Dal bhat power 24 hour
It is time to say goodbye to Nepal, after a wonderful month of constantly being out of breath, sweating, and leg pain.
Return to Kathmandu
After my last post, I hung out with some Israelis in my hostel in Kathmandu whom inspired me to check out the Langtang region. More on that in a bit. I spent another day or so in Kathmandu getting ready to head back out on the trail, including picking up important supplies (snickers bars, ibuprofen) and required permits from the Tourism Board Office. While waiting for the gears of Nepali government bureaucracy to turn, I met a German guy named Thomas who was also heading to Langtang. We decided to spend the day doing a little more Kathmandu sightseeing together before our bus ride the following morning.
I introduced Thomas to the magic of Kathmandu’s public transportation system, and one cramped and shouty bus ride later found ourselves at the base of the “Monkey Temple.” This is a temple complex set on one of the highest hills within Kathmandu’s city limits, full of — you guessed it — monkeys. Since I am Well Travelled, I’m allowed to have opinions on how good or bad the different kinds of monkeys are, so let me assure you that macaques are the absolute worst. They’re territorial, aggressive, smart, and unafraid to steal stuff right off of a human. The Monkey Temple has them in spades. Seeing what we were dealing with, I made sure my backpack was closed, that my water bottle was not visible (they love these), and took off my sunglasses (also these). Thomas, excited at his first encounter with real live monkeys, started whipping out candy to feed them. Immediately 15 pairs of beady little eyes snapped in our direction. “What are you doing?!” I screeched. “Put that away!” Luckily, we got away safely.
The steep stone steps leading to the stupa are strewn with street vendors, sleeping dogs, beggars, and scheming macaques. It’s a pretty serious climb; 365 steps in all. They hilariously only make you aware of and subsequently charge the entrance fee when you’re a mere 10 steps from the top. The views are definitely worth it though.
That evening, I met up with Annie and Morgan, two Americans I met in Annapurna on their own post-San-Francisco-Tech-Job-Travel adventures. We had pretty much naan and beer for dinner, which made getting up for my 6:30am bus to Langtang all the more difficult.
Here’s some more context on the Langtang region. It’s located about a day’s drive north of Kathmandu; the massive peaks along its northern edge make up a part of the Nepali-Tibetan border. This area used to be one of the most popular tourism areas in Nepal, until a devastating earthquake in 2015 killed hundreds and leveled buildings throughout the area, including the entire village of Langtang. The locals are continuing to rebuild their lives and livelihoods to this day. The tourists are only now slowly coming back, so the trails are much less crowded than other marquee trekking regions. The earthquake’s effects has not made the area any less beautiful though, and unlike other areas, it’s many intersecting trails and entry/exit points allow for a flexible itinerary.
Thomas had a tight schedule, so was only going to spend 4 days trekking to Gosainkund and it’s surrounding mountain lakes. I had a bit more time, so I opted to hike up the Langtang valley, then swing back around and stop by the lakes as a detour on the way back.
Since trekking alone isn’t so smart, I luckily made two new friends on the bus. These were Annalise and Jeremy, a French couple, whom had the exact same time constraints and trekking interests.
Kathmandu to Syabru Besi 1,500m)
Oh man. If I thought the Annapurna bus ride was tough, this was on a whole different level. The road for about half the trip was made entirely of sand and loose rocks. We crossed more than one stream flooding the road — again, in a bus — all while the soothing sounds of Bollywood blared from the speakers. To be fair, this lack of road is a fairly recent development due to the earthquake. On arrival, the three of us made our way across a bridge and picked one of the teahouses, mostly because they had an adorable puppy out front. The lack of tourists, at least in comparison to Annapurna, was noticeable immediately. The village was very quiet and many tea houses sat empty. This may also be due to the high season of October-November coming to a close. At this teahouse, we met an American girl just finishing up who had plenty of advice for us on the trail ahead. She was leading one of those seemingly impossible lives where she spent half her year on Koh Tao doing underwater videography and the other half living in Wisconsin. Must be nice! To kick things off, I had a plate of dal bhat — I brought this up in a previous post, but it’s a set plate of rice, lentil soup, pickled vegetables, and mushrooms that gets you up and down mountains quick. “Dal bhat power 24 hour” is a common refrain heard to describe the superhuman antics of guides and porters.
