Helambu Diary - Down and Back

Day 7 – Monday 15^th October

Tarke Ghyang to Kalkani (1,900m)

Hotel Tarke Ghyang - the area to the front was also a camping ground

Leaving Tarke Ghyang

We have just luxuriated under a hot, hot shower, the first since Kathmandu. Oh, the simple pleasures! Last night and the first night we had showers but they were cold. The other nights we have had hot buckets. The hot bucket showers are good but you can’t beat a 'real' hot shower!

Today’s walk, though long, was an easy one once we were on the right path. Ram had a few too many options not long after we had started out and attempted to lead us up the garden path, or rather the mountain path. Once it quickly deteriorated into non-existent path we realised we were on the wrong track. There were the usual ups and downs but nothing major, through forests and villages until lunch time then, after that, a downhill run via a dirt road. 8 hours on the road so 6½ hours trekking and 1½ hours for our drink and lunch breaks. I have no idea how far we trekked but as it was easy going it had to be quite a distance. We kept up a fair pace – not stepping it out, as we are here to enjoy the countryside we are passing through, but a reasonable pace.

I'll get this big one, mum!

We have now left the cold hills behind but the temperature is still dropping noticeably as nightfall approaches. 

 

Day 8 – Tuesday   16^th October

Kalkani to Malemchi Pul Bazaar(800m)

Ram’s famous last words before we set off on our last day of trekking, “Today is easy, downhill all the way on a road!” Now there are roads and there are ROADS! At some point in time the one we walked could have been classified as a road. Roads are able to transfer vehicles. But extreme weather conditions here and dirt roads makes road maintenance in the hilly districts almost an impossible task. At its best today’s  road could support 4 wheel drive trucks for approximately 2 kilometres, motor cycles could navigate perhaps 2/3s (though often with great difficulty), and the remainder was good for goats, cows and nimble pedestrians such as myself.

 

 

We walked 4½ hours  – at least 16 kilometres, maybe more. It is impossible to estimate, but, a very pleasant walk into the Malemchu Valley through villages, farmland and forest. One village was gearing itself for Dashain, a 15 day Hindu festival. A DJ was set up in the school grounds and music was booming out across the village. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the country for 15 days.

Tonight's destination is directly below us - down to the river 



 

It's hard to tell , but, these goats are scaling an almost vertical hill face!

The glistening waters of the Malemchi River were ever beckoning us downwards to our final night stay at the Malemchi Beach Resort.

We crossed our final suspension bridge just before the town. It was the longest we have seen but luckily the most stable. Boys were tubing down the river having a great time of it and some young girls were playing in the sand near the water’s edge – a beautiful sight to see.

Once at our hotel we were lead to a very comfortable room with an ensuite and ........ to top it off a wonderful lunch of roast chicken breast, roast potatoes and peppered cabbage. Now cabbage is not a fave of mine but it was nice and I ate it all – a first since I was pregnant with Selina in Morocco, 31 years ago! We got the same excellent service at dinner time. What an amazing end to our journey!

 

 

 

Day 9 – Wednesday 17^th October

Malemchi Pul Bazaar to Kathmandu.

After breakfast we headed up to the main road to catch a local bus back to the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu. We had a young man across from us who thought it extremely funny that we were on the bus. Although we could not understand his conversation he chattered away to us happily for quite some time until the bus filled and talking across the aisle was difficult. At times the only room left was hanging onto the door frame from the outside. We wound around the hillsides sometimes on tar, sometimes dirt, arriving in Kathmandu around mid-day. 

Trekking is a great way to get a real feel of Nepal, its countryside, its villages, its people and its magnificent mountains. I am so glad that we have had the opportunity and time to have had these wonderful experiences. A big thank you, once again, to our guide and friend, Ram.

 

 

To Ari, our mighty porter on this trek, not a giant in height but certainly a giant in character and strength, thank you!

 

After completing two treks I know that the both of us are lot fitter than we were when we flew into Nepal.

Now that we are members of ‘The North Face Set” how are we going to settle back into the Cafe Latte Society?

Helambu Diary - What Goes Up ......

