Day 24 Mukthinath – Jomsom 22nd July 09

Today marks the end of our trekking in Nepal, at least for this time. We started a bit later today as the trek is an easy flat one. We set out at about 9am after breakfast and while having breakfast we saw the French ladies walking by.

Anyway we walked pass Jharkot and after that it was just bare and dusty desert area. But we still can see mountainssurrounding us. But it got a bit boring as most part of the trail is a road which vehicles

can pass thru.

When we were almost at our lunch stop area, there was a caravan carrying loads of cement and building materials. I can imagine how heavy the load was by the creaking sound that comes off the rope that’s holding the load to the body of the mules when they sway side to side when they move.

The way to the lunch place was also quite bad having to go down down down down… Sigh our knees yet to recover from the day before and today again.. Rahul told us is about 100m only down slope.. But I think is more than that…. Hate it hate it hate it!!

Finally arrive at the lunch place, this place is like a desert … all barren land with no trees or bushes…. When the wind blows you could see the sand being blown up just like a mini sand storm… I ordered fried macaroni and Ramli had egg curry with tomato sauce and rice…Cause his was quite tasteless…. We met the Spanish tourists there waiting for a jeep… Hmmm so they only walked half the way and the other half by jeep. Envy but we thought it’s the last day so what the heck lets just do it….

Same old rested for 1 hour then headed our way… Woa the road to Jomsom was a real difference from the rest of our trekking routes…. As mentioned just now it is all barren with no greens… And the wind kept blowing up the sand that I had to wear my sunglasses with my head band as a nose and mouth cover…. It is real bad and I’m not exaggerating… Ramli said I looked like a “terrorists” … kekekke

The road was all flat and we tried our bests to walk as fasts to get thru the mini “sand storm”… One part the wind was strong it was so difficult for us to walk against it and the wind kept blowing my hat downwards that I couldn’t see the road.. Ramli could lean forward almost 45degree and still being hold up by the wind.. You can imagine how strong it was… We thought we were the only crazy ones walking in the “storm” but we saw a few more other tourists heading the other way too.. Seems to be going for the Mustang trek….

We “chiong” all the way and finally saw Jomsom from far.. By that time I was already quite tired… Ramli cheered me on and said come one just 5 mins more… We are reaching already.. And I told him I doubt so… everytime when we see the village doesn’t mean we arrived should be further in… So I was right when we step foot into the village on concrete floor, Rahul said another 20mins to the hotel… Alamak!! Bang wall

The 2 BFF

So we continued walking and saw 2 little girls with hands on each others shoulders walking around… Seems to be really good friends… We couldn’t miss the chance so we went and got 10 lollipops cause each only case 5NPR… We gave one each and another girl came and join in.. Took some pictures with them outside the store and carried on…

When we are arriving the bridge which we need to cross to the hotel.. We saw a European backpacker… All dressed in yellow with a scarf tied on his head…We said hi and he asked where we were from and he decided to walk with us to the place which we will be staying as he is also looking for a place to stay…

We introduced ourselves and got to know him as Marte or Martin from Finland… He is 26 yrs old and has been travelling in India for 6 mths already ..He hitchhiked and stayed at temples and villages house.. Brave man… Continued chatting and what he told me next was a real shocker… He said he left home as about 1yrs 3 mths before he and 17 of his friends “hijackecd” or took over a University in Finland and it was quite a spectacular news back home. The police is on this case and he told us that he fled his country as he didn’t want to face the charges… Ohh so is he a “fugitive”? When I heard I got afraid…cause I don’t know what he could or would do.. He said his friends should be still in Finland awaiting to face charges, he might be the only one who fled the country…Woooh..