Syabru Besi to Lama Hotel (2,470m)
Yes, Lama Hotel is the name of the town. The terrain somewhat reminds me of the first few days in Annapurna, with a trail winding along the side of a glacially-fed river up through forests. While lunching in the village (read: two buildings) of Bamboo, a commotion caused tourists and locals alike to rush to the side of the river: someone had spotted a red panda. THEY ARE SO DAMN CUTE. And also endangered. The restaurant owner said they saw red pandas 2–3x per year, so we got very lucky! While trekking, I kept smelling a familiar smell and eventually saw a big familiar plant — did you know marijuana grows wild in Nepal? I didn’t, but the very friendly proprietor of “Bob Marley Guest House” was happy to make us aware of that fact and offered up an “experience” as we trekked by.
Lama Hotel to Langtang (3,430m)
Lama Hotel was one of the more “rustic” villages I’ve had the pleasure of staying in thus far, with very simple/hard beds, no wall sockets, nor wifi or cell service to speak of. It’s honestly more in line with what I was expecting before I started trekking, as opposed to the relative luxury I actually encountered elsewhere on the trail. This old-fashioned vibe to it actually residing within National Park borders (more regulation), as well as the village avoiding a lot of damage from the earthquake (no need to rebuild). On this day, we emerged from the jungle and low hills into more alpine terrain; a huge open valley which we’d proceed to hike up through for the next few days. We started to catch glimpses of the upper reaches of the Langtang Himal range on this day. We also came across ground zero of the earthquake, a massive rockslide where the former town of Langtang once stood. Several memorial stupas and prayer walls lined the trail.
Langtang to Kyanjin (3,870m)
This was to be our shortest day of the trek, only 3–4 hours instead of the usual 6–8, so I opted to walk by myself today (sorry mom). It was nice to set my own pace and think deep thoughts. Even with the trail only mildly sloping upward throughout the day, the effects of altitude began to set in, and I stopped frequently for water and to catch my breath. I had a very fun moment where while crossing a bridge, I glanced up and found myself staring at the Langtang Glacier. Once I got into town, I stopped by a local bakery for some tea and a crossiant while I waited for the French to catch up behind me. On their arrival, we visited a local government-run yak cheese shop (cheesery?) to sample their wares. It was delicious, so we both picked up 100g of the hard stuff.
Tserko Ri day trip (5,000m)
The following morning, it was time for the highest elevation point of the trip: summiting Tserko Ri (also spelled a million other ways, most commonly Chergori). This is a stand-alone 5,000m peak that looms over the valley. It’s about a 7-hour round trip, so we ate breakfast early and packed a small lunch. Annalise and Jeremy weren’t interested in this one; luckily I befriended a Polish girl named Barbara and the two of us plus her guide made the ascent. The first few hours were relatively simple, just walking up at an incline, but that is by no means easy at 4,000m and above. You’re taking full lungfuls of air and at a rate which feels twice as fast as normal. The first sign of Acute Mountain Sickness, headache, is common and needs to be mitigated with frequent rest and water breaks to prevent progression to more serious issues. The final hour, your pace slows considerably as the effects of altitude increase, the wind picks up, and the path turns into rock-hopping. But step after step, no matter how small those steps are, eventually get you to the top, and we soon found ourselves among the colorful prayer flags turning slowly around with wonder at the surrounding landscape. The wind inevitably picks up in the afternoons at altitude, so we took a slightly longer but more picturesque route back that let us avoid getting blasted. This was, in all, a major day, and I’d feel the aftereffects of this effort reverberate for the next week. Thank god I was hiking with Barbara — in all my panicked planning beforehand I forgot my phone! These pics are from her.
Kyanjin to Lama Hotel
It was time for us to start backtracking. Down is faster than up, so we combined the previous two days up into a single day down. Easier yes, but that still made this day an 11 mile walk. Here’s something fun to highlight: we’ve encountered yaks, cows, horses and donkeys hauling stuff up and down the whole route. They often block the trail, and as the only one of our group of three with pointy trekking poles, it often fell to me to play yak herder and clear the path. No yaks were harmed in the making of this blog. Back in Lama Hotel, we tried a new teahouse but it turned out to be equally as rustic.
