October 20, 2003
Let me just state this first: Trekking itself is definately not my cup of tea! Althogh the people of different tribes, mainly with Tibetan origin, and the views were amazing.
On the very first day of the 8 day Gosaikunda trek I learnt what exactly Nepali promises meant. The boss of the trekking agancy assured me that it is the easiest trek around Nepal. Of course, it turned out to be on the contrary! The more popular Annapurna trek would have been much easier, I was told later by other trekkers I met. Why was it so difficult? Because the roads between two elevation points we managed in a day were constantly going up-and-down up-and-down up-and-down. Most of the times on big rocks extremely steeply upwards. My heartrate felt over a 1000 per minute during these climbs and just this one week felt like completing a year long army training!
And if I ever thought that going up was more difficult than giong down, at the last day I experienced the truth: We started at 7 o`clock in the miorning as usual and had one break for lunch. In the afternoon I felt tired and wanted to stop, but we still had 4 houres to go since there was nothing until then on our way except the forest. I carried on. Then half an hour later I did not feel my legs any more, so I stopped again but carried on soon. The worst part came on the fourth occasion. Have you ever been so tired phisically that you just had to cry? Because this is exactly what happened to me. In 10 houres we went down from 4950 to 1950 meter evelation with a single break! I had no idea how I could carry on after my crying. All I know is that it was 3 more houres after that and I must have walked in some sort of Alpha state. (My guide was prepared to carry me but I did not want to choose that option.) My legs still hurt after 3 days and I think this is a sign that we should have done the last day in two days because my muscles ached differently before and only for a day during the first part of the trek.
The route I took was the following with generally a whole day walking from sunrise till sunset:
1st day from Sundarijal(1300 m) through Mulkhara (1895 m) to Chisepani ( 2300 m).
2nd day from Chisepani through Pati Bhanjang (1770 m) and Chipling (2170 m) to Gul Bhanjyang (2130 m).
3rd day from Gul Bhanjyang through Kutumsang (2470 m) to Mangen Goth (3490 m).
4th day from Mangen Goth trough Thare Phati (3490 m) to Ghopte (3500 m?).
5th day from Ghopt trough Phedi (3600 m ) to the High Camp (4300 m).
6th day from the High Camp through the Pass (4609 m) to Gosaikunda (4380 m).
7th day from Gosaikunda through Lori Binek (3900 m), Chalang Pati (3584 m) and Singompa (3350 m) to Dunche (1950 m).
On the 8th day we took the local bus back to Kathmandu starting at 7 in the morning and arriving the same time in the evening.
Now after all these dry facts let me tell you about the highlights of the trip:
On the first night I could not sleep for a long time. The reason for this was the view: Try to imagine a place where Greek architecture meets mountain flora at 2300 m and around the hill your night rest is there is a valley filled with rice and millet field terraces that are surrounded with snow capped mountains. My window overlooked directly at the valley with the full moon shining through misterously the night cloudfogs. I have never seen such a beautiful thing before. I was expecting pixes to turn up any moment from the very humid corners of my room...
I was also very lucky to see a sunset similar in quality over the many sacred lakes of Gosaikunda. (Kunda
lake and all places around here end with this for there are about a 108 kundas round here.)
I learnt a little Nepali from my guide (and sherpa-tibetan from others) that was very useful with the locals. They appreciated it a lot especially when they did not want a photograph but they finally agreed on terms of showing them the picture, which often resulted in lit up happy faces laughing excitedly for minutes. (Having a digital cam was also useful!:) On some of the occasions they asked me to take more pictures about them with their animals such as goats, yaks or bulls.
The people I met and stayed with in the so called teahouses were a kind of Tibetan descendants: Sherpas and Tamangs (meaning horse trader) most of the time but also some Gurkhas (the British famous soldiers) and Guruns. (Their wonderful warm greeting: `Namaste`in Nepali and `Thasi Dalek` in Tibetan means`I solute the God within you!`)
My guide was from yet another tribe: a Bahun (or Brahmin) from around the town of Ghorka. He wore the sacred three-thread around his arm and shoulder that his tribe has to change once a year or whenever they become impure for some reason (such as getting in contact with woman while menstruating:).