I asked him how he finance himself for this trip, he said he had some savings doing some part time work in the pass and also selling “weeds” when he was younger.. Alamak what are we getting ourselves into walking with him…

Finally arrived at the hotel and knew he also checked in the same hotel as us and was at the room next door… Creepy for us… We went out to take a walk and then saw him standing at a nearby provision store, we walked towards him to asked what he was buying… Happened that the owner wasn’t in, and he climbed in to take a look at what they have and wanted to buy some… We tried calling out for the owner but no answer. He said to us normally in the west back home he favourite pass time is shoplifting… and he has a sudden urge to do the same… but seems he couldn’t do it as now he is on a spiritual path and he could not allow himself to do it… Phew…. Relief for us I guess… but weird thing is after talking so much he asked if we met earlier… Ermmmm we said ya.. He said he couldn’t recognize us… hmmmm is he really physco…

Anyway we left him to figure out on his provision shopping and continued strolling around the village… While walking pass a provison store we heard someone calling us… We turned and it was Hari… Lars guide… we were so happy to see them… Cause we knew we could be able to see Lars tooo.. we chatted with him and knew that Lars suffered altitude sickness when he was up …Woa hope he is feeling well now…

After about 5 mins we saw Lars walking towards us.. we were happy to see a familiar face again… Chatted with him about his adventure and his altitude sickness... Was asking him why he didn’t take the pill he gave to us… He said he didn’t expect to be sick.. What?? His fav word…. We parted ways a while later to head back to the hotel to take a shower and also settle our transport from Jomsom to Pokhara with Rahul..

Rahul told us due to land slide we might have to change the jeep a few times before we could arrive in Pokhara and he could not confirm how much the total costs will be and told us the journey might take more then 10hrs…What!! Then we decided to take the flight instead USD79 each and 20mins only… So he went on his way to try get the tickets for us…

Dinner time came and we still have not had confirmation from him yet… We were anxious… While awaiting for dinner, we heard familiar voices coming from downstairs and saw Wendy and Dawa heading up for dinner also… Wow they took a long long time to come from Muktinath… But still they arrived.

view from the hotel roof

Chatted with them and knew they had already booked they tickets when they were at Muktinath the night before but only issue is payment. They went and tried to pay with Wendy’s credit card but seems they could not accept as the office is close or something… They didn’t have cash with them, so we thought since they are a really nice couple and we trust them we will loan them the money and they promise to return when they arrive in Pokhara… They were very grateful and we chatted till about 10plus before we went to bed… And still we have no confirmation on the flight… sigh …

Day 23 Thorung Phedi to Muktinath – 21st July 2009

Daylight didn’t come for me and sleep didn’t come too… Slept at about 9pm and woke up at 0018hrs exactly after hearing the bells on the horse or cows… It went on thru the night till 0300hrs, time to wake up for the climb!! My goodness I am so exhausted and so not looking forward to the climb up… It is really freezing inside and outside.. We slept in our sleeping bag which can support to extreme low of +3 degree celcius and with a thick blanket covering with my long sleeves, marmot fleece jacket, my base layer pants and long pants and 2 pair of socks… It didn’t keep out the cold … Wooooohh… And got worst when we need to brush and wash our face with the freezing water… my teeth aches when I gurgle …. Ouch!!

Sigh time to pack up and go for breakfast, but today its not as usual… Rahul is carrying my bag and Ramli loading some of my stuffs in his bag too.. I feel so bad for both for them, but I know if I insists on carrying my own bag… I might not reach the destination.. So thanks a million guys…. Breakfast was so difficult to swallow and as usual I didn’t finish my breakfast and Ramli had to help me…

Time to go off at about 0430hrs as the cook got up later so delayed our time… Daylight didn’t come yet and we had to climb up the steep steep slopes with our torches… Ramli’s torch went off about 15mins later and Rahul had to borrowed him his… He knew where he was going so he said he didn’t need the torch… Sigh… this is real bad … 10 steps and I had to stopped to breath… 966m to go …. When will this be over…


at the Base Camp






Sunlight on a peak

10 steps and hoo hoo hooo, breath breath breath… it went on all the way up.. at about 0530hrs we arrived at High base camp at 4925m… Another 491m to go… The view at the high base camp was fantastic!! We could see the Annapurna snow caped mountains from where we were.. Wooow!!! The morning light came and we could see the clear skies with the snow caped mountains with a good view.. Ramli went up a little higher to take some photos and while taking he saw a carcass of a dead goat or cow.. Seems that it was fell down and broke it’s body….. Sad…









Continued for about another 45 – 50 mins up to our destination with the same stops I had to take… And finally we arrived and when we saw the signboard “Thorung La Pass Congratulation for the success ! Hope you enjoyed the trek in Manang!” Yahooo!!! Both of us was so so relief and excited!! I even teared and really felt that the suffering was worth it as we could see the view from way up high and also see the mountain range of Upper Mustang… The extreme expensive protected trekking area… Snap snap as much pictures we could and headed down as it was getting very very cold…. With the knitted gloves we bought my hands are still freezing… Cooooldd!!


