later when I was back in Kathmandu. Besisahar is where most tourists nowadays will actually start the trek. I had brought about 600 pieces of the Nepali tract with me and three hard copy Nepali Bibles and two hard copy English Bibles. In the first two days I distributed the three Nepali Bibles and from there on out I took down the name and address of anyone that wanted a Bible and later when I reached back to Kathmandu, I posted five Bibles to the various interests. No one wanted our copies of the English Bible.
On Thursday, April 27, we had a long day of hiking to Bahun Danda, our porter picked a place for us to stay in a lodge on the top of a mountain ridge. On Friday Apr. 28, we hiked to a village called Jagat. There we washed our clothes and rested for the Sabbath day. We really needed the rest as we were hiking about 15 to 20 kilometers each day and we all had blisters on our feet. On Sabbath day we went out and covered the village with our literature.
On Sunday, April 30 we hiked to a place called Dhaurapani, while in this general area I accidentally stuck my hand into a stinging nettle plant; my hand burned for 24 hours. In this area they make a very tasty soup out of fresh stinging nettle.
Stinging nettle
On Monday, May 1, we hiked to Chame, then on Tuesday, May 2, we went to lower Pisang (elevation 3200 meters). The girls were having various problems by now. Vajrama was having headaches of what appeared to be altitude sickness. There is a lower and a higher area of Pisang, Nikitha had already taken a jeep to lower Pisang as she was on her monthly time and could not walk properly. The porter wanted to take me and Vajrama to upper Pisang as the views were better but it was a higher altitude and the route would be longer. So we prayed to Yahweh and flipped a coin and it came up that we should go to lower Pisang.
On Wednesday, May 3, Vajrama and I hiked to Manang. Nikitha was already there by taking a jeep. Vajrama was having more headaches. We are at about 3500 meters high at this point. So I decided to stay Wednesday and Thursday night at Manang to help the girls acclimatize. We had our clothes washed by an outside service on those days. On Thursday morning we had about six inches or so of snow. Nikitha was happy as she had never experienced snow.
On Sunday, May 7, we hiked to Thorung Phedi (4500 meters), again no electricity in our room, no wifi, nor hot water. Vaj was still having a headache, so I decided on the next day to just hike to the Thorung high camp (4890 meters), rather than going over the Thorung La pass. If I had hiked this trek on my own it would have been quicker and cheaper than taking these girls, but it was more enjoyable with them around.
On Monday, May 8, we hiked to the High camp, no electric, wifi, nor hot water. It was about 10 degrees below 0 centigrade. We went into the lodge and I was running out of Nepali rupees so I just ordered soup for all of us, and being that it was cold, I told the girls to stay in the kitchen eating room until they told us to leave that night.
- While there I saw one porter say a prayer before he ate, I struck up a conversation with him and gave him one of my Nepali tracts, he showed me that he already had a Nepali Bible app loaded on his cellphone.
- A larger man came in and ordered a pizza, he only ate a small piece about one quarter. He called his porter over and told him that he could have the rest of his pizza. The porter said “no” that he did not like pizza. So the man got up to leave. Vajrama and Nikitha also did not like pizza… so I ate the man’s pizza.
The next day I saw the man riding a horse to the Thorung La pass. At this high altitude I started to experience hernia swelling in my lower right groin area. One year back I had a hernia repair operation on my lower left groin area and that area gave me no problems; but while I was in the high altitude, my right side started paining and swelling. So I tied a rope from my groin area up over my shoulder to hold in the swelling. When I got below 2500 meters the swelling went down and I have had no pain since then.
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| Tony at Thorung La pass, 5416 mts |
On Tuesday, May 9, we planned on going over the Thorung La pass, it is 5416 meters high. We got up early and dressed and started about 4:30am. But after about 10 minutes of hiking, Nikitha said her hands and feet were numb and that she could not walk. It was about 20 degrees below 0 centigrade and she took her gloves off. I did not know what the problem was but we went back to our lodge and we discovered she took some medicine that is supposed to help in altitude acclimation and she seemed to be having a reaction to the medicine. Our porter was doubtful that Vajrama and Nikitha could make it over the pass and was recommending that we hire another porter to take them back down the side we just came up.
Upon hearing our plans to send her back down, Nikitha became motivated and said “No! I will go over the pass just give me some time”. So we waited about another 30 to 40 minutes and finally Nikitha said she would start walking. There are no roads in this high area. I told the girls that if they stopped once we got going that no one was going to save them, they would become permanent ice cubes on the side of the mountain, and that they would have to save themselves today. It seemed to motivate them because we all made it over the pass about five hours later. The porter and I waited at the pass for about an hour for the girls. After we made it over the Thorung La pass there was a three or so hour descent to a larger village called Muktinath, but the girls were walking so slow we stopped at a small village about an hour before Muktinath and stayed in a lodge there that night. In spite of how slow the girls were walking I was glad they made it over. I met about 15 people who turned back from going over the Thorung La pass because of various reasons. Too much snow, headaches, joint pains, etc… but I am happy Vajrama and Nikitha made it over the Thorung La Pass.
