Gulphu Bhanjyang to Sundarijal to Kathmandu

Day of the second earliest departure of the trek: 0800.

Swear I saw a 2 inch bug on the door jamb last night when I was up to use the toilet, but it was gone when we woke later on. Probably better that way; as it stands now I can pretend it was a dream, that bugs that large don't exist in the world.

Warm, sunny -- better weather than we've had for several days.

We agreed that we would walk as far as we could today in order to be in a good position the next day to hike to the end of the trail and catch the bus home. Turns out, catching the bus isn't a big worry; they run all day several times an hour. So we ended up pushing through to the end, Sundarijal, and getting home two days early.

The last uphill was a dozy (doozy, duzy...?), but the training paid off (i.e. the previous 11 days) and I made it faster than Mark expected (damn runner, walking up the hill like it's nothing!).

P.S. – I'm gonna write and complain to Lonely Planet; what they don’t tell you is that the last 2km of the trek is downhill via stone stairs. Lovely to look at, terrible on the knees. I was sore for several days afterwards. But more on post-trek life in the future.

Tharepati to Gulphu Bhabnjyang via Kutumsang

Elevation: 2141

Departure: 0700 = very early.

Today we played trail tag with the Israeli, his guide, the Australian couple, their guide, and the pair of New Zealanders and their porter. And then we couldn’t find anyone with whom to consult when we hit Kutumsung and couldn’t quite figure out the trail. So we hiked on knowing we’d either find more of Kutumsung or find Chanauti from which we could take the bus back to Kathmandu.

We found the Israeli man and his porter and were joined by the Aussies shortly after ordering lunch. We never did see the Kiwis again; wonder if they got swept away by the downpours that afternoon?

This afternoon has the auspicious honor of beholding the worst trail I have ever navigated on any continent. It was a trail cum rain gully lined with slippery, red mud down a hill with a grade of 70-ish%. In how many languages can you say ‘miserable’?

That night, for the first time, lodging was a challenge. There were two lodges in town we passed up in favor of finding the gompa, which has an affiliated lodge. ‘Course no one knew what we were talking about when Mark asked about this lodge, but we got what we thought were reliable directions uphill to many lodges. Up we went. Mind you, I was ready to stop once we hit town, so I was not thrilled to be continuing, but I had agreed to search for this mythical gompa.

One stupa, too many steep hills, and a giggling group of girls later, we came to what seemed to be a new, clean lodge staffed by three girls under 10. Onward to the Lama Hotel, where the guide of the Israeli man was trying to save rooms for the Aussies and their guide. Onward to a private home where the residents looked at us askance when we asked for a room. Onward to a very pathetic, dark lodge we just kept walking past. Onward to another modern, but very locked up lodge at the top of the hill. We sat after agreeing to give her 15 minutes and in 13 she, her son, and their buffalo had turned up to let us in.

Laurebina Yak to Gosainkund

Elevation: 4380

In the background is Gosainkund the day we were leaving -- blue sky finally!

Elevation: 4380

Dreadful up hill. Made worse by the clouds that accompanied us and then hung around all afternoon. Took a walk around Gosainkund [Gosain Lake]. Legend has it that after Shiva rid the Kathmandu Valley of snakes, he took a drink from this now sacred lake. Not sure about the legend, but I know there were many, many underpants strewn about the lakeside. Many more than one would expect in such a sexually repressed society... or maybe that's exactly what one would expect at a secluded lake in the mountains in a sexually repressed society? Quite a hike for some nookie!

Managed to beat off the hoteliers in order to walk through town to check it out. Ended up choosing the same lodge as the two Canadians (different people than from Langtang Valley), whom we had also encountered in Laurabina Yak, and we exchanged stories and heckling.

Also of note were the three Nepalis in their mid-thirties who joined us for the night at the guesthouse. These were not the noisy ones the proprietor of yesterday’s lunch spot had warned us against, but Mark did have an interaction with one of them that left a sour taste in his mouth. What to do?

Life on the trail has settled into a familiar rhythm: Breakfast. Walk, walk, walk. Snack. Walk, walk, walk. Lunch. Walk, walk, walk. Snack. Walk, walk, walk. Collapse. Dinner. Play cards/knit/read. Sleep. Repeat.

Gosainkund to Tharepati via Laurebina La

Elevation: 3600m

Photo: One of the Gosainkund area lakes

Warmer and warmer and warmer. But still wearing two shirts and the down vest. No long johns under the skirt, but that’s cause they’re still wet – the joys of doing laundry too late to catch the sun and in high humidity to boot.

