We decided to trek up to the Annapurna Base Camp, in Western Nepal in October when the skies are clear and the weather is warm.  This trek is also called the Annapurna Sanctuary trek. It takes you to the heart, the valley of the 8000 meter mountains. And the perfect time to there is after the monsoons and before the onset of Winter, so the skies are very clear while being warm enough and before snow and ice makes it treacherous to trek near the base camps.  But as a traveler I also dread this time because of the crowds of tourists wh all also want to enjoy the perfect weather just like I do. But we decided to take the risk, as clear weather and scenery was worth the human distractions.

Day 1: Kathmandu (1300m) to Pokhara (850m) to Birenthanthi

The long distance public transportation in Nepal is notorious for being un-timely, crowded, dangerously driven, and full of unwelcome surprises on the road. I suggest you take the half an hour flight to Pokhara if you can afford it. As we had planned this part of the trip at the last moment, we had no choice but to take a bus. We hopped on to a small “micro-bus”, better known as ‘Toyota Hiace” vans to the rest of the world. They cramped as many they could for Rs 500 each and off we went to Naya pul, the gateway to the Annapurna mountains. Naya Pul means New Bridge in English. What an irony, that we saw no bridges at Naya Pul village.
We reached Naya Pul just after dark. We quickly set out for a short half an hour walk to the village of Birenthanti, where we rested for the day. The lodges there were packed, at least the famous ones, but we found one that was quieter and happy to accommodate us. Tomorrow would be a tough day as we hoped to cover what would normally take 1.5 or 2 days within a day as we were behind schedule.

Day 2. Birethanti (1520m) to Hile to Tikhedhunga to Ulleri 1960m to Ghorepani 2850m

Starting early is a good routine while trekking in the himalayas. We woke up around 6:30 in the morning. We stuffed ourselves with local “gurung” bread, a fried bread that some also call Tibetian bread. While most prefered jam and honey with it, I loved plastering ketchup all over it.  I recommend this combination!

The walk from Birenthanti to Hile was pleasant walking by rice paddy fields along a lovely river. As we crossed Hile we start coming across the dreaded stone steps going up and down instead of the smooth climb so far. Soon we reached Tikhedhunga, the base of what is infamously called the vertical steps of Ulleri. From here it would be nearly 4,000 stone steps up to Ghorepani! To explain better, it took us two hours of vertical climbing of stone stairways until we finally reached the village of Ulleri. I should have practised up and down the stairs back home for a few weeks. It would have been totally worth it. This climb exhausts you mentally as physically. It is best tried early in the morning before the mid day sun makes your climb tortourous.

Around noon, we stopped for lunch at the Ulleri village and rested for about an hour and half.  From Ulleri it was comparatively easier but still uphill. Next stop was Banthanti. And then Ghorepani was at 2850 meters up.

Just before dusk, we reached Ghorepani and stayed at the very first lodge we saw. We were in no mood to choose the hotels with the best views. We would get a better view tomorrow morning from Poon hill anyway. Quickly I took out the muscle relaxants, rubbed in all over my legs and shoulders, popped in a pain killer, Ibuprofen, to preempt any pain and stiffness my legs would go through the night and tomorrow.

The night was rather annoying because of a few young guests who thought getting drunk and shouting in their rooms was a great way to spend the night at Ghorepani. Apparently they must have forgotten that they need to wake up at 4:30 am in the dark and climb 400 meters (an hour uphill) to  get to Poon hill to see the sun-rise ?
If you have a choice it is always best to choose a corner room with a thicker wall. Most of these lodges in this region only use a thin plywood to divide rooms.

Day 3: Ghorepani 2850m to Poohill 3150m (and back) to Deurali to Taada-paani to Chuile
Another tough day! Woke up at 4:30 pm and started walking pitch dark to cover straight up 400 meters. My legs were soon cursing me again. As we moved up, we realized we were part of this enormous troupe of united nations of people from all corners, who had come to watch the famous sun rise on the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri mountains. When we finally reached the top, I was shocked to find a crowd there. There must be around 300 to 400 camera equipped faces of every color and shapes. It was hard to find a sweet spot here, to take a human free photo of the mighty mountains.
We all slowly waited for the sun to rise. Soon the colors of the sky start changing into multi shades of orange as slowly the sun rays hit upon the tops of the towering mountains, like streaks of gold pinned on the white tops. Even the Fish tailed Machhapuchhare mountain looks different from how we see typically from Pokhara.
As we watched the colors change on all around the mountains from the east to the west of us, all else was forgotten.

After a quick tea at the top, we walked back down to Ghorepani to have our breakfast. It’s weird that in this area, every egg dish in the menu would be made by putting 2 eggs in it, whether it is omelet or poached or… I guess one egg is never enough for a trekker!

After breakfast at around nine, we started off again climbing on the other side of Ghorepani into Deurali where we could see just as majestic views of the whole Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges. As we reached Deurali, we became aware of how high we were, when we saw planes flying from Mustang to Pokhara, actually below us ! Everyone who saw that had  a mischievous grin of pride!

From Deurali it was all down hill until all the way to Ban Thaati. Then we climbed slightly to reach Taadapani where most travelers called it a day. But we decided to go a little further off to a place called “Chuile”. Chuile is 45 minutes straight down-hill from Taadapani and there is only one good hotel here, Gurjung Lodge which has a fantastic open garden and a great view of the Machha-puchhare (Fish-Tailed) mountain.

Day 4: Chuile (2400m) to Gurjung to Chomrung (2030 m) to Sinuwa (2350m)
We woke up to a fantastic view of the Fish tail Mountain and the Annapurna South (7200m). It was an agonizingly steep downhill walk into a ravine called “phedi” and then another steep climb up to arrive at Gurjung. After 4 hours, we reached into a big Gurung village ‘Chomrung’ which had all the excesses of civilization like washing machines, bakeries, chocolate cakes, attached toilets, amongst other civilized excesses This village must have as many hotels as Ghorepani and is the gateway to the Annapurna Base Camp. We had lunch there and we decided to push to Sinuwa, to gain a day in our trek. We had heard many stories of not finding a room to sleep in due to the over crowding of tourists, we reserved a room before we left Chomrung. My tired legs took me nearly three hours as this part involved going steep down stone stairs into the ravine many hundred meters down and then climb half a kilometer up to get to Sinuwa. I felt I had made a bad decision by making this extra effort. Nonetheless we reached Sinuwa just before dark. We stayed ‘Hilltop Lodge’ there. It seems all 3 lodges here looked the same. So I guess it didn’t matter, which one we stayed at.

Day 5: Sinuwa to Bamboo to Dovhan to Himalaya (2900m) to Deurali (3200m)
Another long day ! The day started very gloomy with rainy drizzle pouring over early – there was some snowfall in the surrounding hilltop during the night. To top this misery, I had neglected to bring my rain jacket. Fortunately the shops sold plastic sheets (that could more or less cover us and our bags). we headed out at 9 in the morning. After a gradual climb and a steep descent , we reached Bamboo in about two hours, True to its name, this place is surrounded by bamboo trees which would stretch all the way to the next settlement called “Dovhan”. Bamboo and Dovhan are bottleneck places in the ABC trek, as they are packed with travelers who come in both to and from Annapurna Base Camp. We advise you to book a place here for your return stay while you go up, during peak seasons. Otherwise you might end up sleeping even in make-shift shelters.
The walk from Dovhan to Himalaya slowly turned sparse into an alpine grassland and was a comparatively easy climb, with beautiful waterfalls along the way. We stopped for a quick tea and made our way to Deurali (about two hours) where we had reserved a room by calling them earlier on the day. We finally reached Deurali around 5 in the evening to find that our room had been given to someone else and we instead scrambled to get a make-shift room carved out of the main dining hall, very noisy and claustrophobic space. And Bijaya would have to sleep in the dining halls. Sad to see that the concept of booking and reservations hasn’t reached this part of the world. (Hint: this is an excellent opportunity for an entrepreneur to figure this reservation system.) We stayed at a lodge called “Shangrila’ and although a bit uncomfortable managed to spend the night some-how. Right besides the room, twenty guides and porters and Bijaya were sleeping in the dining.

Note: One thing we noticed all along the trek was the make-shift wooden bridges seemed very shabby and poorly made. I was very uncomfortable crossing these bridges. they would particularly hard for an old, untrained trekker. I wish the locals and the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, which charges every foreign tourist 2000 rupees to enter this region, would actually give more thought to making the route better as this is their primary bread-earning mechanism. Can’t always rely on the ‘big brother’ for everything, can we?

Day 6: Deurali 3200m to Maachapuchre base camp -MBC (3700m) to Annapurna base camp ABC (4130m)

Today we would reach the place we had all come to see, the highpoint of the trek. In the morning, my friend Bijaya slipped and hurt his hand while brushing his teeth outside. We realized the icy paths are very dangerous, so do watch out for slippery icy paths in these areas and specially in public bathrooms and peripheries of the hotels here.
Note: As you head out of Deurali, if you look directly on to the other side of the cliff, you will notice a natural shape of Buddha on there. Do ask the locals or your guide about this. Quite a sight!

