Tamang and Langtang - conquering the Himalaya!

Here is finally the text to our Himalaya trekking - Tamang Heritage trail and Langtang valley.

We were dropped off by the bus in Syabrubesi, on 1470 m. Hotel prices almost tripled, just like the permit prices. Everytime the government changes, inflation hits the country. It means often in the last year. Still a lousy 2,20 euro for a bedroom is ridiculous (it was 90 ct).

We started off with the Tamang heritage trail, a newly developed route (since 2 years), going through villages of the Tamang people (tibetian settlement). From the most northern part of our trek, it's only a few kilometers to the Tibetian border. 4 days of culture were then to be swapped with Langtang valley, with a beautiful panorama on the Tibet mountain range. We were excited!! A little bit of Nature, a little bit of culture: 12 days out into the wild :).

On the last moment, Vera and Bas decided to rent a porter as well. Bas still suffers from a weak ankle and bruised ribs from the Yangshuo scooter incident. Ratna, our guide, managed to call a friend of his at 06:05 this morning. 06:15 Phurba was sitting smiling next to us in the taxi, with a 3 kg backpack for 12 days. Incredible!

Being all cosy in our sleeping bags (not everything is so clean here...) but with an extra blanket we were preparing for our trip. The itenary almost said the same for everyday, around 600 m altitude difference (in the end:)) after many ups and downs :D) a 5-6 hour walk everyday :) We were about to find out that most of it was "just an indication from the agency" and since our guide was not really informed about height differences or km distances, we were so happy to have brought our own map (he didn't have or need one, nor could he read it!!!) and the lonely planet trekking guide (thanks again Angelica for sending it)! We hate not to know what lies ahead during the day!

We started the first day early; breakfast at 7, leaving at 07:30. The backpacks felt heavy, but they always do :) 
The road went straight up. 700 meters and we are sweating in the sun. After a looooong lunchbreak at 10:30!!! (we still don't know why our guide wants to eat so early!!! And it ALWAYS takes about 1,5 hours for a simple macaroni to be made...) we continue the path towards Gatlang. 

Gatlang was a small miracle to us. The houses blend in with the environment from the distance, wooden roofs everywhere. People beating the peas, beans, millet and lentils all by hand. Children laughing and surrounding us immediately! "one photo, one photo!" Dancing with them in the street, playing a Nepali version of paper-scissors-rock, and riding horses on each others back... It was so pure! I wish I could have taken a few of them home or stayed longer. The fact that each one of them runs around with a "green elephant" in their nose and we got enough bacteria for the rest of the year didn't matter. The people were soooo friendly! It was a shame that we couldn't communicate well with all. We got a taste of Raksi (local wine) and potato chips for the full-moon-gathering, and were simply happy. Our guesthouse with magnificent view on th langtang mountain range completed the picture.

We slowly got into the rhythm of getting up early, sleeping early (as the sun rises at 0500 and sets at about 1700!!) One evening we were playing cards pretty long.... by 20:00 there was a lady silently standing next to our table, telling us to go to sleep. By 20:30 the first person laid himself to sleep in the common room (mostly the sleeping place for the staff), and by 20:45 we were, friendly but determined, asked to please leave and go to sleep!!! Life in the mountains is life in a different world or timezone :)).

So we slowly made our way to Tatopani (meaning hot spring village), climbing through the millet and marihuana fields; every now and then meeting people carrying things, from huge trees to firewood, beans, gas bottles or complete doors! As our guide explained: a Nepali life is hard, and it is the life of a porter. From very young (definitely below 10!) the people carry everything up the hills. We've seen 6 year olds with haystacks bigger than themselves (have a look at the pictures)... I was glad we carried our own backpacks, it would have felt awkward not to. The fields look like rice terraces, all the way up the mountain. Knowing how long it took to prepare the ground in Mongolia for the Ger/Yurte, we kept thinking about how long it took to build these fields.

Before we reached Tatopani, we came to the village of - I think - Gongdang. A man asked us for medicine... When we looked closer we saw an elder woman sitting on the floor, shivering of pain. When she lifted her skirt a bit, we could see her hugely swollen foot. Broken? We don't know, I'm not a doctor. But We didn't need a medical eye to see that she was in bad shape, she couldn't stop shaking. A few Ibuprofen and paracetamol were all we could give...it felt like just to get a clear consciousness....I really wish that we could have done more. Knowing that a German doctor-tourist just walked 10 minutes ahead of us and hadn't done anything (or didn't know about it!) was just too cynical for me. I felt like screaming.
- please know that although a lot of financial aid has been given to Nepal, it is still one of the poorest countries. Around 25% of the people, especially in mountain areas, do not have access to food, basic health care and education -

Of course the drama was forgotten (or ignored??) by the time we reached the fantastic hot springs in Tatopani. Brown, hot water and loads of locals that bathe half dressed - our bikini's were a bit small I guess. After I worked  so hard to clean it after the mud bath in Yangshuo and the brown springs in Japan, I think our swim suits are now officially dead. Thailand will need to have a few new ones :) 
It was hot, our muscles relaxed and the misty mountain view was magnificent. 

We witnessed another part of the hardness of life in Nepal.
Half an hour before we arrived in Nagthali - our lunchstop on day 3-  we came to the village of Brimdang. Not knowing what we would find, we decided to continue to the viewpoint at the back of the village; only to find their 100- year old beautifully painted monastery ruined by flames.... It burnt down the night before (that was the smoke we had seen from Tatopani). We are no. 1 one the list of donations...but a lousy few bucks don't bring back their faith, it's not going to bring it back.... I maybe get too swept away by these things...but I get upset about this helpless feeling of not being able to do anything for them!!!

