We arrived in Nepal with the intention of hiking to the Annapurna base camp (A.B.C) and exploring the local food as we do so. Setting off on a 10 day hike into the Himalayas not yet knowing we would be testing ourselves to new physical and mental limits whilst soaking up the beyond beautiful views.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE TREK ITSELF

Reaching the starting point of the trek meant taking a local bus, an experience in itself, not a first for me but it’s always an eventful one. Me being a chatterbox, speaking to a lovely Nepalese teacher explaining to me the marriage system in Nepal. Me asking many questions whilst at every stop more and more people cram on the bus. Seating system meaning nothing, everyone needs to get somewhere, it may be to school or a local transporting his sacs of potatoes. Leaning on each other wherever possible, standing, sitting, laying with the hustle and bustle of the lovely Nepalese music bursting through the speakers of the very decorative bus. As I write this it sounds like a film and I can see how films such as the best Marigold hotel portray this. With their colorful buses they display as many colorful decorative items as they wish too. It’s really quite lovely in that sense if I do say so.

Here we go, the start. Getting off the bus in the blistering heat at Nayapool you embark on an experience taking you to places you don’t even imagine. When starting on the jeep track road I never imagined we would be walking into rain forests so beautiful in their green! The many many waterfalls everywhere, the strength of rapids, the colourful huge butterflies, the teeny tiny birds sometimes smaller than the butterflies, the rain… the leeches and the steps. Wowsers so many steps, over 7000 by the end of the 10days. The absolute concentration you develop for where your stepping. You most definitely do have to remind yourself to look up at times. Of course during the rain in monsoon season sometimes you just cant. The floor by the way is speckled with what looks like silver from the minerals. Its a tad magical such a small thing as the floor making your mind wonder as you walk.

I wont explain in too much detail as it is something for every individual to experience in his or her own way, I wouldn’t want to ruin anything for anyone trekking the A.B.C.

Each morning the routine of eating at 6.30am to then walk a few hours before the next stop at food. Stopping for food which soon becomes a highlight, something you look forward to before you set off again. For me this is normally the case but now with this daily building hunger the menus become a tick list for all the Nepalese cuisine (minus the surprisingly huge amount of western and eastern selection). Each day the walking gets easier…after the first 2 days your thighs and calves are no longer aching, it feels stranger now not walking. Our legs can take as far as we put our minds too, that’s for sure. This thought often crossed my mind. How did we manage over 7000 steps and treading over fairly treacherous bridges made from bamboo and logs, hauling through the wet seasons rain, REAL rain and yet you see the locals making it look easy peasy in their flip flops and wellies? Kids used to the 3300 steps down then back up from school or the locals carrying huge stock weighing up to 85kg up these mountains. It'd admirable.

Mountains!! In Nepal there are a few sayings I should let you know.

‘Nepali Flat’ – little bit it up…little bit down.

MOUNTAINS...HILLS

Other great mountains we believe at 2-3000 meters are hills! Mountains have to exceed 5000 meters or they don’t make the grade. Suddenly Macchu picchu 3 years ago seems a little feat. Obviously its not but you do begin to see what the Nepalese are talking about when 8 of the largest mountains in the world are indeed right here. When you look up at A.B.C Annapurna base camp you feast your eyes on these huge mountains still towering above you even at 4130 meters. Remember this is just base camp. Its extremely strange believing we can walk all this way yet when your are in a little town built on a plateau you don’t feel high at all. It’s like a little world amongst the mountain itself.

All these little villages living their life amongst the Himalayas, happy with everything they have, content living off their land… nearly all have their own plot or rather a fraction of the mountains growing their vegetables, cattle, corn, tea whichever it is. They live off what they produce. Food is cooked fresh for you. As you order from the menu the cook will go out to the garden, grab the cabbage and make your Momo’s or the potato’s for your Dal Bhat. Of course as you get higher into the mountain the less and less veg is available and meat very quickly becomes a rarity in a good sense. I have a new found appreciation for vegetables and how far they can go. The aromats, the depth of new flavors, the pickles! YUM! I think this may be the right time to start talking food!

LOCAL NEPALESE FOOD

As I mentioned previously there is a huge array of western and eastern food, so much so that when you first look at the menu with western eyes you actually wonder what IS the local food. For me it’s got to be Dal Bhat and Momo’s but even the Momo’s make me wonder where they originated from? I’ve asked the locals and they say they are Nepalese but have been adapted over time through neighbouring influences to where they are now.

