the people you meet on the trek

The end of the Manaslu circuit meets up with the beginning of the Annapurna circuit, and there really was a stark contrast indeed between the crowd on the two. The Annapurna circuit seems to attract a hashtag-bucketlist collection of folks — young, tough, fit people carrying way too much and romping down the trail in cotton T-shirts — whereas we were surprised to find ourselves, it seemed, in the bottom decile of age range on the Manaslu circuit. In part, this might be because the Manaslu circuit is lesser known than the Annapurna circuit; in part, it might be because guides are required by law on the Manaslu circuit (and, anyway, most of the teahouse owners don’t really speak English). But even yet, we met the acquaintance of a handful of interesting folks along the way.

( the people you meet )

(images shot on Ilford HP5 Plus at box speed, on Portra 400, and on Kempy’s Pixel 3.)