... Continued from Kanchenjunga (2) ...
Fri April 26- Kanchenjunga Day 18- Cheram (3870) to Tortong (2990)
Three days ago our guide Guman and porter Balaram had become snowblind while crossing the Sele La Pass. The past two days they had rested in the darkness of their teahouse-bedroom and today they were doing better. Guman was in fine condition, but Balaram was still in quite a bit of pain. It appeared to us they were both eager to leave the high mountains. To minimize Balaram's light exposure Maurits lent him his sunglasses, which he wore all the way till Kathmandu. Maurits' shoes were also ready to head to lower ground. The hole in the sole was growing and we had learnt that duct-tape does not stick well in snowy and rocky conditions.
It was busy in the three-house-village of Tortong. We were now en route with a German camping party of 7 and their 20+ ensemble of porters. Like with Barbara's camping party in Ghunsa; the Germans slept in their 4 tents next to the teahouse and the porters slept in a large common room inside the teahouse. Let's just say that for peace and quiet you do not have to come to Nepal. In general it was not busy on the trek, but somehow we ended up twice following a large camping group.
Balaram relaxing
Sat April 27- Kanchenjunga Day 19- Tortong (2990) to Yamphudin (2080)
We started the day with a 400 meter climb to the Lasiya Pass. We left the valley of the Simbuwa River and crossed over to the Amji River. Around 11 we had lunch in the thick fog at the sole teahouse on top of the pass. We were once again impressed by the cooking-skills of the cook on the open fire. We could absolutely not create the perfectly cooked rice on these erratic wood and/or yak-dung fires.
After lunch we had a long descent which made this probably the hardest day of the whole trek. The 1300 meters down to Yamphudin was tiring and hard on knees and legs. As we came down the mountain the vegetation changed from rhododendrons to bamboo and the temperature rose. We arrived at a nice teahouse in Yamphuding at 3. We had now really left the cold damp and entered the warm damp. Maurits even had a tropical surprise on his foot; a leech! We were happy with the nice weather and enjoyed a very much needed wash at the tap.
Sun April 28- Kanchenjunga Day 20- Yamphudin (2080) to Khebang (1820)
As we left Yamphudin, Guman had to show our trekking permits at a police-post. While we were waiting for him, a friendly local man started talking to us. He was especially interested in Maurits' freckled arms. "Mosquito bites?" he asked, while touching them. We had fun talking to this nice gentleman. Unfortunately not too many people were this open for a conversation. In general during the trek we got many shameless stares; sometimes awkward and sometimes funny. At one point when we had a rest, two kids kept yelling "namaste gora!" at us. We knew namaste meant hello, but gora we found out meant "white." Hello gringo might be a decent translation. Many of the young porters also loved to stare; especially at LB. They would smoke, spit, snot and stare for hours on end. To Maurits' good fortune, LB was not overly impressed.
LB among the farms
Yamphudin marked the end of the National Park and the farmland become more abandunt. We passed beautiful green terraces with potatoes, corn, cabbage and wheat. The haze really was a big shame! We had shortly considered walking back to Taplejung, but since the views were not good we opted for the shortest route out. Today we had to cross two small passes in order to reach Khebang. In between the two passes we stopped for lunch at a (tea)house. It was actually just a house, but they did provide food and a wood-fire. Guman ended up cooking a fine dal baht! By mid afternoon we reached the nice town of Khebang. A great place to relax and read a book.
Mon April 29- Kanchenjunga Day 21- Khebang (1820) to Dandagaon (1000)
Our 19th and last full hiking day started with a tropical downpour. It seemed the monsoon had started a month early! After breakfast it stopped and we set out in a sweaty 99% humidity. The first section of today's hike was on a spectacular trail high above the valley. Afterwards we descended into the valley stopping for lunch in Sibudin. The teahouse we ate at was situated right on the confluence of two rivers. It made for a beautiful lunch spot!
After lunch we continued down the valley of the Kabeli river. Not long after lunch, we got to the start of the very rough dirt road. Our 3 year old map showed the road starting much further down the trail, but in the last three years more and more of the hiking trail had been converted into a dirt road. We entered the town of (we think) Barundin. Our guide and porter had hoped this end/beginning-of-the-road town would have jeeps for hire, but this turned out not to be the case. There was basically no traffic on this road, except for the daily bus. Maybe in the town of Sinam we could find a car to bring us back to Birtamod. We continued for another hour down the road and ended up staying at a dusty teahouse. Guman talked to the lady of the teahouse and apparently there had just been another 3 day strike! At the moment it was hard to find a jeep and the buses were full. Tomorrow we would probably have to walk the 5 hours to the start of the paved road at Ganesh Chowk and see if we could get a transport from there. Of course we hoped that somewhere along the walk we would find a car or a bus.
Tue April 30- Kanchenjunga Day 22- Dandagaon (1000) to Birtamod (300)
We left the tea roadhouse at 7 and miraculously we were on the bus by 7:20! The unexpected bus (all the way to Birtamod) was completely packed, but there was still room on the roof. So the four of us sat on top of the bus! Pretty crazy, but it actually felt a lot of safer than the private jeep ride to Taplejung 3 weeks ago. The new dirt road to Ganesh Chowk - where the paved road started - was diabolical! The 'trail' was narrow with steep drop-offs, huge holes and big rocks. We were swinging from left to right sitting inside the roof-rack. The bus however had fine threaded tires, an excellent driver and did just fine.