When we started our hike over the Thorung La pass, Mr. Suren told us all to put on our sunglasses as it was fully snow covered in that area. But I did not think to put sunscreen on, the sun was reflecting off the snow and we all got our faces burned by the sun, especially me, my face peeled skin for the next week or so.
Vajrama and Nikitha on Annapurna circuit trail, May 2023
On Wednesday, May 9, we started about 8am to Muktinath. It took a little over an hour for me and the porter to arrive. We waited about 45 minutes for the two girls to finally arrive. Nikitha’s little toe was causing her a lot of pain as it was a total blister all around it. After the trek her toenail fell off.
- The porter, Mr. Suren, weighed only about 120 lbs. but he was carrying a backpack that weighed about 65 lbs. And he was much faster than any of us. He smoked cigarettes, every time we slowed down or rested he had a smoke. If we ever rested for one day, he would drink alcohol. On the descent from the Thorung La pass, he was with me when we rested for a short time. I heard him saying some angry, hasty words in Nepali and asked the problem. He said his cigarettes had fallen out of his bag and he needed a smoke.
- When we reached the small village about an hour from Muktinath he told us to sleep in the village and that he was going to walk to buy cigarettes in Muktinath and return to us in the morning, as there were no cigarettes for sale in that small village. Finally someone at our lodge found two or three cigarettes from someone in the village to save him that extra two or so hour journey. Nikitha told him a few times how bad cigarettes were for him.
Solar cooker in Himalayas
When we reached Muktinath on Wednesday morning May 9. Nikitha said she wanted to go see a large Hindu temple there. And that before she went she wanted to find somewhere to take a bath first. I told her that me and the porter were going to start our journey to Jomsom. Vajrama did not want to leave her niece by herself, so she stayed with Nikitha but did not go to the temple.
- Then because there was a road to Jomsom, they both took a jeep from Muktinath to Jomsom. They arrived at Jomsom about 4pm by jeep. At the same time me and Mr. Suren also arrived by walking.
- Nikitha had a time schedule in which she needed to get back to India and attend her job. So I decided we were going to have to take some motorized transport to leave the mountain area. On Thursday morning, May 10, we all took a rented bus from Jomsom to Tatopani. Tatopani was at an elevation of about 1200 meters and had a very pleasant environment, there was a natural hot spring with a large flowing pool of geothermal heated water that many tourists would come to relax in.
Tatopani hot springs entrance
On Friday, May 11, we took a jeep from Tatopani to Sikha and then we got out and walked from Sikha to a hill station called Ghorepani where we stayed and kept the Sabbath. In this village most lodges had wifi and so I was able to have my Sabbath Zoom app meeting with several from India and USA. After the Zoom meeting there was a short hike up about six hundred meters to a place called Poon Hill(3210 meters) where we were supposed to get a good scenic view of the Annapurna mountain range. But when we arrived, there were too many clouds to be able to see much.
So again, on Sunday morning, May 13, I got up early at 5am and hiked up to Poon hill again. When I got there, about 70 other tourists were there before me, but again there were too many clouds to see much of the mountain range. They say that this area is much clearer in the fall months. So me and Mr. Suren came back down the mountain from Poon hill and with the girls we headed toward our final destination in the mountains to a place called Hile which we all reached about 5:30pm. From there we caught a jeep to the large city of Pokhara. We stayed a day in Pokhara and I went canoeing on the nice lake there and then headed back to Kathmandu where I posted five Nepali Bibles to the various contacts I had.
We crossed the Nepali border on Friday, May 19, where I kept Sabbath at a lodge with the girls and on Saturday morning we had a nice Zoom meeting with the brethren. In the afternoon we went and distributed literature in the border town of Sunali.
On Sunday morning we traveled by train and arrived Monday morning in Kolkata. From Kolkata we had a Sleeper class non ac train booked to Andhra Pradesh, but our ticket was waitlisted and did not get confirmed, so we booked a bus that left Monday night and arrived tuesday morning in Orissa and then that afternoon another bus took us to Rajamundry, Andhra Pradesh, where we arrived early at about 2am on Wednesday morning, May 24.
From there Jeevan, Vajrama’s son, met us and took us by our school auto to the school. We stayed at the school just a day and then Thursday night Vajrama, Jeevan and I headed to Araku Valley to observe the festival of Shavuot with the brethren there.
I have to leave India every six months on my current visa. So I look forward to visiting Nepal again in the future. Probably not trekking so much but following up the contacts I made on this journey.
June 15, 2023 @ Tony B. Suckla