The high altitude slowly began to show on our walks. The air is definitely thinner here as we grew tired faster and faster. We slowly made our way atop the glacial river Modi Khola raging besides us. The path ahead was a gorge between Maachapuchre and Annapurna South. After three and a half hours, at around noon, we reached Maachapuchre base camp (MBC) for lunch. The trek from MBC to ABC is specially stunning as we were surrounded 270 degrees by huge mountains that stared right at your face. It seemed we had entered into a valley of majestic mountains and the gods who lived there.
The path literally trailed besides a huge glacier. It took us two and half hours to reach our final destination. I do stress taking this part of the trek very slowly as to not be over-exert yourself. Exhaustion and rapid gain of heights is the primary cause of high altitude sickness. If you don’t feel well, I recommend stopping at MBC for the night and carry on early in the next morning to ABC.

There were 3 lodges at ABC. It was very cold up there, even in middle of October. I recommend carrying a good sleeping bag for a good night’s sleep here. How do I know ? I didn’t bring one and the local blankets were not enough to keep us warm and because of the altitude and cold combo, I didn’t have a good sleep.

Day 7: Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) to Bamboo

At half past 5 in the dark, we woke up to the sounds of others preparing to watch the sunrise. We slowly made our way to a short 5 minutes walk upto the top of the ridge besides the glacier here, from where we could watch the sun-rise on the mountains all around us. A full moon night would have been perfect to be at ABC. The sight at dawn is hard to describe. These pictures would do justice more than words here.

After the dazzling sunrise theatrics, we came back and had a big breakfast. We decided to head down all the way to Chomrong, while avoiding the bottlenecks at Dovhan and Bamboo if possible. The walk was going to be agonizing long. As we started down this long scenic walk as the sun lit more and more of the sparkling white mountains all around us. Maachapuchre looked majestic from this close.

We were hoping to make it to Dovhan by lunch, but we had seriously over-estimated ourselves as we could only barely make it to Himalaya for lunch. After lunch, we headed further down to Dovhan, doubting if we could make it even to Sinuwa. As we reached Dovhan, it dawned upon us we had to rest either at Dovhan or Bamboo. Not willing to take any chance, we decided to stay at any lodge we found decent enough. Luckily at Bamboo, the traffic that day was low, and we got a room without booking. The night there felt so warm, that I was again back to wearing my shorts. The legs hurt a bit from all the downhill walk but I was hoping the next day’s hot-springs bath would solve that, as we would stop at near there.
It is interesting that you meet folks from all the way from Northern Europe to Africa to South America to Korea on these treks. Here we were the United Nations of travelers marching along a narrow trail much of this trek! One destination, one purpose, perfect !

Day 8: Bamboo 2350m to Sinuwa to Chomrong to Jinuwa 1960m
We started from Bamboo, warm and happy. I slept great compared to last night’s freezing temperature at ABC. The walk from Sinuwa to Chomrung was again a painful two hours of up and down stone steps. At Chomrong, we had lunch at a local favorite eatery, Chomrong cottage. I couldn’t resist the blattantly advertised traveler’s favorite, chocolate cake for desert. (the only chocolate desert I saw on the menu on this entire trip). And at about 2, we headed down a steep slope to nearby Jinuwa which was well-known for its hot springs. It took us about one hour steep downhill to get there. As soon as we checked into our local lodge, we took our towels and rushed down to the hot-springs by the river, a half an hour walk down. The hot springs are worth every single bit. We quickly jumped into the warm hot springs, right beside the ice-cold raging Modi khola river. For a complete hour and half, we rested our aching bodies. We knew we had fully rejuvenated our bodies when it actually took us less time to climb up hill than walk down-hill to the hot springs. I will never under-estimate the power of hot springs!

Day 9: Jinuwa to Landruk to Kolte to Deurali to Potana (1900m)
We started our day refreshed. I don’t know if it was the hot springs or the nearing end of our journey.  We had now become good climbers, breezing through the tortourous looking uphills and downhills with relative ease. We passed Landruk a village on the opposite hill from the popular Ghandruk. A guide we befriendedon the way, recommended we check out a nice restaurant at Tolke for lunch. (Tourist guides usually are great at recommending the best lodges to stay or eat in). After a delicious Dal-bhat lunch, we started climbing up to Deurali. A pretty tough climb which lasted for an hour.
We stopped for the night at Pothana, a small village by the ridge of a big hill with a good view of Maachhapuchhare. During dinner, a big hailstorm suddenly greeted us. Small chunks of ice were hitting on our tin-roofs which made quite a music while we ate.  We slept early around eight as had become a habit now. Tomorrow we would be returning back to the civilization

Day 10: Pothana (1960m) to Dhampus to Phedi and then bus to Pokhara (850m)
We took a lazy walk from Pothana to Dhampus which already has dirt roads linking it to the main highway. But we decide to trek down to Phedi instead of taking the public transportation.
Phedi is at the foot of Dhampus, every few minutes dancing and singing children were blocking our paths and asking for money as part of Tihar celebration ( a Hindu festival widely celebrated in Nepal). Normally I wouldn’t give money as it encourages begging but in this case there is a special exception as it is for celebrations and only once a year!

From Phedi we took a local bus to Pokhara. As this local bus moved at a snail’s pace picking up every neighbors on the route, we shifted to a taxi  midway through, and at 200 Rupees it took us back to beautiful proper Pokhara.

Summary:

• This is a great trek for time starved travelers in Nepal. You can finish the trek in 10 days without rushing, and include sunrise view at Poon hill (which is a little off-route from the usual ABC trail)
• If you are into getting rejuvenated by the raw force of nature, this is definitely the trek to go into. This is not for those seeking outside comfort but rather inside comfort to the soul.
• This is a safe place to travel alone, although if you are a foreigner, we recommend a guide or at least a porter. It helps and you help the local economy.
• This is also a great destination for nature photography enthusiasts and people who just want to wanderlust!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.

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This is a travel diary (log) of my trip to Upper Mustang in Nepal, which borders Tibet. I hope you enjoy reading this and write in your stories or comments!

Day 1 and 2. Kathmandu to Pokhara.

There are no regular flight to Jomsom from Kathmandu directly. It has to be via Pokhara.  It is almost impossible to fly to Jomsom after noon (because strong 100 kilometer winds make it impossible to land on an airstrip perched between two 8000 meters ( 24000 feet) mountains.  So we took a quick half an hour flight to Pokhara first.  Pokhara is a beautiful city full of lakes and beautiful high mountains to its north. To any other travelers it would be a nice destination to travel in itself. But as we were itching to start our trek to the former “Forbidden Kingdom of Mustang”, , even this beautiful city didn’t sound so appealing now. We wanted to be transported into a different era, away from any civilization we were part of.

The flights to Jomsom from Pokhara (only flies from this place) are very erratic and frequently canceled because of the monsoon weather. Our flight was canceled the first day, as the planes going to Jomsom couldn’t land there because of bad weather there. Be prepared to wait for hours at the airport praying for the weather to be good again.

Day 3: Pokhara to Jomsom (2700m) to Kagbeni (2900m)

The next morning by sheer luck, after yet another agonizing 5 hours wait at the airport, we managed to find a flight at 12 30 in the afternoon (this is quite rare during anytime of the year to be flying so late to Jomsom). We later came to know that the flights for the next 2 days were canceled as well.

It was a one hell of a hair raising half an hour flight, specially the landing part, where the plane had to make a sharp turn by a cliff to come down to the airport. The plane full of hindu devotees  were busy chanting “ Hail the Lord pashupati nath” inside the plane as we moved to Jomsom. I must say, Jomsom and Lukla are the two most heart skipping places to land during any time of the year. We flew to Jomsom on a donnair aircraft, Agni Air (German made). We soon found ourselves in the sunny Jomsom, the administrative capital of Mustang.

Mustang lies in the rain shadow of Annapurna Mountains. It rarely rains much during monsoon as all the rain bearing clouds are stopped by a wall of high rising Annapurna and Dhaulagiri mountains. Still the wind was howling enough to bring out the wind stopper jacket from my back pack. We went to a local friend’s hotel right outside the airport, called, “Hotel Snow Land” and from him got some useful guide to trekking up upper mustang.
At 2 in the afternoon, we started our trek to get to a holy place called Kagbeni via “Eklai bhatti”. Kagbeni is the entrance to Upper Mustang, and a well off modern village right besides the Kali Gandaki river. t is also hugely important place for Hindu devotees who come in droves to offer prayers for their departed parents souls along the holy fusion of the Kali Gandaki river and another flowing from Muktinath (another Hindu holy place in Mustang).
In Kagbeni (2900m),We stayed in New Annapurna Lodge. (By the way, all ,motels and tea houses in mustang are named hotels). Kagbeni even has a restaurant, aptly called “Yak donalds” and the local fries there are delicious!
In Kagbeni, we met a french group heading up to Upper mustang there, and exchanged a bit of insight with the Nepali guides who were quite amused to hear Nepalis traveling. (Who would have thought ! ) . I suppose Nepalis traveling in Nepal is a rarity, something I hope these experience sharing here will encourage more Nepalis to travel within their own country).
Had an okay sleep. Lo manthang, the capital city of Mustang lies 4 days ahead.