Day 5 – Saturday 13^th October

Tharepati o Malemchigaon (2530m)

Frost around the other two lodges at Tharepati

 

 

On top of the ridge we got the first rays of the sun

Frost on top of the kitchen roof



 

Today was a beautiful walk down, down, down 1,000m through pristine pine then rhododendron forests. Although steep in places the path was a good one – rarely slippery and with few gravelly bits. As we descended lower we started to cross streams again. One was crossed via a suspension bridge. It had wooden boards with gaping cracks between them. Unfortunately I could see how far it was to the stream below and the bridge was getting a good sway up. There goes my stomach again! I know – I’m a wus.

 

We are heading down there and more!

 

Going down,

down,

down!

Ari, always waiting for us to catch up.

Yes the yak does look as though he is tethered. So glad we did not put it to the test. He had released himself and perhaps half an hour earlier vented his temper at another trekking group.



A herder and his yows (yak/cow cross)

 



Although we had trekked down 1,000m we were still very high in the hills when we stopped for the day. The last two nights have not been at villages but at lodge spots for trekkers. Malemchigaon, in contrast, is a beautiful local village perched high on a hillside (mountainside if we were in Australia – it’s all relative. Malemchigaon is just 500m below the summit of our highest mountain). 

The village is predominantly Buddhist with a monastery in its heart. We wandered through the village this afternoon, watched the boys playing cricket and observed late afternoon village life. And the highlight of the walk – seeing a young deer in a meadow not far below the forest line. A cow was not amused that she had a freeloader eating her grass and tried to butt the young deer.

Malemchigaon school

The Monastery

Rock for building blocks never seems too hard to source!

Dig a bit, carve it into blocks and stack it.

Then carry it to where it is needed.

Also having an afternoon walk

There are three young boys in the family we are staying with, aged maybe 5 to 9. It has been lovely to watch them play in the yard during the afternoon, making their own fun without any technology or expensive toys. They are cheeky young lads, full of laughter and high in energy. Our meal tonight is in the kitchen with the family. The kitchen was spotless and well layed out. The stove was a low wood stove in the middle of the floor. All cooking was done sitting or crouching on the floor. No good for us westerners as we no longer have the flexibility to achieve such a task.

 Day 6 – Sunday 14^th October

Malemchigaon to Tarke Gyang (2,600m)

 

A last look back at last night's lodge



The morning view down the valley from the monastery

As the crow flies it was perhaps only 2 kilometres across from our hill to where we were headed across the steep valley to the next hill. Although we could not see Tarke Gyang from Malemchigoan (it was just over the summit of the next hill) we could see the village 2 hours below it, where we had lunch. To reach our destination we had to descend to the river at the bottom, about 4 klms down, down, down, cross the suspension bridge, negotiate a landslide, then , climb at least the same distance up the other side and over the crest to our final stop for the day.
 

Another suspension bridge and the horror landslide as we stepped off it. The track went off to the left straight up the crumbling side and across the top!



Neil took the mid bridge shots.

 There is no way in the world that I could!



 

  Looking down  from top of landslide.

Another Neil shot! At this point I was a nervous wreck. 

Can you see the kangaroo too!

An easy one - even I could look down!

Today was hard going for someone like myself as there was a lot of downhill loose gravel and dirt to tend with at a fairly steep gradient. Not straight down but sometimes not far from it! The icing on the cake was negotiating the landslide. The path (a loose term for what we were walking on) had narrow crumbly edges that we were climbing almost vertically, the drop was straight down.

When we stopped for lunch my nerves were shattered. Thankfully the rest of the way was uphill, 1½ hours to Tarke Gyang monastery and another ½ hour to the village and our lodge, Hotel Tarke Ghyang, Tourist Paradise.

The flat ground just below the cloud line in middle of photo is where we have walked from today.



Are we there yet? Almost

Our lodge is on the far side of the village and we scored the last room at the inn – just. If we had been 2 minutes slower we would have been walking back uphill. This afternoon my muscles are tired – legs and arms both – the outcome of the stress of keeping myself on my feet and not at the bottom of a drop.