It is an extraordinary way to live, waking up everyday and putting on your boots and everything else you need on your back and heading off into the unknown. I mean, you have a destination on the map you’d like to get to but essentially you have no idea what you will encounter, what beauty awaits you.
At about 4:30am the guides returned from base camp with the yaks, bells clanging in the pre-dawn darkness, carrying their cargo. Headlamps buzzed around like fireflies as preparations were made. I had a quick breakfast of rice and vegetables and by the time we joined the parade of pilgrims the sun had began to tint the sky a brilliant pink and orange.
As I sat clasping my tea in the crispness of the morning, staring across at the Annapurna range and one of the most sublime views I have ever seen it occurred to me that sometimes you need to get lost to find the things you never knew existed.