Lama Hotel to Thulo Syabru
The following morning, we continued backtracking for another hour until we reached the turning point for Thulo Syabru. From this fork in the trail, it’s about a 4-day side trip to the Gosaikund lakes. After what was approaching 14 days of trekking including Annapurna for me, I could feel my body falling apart and knew I wasn’t gonna make it. I didn’t want to backtrack all the way though, so I resolved to trek first to TS with Annalise and Jeremy then Dunche alone to catch the bus back to Kathmandu from there. When we stopped for tea at Bamboo (the red panda place), the owner remembered us and asked Annalise to carry a package of mysterious origin for his sick daughter with us up to Thulo Syabru. It looked like a plastic bag of dark brown seeds, but had a weird smell that rankled the nose. She took it without a second thought, but panic set in about an hour later with the thought she might be carrying something, let’s say frowned upon by the various poaching/illegal harvesting army patrols we frequently passed on the route. A passing porter’s broken English answer of “fine now but don’t leave langtang with it” did not help alleviate concerns. Luckily we met a guide who spoke better English who told it us it was fine — a seed you put in tea to alleviate a sore throat. So we tried eating them. A crazy numbing sensation! Pretty sure they’re a regional version of siuchan peppers. That evening, we stayed at the dropoff destination of the mysterious seeds in Thulo Syabru. It’s a beautiful village.
Thulo Syabru to Dunche
The following morning, Annalise, Jeremy, and I said our goodbyes, and I set off for the 7 hour trek back to Dunche. It was along a dirt road, fairly uneventful, and I was by myself so I kept busy by blasting and singing along to the soundtrack from one of my favorite musicals, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
About an hour from Dunche, a guy on a motorcycle pulled over and asked if I wanted a ride the rest of the way. You bet your ass, so that’s how I found myself bouncing around on the back of a stranger’s motorbike rattling down a road composed of sand and loose rock. We could never remember each other’s names’ (even though I met and became friends with his wife, Dawa, and still remember hers), so we just called each other “brother.”
Turns out my brother owned a hotel in Dunche, so that settled the question of lodging. He was done with whatever he had going on that day, so we spent the afternoon eating momos, smoking cigarettes / driving his motorcycle around (sorry mom), and hanging out at his brother-in-law’s homestay. It was here I learned about my brother’s burgeoning musical talent and aspirations! We took turns singing karaoke to an empty bar, me on American songs and he on Nepali. He introduced me to Thukpa, a delicious Tibetan noodle soup, and I got an early listen to his mixtape while eating. It drops in a few months with accompanying music videos.
Later on that evening we retired back to the hotel, where Dawa made dal bhat while their evil 3-year-old child and I played around in their living room. Over dinner, I met the sole other occupant of the hotel, the manager of a local bank a few doors down. He found out I went to business school so we discussed Finance.
Back to Kathmandu
The following morning, I caught a very bumpy and very dusty bus ride back to Kathmandu. Finally arriving back at my hostel, I promptly collapsed for two days with a 101 degree fever and cough.
I emerged from this stupor to spend a day souvenir shopping. This brought me to the Ason market, an area south of tourist-heavy Thamel. It’s a great place to pick up gifts without the extra couple hundred percent margin the sellers in Thamel tack on for tourists.
I was finally feeling better enough for a little indulging, so the following day I visited Kathmandu Spa to receive a trekker’s massage and enjoy their steam/sauna setup. Much needed. In the afternoon, wandering back through Ason, I met Sauhail — a 17-year-old Indian national living in Kathmandu. I told him I was heading to Pashupatinah, a temple complex to the east and one of eight UNESCO World Heritage sites located in the Kathmandu Valley. He lived nearby, and offered to accompany me and serve as tour guide. This massive site is dedicated to Lord Shiva, and stretches across both sides of the Bagmati River. I learned that Hindus are cremated on site, on stone platforms that run adjacent to the river. It was solemn and otherworldly to observe this. That evening I went back to Sauhil’s home and met his mother for some milk tea.
The following day was to be my last in Nepal, so I visited Bhaktapur. It’s an ancient city in the Kathmandu Valley, a seat of one of the three kingdoms that used to call the valley home (the other two being Kathmandu and Patan). It just feels much older than Kathmandu, has way less traffic, is less dusty, and has random temples anywhere — the overall effect is that it feels like you’ve stepped into the past. After yet another adventure in public transport, I used an excellent travel guide to get myself around the ancient walls.
That night, I met up with Annalise and Jeremy for one final goodbye dinner and drinks. After they went to bed, I was craving some popcorn, so I wandered into a local spot I had frequented during my time here and ended up jamming with the owner and his friends. Can’t think of a better way to say goodbye to Nepal.
Next up, America for a week, then Sri Lanka and India for two months. Follow along!