Resting ...

After that victory!! The suffering came back again… we had to descend 1656m downwards to Muktinath village… We didn’t expect it will be that bad.. But the steep slope downwards was a real killer for our knees and for me my already bad knee it is damn frustrating… During the way down we both fell down once and I wanted to break my walking stick… Ramli the same and with the bag weighing about 15kgs doesn’t help at all… We could not believe that we took at least 5 hrs to get down that F*&%^#)% steep downhill… My god we wanted to kill someone !!! A few people pass us but we couldn’t be bothered… Just took our time…

Nearing the end of the journey, Ramli had really aching knees and shoulder pain but still he didn’t take up the offer from me or Rahul to carry his bag…. Anyways we arrived in Muktinath village at about 1400hrs, ordered lunch and still went walking around the village after… Even the last day of the most strenuous walk took us about 10hrs, we were super relief and happy that we had completed what we came for in the first place!!

Hopefully we will be training for Everest Base Camp if we do…

Day 22 Manang to Thorung Pedi – 20th July 2009

I couldn’t sleep last night… Not sure if it was the spicy food the pass few days or the high altitude. My stomach was playing tricks on me… I felt like indigestion and felt slight aching at the position just above my stomach.. I kept burping thru the night and felt like puking… Sat up so many times just to get the air out of my stomach… Than it started to get more uncomfortable till I could not breath… I had to sit up and try breath in so hard just to catch my breath.. My goodness!! I’m feeling really bad and so frustrated that tears just rolled down my face… Ramli didn’t know what to do and sounded helpless … I gave up finally and went to the toilet and try to clear my stomach to stop that irritating burping… So all my macaroni soup came out and I felt better after… Phew !! Tried to sleep but the walking today just keeps me awake.. I kept thinking I cant be able to do it… It is a climb up 1000m… I am so going to “DIE”

Finally day light came and got ready for the most dreaded climb of the trip…. When I went down we met Lars first as he was already leaving for his climb to Masokanto La base camp.. A different and much more arduous route then us… He asked if I was feeling ok as the French ladies heard someone puking the night before… OH MY GOD!!! I am so so so embarrassed!! My goodness!! I just replied I’m ok thanks for asking, I am having some problem with my stomach maybe due to the spicy food….

Headed downstairs for breakfast and saw Wendy and Dawa already leaving the hotel.. And Wendy asked if I was alright… I replied the same yup I’m fine thanks.. And in my heart I am thinking … Does she know too?? My goodness!! Sat down and Hari was beside me and he asked if I was okay as I looked different as my eyes seems a bit bloated… Should be water retention due to the high altitude I said.. and I am telling the truth about this, it wasn’t cause by my tearing …Then again he asked the same, did I puke the night before blab la… my oh my… Yes Im okay I replied again and due to blab la bla… Still waiting for breakfast and cant wait to get out, Anna came out and asked the same question but with a real worried face.. My goodness again I was thinking but I felt the love from these friends that we just got to know the pass days… It is real nice to know that even new friends can care so much for a person even they barely know each other… “That’s what friends are for” I guess …

Finally everyone left and we finished our breakfast and went on our way too.. Todays climb up at exactly 900m and for the “fast womans” it will take about 4 hours max and for us I guess maybe 10hrs??? Wahahahahahah Slowly but surely we will arrive…

Prayer Tablet

Goat head ?

I struggled so much going up, got to stop so many times as my lungs seems not to be taking in much oxygen.. I kept getting out of breath very easily… Ramli was doing fine even carrying some of my stuffs in his bag to lighten my burden… My bag now maybe about 5kgs only.. But still it felt like it weighed 10kgs… The way uphill was quite bad but compared to the first two days this is not so bad but only the breathing part.

Climbing up up and away

We stopped at Yak Kharka at 4018m for lunch and met Wendy and Dawa also... Finally half way there… Had spaghetti with mushroom and it wasn’t nice… I ate only half and pass the rest to Ramli.. He had Dhalbhat which tasted better.. Rested for an hour as usual and went on our way..

