I love to go a wondering...
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2005
1
26
37
Trip End
Dec 10, 2005
Langtang National Park,
Nepal
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
altitiude once we got above 3500m and its pretty damm cold up there at nights.
Remember how I mentioned earlier that we hired a guide to take us?, well he didnt show to the bus so we went it alone. Well not so alone, we met a great and energetic American guy at the hostel and he was doing the trek for the 3rd time and then we met 2 Spanish folk on the bus so as it ended, there was 5 of us in our little group and we had heaps of fun so probably it turned out for the better that our guide didnt turn up and saved us $6/day too
At the top!!!
! We stayed in little huts (which were free, we just had to eat our meals from there) all the way in little freezing cold room with no electricity, small hard beds and rock hard pillows so we didnt sleep so well plus a couple of places we had to venture outside to get to the sqat loo in the middle of the night.
Our days generally started quite early as the sun came up and lit up the room with bad curtains and it was so cold so best to get up and get to the dining room which had a fire burning. We had to go 4 days without a shower as there was only cold water and that mountain water is freezing! We walked 6 hours on the first day and 7 hours on the 2nd day. The second day we reached over 3500m. The 3rd day up was about 3hours but that was definatly the hardest day as i had almost no sleep the night before staying at the ShangriLa hotel in Langtang village (from memory the ShangriLa was meant to be 5stars! - not this one - 5 stars only for the views!) Finally reaching Kyanjin Gompa was such a good feeling and we relaxed in the sun for the afternoon. The nights we spent huddled round the fire, talking, drinking hot drinks and playing cards. Bed time was between 8-9pm - suited me fine! We were so stuffed by then.
A little strange was that all huts had the same menu and the same food. Good ol same same but different (Asias famous saying!). No meat on the menu but eggs and Yak cheese. I am now so sick of macaroni and veges and potato and veges and a Tibetian food called Momo which is like a spring roll.
From the top it took us 2 easy days down again. It was so nice to get to the bottom and have well deserved hot shower.
Anyway, I must mention the torture bus there and back
Dan and I
. Buses in Lao were slow, roads in Cambodia were terrible, bus drivers in Vietnam drove like madmen but those were no match for this bus ride. Actually, I do give full credit to the bus driver who must be the best bus driver in the world! I know that if you dont have anyting nice to say that you should say anything but i think i need to get this out. The bus back to kathmandu was the worst and most scary day of my life and the torture bus lasted 12 hours. I have never been so scared in my life. The bus is a total hunk of junk rust bucket of a that would come no where near WOF standards in NZ or anywhere else in the world i think. The road for the last part was a shingle road or dirt track that was so bumpy and narrow with drops of 2000m+ below. The bus slowely going and rocking over the potholes and landslides was clingling to the side of the mountain. On the way back, it broke down 3 times, had a flat tyre then we were stopped by a landslide blocking the road. Itgets worse - there is no air con, seats like wood, its overcrowded, people standing and
people on the roof too!(including Dan!) and it is so dusty so my asthmatic lungs are hating it too plus a lady bought chickens on board with there feet tired and lay them in the isle next to me all squaking and flapping their wings - fricken chickens!!! All i wanted the whole trip was to get back to Kathmandu and book my plane out of there
Our team of wanderers
. That trip was the worst day ever and near on killed the travel bug inside me. On the bright side, i did survive and its a good story looking back and i am positive that
that bus ride is the worst and most difficult travel can get.
Dan funnily enough enjoyed it and sat up on the roof with the nepalese
dudes for 10.5 hours of the journey. Appatently its legal to ride on the top of buses here. The guys with guns at the check point didnt seam to mind. I couldnt quite bring myself to get on top of the bus which Dan swears is comfortable, has better air conditioning, easier to jump off if the bus goes over and has clear amazing views as opposed to looking out the dust covered windows!
We did make it back to Kathmandu, checked into the guesthouse and went out with Juan and Sonja the Spanish friends for well deserved cold Beer Everests.
Awesome trek and im sure the body will feel it over the next few days.
Treking in the Himalayas - tick!
P.S finally managed to upload some pics but sorry the quality is poor. Ill fix them when we get to London and get back onto our computer.