By the way, I could never guess the age of these peaople right. Once over 20 they seem much older than the same aged European faces. The girls here still marry around 15 years of age but traditionally they have their first children around 20. These people seem to know a natural way of contraception for a long time and I think this is good for them.
The first Sherpa family I had a chance to stay with were simply wonderful people. Just plain natural kindness without any superficial western behaviours.They welcomed me warmly around their home fire where I had my first Tibetan tea with Nak (the male is the Yak!) butter and salt and my first Sherpa meal with smoked (and very chewy) bull meat. Part of the wheat+water made ingrdient of the soup was given to the older boy to play with. He made an animal out of it, but after a while he had only to name in Sherpa what I was making him. He was a bright boy and we played all sorts of games during the evening until he went to bed just next to the fire on a carpet.
I have never felt so relaxed and peaceful within a family before in my life! (It was on my very special date: number 13.)
When I tried to explain the word `stress` to the head of the family, who could speak 8 languages altogether, including English, it took me a while. (His lovely wife and two sons were spaeaking `only` Sherpa and Nepali.) Their home is a single room with an open fire in the middle on the ground (though in the present days sometimes they use kerozin! for cooking). Around it the tibetan carpets to sit and sleep. The shelves only contain the bare essentials: cups, plates (no forks and the kind since they eat with hands), some Tiger batteries :) and the pictures of their Gods and their family. Toilet is outside the garden and only means a hole in the ground and there is no shower at all.
I myself experienced twice how it feels to have a wash with a bucket of warm water in minus Celsius, so I can understand why they are doing it so rarely. (Some of the nights , especially at the high altitudes when there was wind, the temperature during the night must have been minus 20! Just imagine trying to unfold your breaking-cold sleeping bag and slip into it sleepily! For the experience I suggest you set your fridge to minus 20 and then when you have peacefully settled in it try and warm it up with your breath only!
The worst of all nights I spent in the most cold place in the High Camp, when smoke was coming out everywhere except the pipe of the closed fireplace, so I could choose to alternate between freezing under the milky way and the amazingly many stars or get smoke poisoned. I also had a headacke from going too high too quickly and the garlic soup did not really help.
Not only were the surroundings harsher as we went higher but the food somewhat got less tasty, though today they try to please the tourists and bring up sugar, chocklates and biscuits as well. The ingredients they originally use is wheet, potato, salt and garlic (good for altitude sickness) with the occasional meat. One morning while eating the most tastless porridge I ever had, I got so despearte that I tried to imagine that I am actually eating Ervin`s wonderful Thai Galalngal sioup! I must admit reality struck me very fast, unfortunatelly. :(
Not only did I miss my boyfrien`s tasty Indian cooking but also his sense of humor. Especially when I met a certain European nationality who are unfortunatelly don`t seem to be aware of the fact that they lack the slightest grain of fun whatsoever, so they do not spare the poor peaople around them.
In many aspects the stops were the best part of my trip, including the short stops for taking a photo of people or the amazingly changing vegatation (even frozen in the highest parts). Durng the evenngs I eighter stayed with my guide alone in the presence of one of the teahouse owners` families or with a group of tourists and their guides. Among these tourists were a Madam, who has been around the world for about 5 years now and who looked anything between 70 or 90? but would not telll her age for anything. She was great fun and very fit, too. She said she has never been ill her life and sha has been always travelling whan she did not work.
