WOW! I mean, just, WOW! It has been such an interesting day I am not sure where to start. Probably the easiest thing to do is to start at the beginning. We left Kathmandu early around 6:30 am to head to the Langtang Valley and the drop off point for day one of the trek. I was told to expect a six hour drive or so. And it was. But what a drive. It was totally fascinating.

A little blurry (hard to take a good picture when you are getting shaken around) but a picture of the road.

I’ll have to start by talking about the road. The road changed its nature so many different times over the course of our journey its almost as if it had its own personality. It was friendly- these were the stretches that were actually cement and smooth where the only hazard was who might be coming around one of the constant hairpin curves. The standard operating procedure in these cases is to honk as you approach to give warning to anyone coming in the other direction. The road was also angry- these were the stretches where the road was not really a road but a vague path through an extremely rocky area that required slow and careful navigation. On these stretches the car bucked and reared, almost like a horse, and you had to hold on tight to keep your seat even though we may have hit a top speed of 2 mph. Typically we ran into the most rocky areas where a landslide had washed away everything in its path, including the road itself, and repairs had not yet been made. The road was sad and crying- the rains turn the road to mud, but not merely mud, but ooze and goo that without a four wheel drive, big tires, and a high suspension, you were not going to get through- kind of like nature’s own monster truck rally arena. The road was a flirt- it wound all around the sides mountains, up and down, back and forth, to and fro, enticing you to think that you have traveled really far when in actuality you may have moved only a few kilometers along your path. Finally the road was full of drama- passing through small villages, slightly larger, but yet small roaring and vibrant towns, remote farms and featuring spectacular scenery, and incredible drops right next to the edge of the pavement (when there was pavement). It was not boring! Wh

An example of one (of many) of the super muddy road sections we had to cross.

at was most amazing of all is that the ever-changeable road we were traversing was the major trade route through to Tibet. That meant that large trucks as well as big buses were also, somehow, regularly using this same route. Have I mentioned that the road was narrow, too? There were several times when we came face to face with a vehicle coming from the other direction and we had to engage in a game of chicken. Someone had to back up in order for anyone to make any progress. I also saw lots of motorbikes and one lone guy on a bicycle. How he was going to navigate through some of the muddy areas was unimaginable.

That was part one of the day’s adventure.

The second part was being able to sit in the car and watch the world go by. I drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado about a decade ago and it was beautiful. But because I was driving I did not get a chance to see much of the scenery I was passing. Today was different and the scenery was even more striking. All of the houses and terraced slopes I saw from a distance as we landed in Kathmandu yesterday, today I got to see up close. People live everywhere here, no matter how steep the slopes. They simply terrace them and build structures. I can certainly see how the earthquake that occurred here a couple of years ago was so devastating, just a little movement and everything is in the valley. And construction was clearly the common theme that I observed as we traveled through the mountains. Someone, somewhere is making a fortune supplying bricks; they were stacked everywhere. People were in the process of rebuilding, in some cases whole villages. They were carrying rocks around, sifting through the sand/dirt to mix mortar, moving bricks around, stacking bricks- as buildings were slowly going up. There were many half completed or newly completed structures along the whole of our journey.

One of many piles of bricks laying about, but always in scenic settings!

We stopped at a roadside eatery for a meal around 10 am. It was very similar to places I had seen in India. A small open storefront with some tables and chairs and a woman cooking something on a stove or grill. Sort of the local version of a fast food restaurant. I had rice, spinach, vegetable curry, lentil soup and some kind of red hot sauce. It was filling and very tasty. I am looking forward to lots of food adventures during this trip. This was one of many, I suspect.

After many hours on the road, stops at several checkpoints by various Nepali authorities (recall this road is a major trade route with Tibet) we finally arrived at the drop off point for the start of the hike around 1:15 pm. Prem, Bulram (our porter) and I geared up and headed out, or rather up. Today’s hike was a short one, only about three hours with an altitude gain of 1300 meters, climbing to 2250 meters where we are spending the night in a small village. The trek is from tea house to tea house and tonight is my first experience with what a “tea house” is. They provide a room with a bed and a meal. It is not crowded as this trek is off the beaten track so we have the whole place pretty much to ourselves. That means even though there are three beds in my room, I will have it to myself.

Majestic! (Much more impactful in person)

I will close with some comments about the scenery. To say that it is amazing really does not do it justice. I have been in awe all day long as we have meandered up to ridges, down into valleys and along the edges of the mountains. Whether the land is occupied, meaning it is terraced and cultivated with small homesteads scattered around it, or completely untouched, it has all been incredibly beautiful. Shortly after leaving the environs of Kathmandu we climbed up a mountain side and at the top I could see clear over to a snow capped Annapurna (at least that is what I think it was) way in the distance. I think the word “majestic” was created for scenes like that. Truly this is an incredibly dramatic part of the world and I am very honored to get to see it in person! I am looking forward to getting more, and up close, glimpses of these incredible heights.