The beautiful panorama on the Ganesh Himal, mountains of Tibet and Langtang range from Nagthali (3200m) made us forget it a bit. We relaxed during lunch, but were suddenly woken up by shouting the wooden roof of the kitchen caught fire!!! It's not hard to imagine, since most heating pipes (from the open fire places) are built into the houses without space around it... A miracle this doesn't happen more often!! We managed cooperatively to put it out, but the shock remained. 

Most of the times we were really thankful for these fireplaces, since it got cold early, as soon as the sun set. Not as cold as they told us, but cold enough for Mar to put on a downjacket, and for Jan to put on long pants! :) we thankfully heated up our hands and the metal bottles with water - for tea and in our sleeping bags!

After the long way down (900 m!!!)'we discovered that Jan forgot his hat up the mountain due to the whole fire-thing :( Of course not the 1 euro Nepal hat, but the 15 year old Dale (from Norway) hat with all memories. Jan considered going up the mountain again, even our sherpa offered it, but we decided to hope that someone might bring it down. The next morning, we finally managed to get in touch with the guesthouse: they found it. (As promised, 6 days later it arrived back to our guesthouse in Syabrubesi!!!)

Then on the way to Briddhim our guide took the wrong (long!) way up, our porter forgot his phone (and ran back), and our guide forgot to mention that the road went up and down and up again. Oops. Exhausted  we arrived in Briddhim. We decided for something else than Dal Bhat - a mistake. This one was really good!! (The concept of Dal Bhat is to each the Bhat (rice) with the Dal soup (lentils) and curry. Eat it in a superspeed with your hands - we used forks - and then get refills until you explode. Jan ate the rest of the food from our neighbours, including the 2 plates we ordered ourselves :) (we kept being hungry the first days!!!! All the time!!) - by the way, after 12 days of either plain fried macaroni, vegetable chowmein, cheese pasta or dal bhat you really get tired of any of these - 

In the middle of the night I woke up from a sound I really didn't wish to hear - vomiting. Jan got really sick. Whether it was the food or the green nose-elephants, we still don't know. It just wasn't good. 
The next two days were a struggle. This is where the group thing became difficult - what to do if everyone wants to continue?? - and our guide didn't really take the 100% best decisions in our opinion (we were kind of left on our own!). It was hard, especially for Jan. The continuous up and down on a really steep path ("no... It is all flat" according to our guide) were on the edge. But he was brave, and we made it to Rimche. A good night sleep, lots of help (thanks to Juan and his girlfriend!), lemon and cinnamon did a good job. The next day became better, we reached Everview point hotel, 15 minutes before Langtang. No hot shower, but a bucket :) to be used in the toilet. Mongolian style! That day we trekked around 1000 m up, until 3400m. No further, as we needed to acclimatise to the altitude!!

From Langtang, the mountain area really begins. The forest disappears, the white panorama rolls in. This is what we came for!! It is beautiful, simply gorgeous. If it wasn't so strenuous to get here, you would come here more often. On the other hand, you don't really seem to notice that the mountains around you are so high. Since we were on 3870 m (Kangjin Gompa, the last village in the valley), the 6000m peaks only look like 2000m peaks, like the Alps, like in Norway! And, since nature adapted to it, the trees grow until 4000m, the area is full of Rhodondendrons and the snow line is at 6000m in midwinter!!!! It's beautiful, but weird! We came for winter and got max early autumn (it feels colder in the summer in norway than at 5000m in Nepal :)).

On day 8th we climbed Kangjin Ri (ri means viewpoint). He summit is actually on 4770m, but you need climbing equipment to get there. We decided to take this hill (no, it's not a mountain as mountains are higher than 5000m and have a name :))) we have been told:)), and not the less used route to Tsergo Ri  (almost 5000m) as it would be hard enough on our health. Especially since Jan had been ill, Mar had a bad cold (cough again!) and Bas was still being careful with his foot. Nout and Jolanda split from us, the higher peak was more tempting for them.

So we set off without our guide, which was not bad as we didn't feel he was much of help to us. Most info about altitude sickness we got from a book and a sign near the entrance of the park. (so much for "you need a guide for safety!"). Sorry to be rough on our guide, he is really a good guy! He was just not of much use to us. Next time we would definitely go without one! The track is beaten, the way full of English speaking tea houses: a map, common sense and trekking experience is enough for this route. It meant no tip (I'm sorry again), but we decided to pay the 20 dollar we held back as we didn't want the agency to cut his salary. We wrote him a letter with tips for improvement, although we're not sure that this agency will really give it to him.

We thought about staying longer, but our group wanted to go, as they needed to arrange their Indian visa. I'm still not sure why we didn't stay longer on our own. The way down was long but fast: 1 day all the way down to Lama hotel (from 3870 to 2400) and a second to Syabrubesi. 

We negotiated a jeep for the way back. Safer, faster and only a little more expensive (6,30 euro per person for 5 hours) at least that was our thinking :). It was the same to us, with even less space and 2 Chinese that were vomiting yellow stuff in a bag all !!! the way, 5 hours in a row. Every village we drove through was treated with a gift-bag out of the window. Thanks. 

And then we were back!! 4 days of stinky-Kathmandu ahead of us, with power cuts, never hot showers, unhelpful post offices, super slow internet and too many tourists. Time for a change :) 

But we might be back for trekking or mountainbiking :)).....