Day 4: Kagbeni via Tanbe and Chupsang to Chiele (3100 m)

We made a late morning start from Kagbeni, having a local favorite Tibetian bread as breakfast. We started off at ease and started our way through the wind ravaged trail along the Kali Gandaki river, leaving the Nilgiri and the Annapurna mountains to the south. As we climbed the Grand canyon type of trails, we started seeing the contrasting landscapes of arid mixed with meadows that extended all the way to the holy temples of Muktinath. On the journey we met a couple of hindu devotees returning from Damodar kund ( a holy lake 2.5 days east of Lo-manthang at 5200m). Looking at their meager belongings, we were amazed they could have made it back from such high altitude and cold place, fine)

In 2 hours, we came across, Tangbe (3000m) a village that looked like a haunted village (because all its inhabitants were busy working in the nearby fields). We chanced upon an old man besides his apple orchard and quickly bought a kilo of Green apples freshly plucked from his orchid right there. As we walked to Chupsang, we could see some ancient caves on the other side of canyons. We meant to have lunch there but was thwarted by a massive road block where a massive dozer was building a road and had destroyed the trail along the Kali Gandaki river. A camping group helped us navigate this treacherous hair raising cliff walk, across a make shift thin trail along a steep slope and final pull from more helpers before we could safely continue off to Chupsang. Chupsang looked like a disorganized village with the only motel (tea house) packed with travelers and locals gambling away infront of it. We had a quick instant noodles and made our way off to Chiele.

Here, we came across gorgeous mountain caves perched high up on the canyons as we walked besides the fast flowing Kali Gandaki river. It is hard to imagine people used to live here till a century ago. During summer, even the feeble Kali Gandaki rages dangerous. (During the winter it is possible to ride all the way to Lo-Manthang on a horse through the same river in 1.5 days).

We reached Chiele around 4 pm, a pretty cliff side village on top of the massively twisting and turning Kali Gandaki river. The last 100 meters to Chiele was a steep climb, and our inexperienced walk and terrible shape, nearly broke us down.
We stayed at Bishal Hotel, recommended by fellow Mustang guides who were traveling with a french group. I couldn’t sleep much tonight maybe because my body was adjusting itself to altitude. From 800 m to 3100 m in 2 days, yes this body needs a few adjusting to do.

Day 4: Chiele to Syangboche (3800m) via Samar

We started off the morning late, and found our-self agonizingly short of breath walking through a steep exhausting mountain climb of 500 meters to Samar. My shoulders were pretty swollen from carrying my slightly overweight back-pack.
You will find yourself walking through cliffs that would hands down beat those cliffs in that last fight scene in the 1992 Daniel Day Lewis film “ The last of the Mohicans”. Around mid-day, climbing up the canyon, we reached the village of Samar, a beautiful village, full of green poplar trees. It looked like a green oasis surrounded by deserted arid mountains.  On the West were big cliffs separating Upper Dolpo valleys from Mustang. On the south you see the Tilicho and Nilgiri mountains near the Thorang la pass (which is part of the Annapurna Circuit trek. After having a quick lunch at a beautiful cosy lodge there,  we headed for Syangboche through the high route which took us to nearly 4000 m.
Note* I recommend the lower route from Samar to Syangboche, as it is easier to get to and easier to aclimitize, coming from Samar.

It proved to be an exhausting route up and down and after 4 hours we stumbled onto Syangboche. It was cold up here, with only 3 houses, The second one happened to be our resting place for the night. The high point of the day had to be the steep cliffs and the scenic mountains you can see from high above Samar and the Soi la pass at 3900m from where we can see rugged dry hills of Upper mustang).
We stayed at Dhaulagiri Hotel which proved to be a good choice. Had an excellent sleep.

Day 5: Syangboche to Dhakmar (3750m) via Ghemi.

We passed through stunning display of nature passing through scenic villages of Gheling, Bhene and through the Nyi La pass (4000m), we arrived at Ghemi, another lovely green village amidst a red, and ash colored wind beaten cliffs with more caves. After having a delicious lunch at a home of the Raju Bista, a nephew of the former King of Mustang, we headed to the picture perfect Dhakmar famed for its red cliffs. Legend has it that these cliffs were a result of the blood smeared out of the body of the demon Queen who was slayed nearby by the Buddhist monk, Guru Padma Sambhawa. He slayed her to protect the Samya region in Tibet who were unable to build the Samya Gompa monastery because demons and their queen would destroy any monastries they built. The legend further elaborates the long wall in Ghemi is where her intestine were buried and the nearby Lo Ghyakar (Ghar) Gompa, an 8th century monastry was built over her dead body which protects against her resurrection. An hour away from Ghemi, we arrived at the picturesque Dhakmar, which seemed to hold up to its reputation. In Dhakmar we shared our room with another group since the lodge Tenzing riverside had barely 2 rooms available. We specially loved these fresh organic vegetables that we always ate for dinner wherever we stayed in Upper mustang, specially the spinach, potatoes and cauli flowers.

Day 6: Dhakmar to Lo- Manthang (3800m)

We started climbing up a cliff up the 4200m pass separating Dhakmar from Lo-manthang. At this altitude, it becomes excruciatingly hard to find enough air to climb a few steps. After a 2 hour climb, we reached the 8th century monastery called Lori Ghyakar (ghar) Gompa. Rich in Tibetan folklore, we were told about the history of the monastry by a lone monk staying there. We were hoping to having lunch in this area but couldn’t find any place to eat, so we headed off to Lo-manthang eating our packed food supplies. *Highly recommend carrying packed supplies if you are traveling this route*.

The walk forward was picturesque with wild horses and sheeps grazing in multitudes along endless meadows that seemed to disappear into the high mountains. And we could see the 4600m Kora-la pass in the distance, which separated Nepal from Tibet. We finally reached the red fortress city of Lo-Manthang around 4pm. Lo-Manthang looked beautiful with contrasting colors at this time of the year.  The pink barley fields surrounding the red fortress seemed to heighten the festive atmosphere, with people with distinctly colorful costumes and the blue sky.

Day 7 and 8: Lo-Manthang (3800 m)

It had been a dusty 4 day journey to the capital of Mustang. We realized that we had come to this city, during an exciting festival of Yarthung, a festival of horse-racing and mastery . This 3 day festival happens once a year. The king and his entourage start the festival by riding around the city and going out to the meadows where they test the skills of the best riders of Mustang. And there is a lot of drinking involved too! We watched as waves of riders marched past beautiful ladies of Lo-manthang were in their finest dresses welcoming the riders. The horse riders were put to a series of tests and the natives of Lo-manthang were there to see the performance in display along with a few lucky travelers from all parts of the world. The pink barley fields surrounding the red fortress seemed to heighten the festive atmosphere. Even our hosts at the hotel were missing off to check out the festivities. We stayed at Hotel Mystique in Lo-Manthang, very pleased to get a room with attached bathroom.
In the afternoon, we hired a few horses. It was my first horse ride and add to that , my first fall from the horse as well.  Luckily nothing serious but the fall served to provide amusing laughs for my fellow travelers for the rest of the journey! We traveled to the nearby villages of ….. and Chungsar where we visited the fabled caves and cave monastries along steep cliffs. We were left wondering, about how people lived in these caves centuries ago. The weather was perfect for a lazy stroll inside Lo-manthang. People were jolly with harvesting season just around the corner. At a local tea-shop, old ladies were dancing drunk and so it was fascinating to see old ladies dance to the latest bollywood re-mix !

Lo-Manthang is a town full of buddhist monasteries. Every direction there are gompas (monasteries). The King’s palace lies smack in the middle of the town. You can get an appointment to meet him, if you like. Its a place thats a mix of a millenia old customs and habits mixed with 21st century.

Day 9: Lo-Manthang to Tse-rang, pronounced Chha-rang(3500m).

Today we strolled down the lone dusty wide road to Tsarang (about 4 hours).  Not very eventful other than the stark arid landscape that were on both sides of the road. But as reached Tsarang, we came across another lovely colorful village with its own palace and monasteries.  At Tsarang, the weather started getting heavy, and it started raining. The mist covered the whole valley and made the visual very surreal. We visited the ruins of the palace there and the big monastery near it. We stayed at a local hotel, Mount Kailash, just on the edge of the town and had a comfortable stay.

Day 10: Tse-rang to Syangboche (3800m)

It was a tough 7and a half hour walk back to Syangboche, partly because we decided to go through a village of Gheling, a bit off route on the way. We again passed through the lovely village of Ghemi, where we dropped by the same tea-house for lunch. By the time we reached Gheling, we were exhausted, and the last part of the journey to Syangboche became tasking. We happened to meet the people who were making the roads there. I reckon, in a couple of years, Lo-manthang will be a major stop on the way from Pokhara to the holy places in Tibet, Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. I can only wonder what changes will happen, inevitable it is. I am sure, more eyes will get to see the wonders we have viewed so far. I sense, Mustang is readying itself for such a profound change.