Wooooh the next last league of the journey is terrible… I had to stopped every 15 steps while going up the steep steep hill… Help me please!! I cant breath…. Slowly slowly I tried my best to go up and finally and I mean finally!! We arrived at Thorung Pedi base camp at 4450m around 1700hrs… This time we are the last to arrive… And when we saw the French ladies and got to know they arrived at about 1230hrs at the base camp.. My they are really “FAST”

Break time after a steep climb

Thorung Phedi

It is so high and the weather is so so cold… Freezing … After we checked in I just sat at the bed too tired and too cold to move anywhere… Ramli had to help me take off my shoes and cover the blanket so I could lie down and rest for a while before dinner at 1930hrs… Without resting enough there was a knock on the door to inform that dinner was ready… Alamak cant I just have it in bed.. It is so damn cold outside.. Help!! NO choice had to walk out to the dining hall … I ordered noodle soup (instant noodle) with omelet.. The noodle was overcooked and again I could not finish my food and had to pass to Ramli.. I could see he was quite angry cause I have not been eating so much since Manang… Hopefully it gets better… I guess I’m just not built for the cold weather and high altitude…

After dinner chatted with the French ladies, Dawa and Wendy about Love and some other topics… Before everyone could get their chance to comment the owner informed that they are closing up as the power will be out soon… We said our goodnights and went to our room to rest for the night and for me dreading for the next day as we need to be up by 0300hrs and leave at 0330hrs to climb up to Thorung La pass at 5416m… Again I am super “DEAD”

Day 21 Manang Acclimatization rest 19th July 09

Finally we had some rest after so many days of 12km walks daily for the past 7 days. This was a compulsory stop as we have to let our body acclimatize to the high altitude that we are at. We are at the moment at 3485m above sea level. Breathing thinner air is quite a challenge and I find myself breathless just doing prayers. For example, I have to take 3 breaths or more just to recite the Alfatehah. Hehehe….


View of Manang Village

Anyway we started the day 0900hrs today. Ate breakfast, then we headed out for a walk around the village. Or so we thought…. We were walking up a steep hill for a so called acclimatization exercise. It was a view point from where we are supposed to be able to see a glacier. It was quite steep but it was ok for me as we were not carrying any backpacks. Cindy had to stop a few times along the way as she was getting breathless. But after about 45 minutes we reached the place. Oh yeah before that we stopped at a place for a vantage view point of a Gangapurna lake that was nearby. It was awesome!!


Gangapurna Lake


View point

From the view point we could see the glacier from a far. We were told if want to it’ll be another 2 hours walk to the glacier. What did you think we opted for? Of course not walking another 2 hours!! Hahaha. Anyway the glacier doesn’t look that fantastic from where we were, all dark grey and dirty. Rahul and Hari told us that the glacier use to be bigger but due to global warming each year the glacier got smaller and smaller. it is very sad to know as we are not sure how long the glacier will be there.


Lars coming from the Right


Ramli camouflaged at the left


Ramli and Lars chattting away




Us with Dona, Anna, Lars, Hari..



We sat down and enjoyed the view of Manang village and after about 15mins the French ladies came along. Chatted with them for a while took a picture with them then we slowly headed down for lunch.


Mules carrying loads downhill

After lunch everyone was quite tired so decided to go and take a “power nap” as so we thought.. Me and Cindy slept till about 5pm… Wahahahah guess we are really tired. When we got up I went out and take a look and saw Lars walking outside. He said he slept till only about 3pm and went out to the “balcony” of the hotel to wait for us while reading a book as we are suppose to go for tea at Rahul’s lady friends house about 3pm.. Lars said at first it was 3.30pm than became 4.30pm than 5pm… wahahaha he said you guys really is taking a “nap”…. Apologize to him and freshen up and headed downstairs to have a tea and chatted with Lars and the guide while waiting for electricity to come…

As it was a resting day not much happened till dinner, same old dinner and chit chat.. And time for rest till tomorrow to climb up at least 1000m up to Thorong Pedi….

