Who I was traveling with, I was unsure of, but what I was sure of was that at any cost I was trekking all the way to Tilicho base camp and if possible cross the Thorongla Pass. My best friend kept pushing away the date and backed out at the end so I ended up with two travel partners from my office.
Night 1: Sep 28, 2018: Kathmandu -Dumre
The 3 of us set out on the night of Sep 28th. We took a 7pm night bus from Gongabu Buspark that dropped us at Dumre 5 in the morning. It was very dark and I had an urgency to pee so badly. We looked around and found no washroom so I was ready to pee my way in the open but Raj found out a public toilet 200m ahead from where we were. After freshening up we also bought the ticket of the early morning bus that would drop us to Besisahar.
Day 1: Sep 29, 2018: Dumre-Besisahar-Manang
There were no proper shops open so we skipped our breakfast and geared ourselves for the bus ride that was as slow as me when running a 500m race. As we reached Besisahar we ordered ourselves lunch and freshened up in the same hotel itself. The vehicle route was damaged at many places because of recent landslides in various areas therefore we decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to take the pick-up ride with only space to stand at the back. We switched 4 vehicles that day as the roads were blocked by the eroded land and often time we had to walk for an hour or more to get to the next vehicle. By the time we were nearing Manang, our destination for the night, we had made ourselves comfortable on the trunk of the jeep, the cold and chilly night at 3000m altitude and the wind from the speeding vehicle had made our hands, legs, and face numb yet the dark night opened up to a view of the starry night with billions of stars twinkling above us like it was a scene from a painting or a photograph. We reached Manang at around 8pm, then we quickly booked ourselves a room, had warm garlic soup, stayed out around the firewood, had our warm and delicious dinner, and slept for the big day tomorrow.
Day 2: Sep 30, 2018: Manang-Gangapurna-Tilicho Base Camp
We strolled around Manang then headed to Gangapurna which was on the other side of the Manang Valley, after spending some time admiring the deserted Gangapurna we then started out on the trail to Tilicho. We ate our breakfast at Khangsar where we had boiled potatoes with grounded chilly. It was only the start of the trekking season yet we came across a lot of fellow trekkers, mostly foreigners. We reached Upper Shrikharka (4400m) at around 1 pm where we ate our lunch and ordered a room for the next day after returning from Tilicho. We also left one of our bags with foods and clothes that we wouldn't be needing for our trek to Tilicho. This was because we had made up our mind to trek to Thorongla Pass too and the way to Thorongla and Tilicho separated from Shrikharka which meant we had to travel back to Shrikharka the next day on our journey to Thorongla. There we met a man who earlier we had seen riding his motorbike in the sloppy uphill road to Shrikharka. He was telling the hotel owner he lost his wallet, he had dropped it during the bike ride.
Later, after he left we came to know he was the owner of one of the hotels of Base camp. Had we known earlier we could have booked ourselves a room in advance.
Nevertheless, we traveled at our own pace however we made sure we weren't very slow as we needed to cross the landslide trail before the sunset. When I first saw the landslide trail, I couldn't contain my fear. I was pretty sure I will fall because the trail was downhill, slippery, and too narrow. One of the trekkers actually returned back as her original trek route was Thorongla and said she did not sign up for this adventure. This made me even more skeptical. However, my friends encouraged me and helped me and we started out again. As we reached the base camp we raced to find a room but to no avail. The guys slept in the diner along with other fellow trekkers whereas the hotel owner found me a room to be shared with the other two girls who I did not even get a chance to say thank you.
The night was too cold. We were at 4000m and had actually descended 400m down from Shrikharka.
Day 3: Oct 1, 2018: Tilicho Base Camp - Tilicho - Upper Shrikharka
We woke up early at 4 in the morning and freshened up and packed only the essentials like warm clothes, food, first aid, and water. We started out at 5 am to Tilicho. The route was crowded with fellow trekkers and everyone was exchanging smiles. We made stops on our way for water, food, and rest. As our body warmed up we came across the 24 ghumti, famously known as snake trail and popular for its difficulty. 20 minutes after conquering it, the first glimpse of the serene blue lake came into view and tears started flowing from my eyes. As the lake came close into view, the grandness of its beauty glowed up in front of us. The excitement of the conquer made and nature's magical sight was visible in everyone's face as all the trekkers took turns waving the flag of Nepal and snapping pictures. We then sat in silence as we sipped our tea, fresh and hot from the tea house of Tilicho. After a while, we descended down to touch the beauty herself lying at 4900m. On that feeling of that cold water of Tilicho, the view of a blue lake in all its eternal beauty with the Tilicho Peak on the one edge and desert on the other will forever be imprinted in our hearts and minds. This encounter was enough to wash away all the worries and baggage we had carried in our hearts and mind. When we finally started climbing up to head back, we took a shortcut and ascended a steep uphill. That raised my heartbeat and my breath and for a moment I thought I was going to die right there. I thought of my parents and my sister and was about to ask my friend to make sure my savings reach my parents. LOL.