Day 11: Syanboche to Chupsang (3000m)

From Syangboche we took a foggy route that took us down to the natural holy caves of Chung Gompa and along deep canyons. Chung Gomba is a cave where the stones are said to have formed the shape of buddhist deities. It is in quite an exotic location right in a mountain off a gorge. From there we made a steep climb up to Samar where we had excellent lunch waiting for us.
From Samar it was an easy walk down another deep gorge, and finally we reached on the banks of a small river by Chupsang. But the river level suddenly had started rising and we had to cross the river with water up to our thighs, amidst a high current. I was not amused to see the locals sitting and enjoying the sight of us trying desperately to cross. At Chupsang we stayed at the only motel, the Bhrikuti hotel. It was quite expensive being the only one in this village.  One a sidenote: I noticed, there was more trash lying in one street of Kathmandu than what I have seen in the whole of Mustang so far.

Day 12: Chupsang to Kagbeni (2900 m)

In the morning, the locals mentioned we couldn’t cross an easy 10 minutes section of the trail because the dozers had bull dozed the trail off while building the road. What they forgot to tell us, was that it would take us one and half hours to cross that, by going steep up the cliff, and coming down just across the road block. After the agonizing climb up and down, we were off to Tangbe, where we chanced upon the same apple seller by his orchid. This time we bought apples from him at 33% inflation from his earlier rate 5 days ago. After two more hours we were back in Kagbeni where we decided to stay for the day. (Our original plan was to get to Mukti-nath which was another 3 to 4 hours of steep walk). At Kagbeni we decided to stay with our new found french friends at Hotel Nilgiri. As we arrived around 2, we had plenty of opportunity to check out the town with its mixture of Hindu and Buddhist culture and heritage.

Day 13: Kagbeni to Muktinath (Rani Pauwa) 3800 m

From Kagbeni we decided to go off to visit Mukti-nath temple off the route to Jomsom. Muktinath lies on the way to Thorang la pass which separates Manang from Mustang (and is part of the Annapurna Circuit trek). Muktinath is an extremely popular pilgramage site with hindu devotees and is perched on the side of high mountains with Buddhist nuns taking care of the Hindu temple. It is known for emiting a never ending gas geyser and for the stunning views of Upper mustang to the north and the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri to the south-west. We had a delicious lunch at North Pole hotel and headed back to Jomsom using the preferred way which is through a 4 wheel Jeep, which only took us one and half hour along this windy, dusty route.

Day 14, 15: Jomsom to Tatopani

Our flights got canceled for 2 consecutive days in Jomsom. So we had no choice but to take the land route. We must have changed vehicles for 11 times before we reached Pokhara. Traveling through land linking Mustang to the rest of the country is very dangerous during monsoons because of heavily damaged paths and roads. I wouldn’t recommend the land route but because there is hardly any other option, most travelers have to take it, when flights get canceled. We stayed in the motels nearby the hot springs called “Tatopani.”

Day 16: Tatopani to Pokhara.

From Tatopani we again took the dangerous route off to Pokhara. It was a hell of a ride and took the whole day because of the almost totally destroyed mud roads, our 4wheelers had to pull through.

I hope you enjoyed it ! Feel free to share your views below!

You can check out more photos at this link below.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=243117&id=683397773&l=141058742f

Enjoy,

Uj

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This is a travel log of a trekking trip by me ( Ujwal Thapa ) in October 2009 to the Langtang region, Gosainkunda Lake and ultimately connecting to the Helambu trail and ending in Sundarijal, Kathmandu. If you have questions about the trek, please leave it below in the comment box and I will answer it below.

1st day: Oct 25th, Sunday – Kathmandu (1300m) to Shaybrubesi (1900m):

there were a couple of us on a hired 4 wheel Land cruiser through Kathmandu to Trisuli bazaar to Dhunche all the way up to the 100 something kilometers north to a place called “syaure besi”, the gateway to the langtang valley of mountains. The trip was about 8 hours (you could probably do it in 6 hours but we took some long breaks on the way) Here we stayed at Buddha Guest house. Pretty boring place this Syaure Besi, but it is the gateway to the trek. The hotel was operated by a local Sherpa, giving hints of the the type of people you would meet on the trip.

2nd day: Oct 26th, Monday – Shaybrubesi to Rimche (2400m):

We started early morning. Everyone with backpacks. There were 4 of us trekkers with 3 porters, and a guide who is also a friend of mine. We immediately crossed this long suspension bridge (the first of many to come) and started our tough walk up. You get a hard dose of reality of having to trek uphill on your first day of trekking. As I sweated through the morning, philosophical thoughts about my life crept on me. “What am i supposed to do? ” The manner in which one lives his life is the burning mystery of the ages. What manner am i living my life ? ”

Anyway we stopped around noon at a place called “Bamboo lodge” after a tough 4 hours of trek. We had some good lunch. (Rice Lentils Vegetables). By the way, this Langtang region is an all vegetarian zone mostly because it is almost impossible to find meat in any of the menus. You will get eggs and milk though. After a further 3 hours of uphill tortorous walk, we finally reached our first night of trekking stay at a place called “Rimche”. There was one lodge here called “Ganesh View” . Accomodation is basic and its run by a local Sherpa family . Rimche is 15 to 20 minutes from a more frequented “Lama Hotel area” where you might get more hotels to stay in, but is not as scenic as Rimche.

Have been reading poems by Rumi. They say in Iran, there is a game called “moshaereh” a game of ritual serial poem reciting. Usually one line of poems by famous poets like Rumi are used. I would have loved to play that.

3rd day: Oct 27th, Tuesday – From Rimche to Langtang village (3400 meters)

This 2nd day of trek is fairly easy compared to the earlier day. But we still were gaining altitude like crazy. We readched the langtang valley around 4 ish. Ate lunch at Godha tabala. We decided to stay at a hotel called “Eco hotel”. it seems the few hotels that were open seemed all of comparable standards. Right behind the hotel, was a cheese factory. So we went up to taste the local cheese made with the help of swiss technology. there was also a clinic/medical shop which would be handy since one of us in the team was suffering from cold. Langtang village is the first taste of altitude, village atmosphere, high mountains, and cold winds.

Thought of the day: Dust doesn’t do much to our head, nor does water. but a mixture of dust and water becomes hard clay which can crack our head.”

4th day: October 28th, Wednesday – From Langtang village (3400m) to Kenjin Gompa (3800m)

As a trek member fell sick in langtang village, we decide to do a day trip to Kenjin Gompa, instead of going to stay there. It was about 4 hours trip to the Gompa (monastry in local language). On high altitude, its harder to walk, even a short distance leaves you out of breath. Kenjin Gompa, people usually stay there for 2 nights, as there a few side treks that can be done. One is a trek atop a 4900 meters mountain from where you can see a 360 degrees panaroma of mountains in the langtang valley. Kenjin Gompa is the last inhabitable place in this side of the mountains and quite a hub with a lot of hotels, and even a pub! The hotels say they can fit in 500 people at any one time. ( a bit inflated, i suppose).
We had lunch at Yak view hotel.

5th day: October 29th, Thursday – Langtang village back to Rimche.
While coming back one of the sick members of the trekking group badly sprained her ankle but still she could limp back to Rimche. We stayed at the same Ganesh View Hotel. The trip was much faster (downhill) and with some nice alpine habitation views. Had lunch around Lama hotel area. We are trying to decide whether we have to heli-rescue her as she may not be able to continue with her trip. It was a lovely night and all of us huddled together, few austrians, poles, germans, french, nepalis, americans.

6th day: October 30th, Friday – Rimche to Thulo Shabru (2000m)

In the morning, our sick friend decided she was in no condition to walk much. So we called in a helicopter to bring her all the way to Kathmandu (about half an hour). The Helicopter landed on a steep ridge besides a nearby village called Sherpa Gaon, after some attempts. I decided to continue the trip alone, as i was not sure if the rest of the team would be coming along or abandoning the trip. It was a quick downhill to a place called “pahiro” and then all the way uphill to “Thulo Syabru” which is where most of the hoteliers main village in the langtang area. Thulo Shabru lies on the way to the religiously important and breathtaking Gosaikund lakes up around 4460 meters. met a sherpa lady on the way and we basically talked through the whole uphill journey. I found out her brother in law had just died from falling down a cliff near there a few days. The trails did not seem dangerous, but it could be, if you walk very carelessly. In the evening there was a local celebration going on all night long. All the village had gathered to celebrate the 45th day of a kinsmen’s death. lots drinking, singing and dancing going on. I couldn’t go on all night as i was tired. but i could hear the sherpa songs right from my room in the hotel.

7th day: October 31st, Saturday – Thulo Shabru to Sen Gompa (3300m):

Its a steep climb up from Thulo Shabru but the trail is breath taking as you see all the mountains as you look back while climbing from sub 2000 meters all the way to 3300 meters. be prepared for your stair master training. Had lunch on a beautiful mountain top where you can see the view of Ganesh Himal and the langtang mountains on the other side. Its worth staying a night right there. But I had plenty of time so carried on to Sen Gompa. Sen Gomba is pretty warm considering its height. It also has a cheese factory. I stayed at the “red panda guest house”. Very nice and cozy. A big french group of 11 tourists joined with another 8 or so porters, got a bit crowded in there. I even had a mobile phone reception there. So got to call people up to catch up from a lovely mountain top. I also got to sip a tea of local sepak-thorn berries that is native to the high mountains in Nepal.

