Langtang Trekking

The night before the trek we met up with some Spanish friends (Alba, Pablo, Javi, Arnao, and Anna) that we met in Kolkatta who also happened to be in Kathmandu for a mini vacation after volunteering. It was their last night of travels as their flight back was the next day so the night stretched a little longer than it probably should have. After a few drinks at the Kathmandu Guest House we made it to bed at 1:30am to get up at 5:30am to meet our porter the next morning.

Mike and I are a little bit on a budget so we opted to share one trekking bag for the week and share the expense of one porter. We met Mr. Lama and headed out to the taxi which he paid for and up to the bus stop where we caught our 7.5 hour bus ride that was actually suppose to take 9 hours. Thank God! The first part of the bus ride was horrible as Mike and I had no seat so we ended up scrunched up next to the driver in the front of the bus with two rather large Nepali women who kept moving throughout the bus ride.

After lunch I decided enough was enough and went out on top of the bus where about 50 other Nepalis had been riding the whole time! What a rush! Despite it being the monsoon season, the weather was amazing so there were no clouds which meant I had the perfect view of all the constant death-defying switchbacks which are all so common in a bus ride up the Himalayas. I sat and talked to a Nepali guide for a while. In between comments I would have to duck below overhanging power lines and tree branches.

After about 7.5 hours we were let off at a landslide which was too dangerous for the bus to cross. We got out, registered with the Langtang park officials and set out past the landslides down the first nights stop in the national park to a town called Dunche (Doon-chay). The first night was rather uneventful as we were exhausted from the bus ride and basically slept the whole time in Dunche (sleeping ended up being a common theme throughout the trek).

The following morning we trekked for a town called Syabrubensi where we started up at one of the trail heads. It was Mike, our porter (Mr. Lama), and me with two day-packs and a bag with the rest of our belongings for the next week. We had no food (we could buy food at towns along the way), just Iodine tablets to purify the water from waterfalls coming down the mountains. At this point in Syabrubensi we had been hiking for 2.5 hrs and were a little behind as our LP Nepali trekking guide had the first day's trek start at Syabrubensi and hike for 6-7 hrs to a town called Lama Hotel. For the most part, the first part of the trek was fairly straightforward until we hit a few landslides where we had to find our own way up or down the mountain safely through other obstacles. We were still below the tree line and ran into some vegetation and a certain species of thorn that Mike and I both grabbed onto which made that part of our hands go numb for a few days afterward (probably poisonous). We had been trekking for most of the day when we ran into a waterfall falling straight along the path. There was no way around it or under it except to get soaked so we took out the rain coats and took it on. As it turns out, most of our clothes would not be dry the entire week. That night we stayed in a little town called Bamboo which consisted of two lodges and two families in the middle of the national park. We paid 150 rupee ($2) for a hot bucket shower and actually the same price for the room for the night.

The following morning we woke up early and headed out for the day of catchup. We made it up 400m in the first hour, stopped for some milk tea at Lama hotel where we should have stayed the night before. Then proceeded see how close to Langtang Village (LP guide's stop for night two) we could get for the night. There were a few villages that normally have lodging for the night, however there was a festival going on in one of the other areas of the park so the families had all left and locked up all the buildings. After hours of hiking and a few abandoned villages later we were getting a bit concerned about finding a place to stay for the night as we were all running really low on energy, water, and food as we hadn't had lunch at this point. Finally, after ascending 1500m and an incredibly long day of trekking we made it to Langtang for the night and stayed at one of the nicest places of the trek, Peaceful Hotel. 1760m is in one mile so that was almost a mile up in 1 day!

Day three consisted of a shorter trek up to Kanjin Gompa which is the final city along the Langtang route. It took us a little less than 3 hrs and we found a lodge next to a 700 year old Buddhist Monastery for the night. The next morning when we woke up the views were incredible! I'll upload some pics when I get back to the states. The monastery was really cool to check out and we also went to a yak cheese factory where the manager let us sample some. It was actually really good, although don't worry, it doesn't compare to Wisconsin cheese!

The decent was suppose to take us two days but took Mike and I three days as we had some stomach problems towards the top. The first night we went back to Langtang and stayed at Peaceful Hotel again, followed by another days trek down to a town called Remche (Rim-chee) for the night where we had a nice hot propane shower! Most of the places we stayed at offered solar powered shower, but because of the monsoon season there were alot of clouds which put the nix on a hot shower.

The last day of the trek (day 6) was definitely my favorite part. We decided to take the "high route" back to Syabrubensi instead of the original way that we came which meant we skipped the landslides and waterfalls and also meant we got some amazing views! We had read that if you're afraid of heights don't take the high route because there are some sheer drop-offs along the way. They were right, it was a little nerve wracking at first, but the path was safe in terms of footing so we had nothing to worry about.

We made it back to Syabrubensi and stayed the night in a Nepali hotel instead of a tourist hotel because it was the cheap route. Mr. Lama talked to the locals that night about a bus back to the landslide the following morning. They said it wasn't going to come as there was a motorcycle accident along the way which caused a traffic jam. Since the roads are so narrow there was no way of knowing when the path would be clear again. We decided to give it a go the next morning and see how far we could get. We headed back to Dunche and walked past the landslide where we found a bus to Kathmandu at 12:30 in the afternoon! The good news was that we got a bus, the bad news was we got the back row, which isn't even enough room for Nepalis. I barely fit...I should say I squeezed in. In the US the capacity for this bus would have been 45 or 50. In Nepal there is no such thing as "capacity" so we had easily over 100 people on this bus (including the roof). Tonight I'll be going to get a massage to recuperate!

We made it back to the KGH last night and I have another two full days in Kathmandu before heading back to the states! All things considered trekking was a great experience. Difficult, especially the 1500m climb, but definitely worth it!

Kyle