My travel diaries
Tuesday 5 June, 2007 - Shin Gompa, Langtang, Nepal
Yesterday was our last day on the Tamang Heritage Trail. Our plan from here is to head east into the Langtang region, up to the sacred lakes of Gosainkund, over the Laurebinayak pass, the highest point of our trek, and then south through the Helambu region back to Kathmandu.
We know that the monsoon is due any day now, but so far on the trail the sun has been unrelenting. With a long climb ahead of us today, we decide to leave early to gain as much height as we can before the sun strikes the trail. We leave at 6.45, crossing from the roadhead at the more modern western part of Syaphru Besi ("Syaphru Base"), to the eastern part of old Syaphru Besi the other side of the river. We cross a second bridge and begin our climb to Thulo Syaphru ("Big Syaphru") high above us. It's an ascent of 800m, but we start in the shade and most of the climb is through forest, so it doesn't seem quite so tough. The land here is rich with wildlife, and at one point Siling spots a mountain scops owl perching on a branch. It's a tiny little thing, smaller than a blackbird, with little miniature ears, and I don't know how he managed to spot it, so well camouflaged it is against the tree. And after our rafting trip in Bardia two weeks ago, we've now seen the smallest owl in Nepal as well as the largest, the tawny fish owl.
We reach Thulo Syaphru at around 9 o'clock. This is a fairly well developed village perched halfway up the hill, and there are some more comfortable trekking lodges to those we've encountered so far. We stop in one of them for soft drinks, and the lady owner tries to sell me a book about Langtang treks. Our intention was to stop in Dursagang, about 500m further up the trail, but while we're resting Siling suggests we continue on to Shin Gompa instead, as we are making good time.
"And I bet you a Mars bar we'll get to Shin Gompa and then you suggest we carry on to Laurebina!" I say to him.
But I know his suggestion makes sense - not only do we have plenty of time ahead of us, but I know that the lodges will be more comfortable at Shin Gompa. We arrive in Dursagang, where we had been intending to spend the night, at 11am. We're now reaching the cloud line, and it's only just warm enough to sit outside. We have lunch here in a very basic lodge, and Maila helps the owner to prepare our chow mein while Siling administers some first aid to an old man who has cut his hand with a hammer and let it go septic. It's the time of year for winnowing, and sheaves of barley have been laid out in the yard. An old lady sets fire to the pile to burn away the husks and leave the grain.
We depart from Dursagang at midday and continue to ascend through mixed forest of oak trees and conifers. Maila sees some wild boar footprints; this is an area where black bears and red panda can be found if one is lucky. We stop for a rest and hear a very strange sound nearby.
"What was that?" I ask.
"Tiger," says Maila, grinning.
"Don't say that - Siling will make us climb a tree!" I reply, remembering my hour spent hanging from branches in Bardia National Park two weeks ago.
"Tiger climb tree, too," says Maila.
"But hopefully not as well as us," I reply, "or Siling, anyway. I'm not so sure about myself."
In the end the noise turns out to be made by a cow with an unusual throat condition.
By 1.30 we have reached a ridge at a place marked on the map as Danda Tea Shop in a very picturesque location looking both east and west. The views would surely be good were we not stuck in cloud. It takes us another half hour to reach Shin Gompa. We're now almost a day ahead of schedule having made a steady ascent of 1800m today, all the way up to 3250m, the highest we've been on the trek so far.
Siling chooses a guest house and we follow him in. We put our bags down and slump into seats.
"Right, shall we stop for a cup of tea here and then press on to Laurebina?" I say to him. For a moment he looks horrified before he realises I'm joking. If I wanted to press on a little further, then I know they would have agreed - it would be embarrassing for the mountain boys to admit it if they preferred to rest, especially when challenged by an Englishman.
This is the first cold place we've stayed in. Mist swirls all around us and in the afternoon it rains. According to Siling's newspaper the monsoon arrives tomorrow.Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
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