Now here I must mention a very sad fact about a certain nationalaty I came across very often and whom the teahose owners are afraid to give any service since they had so much bad experience with them travelling in groups. These peaople are the only one who never say hello when you greet them and who would treat the locals and the other tourists like non-existants or someone inferior to them. It was `funny` to see that they barely spoke English at all compared to the locakals but for the question where they were from they ansvered reluctantly: `the best country in the world!`. They were absolutely ignorant of what was going on with the Maoistin Nepal, or for that matter who the Maoists are, and the fact that Hungary is a country and it is in Europe. But did not seem to care eighter. (One exception being a lone traveller with a kind attitude from the same country.) Well, my question is: why these peaople travel if nothing is good enough for them? (To feel superior in their own way??)
Since I had no books or music with me, in the few spare times I had, I craved for some brain stimulation, so I teached and played `barkhoba` with my guide, or played the nationwide Nepali board game, which seems easy but in fact is rather difficult, with my friend at Gosaikunda. I also played the game with him where you give the end of a story and the other person have to find out with yes-and-no questions the whole story behind it. I love it!
Oh, yes! I nearly forgot! The Yak babies who arrived late to Gosaikunda had wonderfully soft furs! They are just adorable, though very shy. I had a chance to see them in the morning again before they left.
I also had a horse ride on a Thaman horse, which was just brought from Tibet last year. You would think it is plain plesure but just wait until your horse walks constantly at the side of the deepest abyss of the road and you can not make it go to the middle! (and yes, I was a bit afraid at times.)
Here people traditionally and still bring everything on their back bare foot on rocks! (They have a feet that look like an elephants.) Sometimes up to 90 kilos!! because the roads are very narrow and steep, so no cars or vehicles can ride it. I saw many times small girls and boys working with their parents, carring
amazing quantities of bamboo, rice or potato on their back with the aim of their headband. (They also resamble their parents in the constant spitting and blowing their nose on the ground, which is very natural here.)
I must mention the amazingly rich wild life (which I have not seen any except for some birds) and the rich flora which changes as you ascend. The fauna includes hundreds of butterflie species, deers, bears, the red panda, leopards and snow leopards, just to mention a few. Among the trees there are different pines, the purple barked rhododendrons (which flowers are the national symbol of Nepal), banana trees, rice fields and small flowers. (I have many pictures to show.)
At the end of the trip the local bus ride at the and of the trip was quite an experiance I must say. After having bull curd lhassi, we took the bus at `Nepali time 7`. The two possibilitis you could choose from was sitting inside the bus and smelling the raraely ever washing people while listening to the Nepali-Indian version of famous western pop-songs, or go on top of the bus and try to balance yourself on top of the two-layer potato sacks which occupy the whole roof along with the goats.
I tried both. I must say I could not blame the young Gurun girl vomiting behind me, since the bus was packed inside with potato sacks and people. Opening the window was not possible for the amount of dust was unbearable. The road was extremely bad with lots of rocks, so the bus was shaking all the time like hell. I was actually glad that we had to be stopped by the army nine times for ckecking Maoists. (Actually, if I was one, I would just go between the checking points and then around them but this does not seem to deter the very efficient governmant soldiers!)
Well, after walking for an hour because of a big landslide, I tried my luck fo the afternoon on the roof of the bus among the goats, the sacks of potatoes and on top of it all the 20 or so locals (man only). The game this time was trying to avoid the branches of trees to hit your head and at the same time trying not to fall off, while the potatoes were acting like a ckiropractic doctor (except that they left me with bruises that look like I have been badly hit) and one of the goats` horn was just entering through my 3rd left ribs. Once I was too slow and BANG there came darkness and right after it I could see 20 laughing faces each with a 36 teeth smile! At least they had fun.
Well, there is so much more to tell but I`m afraid I cannot write everything down, so I stop for now.
See you soon and don`t forget that life is precious and wonderful. (Maybe I should not mention this, but this is only life as it is, that I was told by her friend that an Ausrrian girl was shot and killed in Guatemala while travelling.) So, be careful and take good care of your loved ones. (The same applies to me, of course.)
Love to you all! :)
Tiglis