8th day: Novermber 1st, Sunday – Sen Gompa to Gosaikunda Lakes (4400m)

Another day of steep climb from 3300 meters to 4460 meters. The morning was a breathtaking trek literally. The altitude made the wak uphill very hard. But as i reached the pass into the Gosaikund lakes, there was relief now that i only had a short way up to go. The view is very stark and wonderful. The landscape is alien to most i had seen on the trip so far. I had tea near the pass and then started walking again, passing through turquise glacial water fed lakes. was a bit afraid of the cliff walk that i had to go through. A group of elderly germans were upfront. It seems incredible seeing 60 to 70 year olds doing this trek and literally on the same pace as myself.

Gosaikunda was cold but breathtaking. There were several lakes you could see around and i decided to take a walk around the main lake (also wellknown in religious circles as one the holiest lakes in hinduism). The water is fed from the snows of the mountains above and is probably clean to drink off right from it.

The night turned out to specially chilly and windy as the winds howled all night. The toilet was literally frozen so had a rough night not being able to sleep through. Must be a combination of cold and altitude.

Sidenote: I must add, there are a lot of lakes up here in pockets of mountains. if you are into lakes, you will find a couple of days stay here in gosaikund, perfectly worthwhile.

9th day: November 2, Monday – Gosaikunda lakes to Thaare paati (3800m)

The next day, early morning started my trek up from the lakes to another bigger pass around 4600 meters. Went through several lakes. Took the holy waters from the lakes as a souvenier for my mother (an hindu) and my hands nearly got frozen in the process. -the water is that cold up here. After another hard climb -finally we started descenting all the way to to “phedi” where we had some tea. There i met an israeli father and daughter from Haifa. They were to be my travel mates from here onto Kathmandu. They were amazed to see so much greenery and water here compared to back home.

The walk from Gosaikunda to Thaare paati is tough, long ups and downs and exhausts every part of your body. If you are slow , you can rest in “ghopte” or another lodge half an hour from “ghopte”. Stayed at “Taashi Dele” lodge there. nothing spectacular but a warmer place than the chilly gosaikunda hotels. asked for an extra blanket still. A warmer sleeping bag is on my shopping list this year.

10th day: November 3rd, Tuesday – Thaare paati – Kutumsang

This has got to be the relaxing walk of all the trip. Enjoyable, warm, and pretty scenic. You see the Gaurishankar mountains on the north east. All downhill. good alpine forest view. it took us about 5 hours of good walk. Stayed at the Mountain View Guest house, which had excellent rooms with good views and also a hot shower (desperately nice). My walking sticks helped a lot while downhill. I highly recommend you carry them on your trip. Kutumsang is a lovely village with a warm weather on a hilltop. The manager/cook was a pretty jolly fellow called “jeet” who loved to talk and entertain guests.

11th day: November 4th, Wednesday – Kutumsang to Chiso Paani

:
Basically this was a big walk down and then towards the end, quite a steep climb up. I was starting to get home itchiness, considering i was only a day away from Kathmandu. Had lunch, near chiplang. passed through a couple of nice hill tops with nice view of the mountains to the north all the way from the Annapurna to the Gaurishankar range. After more than a week of walking, I was longing for a bit of a civilization although dreading the noise and all the baggage that comes with it. In chiso paani stayed at a pretty okay guesthouse. Saw motorbikes passing by which pretty much alerted us to the impending explosion of ‘civilization’.

12th and final day: November 5th, Thursday – Chiso Paani to Sundarijal to Kathmandu

We started around 8 in the morning and went through a great forest trail about 300 meters and then all the way down to sundarijal inside the Kathmandu valley. We could hear the aeroplanes making their landing at the international airport in Kathmandu. The forest walk was refreshing, pretty different from the mountain walk for the previous walk. After 3 hours we came to the water reservior in sundarijal where we took a short break before heading the main town and took a 30 rupees bus which soon (about an hour) took us inside the main kathmandu city). The trip was finally over when we were greeted with honking horns, dusts, crowds of people, animals and concrete houses. I was not exactly happy to be here after more than a week of serenity and hard walk across the nature. But one has to end what one has begun. And thus, my langtang trek was finally over. But i promise to be back to it again, now i know what is out there. I may do a couple of variations in the trek and maybe come around the time in spring -march/april when rhodendrons grow and the hills /mountains look all colorful instead of just green like in this trip.

Hope you enjoyed it ! coments /questions ?

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This travelogue is written by Ujwal Thapa, You can ask him questions about the trip, in the comment box below.

For me and a couple of my friends: this had been a 20 year old plan to visit Jun-besi, a Sherpa village on the trek to Mount Everest.

This trip covers a trip from Kathmandu to Phaplu (the 1st part of the route, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hilary took on the way to conquering Mount Everest).
Good time to go there is between April to June (when Rhododendron trees light up the country-side) and the Autumn(Fall) season when a lot of festivals are celebrated (September-October) plus the skies are clear.

Ever since I met Mingma Sherpa in middle school, many nights in the dormitory, when the lights were switched off, we would gather around him and listen to tales woven about his adventures back in Junbesi, his Sherpa village. And every year  we promised to go there together for a long vacation. It finally took us 20 years to realize this promise. On April 2010, we finally gathered to go ahead. There were 9 of us, 5 Nepalis and a Swiss, a Finn, an American and a Chinese. Out plan was to trek up to Junbesi in Solukhumbu and then fly back.
April 8th: Kathmandu (1300m) to Jiri to Garjang

It was one hell of a drive from Kathmandu to Jiri along steep, serpantine roads. We had rented a Tata Jeep (supposed to be a 4 wheeler, but very shady looking). We started at 7:30am. Mingma (Ming), our travel organizer, forgot that we were all pretty big sized people, so it took quite some pushing and pulling to adjust all of us into that jeep! So slowly we made our way to Jiri (130 km to the east). We stopped for lunch around Mude, which basically had crap food. Packed lunch would have been a great alternative. We continued to follow the usual serpentine road leading up and down big hills until we finally reached Jiri around 5 pm. Ming was optimistic that we could reach another village called Deurali by nightfall, (which would cover one whole day of walking).  What we did not know, as we started onto the dirt roads, was that this was the driver’s first trip up this path. Without a map in hand, pretty soon it looked like we were lost on a dirt road leading to nowhere. Still we headed on and on, hoping that Deurali was nearby. By 9 pm in the night, it was clear now that we would have to stop at the nearest place possible. Even asking villagers several times along the way for directions, not one could provide a straight answer. As our optimism was soon fading, the boisterous crowd started becoming a silent, disgruntled crowd inside the Jeep.

Finally we made our way to the nearest village (which apparently was Garjang). So finally around 10 we crashed in the first guest house we saw there. We were pretty tired yet the guys managed to have the nerve and patience to ask the guest house to order two local chickens to be slaughtered, plucked, cut and cooked. And it must have been around midnight when some of us finally had our dinner. It turned out to be quite an eventful day and nerve wracking for a few I must say we had been overtly optimistic in our plans for reaching Deurali in one day, which we later found out was at least 3 hours of drive away!

April 9th: Garjang & Deurali to Kenja (1800m)

In the morning, a few of us decided to begin our trek for Deurali because we were itching to walk and hated to drive on these terrible dirt roads. So Heme, Giuli, Brian and me, started walking up to Deurali where we were to rendezvous with the rest of our lazy group coming on the Jeep. It was a steep climb up to Deurali from Garjang (800 meters up). The funny thing was we and the Jeep, pretty much reached Deurali in the same time (about 3 hours). Deurali was a small beautiful village on the top, with a few motels. In the past it must have been a bustling tourist hub on the way to Everest but since has shrunk much because this route is no longer used by tourists who take the flight to Lukla directly when heading to Mount Everest base camp. This must have been the route the great climbers of the past, including Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, had taken for their epic climbs atop Everest.

After having tea in Deurali we started walking downhill towards Bhandar, a pretty steep downhill dropping 600 meters in about a hour, and very hard on the legs! At around noon, we reached Bhandar where we stopped for lunch. We dined at a local Sherpa restaurant. Ming gently tipped us off that in the past the daughter of the lodge was quite a hottie and during his school days, they would never miss the chance to get a glance of her!

After Lunch, we headed back into the hot sun, for Kenja, another Sherpa village at the foothills of Lamjura Pass. It was a long but tiresome downhill to Kenja. We finally reached our destination around 4pm. Kenja is situated in the junction between two rivers. And as soon as we dropped our bags in the nearby lodge, we took a plunge in its icy waters . In the evening, we had the usual dal baht, but this time with some fresh fish from the local river, in which we had just been swimming. As we rested, everyone was keeping a watchful eye on the immense 3500m Lamjura Pass towering above. We had a 1700 m climb tomorrow. It almost seemed impossible that amateurs like us would be able to cross such a pass.

