So the last 3 weeks or so have been a sore challenge to both the feet and the intestines. We had a 2 week trek covering the areas of Helambu, Gosai Kunda and Langtang. It was the most painful thing i have done that was by choice. Danny on the other hand just romped away like some demented English puppy scampering up cliffs and mud slides.
We stared just outside Kathmandu on a sunny morning and immediately started a 1000m ascent, we were so worn out by the end of the first day that i thought i was going to die of heat exhaustion and we manged to find lodging in the house of an Hindu Sadhu called Baba Gee. Who had renounced the world and spent his days tending his shrine and smoking weed. He worshiped a 'powerful lingum stone' which was a stone that was suppose to represent the power of the male member and of course all life... this became a theme as we got to Gosai Kunda where the whole lake was given over to piles of rock or 'powerful lingum stones'
So we walked for 4 or 5 days an at first the weather was great warm and pleasant then i started to rain and didn't stop raining for 5 days... This would have been find if we had been in Kathmandu but out on the side of a mountain gaining altitude each day made it more and more dangerous. We had to get over a 4200m pass to get to the otherside where we were told the rain wasn't as bad. We decided to try for the pass but as we got half was there the rain turned to sleet and we were already soaked to the skin. I started to freeze and Danny scampered ahead and found the last lodge before the pass. We fell into Ram Sherpa's place and were quickly supplied with hot tea and covered ourselves in blankets.
The rain stopped for a hour or so and the view was amazing. we had climbed for 6 days and were nearly dead with cold but the you don't get a view like that without some effort...
So the next day we headed over the pass (in the rain) and decided to Gosai Kunda, this is the scared are for Hindus and Buddhist and is a beautiful place of lakes and sheers drops. I got altitude sickness and a cold so felt like crap. Danny as usual was fine... nothing seemed to stop the wind up elastic band that runs Danny's hamsters.
So we planned our 'Escape from Gosai Kunda' which involved a 2000m drop in the pouring rain to a small village on the otherside called Thlo Shyabru. That had to have been the worse day for me i had a really bad head and each footstep made my brain ring like a bell, it was torrential rain and the path was running with water and the footing was mud. It was beyond words to describe how we both felt when we got the the best guest house in the world!
Peace Lodge, they took us in, built us a fire, gave us a hot bucket of water to wash with and fed us.... never been so happy :) I even had a beer much to Danny disapproval, which didn't stop him drinking it too.
This was the point where we could have chosen to return to Kathmandu, the rain was still falling and we'd been truly battered by the elements. But it seemed such a waste of pain to stop now, so we decided to go up the other valley to Langtang. This is where the really big mountains lived and Danny was in puppy mode again so there was no stopping him. So with hamsters in overdrive we set off to get to the top of the valley in 2 days.....
It was the best decision we made as the weather started to clear and we got to see the most wonderful sights. The tail follows a river that was in full flood, it was awesome walking next to an element that had so much power it was a very angry river. We past our first automatic prayer wheel that was run via a water wheel, we walked our first massive suspension bridge, we got followed through the forest by a troop of white monkeys and we met and chatted to some great local people.
Langtang lays directly against the border with Tibet and it's the only location where the Nepalese and Tibetans trade over the boarder. there are a lot of Tibetan refugees in this area and the people in the area a very poor. the kids can't go to school because the parents can't afford the pens and paper to send them.
So with the sun now shinning we were feeling good, my feet hurt like hell Danny's foot was starting to cause him problems but we got to the top of the valley in 2 days and then dumped out bags and sprinted the last 2 miles to the glaciers and mountains... we had a great afternoon sitting in a little village at the head of the valley chatting to an English couple. Danny talked about trekking and adventure and i talked about toilets... very important thing for a woman a good toilet.
So, we got back down and hired a jeep to take us back to Kathmandu, we arrived feeling great, sore feet but healthy. Unknown to us that night some water borne parasite got into our water and down we went like flies. I shan't describe the visual but it took several days in hospital for me to stop evacuating all stomach contents.
The last week has been hell in Kathmandu... Danny has gone to Annapurna sanctuary to climb Tharpu Chuli peak with Akhil and i have opted to travel to Tibet instead as i'm still on the road to recovery and 2 weeks of walking and climbing is beyond me.
We'll be out of contact again until 5th of November-ish. Hopefully Danny will have climbed his 5600m peak and i will have seen the amazing city of Lhasa.