Nevertheless, 5 hours by the lake, we started descending down to base camp. However, we could not stop ourselves from laying by the green grass and just admire the white mountains and the blue sky. We reached base camp at 2 pm, ate our lunch, packed our bags, and left for Upper Shrikhrarkha at 3pm. It was Nawaraj's birthday so we also planned him a small birthday surprise and all the foreigners in the dining room joined us in wishing him a happy birthday. He was lucky to have been wished birthday in so many different languages. Shrikharka was at 4400m and our next stop for tomorrow was Letdar that was at 4200m, therefore, we assumed our road for the next day was only downhill and decided to warm ourselves with a glass of local Jhwaekatar. The drink showed it's effect at night as I had trouble sleeping.
Day 4: Oct 2, 2018, Upper Shrikharka - Karche - YakKharka- Letdar
Assuming the road for the day was easy, we decided to eat our breakfast before heading out. We ate heavily and then started moving at 9 am only. We started with a decent uphill climb crossing yak sheds and green pasture lands. We at a point came across a junction that overlooked the whole of Manang valley. From there on, we descended 400 m and reached the Nirvana Hotel of Karche at 1pm where we ate our lunch. The route ahead was beautiful as we came across pasture lands as well as yaks and horses grazing. We crossed yakkharka where we refilled our bottles and finally reached Letdar at 5pm. The weather had changed and mist had covered everything. We went to our hotel room and rested our legs then sat by the fireplace as we played with Chuli, the cat of the hotel lady. They both were very friendly and nice to talk to. We ate noodle soup, garlic soup, tea, and made sure we hydrated ourselves.
Day 5: Oct 3, 2018, Letdar, Thorang Phedi, Thorong High Camp
We woke up early, freshened up, ate our porridge and headed off for the high Camp after saying good bye to Chuli and thanking the friendly and hospitable owner. The trail was quite crowded as it had a lot of tourist from all over the world aiming for the same ascend. After walking for few hours, as we were walking around the landslide trail, we were feeling little hungry and decided to stop at the next section. There were two germans about 30-40m distance ahead of us. As we were walking, we heard a roaring sound, a sound of running horses, not quite sure what it was and as we looked up, few piles of big rocks were falling from above us, and fell into the river 300-400m below us. It fell from the gap between the germans and us and made everyone of us realize that the landslide zone is not to be taken lightly. It scared us so much that, we started walking in a faster pace, constantly checking up to make sure no more rocks are about to fall. We forgot about our hunger and only stopped for a breath after we crossed the landslide trail and reached Thorang Phedi.
There we ordered our lunch, had a special local sweet juice, which the tea house owner claimed will help with altitude adaptation. After resting for half an hour after our lunch, we started for the final destination of the day- High Camp. It was a very steep ascend, but taking baby steps will definitely help you conquer it. We reached High Camp by 4pm but all the rooms were already booked so we stayed in a Dorm. High Camp has only one hotel, but it can accommodate up to 300 guests. The dining was very crowded too. For a better acclimatization, we climbed a 100m high view point, that overlooked Thorang phedi and the Letdar valley.
We ordered our breakfast for 4am in the morning and decided to start our ascend at 4:30, however, it started to snow at night. Sleep came easily and we woke up at 5am in the morning. We ate our breakfast and started off only at 6am.
Day 6: Oct 4, 2018, Thorong High Camp -Thorong La - Muktinath - Kagbeni
The trail was snowy so we made sure to walk carefully to avoid slipping. I, especially, had worn all of my clothes to layer up for warmth so my bag was really light. We stopped at tea house 1 for a hot tea on our way to the pass, and reached the pass by 8am in the morning. We clicked pictures, again had warm cups of tea, and after staying for 20 minutes, we started to head down. The trail was completely downhill from hereon. We had to descend 2000m to reach Muktinath. We completed it in 2 hours and stopped at a lodge to change and have our lunch. As I started taking off most of the layers of clothes I had worn, the tourist around was looked in surprise by the number of clothes I had put on. After eating our lunch and taking a tour of Muktinath mandir, we caught a local bus that was heading to Jomsom. We dropped at Kagbeni, and booked a sumo for upper mustang for the next day.
Day 7: Oct 5, 2018, Kagbeni - Chhusang - Kathmandu
We started off to lomanthang after having our breakfast. We had reserved a sumo for the 3 of us, however, due to an emergency in one of our house, we had to return back after crossing Chhusang. The sumo dropped us off at Jomsom bus stop where we caught ourselves a bus to Kathmandu. The bus was uncomfortable and slow but dropped us to Kalanki safely by the evening that night.
Comments
Post a Comment