April 10th: Kenja to Junbesi
We started early at 6 for the big climb up to Lamjura, before it got too hot in the day. This was certainly the toughest day of our trek. It was a long series of intense climbs followed by long gaps of rest, for a few of us. We had breakfast at Sete, a village we had hoped to make a day earlier, according to our original plan. For lunch, we stopped at Goyam, where we came upon Nak cheese (yak cheese) and managed to gobble quite a bit. As we gained height, specially around 3000 meters we could sense the altitude affecting us; even a few steps climbing would leave us panting for breath! As we gained altitude, the climate changed dramatically with alpine forests and open grassy meadows near the top of the pass. The only solace during this trek came from the lovely rhododendron flowers blooming left and right in an array of magnificent whites, pinks, and reds, all over the mountain along the paths.

As we descended from the windy Lamjura Pass, we slowly walked down in the forest below to Junbesi, where we found our resting place at Ming’s home, “Ang Chopka” lodge.

It was a lovely trek back down with more rhododendron trees all around and a comfortable walk down to Junbesi, a lovely Sherpa Village situated in a valley in Solu. In the evening, we sat down, sore all over, and could barely do more than just jabber on our experiences of the day! Also since some of our group apparently hadn’t made it to Junbesi by the evening, we were left wondering what happened to them? Could they have stayed on the pass for the evening? Had they found a small guest house on the way down to Junbesi? Sometime around midnight, we had our answer, when we were awakened by shouts outside. Our friends had finally arrived after their epic 18 hour trek, setting up a happy ending to an excruciating day !

April 11th: Junbesi
Today, most of us decided to take a rest while a few left towards neighboring Phurtyang (1.5 hours) for an early morning breakfast and look at Everest and the impressive Himalayan range. In the late morning, Ming took us to an elaborate historical tour of the village. The most fascinating was the monastery in the middle of the village. All its walls and ceilings were painted with Buddhist paintings (Thankas) and in the middle was a huge statue of Buddha. Also, today was the 1st day of the Sherpa festival “Dumje”. This monastery is supposed to be at least 400 years old! I must say a lot of Tibetan traditions are preserved handsomely in the Sherpa communities in Nepal. The elaborate thanka paintings on walls and ceiling reveal a deep tradition and belief in Buddhism. In the evening, we had time to play some ping pong duels with the local villages. On top of that it was quite a sight to see Sherpas playing Cricket! At dinner, we tried the local Junbesi Rice wine and it was superb! It was fascinating to see a village lit 24 hours by micro hydro electricity, when back in the capital city there is no power for 12 hours a day.

April 12th: Junbesi to Pyangboche to Junbesi
The highlight of the day was the trip up near Pyungboche to “Tutenchholing” a mountain monastery complex with 500 nuns and monks. Most of these were Tibetan Refugees who came from Tibet over the last decades. It was fascinating to find a medical school and hospital of Tibetan homeopathic medicine at the monastery. We were greeted by one of the head monks there and given our blessings. We were educated on the concepts of Tibetan medicine and how they rely on different life flows, “chakras,” inside the body and mind. I was determined to try some Tibetan medicine after I was back in Kathmandu. It just sounded a novel way to find out about one’s health and problems. On our way back, we didn’t forget to go for a cold dip in the nearby river. In the evening, as we sat beside 100 Junbesi villagers, we were delighted with the extravagant display of the Sherpa Lama dances in the “dumje” ceremony in the main Junbesi monastery…

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April 13th: Junbesi to Phurtyang to Junbesi
Some of us decided to go for an early mountain look, since it rained in the nights and the skies were clear in the morning. We had a lovely outdoor breakfast with different pancakes(apple, orange, cheese), omelettes, and more cheese.

It was an impressive pancake eating day for a few of us:) After 3 hours we were back in Junbesi. In the afternoon, three of our team decided to head to a nearby village, Loding, from where they planned to summit Pikey Peak (a 4050m peak with mountain views all around) the next day. Back in Junbesi, nothing elaborate, a local doctor invited us for dinner and there was supposed to be a local village dance party but since it was raining, I stayed back at my lodge and had an early sleep. Kind of ironic since today’s Nepali New Year’s Eve! Maybe I just wanted to sleep myself comfortably into the New Year.

April 14th: Junbesi to Phaplu
After four nights, today was our day to leave Junbesi. After a lazy morning, we started walking towards Phaplu, about 3 hours away. We had a scheduled flight a day later in the morning so we had to make the trip today. Along the way, we stopped in a place where two Himalayan rivers met and once again, decided to take a cold dip on the waters here (p.s. it was the Nepali new year so found an excuse to begin the new year freshened)! As we made our way up to Phaplu, we gate crashed into a picnic party and started dancing with the locals. Adding spice to the day, was our stay at an impressive Phaplu hotel, Hotel Del Sherpa, which Ming’s godfather was running. It seemed a fitting finale for an excellent trip. It was a superbly managed hotel with an excellent lobby and fireplaces. And we had it for free, courtesy of Ming. In the evening, a local cousin of Ming, organized a cultural program for us with local youth dance groups dancing to Nepali tunes. And slowly this turned into a night club dance party! There you go, we had our first real village dance party in a long time! By the time we returned to our lodge, we were exhausted and dropped into the luxurious beds that awaited us.

April 15th: Phaplu to Salleri to Phaplu (rest)
No surprise as Nepal airlines canceled their scheduled flight. Never trust Nepal airlines again! So we decided to take a short walk down to Salleri, the district headquarters of Solukhumbu. Prabin and I had a good haircut and shave at a local barbers shop while others toured around a typical small Nepali town. After a nice dal baht lunch, most of the afternoon we stayed in the hotel reading Sherpa history books and Everest diaries of various mountaineers. The hotel was wonderfully equipped with a library of these books, whose knowledge I was glad to readily gobble up. I must add, if we were stuck in Phaplu for a week, I would soon be on my way of becoming an Everest, Tibet, Sherpa and, surprisingly, Kublai Khan historian. Late afternoon we decided to try out the local Sherpa snack, which is basically hell of a lot of boiled potatoes, with local butter, pickles and salt! We must have finished quite a lot of them, since they took the local motel about an hour and half to boil all those potatoes!

April 16th: Phaplu to Manthali, Ramechap to Kathmandu
After a relaxing day, we again packed up our bags for our flight back home. Although Nepal airlines had confirmed that night before that the flight would come, we were unsure if the Nepal airlines flight would ever arrive. I warn anyone taking the Nepal airlines to keep it as a last, last option. They have no regards for any professionalism, and I simply say to you, “Avoid it at all costs!” We reached the airport around 9 am and waited… and waited…. and by 11 am we pretty much knew, no matter what they promised, the plane was simply not going to come. So we changed tickets to Yeti Airlines (Tara airlines) and took a chartered Pilar Porter flight to Manthali, Ramechap, where we would take a connecting bus to Kathmandu. It was a 7 seater single engine plane, pretty nervy but on the whole quite exciting. We were 7 carrying our trekking bags on our laps in the back plus 2 pilots, on an 18 minute journey to Manthali. If we had walked, maybe it would have taken 4 or 5 days.

As we reached Manthali, on the banks of the raging Tamakoshi river, we realized we were suddenly in a very hot place, in stark contrast to the cool climate up in the mountains. Much to our dismay, we found out the local bus had left about 15 minutes earlier. We had a quick lunch and decided to take the last possible local bus, which went as far as Charikot. The term “local” left us to ponder, as we soon found out, there must have been at least 120 people in a bus that was supposed to carry 30 or 40. The bus was tilting so much to one side that the driver had to throw 1/4 of the passengers out. Such greedy bus drivers who carry passengers like cattle! After a few hours of this harrowing ride along dirt roads and cliffs, we finally reached Naya Pul, just below Charikot, where we waited for a reserved bus, which would take us to Kathmandu. In the end, we reached Kathmandu about 11 in the night, exactly 12 hours since we started in Phaplu, pretty impressive considering it would have taken 24 days to walk down to Kathmandu!

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Here is an interesting Nepal Trek blog you might enjoy!

http://travel.exoticbuddha.com/

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For me and a couple of my friends: this had been a 20 year old plan to visit Jun-besi, a village on the trek to Mount Everest.
This trip covers a trip from Kathmandu to Phaplu (the route, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hilary took on the way to conquering Mount Everest).
Better times to go there is from April to June (when Rhododendron trees light up the country-side) and the Autumn(Fall) season when a lot of festivals are celebrated (September-October)

Ever since I met Mingma Sherpa in middle school. During cold nights in the dormitory, when the lights went off, we would gather around Ming and listen to tales woven about adventures in his Sherpa village, Junbesi. And every year since then, we thought about going there for a long vacation. It finally took us 20 years to start to make our trip to his village. So we finally gathered, 9 of us, 5 Nepalis and a Swiss, Finish, American and Chinese completing the international line up. Out plan was to trek up to Junbesi in Solukhumbu and then fly back from there.