After a short break we continued on the paved road and from then on we just had to be careful not to get smacked in the face by a tree-branch or a power line. We had lunch at McDalbaht's in a small town along the way - the fastest meal we had in Nepal! In Illam we passed a traffic-police checkpoint which marked the end of our ride on top of the bus. Apparently this was not allowed when passing a police checkpoint. We were unsure if a bribe had to be paid to the police officer in order for the bus to continue, but we spent the last 3 hours on the backbench. One of the driver's assistants made two people get up for us, since it was impossible for anyone over 5 foot (150cm) to stand in the Tata-bus. The notable bus-ride ended at 7 when we rolled into hot Birtamode. Yesterday we definitely had not expected to get to Birtamod today!
Wed May 1- Kanchenjunga Day 23- Birtamod (300) to Kathmandu (1400)
Unfortunately one of Balaram's eyes was still not better and LB suspected that it had gotten infected. His itchy eye had probably met his dirty fingers... Therefore, first thing in the morning Guman and Balaram went to the hospital in Birtamod. Due to May-day the hospopital was closed, but the ER was open and he got antibiotic drops to fix his eye. It was a shame that we could not communicate better with Guman and Balaram. Their English was definitely more than excellent for trekking, but not good enough for a 'different' conversation; be that snow-blindness or Nepali history.
Around noon they were back at our hotel and in the meantime Guman had also changed our flight to today! Once again our travel-expectations were beaten! We had also just found out that there was yet another strike between Birtamod and Taplejung. We were super lucky to have made it back to Birtamod yesterday. We had a final dal baht and made our way to the airport. After a fine flight we were back at the International Guest House (IGH) at 5pm. We were happy to be back in Kathmandu and celebrated with beer and pizza (no more rice!)
All in all our Kanchenjunga trek was memorable. We both felt that it was a true authentic Nepali experience. The mountain scenery was magnificient and unbeatable, but it was a tough 3 weeks. The hiking was the easiest part. The long hours sitting arround in the teahouses is what made the trek hard. We found 'roughing in a teahouse' actually harder than camping. However, we did learn what to look for in our next house! Instead of granite countertops, we will be looking for a heater, a toilet, a solid structure with a waterproof-roof and additional luxuries like electricity and a tap. Maybe even a shower with hot water!
Thu May 2- A well deserved rest day in the comforts of Kathmandu. After a lazy morning Guman picked us up for lunch. We walked the 10 minutes to his house where we met his lovely wife. His wife, who's name we have not remembered, cooked a fabulous dal baht while attending their store. Next to Guman's guiding activities they supplement their income with a convenience shop. Interesting to see how they lived and of course very nice of Guman to invite us.
Fri May 3- Today we had a couple of to-do's to tick off. Besides the 'note-unworthy' African malaria-pills and a souvenir painting; we searched for boots to replace Maurits' air-conditioned shoes. Good, as in real, hiking boots in size US 12 / EUR 46 were impossible to find. We did see a pair of Adidas Air (yes, they do exist in Nepal!), but the quality seemed doubtful. There was an unbelievable amount of fake gear for sale in Kathmandu. "Real" gore-tex jackets for $10... In conclusion: Maurits' damaged, but not yet completely broken hiking-boots would make the trip to South Africa.
We also paid Babu from Adventure Great Himalaya (www.adventuregreathimalaya.com) a visit to say thank-you for the two trips. To our surprise Balaram was also in the office and his eye was unfortunately not doing well. He had been to the doctor and was on antibiotics, but his eye still looked bad. We felt sorry for him, somewhat guilty, and we of course sincerely hope his eye will get better soon.
Sat May 4- Since we had been in Nepal for 6+ weeks, we felt obliged to see more culture than the streets of Thamel. Through the hotel we hired a driver and in the comfort of an old Toyota Crown we visited three cultural sites. First we stopped at the Buddhist temple Boudhanath which we absolutely loved. The beautifully kept-up temple is in the middle of a huge plaza with touristy shops and cafes all around. Then, we continued on to the Hindu temple Pashupatinath. The large temple-complex was quite confusing, but we were found by a local guide who explained a lot more than we can remember about the temple and Hinduism. The guide did a great job and without him it would have been impossible to understand all the different aspects of the temple-complex. We were surprised when he was unhappy with a 1,000 Rupee (10€) tip. Especially since the average day-wage in Nepal is about 50 Rupees (50 cents...)
Lastly we drove to Bhaktapur, a 1,000 year old city about 20 kilometers outside of Kathmandu. Here we were also found by a local guide who also gave an excellent walking tour of the city. We visited the main squares and saw the old palace and many temples. We could have been walking throught the narrow streets of an old Italian city. We were impressed by this lovely city!
Sun May 5- For the time we were in Kathmandu there was about 8 hours of electricity per day, but our hotel's generator made it so we had power from 6pm till 8am. Since the hotel's wifi worked 24/7, our last day's main challenge was to have our iPad sufficiently charged for a day of blogging and browsing. At 9pm a taxi drove us to the aiport. Onward to South Africa!
Blogsy is not the ideal app...
Nice work folks....looking forward to South Africa!!
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