DAL BHAT

This is the staple dish in Nepal. Eaten for lunch and dinner. Dal Bhat consists of the following:

DAL – A mixture of lentils made into a curry/soup consistency but keeping its substance

BHAT – Steamed rice

PICKLE – Called Achar

SPICEY DIP (instead of the pickle) - Seemed like tomatoes, chili and garlic in a small bronze egg size dish that you would add to your rice or whichever you prefer really. Loved this!! It varied so much that I looked forward to tasting the difference in its spice or flavor along the journey.

CRACKER – These can vary but mostly a sort of peppery popadom

VEGETABLES – This could be lightly curried green beans with tomatoes or on occasions it was okra.

POTATOES – Lovely spiced potatoes, on most occasions these were the spiciest ting on the dish

CURRY – Sometimes we would get an extra bronze dish of curry. Either vegetables, chicken or fish.

CURD – A small dish of curd, tastes like yogurt

Did I mention that up in the mountains some items are unlimited? Such as rice or the veg… this was the dish the porters and guides would eat and rightly so as they needed as much energy as possible considering the weight we would see them have to carry at times. On a side note I know some peoples opinion is they get paid to do this and it helps with providing jobs but that doesn’t mean you cant ‘think’ about what you actually ‘need’ not an endless supply of clothes to have every day like some people or huge groups had.

Back to Dal Bhat, it does seem like a huge array of different components but as you add rice into your dal bowl or vice versa the veg, chili garlic dip with the curd on the top all comes together like an endless palette of spices the aromas, different textures and new depths coming together in your mouth. In some places even the veg would be scarce depending on where the guesthouses were. Imagine a guest house on the edge of huge rapids, rivers deep in the rain forest… they use what they can get, yet still they manage to provide.

In all its a great dish, I’ve always enjoyed having more variety and you get it all with this Dal Bhat. I never felt like I was missing out when eating this. DO try many different types, as my very first Dal Bhat itself wasn’t a pleasant one.

MOMO'S

Momoliciouse! These are like a steamed dumplings but lighter than most and sometimes fried. The dough is made from flour and water. Id usually add a recipe but until I make them myself I mustn't put a recipe up incase it isn’t good enough. Momo’s are filled with mostly these 3 fillings. Vegetables chicken or mixed. I did see tuna Momo’s and heard off buffalo Momo’s but I haven’t tried these two yet.

Again, they vary from place to place. We really enjoyed the veg or mixed Momo's as the spices would seem more exciting. They tend to add egg to the veg ones in some places, perhaps as a stabilizing element to keep it together inside the soft delicate Momo. The chicken ones have been super tasty, using different cuts of chicken, the brown and white meat. I imagine at home in England it would just be just white meat as thats what we’ve been accustomed to but they really are so full of flavor here.

Whichever Momo you have it’s served with a dipping sauce. Not a sweet chili dipping sauce like everything seems to have back home but a tasty curried masala sort of textured sauce or in some cases a tomato chili version. Again this varies from place to place. Some times super hot, sometimes not. I’ve thought at times that the spicy chili garlic pickle sauce they serve with the Dal Bhat would go wonderfully with Momo’s. I may adapt a recipe back home.

Along the trip we used to stop for lunch at different places and at this one guesthouse between Tadapani and Chomrong you could totally see that they loved to cook. They had LOVE for food. The kitchen was the most decorative I had seen in the mountains and everything was made fresh. Its amazing how they cook with fire and control this heat, not like at home when you just turn down the gas it’s a heat you need to manage here. I was super fortunate enough to actually try and make Momo’s here. Try, being the right word. There’s definitely technique and some practice needed. I can make fresh raviolis day in and day out but the pinch technique of dumplings is something new to me. I’ll definitely look forward to making Momo’s at home. See the concentration face in the pic.

VEG SPRING ROLL

This is NOTHING like you expect. Try if you can to eliminate the perception of a fried Chinese spring roll from your mind as it couldn’t be more further away. Its BETTER!

The shape is very similar to a pasty but obviously not the texture or density of it. It a light pastry, not sure I can even say pastry as its so light, almost like a soufflé texture to it but its fried whilst maintaining it soft texture. This is proving more difficult to explain than I imagined. That’s a rarity for me. It isn’t firm crispy it’s light and fluffy with the filling varying again in different areas. The vegetables, the herbs, spices or even sometimes egg inside, it’s always a little surprise when you bite into a Nepalese spring roll. Highly recommend you taste these.