April 8th: Kathmandu to Jiri to Garjang

It was one hell of a drive from Kathmandu to Jiri. We had rented a Tata Jeep (supposed to be a 4 wheeler, but very shady looking). We started at 7:30am. Ming, our travel organizer, forgot that we were all pretty big sized people, so it took quite some pushing and pulling to adjust 10 people into that jeep! Well we thought, the more the merrier and added in a cousin of Ming to the trip too! So there we were 10 of us plus the driver now, slowly making our way to Jiri (130 km to the east). We stopped for lunch around Mude, which basically had crap food. We continued to follow the usual serpentine road leading up and down big hills until we finally reached Jiri around 5 pm. Ming was optimistic that we could reach another village called Deurali by nightfall, (which would cover one whole day of walking). And we were happy to take the “quick” route as some of us had a tight deadline to return on the April 13th. What we did not know, as we started onto the dirt roads, was that this was the driver’s first trip up this path. He did not know the way, and neither did we. Without a map in hand, pretty soon it looked like we were lost on a dirt road leading to nowhere. Still we headed on and on, hoping this was the right path. 7pm turned to 8 turned to 9 and it was clear now that we had no idea how to reach Deurali. Even asking villagers several times along the way for directions, not one could provide a straight answer. As our optimism was soon fading, the boisterous crowd started becoming a silent, disgruntled crowd inside the Jeep.

Finally we stopped the Jeep and started a short direction-seeking trek towards a house up the hills to ask for directions. We found out we were still a bit away from the nearest village and nowhere close to Deurali. So we decided to make our stay at the nearest possible guest house (which apparently was in Garjang). So finally around 10 we came to a small village and crashed in the first guest house we saw. We were pretty tired yet the guys managed to have the nerve and patience to ask the guest house to order two local chickens to be slaughtered, plucked, cut and cooked. And it must have been around midnight when some of us finally had our dinner. It turned out to be quite an eventful day and nerve wracking for a few I must say we were pretty overly optimistic in our plans for reaching Deurali in one day, which we later found out was at least 3 hours drive away from Garjang!

April 9th: Garjang & Deurali to Kenja

In the morning, a few of us decided to begin our trek for Deurali because we were itching to walk and hated to drive on these terrible dirt roads. So four of us, Heme, Giuli, Brian and Uj started walking up to Deurali where we were to rendezvous with the rest of our lazy group coming on the Jeep. It was a steep climb up to Deurali from Garjang (800 meters up, up, up ). The funny thing was we, the walkers and the Jeep riders, pretty much reached Deurali in the same time (about 3 hours). Deurali was a small village with a few motels. In the past it must have been a bustling tourist hub on the way to Everest but since has shrunk much because this route is no longer used by tourists who take the flight to Lukla directly when heading to Mount Everest base camp. This must have been the route the great climbers of the past, including Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, had taken for their epic climbs atop Everest.

After having tea in Deurali and saying good bye to our driver, we started walking downhill towards Bhandar, a pretty steep downhill dropping 600 meters in about 1 hour, and very hard on the legs! At around noon, we reached Bhandar where we stopped for lunch. We dined at a local Sherpa restaurant. Ming gently tipped us off that in the past the daughter of the lodge was quite a hottie and they would come to get a glance of her! After Lunch, we headed back into the hot sun, for Kenja, another Sherpa village at the foothills of Lamjura Pass. It was a long but tiresome downhill to Kenja. We finally reached our destination around 4pm. Kenja is situated in the junction between two rivers. So, excited as we were, we decided to take a plunge in the icy waters as soon as we dropped our bags in the nearby lodge. In the evening, we had the usual dal baht, but this time with some fresh fish from the local river, in which we had just been swimming. As we rested, everyone was keeping a watchful eye on the immense 3500m Lamjura Pass towering above, compared to our wimpy current altitude of 1800 meters in Kenja. It almost seemed impossible that amateurs like us would be able to reach such a pass. It was a well deserved rest as we prepared for our immense climb the next day.

April 10th: Kenja to Junbesi
We started early at 6am for the big climb up to Lamjura. Pretty soon, it became obvious that the pace of different people meant our team would split and reach Junbesi at different times. So everyone started walking up at the their own pace. This was certainly the toughest day of our trek. It was a long series of intense climbs followed by long gaps of rest, for a few of us. We had breakfast at Sete, a village we had hoped to make a day earlier, according to our original plan. For lunch, we stopped at Goyam, where we came upon Nak cheese (yak cheese) and managed to gobble quite a bit till stuffed. As we gained height, specially around 3000 meters we could sense the altitude affecting us, even a few steps climbing would leave us panting for breath! As we gained altitude, the climate changed dramatically with alpine forests and open grassy meadows near the top of the pass. The only solace during this trek came from the lovely rhododendron flowers blooming left and right in an array of magnificent whites, pinks, and reds, all over the mountain along the paths.

As we descended from the windy Lamjura Pass, we slowly walked down in the forest below to Junbesi, where we found our resting place at Ming’s home, “Ang Chopka” lodge. It was a lovely trek back down with more rhododendron trees all around and a comfortable walk down to Junbesi, a lovely Sherpa Village situated in a valley in Solu. In the evening, we sat down, sore all over, and could barely do more than just jabber on our experiences of the day! Also since some of our group hadn’t made it to Junbesi by the evening, we were left wondering what happened to them? Could they have stayed on the pass for the evening? Had they found a small guest house on the way down to Junbesi? Sometime around midnight, we had our answer, when we were awakened by shouts outside. Our friends had finally arrived after their 18 hour trek, setting up a happy ending to an excruciating day !

April 11th: Junbesi
Today, most of us decided to take a rest while a few left towards neighboring Phurtyang (1.5 hours) for an early morning breakfast and look at Everest and the impressive Himalayan range. In the late morning, Ming took us to an elaborate historical tour of the village. The most fascinating was the monastery in the middle of the village. All its walls and ceilings were painted with Buddhist paintings (Thankas) and in the middle was a huge statue of Buddha. Also, today was the 1st day of the Sherpa festival “Dumje”. This monastery is supposed to be at least 400 years old! I must say a lot of Tibetan traditions are preserved handsomely in the Sherpa communities in Nepal. The elaborate thanka paintings on walls and ceiling reveal a deep tradition and belief in Buddhism. In the evening, we had time to play some ping pong duels with the local villages. On top of that it was quite a sight to see Sherpas playing Cricket! At dinner, we tried the local Junbesi Rice wine and it was superb! It was fascinating to see a village lit 24 hours by micro hydro electricity, when back in the capital city there is no power for 12 hours a day.

April 12th: Junbesi to Pyangboche to Junbesi
The highlight of the day was the trip up near Pyungboche to “Tutenchholing” a mountain monastery complex with 500 nuns and monks. Most of these were Tibetan Refugees who came from Tibet over the last decades. It was fascinating to find a medical school and hospital of Tibetan homeopathic medicine at the monastery. We were greeted by one of the head monks there and given our blessings. We were educated on the concepts of Tibetan medicine and how they rely on different life flows, “chakras,” inside the body and mind. I was determined to try some Tibetan medicine after I was back in Kathmandu. It just sounded a novel way to find out about one’s health and problems. On our way back, we didn’t forget to go for a cold dip in the nearby river. In the evening, as we sat beside 100 Junbesi villagers, we were delighted with the extravagant display of the Sherpa Lama dances in the “dumje” ceremony in the main Junbesi monastery….

April 13th: Junbesi to Phurtyang to Junbesi
Some of us decided to go for an early mountain look, since it rained in the nights and the skies were clear in the morning. We had a lovely outdoor breakfast with different pancakes (apple, orange, cheese), omelettes, and more cheese. It was an impressive pancake eating day for a few of us:) After 3 hours we were back in Junbesi. In the afternoon, three of our team decided to head to a nearby village, Loding, from where they planned to summit Pikey Peak (a 4050m peak with mountain views all around) the next day. Back in Junbesi, nothing elaborate, a local doctor invited us for dinner and there was supposed to be a local village dance party but since it was raining, I stayed back at my lodge and had an early sleep. Kind of ironic since today’s Nepali New Year’s Eve! Maybe I just wanted to sleep myself comfortably into the New Year.

April 14th: Junbesi to Phaplu
After four nights, today was our day to leave Junbesi. After a lazy morning, we started walking towards Phaplu, about 3 hours away. We had a scheduled flight a day later in the morning so we had to make the trip today. Along the way, we stopped in a place where two Himalayan rivers met and once again, decided to take a cold dip on the waters here (p.s. it was the Nepali new year so found an excuse to begin the new year freshened)! As we made our way up to Phaplu, we gate crashed into a picnic party and started dancing with the locals. Adding spice to the day, was our stay at an impressive Phaplu hotel, Hotel Del Sherpa, which Ming’s godfather was running. It seemed a fitting finale for an excellent trip. It was a superbly managed hotel with an excellent lobby and fireplaces. And we had it for free, courtesy of Ming. In the evening, a local cousin of Ming, organized a cultural program for us with local youth dance groups dancing to Nepali tunes. And slowly this turned into a night club dance party! There you go, we had our first real village dance party in a long time! By the time we returned to our lodge, we were exhausted and dropped into the luxurious beds that awaited us.