Day 20 Lower Pisang to Manang – 18th July 2009

At the lodge in the morning

View from the lodge

Today is the 6^th day of walking … As normal schedule woke up and clean up and packed up for breakfast.. Saw Lars downstairs and set down for our breakfast. Lars told us he was feeling aching on his head so we checked for him by taking a picture for him at the same time so he could see. He had some inflammation on his head. Not sure what caused it but as a Doc he had some cream he brought along so I helped him apply it and hope he inflammation will subside later.

We are now at 3200m above sea level and the weather is getting colder and colder. Today decided to trek with long sleeves to help with the cold and also for avoid getting burnt by the sun. We left the hotel after taking some pictures and headed towards Manang with Lars.

As we only need to climb up another 300m up to Manang, it should be a easy way. Just flat flat flat as Rahul always says. As it gets higher and deeper into the mountains the trees get lesser and the terrain starts to change. More rocks on the ground and more sand mountains..Along the way we walked pass a small village and Rahul requested Ramli to take a picture with a old Tibetan lady whom was sitting at the road side. She looked real nice and agreed to taking photos with us. Her wrinkled but smiley face can melt your hearts. In her hands she was holding the prayer beads and just sitting alone in the sun, but later did we know she was actually looking after the cows behind..

the nice tibetan lady

We continued walking and half way Rahul had to check us in at the tourist check point so we continued without waiting for him. We walked thru all flat flat flat ground but with loose stones which was actually hurting the ball of my feet. But still I tried my bests to persevere and continued, thru the forest we saw a herd of mountain goats passing by. Most of them had long furs and also horns that curl in every different direction. Than we saw 2 young goats playing, hitting each other on the head with their tiny horns.. It was so cute!! Ramli took a video and some pictures and we continued on our way. About 30mins later Rahul finally caught up with us and said we were walking so fast it was difficult for him to catch up.. But still finally he caught up..

the jump down Rahul, Anna,Hari and Dona

We continued walking and time was about 1200hrs but we still have another 30mins walk before we will arrived at the next village for lunch. Everyone should be hungry by now even for myself, but since we haven’t arrived there is nothing much we could do but to walk. But what came next really “broke” me down…. Already my feet is hurting and walking quite slowly which Rahul is aware.. He still choose to say the inevitable “ Mdm can you change your gear and walk faster cause I’m hungry” when I heard this I was like what the F*&^ !!! You are hungry ? You think I’m not?? But I told you my feet is hurting right you don’t get it?? I chose to keep my anger and tell him, if you are hungry go ahead and walk first don’t have to wait for me. And Ramli at that time didn’t know what was happening in my head repeat the same thing to Rahul. And he replied by saying oh no, cause they only serve tourist first, meaning to say that even if he get there first he wont be able to eat.. I just ignored him cause by now I’m really seriously boiling under the hot sun… I just hang my head low and continued pushing myself to get to lunch… Then Rahul choose to talk to me asking me to repeat with him how you say buckwheat in Nepali. The pass few days when he asked I would do the same but not this time. I just ok, and kept quite. He didn’t give up and still choose to pursue, he said “Mdm seem you are really tired ah” Ohhhh I couldn’t hold my anger any more but still I didn’t lash out at him with all my anger. I told him with a slight anger in my voice… “I don’t like the way you talk to me just now, I told you and you know that my legs are hurting but you still can ask me to change my gear to walk faster cause you are hungry???” He tried to apologise but I just ignored and continued to walk on. Ramli as always didn’t want to get involve otherwise he will know he might be innocently drawn into the fight…

Still boiling and walking as fast to reach the lunch place so my “hungry” guide can get to eat. The past few days start rewinding and playing in my head and the words he said to me just make me even more frustrated which didn’t affect me before… Mdm when walking on flat ground you can walk faster, Mdm can walk faster don’t waste time, Mdm can change gear already… I was like what the heck!!! Walk faster don’t waste time??? Whose time I’m I wasting now???? All these just kept replaying in my head… I was going to explode!!

Finally we arrived at the lunch place, I put my bag down and stood outside trying to calm down as Lars and the French ladies was there too. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself infront of them… But what happened later didn’t help at all. Ramli came over to me and asked, Yang whats wrong? Not in a comforting tone and to me its more like a slightly frustrated tone.. I wanted to explain to him but only these words came out “Aku tak suka, he always tell me walk faster don’t waste time then I started to tear!!” Sigh Cindy Cindy I was saying to myself, whats wrong with you …Ramli replied and say he will tell Rahul later… I just turned and stared at the opposite direction from everyone else.. The tears didn’t stopped it kept coming…My Goodness about 15 mins than I managed to calm down a little.. Walked into the lunch hall to join the rest and I guess they all knew something was wrong, as Ramli told me my eyes are all swollen. Lars and Anna (one of the French ladies) asked if everything was alright, told them I’m just tired….

