Chris on Tour: April 2007

Monday, April 30, 2007

Trekking take 2.

What a shot! Me and Amir and Amit's decorated walking stick

A cute kid

Me making a snow angel in the fresh snow

Me and Amit at Gosakunda

Gosakunda, the village where the frozen lakes are.

Detail of one of the "frozen" lakes

One of the "un"frozen lakes.

Ori, Sachais, Bire, Me and Amit at the pass - 4600m. It was a total white out...

The girls snuggling in the -50 degree night in Phede

Day 4 - Phede to Tarapathi (3700m)
This was one of the prettiest days. We walked for 5 hours up and down through gorgeous forests. I am sure i even saw a red panda!

The amazing enchanted forest - purple wildflowers everywhere amongst bamboo and other moss covered native trees

Inside the lodge in Terapathi

Outside the lodge in Terapathi, we had a huge snowstorm for a few hours, its was so beautiful and amazing!

Sachais, Amir, Ori, Amit and myself in the amazing snowstorm - really big snowflakes. For some of the guys, it was the first time they saw snow falling!

The calm after the storm - sunrise in Terapathi

Day5 - Terapathi to Kutumsung (2500m)

Down hill- Yuck! My knees were not happy. After walking in rain for an hour or so, it was great to finally be warm again with sunshine at Kutumsung. We ran into the Israelis and another couple that we met on the bus on the first day here. And Amir finally gave me a bottle of booze that he owed me from a previous bet, so i was rather cheerful this night. Great sleep - not cold!

Day 6 - Kutumsung to Kathmandu (1200m)

We walked approx. 4 hours to a village where we got a 5hour bus back to Kathmandu.

Today was like the cultural day, with all of the trek going through terraced farms and villages.

Some local kids

Ori and myself walking along the terraces

Some more local kids in a farmhouse

A river in the village that we ended our trek in

Friday, April 27, 2007

Trekking the Himalayas

Wow, so i just got back from a 7 day trek in the Langtang National Park to the Frozen Lakes.The first day was a 9 hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Dunche (1900 m), where we stayed overnight before we ventured out at 7am the following morning. We were on the roof of the bus for most of the trip, it was the most amazing and memorable bus ride i have ever taken - especially when i had a cage of chickens next to me and the drunk local woman coming onto me too!

We met 3 other guys (israelis of course!) who did the same trek, but we only met up with them on the last night!

Some locals from the bus

Ori and myself enjoying the wind in our hair on the roof

This is the view from our guest house in Dunche, was so nice to be out of the city! The mountain is Langtang 2 i think, about 7500m!

So, Day 2 - Dunche to Sing Gompa (3250 m). This day was hard - we climbed 1300m in 5 hours! But it was the most beautiful forest ever! I felt so powerful after it too!

Starting the walk...

Amir and Amit in front, Ori, Sachais and our 2 porters - Krishna and Bire behind.

Amit and some native flora...

Me at the first tea house

Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for the weather to become shit. But just as soon as clouds roll in, they go away again.

Me drinking Tumba - a local warm millet beer... yum!

Day 3 - Sing Gompa to Laubrina (0r something like that) 3900m. This was an easy day - only 3hrs of walking. There were many people coming down because of altitude sickness, so we thought we should aclimatise to be on the safe side. To be honest i did have a mild headache for the 3 days we were over 3500m. By 3pm the clouds had rolled in and the snow started to fall! Woohoo! i love snow! Check out the pics -

Nice pic of me, Amit and Ori

Me and Ori on a picturesque path

Me at Laubrina with snowy mountain in background

Amit about to destroy my lovely 2 snowmen

Day 3 Laubrina - Phede (Pass 4600m). Now it started to get really cold at night time. I started to wear all the clothes i had - 2 pairs of socks, fleece pants, snow pants, singlet, fleece jacket, snow jacket, neck warmer and beanie to bed and i was still a bit cold. This day was a real hardcore day. We climbed to Gosakunda where the Frozen Lakes are (only 3 out of 5 are frozen) then onto the pass which is at 4600m. It started to full on snow by 11am and we were trekking through about 1m of snow at the pass. Then started the descent - which i hate! I much prefer to have the cardiovascular workout of walking up then the smashing on my knees of going down.