CHAPATTI

Chapattis, at least in the mountains seem to be a staple. Try not to associate this with curry. Chapattis are always on the menu and pretty much used for everything, breakfast, lunch with soups or used as we would a wrap at home. Chapatti with cheese soon became a favorite. Mmmm like having cheese on toast as a comfort food. There’s something lighter and a generally better taste to chapattis than white bread or wraps. The char flavor of them hitting direct heat is pleasant in the mouth. I’ve had them filled with all sorts here, eggs for breakfast or in Pokhara down from the mountains a mushroom spinach pesto or spiced chicken chapatti. I’ve been thinking chapattis would be nice addition to the menu I’ll have in my place but adapted in different ways.

GURUNG BREAD (Tibetan bread)

I feel I should mention this as it’s been on most menus in the mountains but not so much down here in Kathmandu or Pokhara. Garung bread is Tibetan bread. There are Tibetan influences on food in the mountains. I could go in depth about there being more Tibetan people in the mountains and into religion but its not quite the time to whilst taking about food. See below later on for a snippet on culture, language and religion in Nepal.

So this bread, it’s like a fried savoury or sweet flattened compressed doughnut texture bread. As it comes out it is full with air then quickly depreciates in volume. Being left with the texture of a pressed doughnut but without sugar or salt. It’s served with jam and honey. I ate one and it was enough for me to sample something new. Honestly, for me it was more the guilt of eating deep fried bread for breakfast which I then added sugar and salt to it, to give it some substance. A Chapatti filled with eggs being far more up my street but it is worth mentioning as its something you’d see on the menu and definitely intriguing. I met many people that loved the Gurung bread, it’s purely down to preference.

BLACK TEA

We have fallen in love with black tea. Now that is BIG coming from an English person who LOVES a nice cuppa at home and having been brought up on tea with milk. There is something delicate in flavor about the black tea here. On occasions it’s had a hint of something inside. Possibly spice or just the aromas from the tea leaves. At times this may well have been from the flasks mixed between masala tea and black tea but either way we have bought a few different varieties of their black tea to take on with us to Burma, New Zealand, Patagonia and Canada. It’s hard to explain, I’m sure all the English people reading this have googling eyes at how I could say such a thing. Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it feels lighter to have black tea. Black tea in the blazing sun is extremely refreshing or somewhat calming. The sugar is different here too, much thicker granules (assuming less refined and bleached as were used to but its better here in my eyes, makes you wonder how much we buy into consumerism at home). It could be the combination of the two but either way black tea has been a drink I’ve consumed 3 - 4 times daily so it must be good.

MASALA TEA

Tasty Masala tea. Some call it Chai tea. Its milk flavored with spices and sweetened. Feels like a delicate sweet treat…skip on cake or biscuits and have a masala tea instead, your sweet craving will certainly be fulfilled. Again like most things it varies from place to place. Buddha at Kathmandu’s French Bakery has his own signature blend. It’s delicious.

AS PROMISED...A CULTURAL SNIPPET

Firstly Nepalese people are lovely! More than lovely, when you come out of the airport your greeted with the taxi men as like most airports they’re trying to get you into their taxi. Maybe we were lucky but they are genuinely kind and wanted to help. One chap even allowed me to use his mobile with no other intent. The people have a kindness about them in the cities and up in the mountains. Maybe this is down to how you are with them but I’ve always tried to speak languages of where I visit and ask questions…the right questions.

Being polite and kind goes a long way vise versa. I cannot begin to mention the amount of rude tourists I have come across on the trip into the mountains. The arrogance, obnoxious attitudes, demanding speech and the lack of manners treating people like they are second class. There were times I had to bite my tongue as I can appreciate different cultures act in different ways but I would hope most people would respect each other and treat them with the gratitude and respect any human deserves. Not rolling in with your ample cash flow and acting in hideous ways I’ve witnessed here.

There is an array of different cultures here in Nepal, without being too precise as even our guide Ramen stressed these figures are not exact. In Nepal roughly 80% are Hindu, 10% Buddhist, Tibetans mostly being Buddhist high up in the mountains. This isn’t to say that 80% are fully Hindu. There are many different casts within in this. Cast being a word they use here to explain religion.

