It's time for the main adventure event; our feature presentation! If you're in Nepal, you have to go on a trek. That's just what you do. We had been given a tip from two separate sources on a great guide who worked out of Kathmandu, Bishnu Rai of Himalayan Sunrise Ltd. We wanted to put in a solid week of trekking that didn't kill us. We hadn't done any training before hand and the Himalayas are high! Bishnu suggested Langtang Park. It was the perfect fit. The trek would involve bussing to Syabru and hiking up the river valley and back with a summit hike in the middle.
Day 1 involved getting there and putting in a good warm up hike. Syabru is due north of Kathmandu and just a few kilometres below the Tibet border. Bussing to Syrabru was more of an adventure than the first day's hike. We left our hotel around 5:30am and loaded onto the bus which surprisingly left on time. Pulling into traffic was a feat unto itself. With some LA wedge and lots of horn we eventually got going and were on our way. The quarters were very cramped. They say everything in Nepal is made for the average height of 5'6". Being 6'2" did not work well. I had to either sit spread eagle or with both knees to one side. It was a crazy, twisty, stop and go 6 hour ride through the mountains. There were sheer drops to one side and mountain cliffs to the other. The driver was contantly honking to warn oncoming traffic of our presence. Half the road was paved and half was gravel. The bus seemed to picking up more and more people, not to mention all the stuff they were bringing with them, which included several bags or rice, beds and goats. Some of which would end up on the roof, including the goats after they spent some time huffing and puffing in my lap.
The bus spat us out at a shack on a stream that powered a small mill for milling flour. We changed into our hikers, were introduced to our porters and were off. We were surprised that there were only two porters for our collective 4 backpacks. No problem! They happily carried two a piece which we sheepishly left with them. We told Bishnu how we felt and he said that if we carried all of our own stuff then the porters wouldn't have jobs.
We started off into the mountains full of pine trees and incredible mountain vistas. We ran into a few tea houses and farming settlements. We stopped for tea half way and were able to duck out of the rain as we were invited in.
At the end of the day, coming into Upper Syabru, we were greeted by a jubilent guest house keeper who was very happy to have some customers. She chuckled the entire way as she and Bishnu chatted and brought us to our resting place at the Yeti Motel. The views from the rooms were spectacular. We all filled up on some hearty Sherpa food, including buckwheat chipatis, and laid down for a great nights rest.
1 comment:
I remember very similar road conditions on the bus, I sure felt like we were going to go hurtling off the cliff sides! Glad you guys made it through the bus ride and looking forward to hearing about the rest of your journey!
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