Sat down and I was thinking why did I get so emotional, I just could think that it might be the 6 days of strenuous walk and my tired body just couldn’t take it anymore… And it didn’t help to hear those words that Rahul had to say.. Sigh… A word of caution to anyone who wants to try and go for a trek of more then 5 days should be very well prepared and trained before you attempt.. It isn’t as easy as the guides say it would be… Another 6 days to go… I’m really scared and worried and tired…Help me please!! Heheh

While waiting for lunch, Lars challenged Hari to hand wrestle.. Rahul, Anna also joined in the fun… All of them lost to Hari… That is sad…Ramli took videos of the wrestle… Was funny and helped to perk me up a bit. Rahul apologise to me again later and I just node my head as I’m still a bit piss..

After lunch when we are getting ready to continue, Ramli decided he wanted to try “help” Mr Pasang with his 45kgs load with his head. Wahahahah he did a bit better than Lars but he said is really breaking his neck, really don’t know how the locals could do it. Salute!!

Ramli with the 45kgs load... ekkeke

Walked on and stopped when we saw the French ladies taking some pictures of 2 ladies with a baby… The baby is sooo cute!! I gave her a chocolate sweet … Than Anna and Donna decided to take a group pictures with everyone jumping off a bench… I tried once and gave up cause it was quite high up and another time might hurt my knees. They took a few more and we continued our walk for another 1.5hrs and arrived at Manang Village!!

Manang!!

We settled down and went out for a walk, this village is different from the rest. Its very beautiful with plots potatoes, buckwheat, carrot, cabbage, spinach. And the flowers of the potato and buckwheat is in bloom which made this village looked more beautiful.. The alleys was a first for us, all laid with stones and the houses are also all made of rocks and by hand.. Its so amazing to see even though the place is dirty, of course we couldn’t miss out the chance of taking pictures… Me and Ram had a lafuma commercial photo shoot and Lars and Hari got a piggy back photo shoot.. Wahahahah

Rahul met an old lady friend and she invited us to her house for tea.. We were all excited as this is a chance for us to see a local house. We walked into darkness and had to climb up a ladder cut out from a tree trunk up to the house. When upstairs we could see the view of Manang village and some of the neighbours houses…kekekke the roofs are all flat and you could jump from one roof to another… It was crazy… Anyone can jump into their house anytime…

View from Ms Pasang Kipa's House

After some pictures we went down to her living area to have tea. She boiled water with her kerosene cooker but we could see the stove which needs to use wood as fuel… It was a sight and an experience for us. While sitting and chatting we could see her room with a bed which was really simple. The floors are all made of mud and cement with no tiling or carpet. Just bear and grey…They really lead a very simple life.. The tiny living area and kitchen was together and have a small carpet a and cushion for seating with no table… But for this simple house there is a TV.. I guess this is still a necessity no matter how simple your life is… Wahahahah

We thank her and left after taking a pic with us. After leaving we asked Rahul what was her name and when he said I almost burst out laughing. Her name is Pasang Kipa... Isnt it similar to Pasang Kipas in Malay which means fix the fan… Kekekekekeke Rahul was telling us that she has a hotel at the next village and maybe we can have lunch there the next day on our way to Thorung Pedi. And for a Nepali she is very lucky as she has been to places… invited by her clients and all paid… She must be a very good hostess…

We slowly walked back to the hotel to have our dinner in the dark as today it is Pisang village turn to have power… Again we had to eat in the dark…. Enjoyed our dinner and chatted with Wendy the Belgium lady and Lars for a while and headed to rest for the night. As we need to acclimatize due to the high altitude we had to stay for another night. Yahoo!! Tomorrow we don’t have to wake up as early, breakfast about 0830hrs and just a climb up about 300m to the view point in Manang to acclimatize and come down to rest for the rest of the day… Finally some rest!!!

