The only time we slowed a bit was when we had to cross the landslide areas, some of which were massive, and entire parts of the road were just missing and slid down into the river.
The biggest gap we had to cross by climbing along very large lose rocks that slid down from the upper part of the cliff was at least 100 meters.
Some locals were already busy, using ridiculous amount of manual labour, making small rocks out of the large rocks with a steel hammer. It was crazy, there were at least 10000 large rocks and maybe 3 guys with hammers that hammered on one rock each... while we passed them I didn't see a single splinter flying off that rock.
Once we passed that large landslide it was only another hour or so unitl Chamje (where we started our trek 12 days earlier) where we had lunch.
Word in the town was that the road from here down was ok and passable with a Jeep. This was our only option if we wanted to get to Besi Sahar by sunset.
So we talked to a few people and found a jeep, no point for haggling here any more we paid the 2000 NRP they wanted and were happy to be on the way down.
A 3 hour, very bumpy ride later we arrived in Besi Sahar.
Luckily (I can't believe how many times we got lucky on this trek) we had a guide in our Jeep, who would try to get his trekker (a seemingly wealthy Italian who looked like Reinhard Mey) all the way to Pokhara. He offered us to stay on his 6.
We did, and we all got a local bus that would bring us to Dumre from where we were going to take another local bus to Pokhara.
Although I didn't like Dumre when we passed through here on our way up I was happy now to be here. It all went very quick, we got off the bus, the backpacks were passed down from the roof rack, we ran across the main street to another bus waiting, threw up our bags and off we were again.
This time I had a great seat, in the front, sitting right next to the driver and his son he brought for a spin.
We were heading off into the west towards the sunset over the hillside of the Himalayan lowlands (or what they call lowlands over here). It was magical.
I thought a bit about how close it has been and how a day quicker or slower could have killed or trapped us in a lodge.
I didn't even mind the Mental driving style any more.
At about 8 we were in Pokhara and took a taxi to the Guesthouse we planned to stay on at before the trek (when we spontaneously changed our plan and didn't go to Pokhara but straight to Besi Sahar).
It was a simple room with two beds, an attached bathroom with a relatively clean toilet, it had a light switch and even a power socket, there were no holes in the wall to the next room which made it feel like a 5 star hotel after the places we had been before.
But we didn't stay long in the room and headed out to the lake side road which is lined with many many western bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants. It felt a bit like being in Bali or Ko Tao (although I have not been to either).
We found a place and ordered the Steak and the beer we had been dreaming of for so long.
It was the best dinner for a good while and followed by a round of pool way past our bed time from the weeks before.
The trek was a great experience (even without the snowstorm) but it was so nice to come back to civilization.
The Annapurna Circuit is not impossible, it is not even very hard as long as the weather is not playing hard. This time the mountain won but maybe I am coming back for a revenge some day.
These last two weeks were wonderful, loaded with memories and impressions of beautiful landscapes and lovely people and finished off with an adventure of a lifetime. Thank you Nepal!
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