I woke early, around 5:30 am actually, having not slept too well and did some stretching and went ahead and packed up. We planned on starting at 8:00 am so there was no rush to be off but I had nothing else to do that early. The most challenging task involved with packing is compressing my sleeping bag to a manageable size. Even with a compression sack I have to sit on it to really get it small enough to be manageable. But I am glad I have it as it keeps me nice and warm at night! After packing everything away neatly, I gathered my backpack and bag and went to sit outside at the picnic table. I just sat there and enjoyed the view until Prem and Bulram came down. While I was sitting there quite a few trekkers passed by, but they were leaving having just completed the hike that we were starting on. The morning dawned sunny and clear so the day looked promising for hiking.
The village that we stayed at had a plethora of tea houses and we passed most of them as we set out. The tea houses were all perched at the top of the village on the top of a very large, steep hill and I soon discovered we had to walk down this hill to catch the path that would lead us up through the ravine carved by the river. The ravine leads to the Langtang valley, which is located at the upper side, where the river originates from mountain run-off. Much of the hike today and tomorrow involves climbing up though the ravine and along the river. But first we had to climb down to get on the right path.
That pretty much was going to be the story of the day. Climb up, climb down, climb up, climb down, over and over again. The hike today reminded me of the Inca trail trek in Peru. That experience was also a constant up and down. And like the Inca trail, much of the up and down today was on rough, irregularly spaced rocks set up as a kind of stair well. The slopes were steep enough that a straight path would not be traversable. Places that had room for switch backs sometimes had smooth dirt paths, but still many times, we were essentially climbing stairs. In addition the rocks had potential to be slick due to rains overnight so it was important to pay attention to where you were placing your feet. As a matter of fact that pretty much became my whole world- where to put my feet. Thinking about it later it was a great exercise of living in the moment; practice at maintaining focus on one thing and one thing only. My world was focused on my feet and the path- that was pretty much it.
My breakfast view!
Terrain wise we were traveling for most of the day through forest. The trees seemed to be growing more or less orthogonal to the ground, sticking straight out of the side of the mountain like bristles. It was pretty and peaceful and they provided great cover from the heat of the sun. We actually had to cross over the river a couple of times. There were cable suspension bridges that the route led over. Since I am not a fan of heights and the bridges had slats for a deck, slats through which you could see the river below, as I crossed I focused on simply looking straight ahead. I am sure the view from the middle was excellent though. Someone will have to show me a picture….
A close up of the terraced hillsides that people create for farming.
As the day wore on I began to get tired, my body began to get sore, and I started huffing and puffing. The constant up and down was wearing on me. I certainly am not the woman I was six years ago as we were climbing up to Mt. Kilimanjaro! Here it was my first day out and I was already wondering if I was going to be able to do this. I consoled myself with the fact that because it was the first day out I had to retrain my body to this kind of activity as opposed to being sedentary all day. It really is a mind game as much as it is a physical reset. Your mind will try and talk you out of the effort if you don’t keep a tight rein on it, especially when you are doing something new and having to break in some new habits or activity! But, I do have to say that it is really depressing to be going down (again) when you know that your final goal for the day is about 700 meters higher in altitude than where you started that morning!
All in all today was an excellent challenge.
At the start of the day’s trek at the top of the hill. I still look like I have energy, right?
We got to the tea house around 4:00 pm or so. I had slowed down a bit after lunch (more steep slopes and finally the ascent I had been dreading started) so we got there a bit later than Prem was expecting. But it made no difference really-it’s not like we had a schedule or anything- and for some strange reason we were some of the first to arrive. Prem recommended that I shower, if I wanted one, because it was likely that there was still some hot water available. Since a shower sounded like a wonderful idea and was sure to be an adventure I followed his advice.
Part of the trail today.
The shower and toilet were located in their own small brick outbuilding. The outbuilding was divided into two small rooms, the actual shower, and the toilet, separated by some corrugated metal. The shower had a window to let in some light. The window was haphazardly covered with some white plastic shopping bags, like the kind you get at the grocery store. The first order of business was to re-arrange the bags to cover more of the opening and also try and anchor them with rocks so theysayed there for the duration. After that I had to figure out which handle was the hot water and indeed, if there was any hot water. It turns out that I had, not hot, but slightly warmer than body temperature water- OK, totally doable. Even though it was a quick, very efficient and slightly brisk shower I felt better afterwards. Dinner followed and by 7:30 pm as exhausted as I was, I went to bed and immediately fell asleep. And I slept well.
The window curtain in the shower. Rough looking but it worked. Thank goodness there was not a breeze!
I’d like to close by describing the tea house that we stayed at. The guest rooms were all in a detached building, as was the toilet and the shower as I have described. That is because, for this particular tea house, the main building was actually the family’s house. It was really interesting. There were two rooms, let’s call them the kitchen and the living room. The living room, which served as the dining room for the guests, was square and had a wood burning stove in the center of the room. In one corner was a double bed piled high with quilts and blankets. There was bench seating around two of the walls with tables set in front. This is where the guests ate. Also at night, people slept on the bench seats. When I entered for dinner, some of the kids and one adult, were seated on the bench seats in the opposite corner of the room from the bed watching something on a cell phone. It sounded like a TV show. It was an interesting juxtaposition of modern and traditional. The guests did not go to the kitchen side of the house, but there was a very large, what looked like made out of stone, stove and some tables. I am going to try and get a better look into a kitchen before my trip is up. It was all very cozy and functional.