Day 19 Chame to Lower Pisang – 17th July 2009

Mr Pasang the Sherpa..


View of Mt Manaslu from our lodge at about 4am


Another view

We woke up about 5plus to see the view from our “cottage” of Mt Manaslu. It was clear of clouds so we could see the snow on the mountain. Very nice view and we had a good rest in the nice and clean room. Ramli took some pics and we went back to sleep and got up at about 0640hrs to clean up and pack up for another day of walking.

As usual Ramli ordered 3 half boiled eggs and it came as “hard” boiled. Wahahaha and for me corn bread that tasted and looked like pancake. After breakfast and hot lemon we went outside and took some pics of Tilicho Guest House and Restaurant with Rahul and Mr Pasang or Mr Everest (Lar’s porter).



We walked uphill about 3-4hrs and stopped for lunch with the French ladies, Lars and Belgium lady. The first part of the walk was quite strenuous but still we endured and made it thru. We both had egg fried rice and rest for an hour and continued our journey..

As we aren’t so fast we left first, along the way we saw some ancient rock slabs placed together with carvings of the Buddhists scriptures on it. We stopped at a teahouse to have some black tea and also for me to use the toilet!! Urgent and big business!.. Phew relief after.. The Belgium lady and her boyfriend was there too.. Hmmm So they left earlier then us.. While resting and enjoying our tea, Lars came along and didn’t want to stop for tea as he still had the energy to continue. So we left and walked together and finally arrived in Lower Pisang @ 3200m after about 2.5 hrs..


Finally arrived at Pisang

We checked in the hotel, had our hot showers from the pail and decided to go for a walk to Upper Pisang where the French and Belgium ladies was staying for the night. As we were walking a group of locals was taking pictures and invited us to take photos with them too. Hmmm maybe they are interested to take picture with Lars then us.. whahaah


Fm the back Rahul, Lars, Hari and Me


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Lars getting into my Frame...

We walked and snapped many pictures of ourselves along the way. Lars wanted to take some pictures of the locals and when asked they asked to be paid.. Hmm paid? It didn’t happen with 1 person but with most of the people. This was the first encounter we had to be asked for payment to take pictures.. Hmmm We rested at the steps to upper Pisang and saw 3 women clearing the weeds in their potato fields and Lars asked to have some pictures taken of them but also same answer. Money… We were chatting and one of the lady who was quite wrinkled caught my eye and I was curious what was her age so asked Rahul to check. And what she said really shocked me and felt “disgusted” with the people in this village. She was also asking for money.. My Goodness I said, she can keep her age to herself… I’m not interested now.. Rahul continued to talk to her and she told her age to him and Rahul was also angry so took 10 NRP and wanted to give her but I think she was embarrassed and didn’t take it, but instead asked Lars for a torchlight cause she cant see at night so Hari told her we don’t have extra, if we had will give to her. Then again she asked for something else, Lars sweater.. What the?$#(*$#$& we were all so angry we stood up and walked back to the hotel discussing this issue on the way.

Rahul was telling me that Pisang village is one of the most undeveloped and poor and this caused the villagers to be very greedy, but for me this isn’t a good enough reason as your actions will affect the way tourist think of your village and might not want to come back and this in turn affect the income of the hotel owners. Haiz.. $$$$

Arrived at the hotel and saw some boys learning to ride the bicycle at the courtyard and Lars volunteered to teach them.. Hehehhe was fun looking at them.. A big giant holding the teenage boys waist to help him balance on the bicycle. They tried a few rounds and one of the boys seem to get the hang of it… We took a group photo with them and they all seem so excited looking at their pictures from Lars’ and Ramli’s camera. All crowded around like there was something real interesting to see..


The gang at the lodge


The Gang with Ramli

We set at the room with the fire place as it was sooo cold outside. There wasn’t electricity today as they have some agreement that they share the power on alternate days with Manage village. So we had our torches on and was chatting when Lars said , eh I think I saw a lizard behind you… Ramli turned and we shown the torches and only saw a insect which looks like a centipede but shorter and with 28legs..weird…And it didn’t move and stayed there through out our dinner and conversation…


the weird creature

We finished our dinner it was already about 2030hrs so we retired into the dark cold night… to rest our tired body for the next day.