Played ‘tag’ with the group of Nepalis. They hadn’t slept much the night before due to headache, probably caused by the speed at which they ascended 1500m the day before. At the lodge the night before, I advised them to stay put for the day to acclimatize, but they ‘don’t have time for that’. We played tag again today, but had lost track of them once we climbed the first half of the 10-minute-long stretch of up hill.

We stopped at the only hovel on the trail for second lunches where three Tibetan guys were hanging out playing chess. They ended up passing us on the trail a few kilometers before Tharepati, therefore closing their lodge. Hopefully the other lodge near the hovel remained open so the Nepalis had somewhere to stop.

Stopped for the night at the first lodge we encountered (the other two were up hill where I was just not feeling able to go). Again encountered the Canadians, and added two Aussies, two Kiwis, an Israeli, and a gaggle of guides and porters to our rag-tag circle.

Thulo Syabru to Laurebina Yak

Buddha’s Birthday
Elevation: 3925m

Rained all day, although not the downpour variety from a few days’ back; United States Pacific Northwest sort of rained all day. Lots of moss on the trees. Mist and fog floated by. Threat of leeches high, though none sighted.

Knew we were in Sing Gompa because of the cheese factory. It’s not actually a factory, the cheese is made somewhere downhill; it’s just sold at the factory. No use asking additional questions, I’ve found; they don’t translate well. We bought cheese, had lunch at a local teahouse and shoved on after receiving a warning from the proprietor of the teahouse not to stay at the same lodge as the large group of Nepalis who passed by during our lunch. “Very noisy. Bed late, up early. Two a.m.!” Having not encountered any trekking Nepalis on the trail to date, we had nothing to which to compare. We ended up ahead of them on the trail and never saw them again.

Dreadful up hill.

Managed to beat off the hoteliers in order to walk through town to check it out. Ended up choosing the same lodge as the two Canadians (different people than from Langtang Valley), whom we had also encountered in Laurabina Yak, and we exchanged stories and heckling.

Also of note were the three Nepalis in their mid-thirties who joined us for the night at the guesthouse. These were not the noisy ones the proprietor of yesterday’s lunch spot had warned us against, but Mark did have an interaction with one of them that left a sour taste in his mouth. What to do?

Life on the trail has settled into a familiar rhythm: Breakfast. Walk, walk, walk. Snack. Walk, walk, walk. Lunch. Walk, walk, walk. Snack. Walk, walk, walk. Collapse. Dinner. Play cards/knit/read. Sleep. Repeat.

Rimche to Thulo Syabru

‘Thulo’ means ‘big’ in Nepali, so I was wary of this place, and its hills, with good reason. The entire town is built on the side of a small mountain, which we climbed to the top of before stopping for the day. I don’t remember removing my boots at the end of the day because I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the one to do it; I think I passed out from tired before that happened.

On the way to Thulo, we managed to acquire a stray dog, which followed us for five kilometers or so before deciding that the group with the woman formerly on a horse smelled better, or worse, or something. Mark and I carried on sans dog after checking our directions with some locals and then backtracking for 20 minutes to the correct path.

Looked for the lost map as we backtracked. Map china. [Map I haven't got.]

Kyangjin to Rimche

Elevation:

Early on in the planning for this trip, it was decided that we wouldn’t risk taking the Ganja La [Ganja Pass] south, as it can be complicated by snow even in May and there are no lodgings along that route. So, today we started backtracking down the Langtang Valley. We saw Steve’s water project, which you can see more of on Mark’s website. From there, we ran to a nearby teahouse to escape what ended up being a two-hour downpour. Unfortunately, this afternoon set the tone for the rest of the trip; the afternoon rains followed us through Gosinkund and Helambu until we got to Shivapuri National Park on the last day of the trek.

We stopped at a lodge we had by-passed on the way up – the proprietor had been very confident in her cooking, her lodge, and the view it afforded. Of course it was cloudy the next morning. Turns out it was nearly a full house, complete with an outspoken Italian man, two Americans from Seattle, WA, and two French-people who would later save me from my hiking boots.

The female from Seattle is getting a Masters degree in international development some such from a university in London and doing her practical experience in Nepal. The project involves empowering Nepalis through video. Her male counterpart, like so many others we met on the trail, was on a longer tour of Southeast Asia. As it turns out, she was involved with the Room to Read crew in Seattle in its nascent days; it was enlightening to discuss both ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World’ (about the development of Room to Read) and ‘Three Cups of Tea’ (about a man who starts schools in Pakistan) with her.