Whist taking the local bus I was fortunate enough to sit with a teacher and we spoke the entire 2 hour journey. I asked questions about what the red dots mean on women’s head. It can vary but the dot on the top of the forehead signifies marriage. They don’t have to display this but most women do. They don’t have rings to show marriage but again some women do. Marriage is around 50% arranged marriage and 50% for love. This is how it was explained to me with these words ‘for love’. Marriage can be arranged as young as 18 sometimes younger. At this point a beautiful young girl got on the bus squeezed in opposite us with both dots on her forehead. So we asked her… are you just married, was it arranged or with love. The young girl was 19 and said she was so fortunate it was for love. She was beaming with happiness as she took out her smart phone and showed me pictured of her husband. The teacher sitting next to me who was from an arranged marriage herself but so happy was also beaming for the young girl.

The seasons, I spoke of the decorative bus earlier but it’s not only busses that are decorative here. I’m sure you can imagine the dress code is full of colours and jewellery. Ramen explained that the seasons reflect the colours of bangles the ladies or young children wear. For this rainy season its green as the surrounding nature is so green. From here on whilst hiking I always noticed the coloured bands. It’s nice to think they not only live off the land but embrace what colours it brings just by wearing their bangles. Quite charming isn’t it? In England if we did this we would be wearing a fair amount of grey and blues ;) must be a reason I’m full of colorful clothing at home…embracing the world around me! Haha

LANGUAGE

I’m going to finish with the very basic Nepalese I learnt here in 16 days. I’ve written it as you would sound it out and say it. The Nepalese people appreciate the effort as we would. To be honest by the end it at times it infuriated me ever so slightly that tourists couldn’t even say the word thank you in Nepalese. Its one word. Let’s try shall we…

Namaste – Good morning, good afternoon. You can use this pretty much whenever you see a person. Its polite and some people dip their head or put their hands together in a prayer way as they say it.

Kri pay ya – Please

Dan e bad – Thank you

Swagaton – Your welcome

Panee – Water

Super Panne – Pure water

Jam – Go (lets go)

Bistari Bistari Jam – Slowly slowly go

Arrnus – Calm

Rambros – Beautiful

Tick char – Nice

Tapine ko nam keyoo – What is your name

Mero nam…….. ho – My name is (Mero nam lottie ho)

Michosa – Delicious

Dery Michosa – Very delicious

Forgive me if some of these are spelt incorrectly or seem wrong it’s purely from how I would say them and in the easiest form for you to repeat.

RECCOMENDATIONS

ADVENTUREBOUND

http://www.adventureboundnepal.com

Laxmar is the owner. He recommended Ramen as our guide and he was truly nothing short of an awesome person. Just the right mount of chilled out and calm you need when hiking 6 hours a day. The right amount of humility to have a laugh and he also taught us loads. He’s excellent at Nepalese dance aswell! Some guides on the trek can be quite pushy make you go… go… go fast and then rest but we went at our pace stopping to take photos or to enjoy the food and never feeling rushed. Bistari bistari jam. Slowly slowly go and were only ever 10 minutes after the groups in front, we just went at our gradual pace.

KATHMANDU MADUBAN GUESTHOUSE

Based just outside the Thamel region in Kathmandu. It’s on the outskirts of the extremely busy town, nice to walk in and out from. Good informative people and this is where Laxmar is based, where we booked our trek at a very good price too. Lets say on average $244 dollars each (with a guide including breakfast and accommodation, all transfers and taxis to and from Kathmandu to Pokhara). You will need spending money on top and its gets more and more expensive as you reach the top. $10 a day for food is a great amount as by the top you’ll be craving well deserved biscuits and treats after you reach ABC. Even if you run out of money like we did as we budgeted for less than this, Ramen (guide) can help you out. DO TIP! We gave Ramen $50 dollars tip between us, that’s $5 dollars a day. You really appreciate the efforts when on such a journey, Ramen always there when we needed him, crossing those crazy bridges over rapids. Thank you Ramen!

THE FRENCH BAKERY KATHMANDU

http://www.foodmandu.com/RestaurantDetail.aspx?RestaurantID=290

This is in Kathmandu literally opposite the guesthouse. Buddha and his apprentice Shirish are just great. So passionate about food and it comes across in the food. Buddha having worked 10 years in Melbourne and now set up his own brilliant business in Kathmandu. It’s a great café restaurant with awesome coffee, good food with love in it. His kitchen is immaculate, we even saw his team scrubbing down the kitchen, as any professional kitchen should. DO TRY the chili Paneer and the Momo’s here as they are delicious. Even the special home blend of masala tea (his signature blend) is filled with love.

We were in Kathmandu 2 days and visited here 4 times, purely as they are just lovely and it’s a real pleasure to be around people as passionate as me about food and drink.