April 15th: Phaplu to Salleri to Phaplu (rest)
No surprise as Nepal airlines canceled their scheduled flight. Never trust Nepal airlines again! So we decided to take a short walk down to Salleri, the district headquarters of Solukhumbu. Prabin and I had a good haircut and shave at a local barbers shop while others toured around a typical small Nepali town. After a nice dal baht lunch, most of the afternoon we stayed in the hotel reading Sherpa history books and Everest diaries of various mountaineers. The hotel was wonderfully equipped with a library of these books, whose knowledge I was glad to readily gobble up. I must add, if we were stuck in Phaplu for a week, I would soon be on my way of becoming an Everest, Tibet, Sherpa and, surprisingly, Kublai Khan historian. Late afternoon we decided to try out the local Sherpa snack, which is basically hell of a lot of boiled potatoes, with local butter, pickles and salt! We must have finished quite a lot of them, since they took the local motel about an hour and half to boil all those potatoes!

April 16th: Phaplu to Manthali, Ramechap to Kathmandu
After a relaxing day, we again packed up our bags for our flight back home. Although Nepal airlines had confirmed that night before that the flight would come, we were unsure if the Nepal airlines flight would ever arrive. I warn anyone taking the Nepal airlines to keep it as a last, last option. They have no regards for any professionalism, and I simply say to you, “Avoid it at all costs!” We reached the airport around 9 am and waited… and waited…. and by 11 am we pretty much knew, no matter what they promised, the plane was simply not going to come. So we changed tickets to Yeti Airlines (Tara airlines) and took a chartered Pilar Porter flight to Manthali, Ramechap, where we would take a connecting bus to Kathmandu. It was a 7 seater single engine plane, pretty nervy but on the whole quite exciting. We were 7 carrying our trekking bags on our laps in the back plus 2 pilots, on an 18 minute journey to Manthali. If we had walked, maybe it would have taken 4 or 5 days.

As we reached Manthali, on the banks of the raging Tamakoshi river, we realized we were suddenly in a very hot place, in stark contrast to the cool climate up in the mountains. Much to our dismay, we found out the local bus had left about 15 minutes earlier. We had a quick lunch and decided to take the last possible local bus, which went as far as Charikot. The term “local” left us to ponder, as we soon found out, there must have been at least 120 people in a bus that was supposed to carry 30 or 40. The bus was tilting so much to one side that the driver had to throw 1/4 of the passengers out. Such greedy bus drivers who carry passengers like cattle! After a few hours of this harrowing ride along dirt roads and cliffs, we finally reached Naya Pul, just below Charikot, where we waited for a reserved bus, which would take us to Kathmandu. In the end, we reached Kathmandu about 11 in the night, exactly 12 hours since we started in Phaplu, pretty impressive considering it would have taken 24 days to walk down to Kathmandu

If you have any questions, feel free to ask your questions in the comment box below or use the Ask a question feature in the main menu.

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Time to visit:
October to May (October to February being the ideal time)

Major Attractions:

Chitwan National Park offers a wide range of activities to its travelers from jungle safari to visiting a museum to witnessing the cultural traditions of Tharu community. You could enjoy the safari in elephant or in jeep to see the one horned rhinoceros, Royal Bengal tiger, various other wild animals and vegetation. You could also enjoy a variety of birds within the park. You will also pass by many ponds and lakes while on the safari ride. You need to pay NRs. 500 (around US dollars 7) to enter the park.

Enjoy the elephant breeding center, gharial breeding center, which are other attractions of the park. Don’t forget to participate in the elephant bathing on Rapti river. You should also spare some time for boating in the Rapti river. If you are considering swimming in the river, beware of crocodiles.

Rafting, kayaking from Mugling along the Trisuli river to Narayani river is a very popular water borne activity. I would recommend you to go for it from October to December and March to May. However, skilled rafter/kayaker also do this section during the monsoon season (June to September) as well.

If you are in Nepal around mid January, do not forget to visit Devghat, the confluence of Trisuli and Kali Gandaki, where a huge gathering takes place for the Maghe Sakranti festival.

You should also visit Bachauli, east of Sauraha towards Gaidais, is the nearest Tharu village, where you can observe the local people to get an idea of the lifestyle of the Tharus in Terai. Some hotels also show Tharu cultural programs including the stick dance.

Reaching There:

You could reach Chitwan from Kathmandu or any other place on a bus. Alternatively, you could fly in from Kathmandu to Bharatpur on a plane. Tara Air offers flight from Meghauli to Pokhara.

Places to Stay:
There are many hotels in Bharatpur, Narayanghat, Sauraha and inside the Chitwan National Park, including tented camps, that offer accommodation depending on your budget and requirements. You could find one that suits your requirements here.

Enjoy your travel to Chitwan, Nepal.

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Annapurana Circuit Trek

Annapurna Circuit Trek starts from Besisahar in Lamjung. There are direct buses going from Kathmandu (6 hours), Narayanghat and Pokhara (five hours). It takes around 10 to 14 days to complete the trekking in this route. The Thorung La pass at an elevation of 5416 meters is the highest point during the trekking. October to November is the best season for the trekking. The route is very inhospitable between mid December to mid March due to snow in the Thorung La pass. The trek ends in either Naya Pul, where the Jomsom trekking starts, or in Beni. Good precautions need to be taken doing this trek as bad weather during any time of the year can put the trekkers and porters at risk.

Annapurna Sanctuary Trek

Annapurna Sanctuary Trek starts from Phedi which is one and half hours drive from Pokhara on the way to Baglung. You can also take an alternative route from Ghorepani in the Jomsom and Annapurna Circuit trek to Ghandruk in the Annapurna Sanctuary trek. It takes 10 to 14 days to complete the trekking and the maximum elevation of 4095 meters is reached during the trekking. The best season to travel is October to November. Annapurna Base Camp is the farthest that you can reach and you need to return the same route to Phedi where the trek ends.

Jomsom Trek

Jomsom Trek starts from Naya Pul which takes around 2 hours on a bus from Pokhara to Baglung. It takes 9 days to complete the trek and the maximum elevation of 3800 meters is during the trek. The best season to trek is October to May. After reaching Muktinath, you need to trek back to Jomsom where the trekking ends. From Jomsom, you can fly to Pokhara or simply trace back the route that you took while trekking to Jomsom.

Machhapuchhare Model Trek

The trail can be completed in 3 to 14 days of trekking and starts from either Hemja or Kharapani of Sardikhola. This accommodation of the Machhapuchhare trek route is a combination of home stay and camping. Home stay is offered at lower altitude locations like Mishra, Deprang, Lwanghalel, Tarku and Tushe and camping has to be used at higher altitude locations like Hile Kharka, Khumai, Tilicho Kharka, Meshrum Kharka, Lalka for accommodation.

Trek to Sikles

Sikles (Siklis) is a beautiful and traditional Gurung village perched on a hill at an altitude of 2000 m. It is the second largest Gurung village in Nepal. The village once was famous as ‘SAT SAYA SIKLES’ meaning the village of seven hundred households. Sikles lies above Madi Khola, overlooking Annapurna IV to the north and Annapurna II and Lamjung Himal to the east.

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The Race Program:

24/25 March – All Foreign Participants Report at Summit Hotel (Main sponsor), Kathmandu
Participants go Kathmandu-Pokhara by domestic flight or bus according to their personal preference and budget
26 March – 3pm Registration and 4pm – Final Race Briefing at Barahi Hotel Pokhara
27 March – 0630 Race Start
28 March – 1030 Prizes Distribution/Photos and 1130 Lunch Party 1230 – Programme Ends

Participants remain in Pokhara or return to Kathmandu by domestic flight or micro bus according to their personal preference and budget

Entry Fee
Entry Fee (GBP 100 for the 71km and GBP 50 for the 35km) to be paid to Chief Organizer (Ramesh Battachan) on 26 March at Registration Programme 3pm.  The entry fee includes:

a. Race Participation
b. Official T Shirt
c. Certificate of Participation
d. Medal of Participation
e. Souvenir for Foreign Runners
f. Cash Prizes 1st-5th position (71km only)
g. Trophies for 1st-5th position (71km only)

The route for the race (35KM and 71KM) is as follows:

Starting – Barahi Hotel

Run along lakeside on road for about 2 km, then uphill on trail to Sarangkot
Sarangkot Checkpoint 1 -
Nau Dada – Check Point 2
From Nau Dada to Kande Old Mule track will be used then road until Lumle
Lumle – Check Point 3
Chandrakot – Guide Point Only
Birenthati – Check Point 4 and Finishing Point (35 km)
Sudme – Check Point 5 and 19
Tikhedhunga – Check Point 6 and 18
Ulleri Mid – Check Point 7 and 17
Ulleri Top – Check Point 8 and 16
Ban Thati – Check Point 9 and 15
Nange Thait – Check Point 10 and 14
Ghorepani – Check Point 11 And 13
Poon Hill – Check Point 12
Downhill and Finishing Point at Birethati.

90-95% of the route is trail

Entry Fees for Nepalese runners is FREE. Entry Fees raised from foreign runners are used to sponsor the food and lodging of non-Pokhara based Nepalese runners.

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It offers placement spanning one week to six months with fees ranging from euros 200 to 1350.

For more information and details, please contact Volunteering to Learn at the following address:

Volunteering to Learn
Z Street, Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal
P.O.Box – 25076
Phone : 977- 9841787136, 9841538578
Email : info@volunteeringtolearn.org
web: www.volunteeringtolearn.org

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