About three years ago, the Nepalese government began building a road up the western side of the Annapurna Circuit, one of the world's classic treks. The trek follows a centuries-old trading route connecting Nepal and Tibet, so it has always been open to foreigners, but the new road is significantly changing the nature of the trek. While those on foot or horse have traditionally been the only ones able to access this remote land, it is now open to buses and jeeps, allowing more tourists into the area. Though I don't see trekkers as necessarily different than tourists, the greater quantity of people there will change the Nepali way of life in the high Himalaya more than a handful of trekkers ever could. The focus on an agrarian economy has already begun shifting toward a focus on tourism, and the government has to offer incentives for the local people to continue growing rice and corn. When I do a trek, part of the draw is the cultural immersion that walking slowly across a land allows, strolling through villages, interacting with villagers, and witnessing the ever shifting angles of the landscape as peaks appear and disappear behind distant ranges.
Unfortunately, the government has plans to expand the existing road and finish another one on the eastern side of the trek, an even more remote gorge that provides spectacular views of Annapurna II, Gangapurna, and Annapurna III. The construction of this road has already begun in the lowlands, and is scheduled to be finished by 2012. If I wanted to see the Annapurna Circuit, it was now or never. Ironically, the road that bothers so many trekkers is the road that allowed me to do this trek in two weeks over our holiday break. I was able to cut a few lowland days off the trek by taking various means of local transportation, squeezing it into about 12 days, when it is typically a three-week trek. So I can't complain too loudly. However, I'm glad I got to see it while you still have to walk the majority of it. Below you'll see signs of this progress in the Annapurnas. Soon, I'll be posting a day-by-day account of the trek.
Where there once was a trail is now this dirty and dusty road. Most of the eastern sections of the circuit still follow a trail, and the road isn't always this bad, but prospects are not good.
You can see men at the top of this cliff trying to make way for a road. And this isn't even one of the harder sections to figure out. My guide estimated that over 10 people die each year during construction of the road.
Two young Nepalis try to jackhammer from a precarious position.
These boys were delighted to take a break and swap photo shoots.
With the road comes the grid for many of the villages up the valley.
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