I think, as a traveler, I utilize a pretty good mix of planning and spontaneity, but arriving in a new country that I knew nothing about and didn’t have a guidebook for, I kind of freaked! I was crazily begging fellow backpackers for their guidebooks at the airport, just to sneak a peek of what I was getting myself into. Before boarding the plane, I was smart enough to find out that even though Nepal borders Tibet, neither the Maoist rebels nor the Olympic protestors, were a current issue in Kathmandu. Phew! Guidebookless and with only 10 days to spare, we immediately sought out different trekking agencies to see what sort of trekking we could afford- both money and time-wise. After doing some comparisons, we chose Trailfinders, and were all sorted out to leave on an 8 day trek through the Langtang Region of the Himalayas the next morning. This region was Nepal’s first named Himalayan National Park (in 1971) and is home to the Tamang people- relatives of Tibetans, so it promised to be both absolutely stunning and a unique cultural experience.
At 6am on March 16th, we went down to the lobby of our guesthouse to meet our guide Milan (pronounced Millin) and our porter Ihmal. As the trek went on, we found out that Milan and Ihmal were half-brothers and were just reunited 2 months prior to our trek after not seeing one another for 16 years. Milan was 27 and Ihmal was 19 (supposedly- his age kept changing) and was the TINIEST little man and so shy! He didn’t understand/speak English, but didn’t really even attempt to communicate with us. He didn’t even speak to Milan until day 4 of the trip, when they really started to bond and learn about each other after 16 years. Anyway, we hopped on a very crowded local bus for Syabrubesi, an 8 hour drive from Kathmandu. Now I know I’ve said this before, but this REALLY was the worst, bumpiest, scariest bus ride I’ve ever had in my life! I really can’t imagine anything ever topping this one. We basically drove on the edge of a mountain the entire time on completely unpaved road. There were about 50 people (plus goats and chickens) riding on TOP of our bus- I seriously have no clue how they possibly managed.
Somehow, we arrived (alive) in Syabrubesi around 6pm to rest up for day 1 of trekking the next day. After a bowl of hot porridge, me, Dee, Milan and Ihmal started up the trail and into the Himalayas. The beginning was hot and pretty flat, but the trekking got progressively harder as the day went on. I, of course, had my trusty walking stick to make it all a bit easier, but was much more out of breath than I was on the Inca Trail. My throat and chest was congested and I was starting to get a cough, so I attributed it to that. I just hoped I wasn’t getting altitude sickness- luckily that never happened. Along the way, we stopped at different ‘tea-houses’ for many a hot, lemon tea to perk us up. Every single tea-house had the exact same menu so I ate the same thing for 8 days straight- porridge or a pancake with peanut butter for breakfast, noodle soup or macaroni with egg, veg and cheese for lunch, and a momo (Tibetan empanada-kinda) or macaroni with egg,veg, and cheese for dinner.
The first night of trekking we stayed at the Tibetan Guest House (nearly every guest house had this same name) and were cooked our dinner by the sweet Tibetan owners on their Tibetan stove. It’s basically a wood-burning stove with holes on top of it, where they place the pots and pans, and the fire heats it from there. There is a picture of one in my Nepal picture link for a better idea. All there was to do at night is either play cards, read, journal or chat, since there were no TVs and no heat! It was too cold to do anything else!!!!!!! We usually went to bed before 9pm. I had trouble sleeping every night, even wearing all of my clothes (including my fleece and a down jacket) and snuggled under a down sleeping bag and blanket. This obviously just made my cold even worse, and I sniffled constantly as we were walking. It snowed two of the nights. On the 4th day, it was snowing in the morning, so Dee and I sang all the Christmas songs we could think of, since we were in boiling hot Santiago over Christmas and didn’t get white ones.
On the trail, we had to look out for roaming yaks, cows, goats and yak-cow mixes (dzos). I ate some yak cheese (tasted like parmasan), but wouldn’t go near the yak curd. One afternoon, we attempted an excusion to see the Langtang Glacier, but after realizing we would have to go through an un-trodden path of slippery snow while walking on a cliff, we decided to turn back. It was NOT worth the risk. I think Milan thought we were babies, but who cares. Plus, he was incredibly impressed with our walking speed, even with me wheezing the whole time. I guess people usually walk for 15 mins, rest for 10, then continue, but we plodded along only stopping for lunch and a few lemon teas, until we reached our destination. Milan was a real riot. He was a total sweetheart, but OVERLY attentive! He would literally RUN over to us if we needed anything or to bring us our food- it was a little much, but his intentions were good.
We all obviously ran out of things to talk about quite often, so I had a lot of thinking time. I really enjoyed just mulling over life while looking at the incredible scenery. In total, over the 8 days (really 6 days of trekking since 2 days were taken up by bus rides to and from Kathmandu), we walked about 75 miles. I’d say 2/3 of it was either uphill or downhill also. I messed up my right knee from all the downhill trekking- it’s so jolting on your joints and bones! Overall, I had an absolutely BRILLIANT time and I’m sincerely so glad that I did it, but I think 6 days of trekking in mostly freezing cold weather without a way to ever warm up is a little much. I don’t think Mt. Everest is in the stars for me!
The night we got back to Kathmandu, Dee and I celebrated with Long Island Iced Teas and delicious wood-fired pizzas and decided to get our noses pierced! She’d had it done before, so I insisted on going first so I wouldn’t bail. I chose a little diamond stud. Yeah, it hurt like hell, but I love it! It’s very tasteful. I’m totally like Elaine from Seinfeld when she got her nose pierced in India (Nepal is close enough-love an excuse for a good reference).
The next day was our last FULL day together. Dee was staying in India to meet up with Ravi, the boy she met and became smitten with when we were in Ecuador. They’ve been in touch via email continuously ever since and decided to travel for two months in India together. I was not going to play third wheel and wanted to check out South East Asia and stick to our original plan, so I flew to Bangkok. We had our goodbye at the Delhi airport and after our hug and seeing her drive off in the rickshaw, I nearly hopped on a plane to NYC instead of one to Bangkok. I was really sad to be alone after six months of Dee and I tied at the hip- we had turned into a married couple by the end. We had an incredible time together!! I couldn’t be happier that we ended it all with our trek in the Himalayas. We literally ended on a high.
