Teahouses and Terrain

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Jonathan	Todd

Views #1100 | Intermediate (B1)

Teahouses and Terrain

Jonathan talks about trekkers live and what they travail across on the Annapurna trail.

Script
Vocab
Quiz

Todd: So, what's the best thing about hiking this Annapurna Trail? Like can you describe what you see and what you do?

Jonathan: That Annapurna Himalaya Trek is quite unusually because it's a circular trek. One of very few in the world, so the scenery doesn't repeat. You don't have to pass the same thing twice. You start out from a much lower elevation and you're going through similar to tropical jungle type of surroundings and as you're slowly ascending you get up above the tree-line into the mountains and by the time you get over the Throngala Pass, which is well over 5,000 meters you're in a winter wonderland and surrounded by mountain peaks well over 6,000 meters.

Todd: That sounds pretty cold and it's almost December. Do you have really warm clothing for this?

Jonathan: You don't need to bring very warm clothes. When you're trekking during the day and the sun is out and you're getting a lot of exercise, you certainly don't feel cold. At night time, you're usually inside one of these little lodges, these teahouses where there's probably a fire going and perhaps you might put on some sort of fleece or light sweater that you carry with you to make sure you don't get too cold, and if you feel cold there's always an extra blanket you can get from the teahouse.

Todd: Well, sounds like a great time.

Jonathan: You should join.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

describe

Can you describe what you see?

When you describe something you explain it so someone can visualize it or see it. We often describe things using adjectives like big, tall, wide, beautiful, etc. Here are some examples using describe:

Can you describe what your girlfriend looks like?
I would describe her as tall, athletic, and pretty.

scenery

The scenery doesn't repeat itself.

Scenery is what you can see around you. Usually scenery refers to nature that a person can see around them such as mountains, trees, stars, etc. Notice the following:

The scenery in the fall is really pretty.
Canada is famous for it's natural scenery.

surroundings

You're going through jungle-type surroundings.

One's surroundings are just things that surround a person. One's surroundings is also the environment around them. Surroundings can be manmade things like buildings, houses, and such, or natural things like trees and mountains. Notice the following:

He is not used to his new surroundings.
The surroundings in the mountains are very peaceful.

ascend

You slowly ascend up above the tree-line.

When you ascend that means you move upwards. You can ascend a mountain, a ladder, some stairs, etc. The opposite of ascend is to descend which means to go downwards. Notice the following: