A two day easy trek!! Well ***** me that was tough!
The first day starting at Sundarijal and a sharp climb of approximately 500 meters and 8 miles to Chisopani.
I started well, chatting to SanchaRam my guide for three days. He’s really tall for a Nepali and in his mid thirties at a guess. He’d just come back from guiding a long trek in Mustang.
Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park entrance is managed by the Army (as all the trekking routes are) and you need a permit to enter, that seemed strange to me but, this was all arranged by my guide and we passed the checkpoint and into the park. Just past Sundarijal waterfall the steps appeared and I had to concentrate on my breathing. My pack felt heavy, although I’d left what I thought was not essential at my hotel, I really didn’t know what to expect so I probably bought too much.
We passed a Nepal Scouts Training Centre, a house that had once been a prison for a prime minister.
We continued to climb resting fairly often to have a drink and I used my water filter to good effect here. Its hot in the mornings here, peaking about 1130a.m and we were both sweating but, SanchaRam was not puffing like I me.
We passed many little traditional farms, with poultry scuttling about, maize drying in stacks or hanging from rooftops.
Thank goodness I brought a pole to walk with as the path was quite uneaven a tricky in places. At one point my stomach began loud gurgling whenever I stopped moving, then my breathing went haywire and I sat down feeling really dizzy. I lay back in the yard of a little homestead and waited for the feeling to subside. I was pretty sure it wasn’t altitude sickness as we were below 2500 metres. Anyway the sensation went away quickly and I sat up feeling so much better, I was probably hyperventilating and probably hungry.
SanchRam waited patiently and checked I was OK to continue.
Up and Up, slowly slowly. Resting occasionally, looking at the scenery and the huge ragged cannabis plants amongst other the shrubs and trees.
At 1130 hours we stopped at a little cafe and had lunch, I was ravenous and demolished a plate of vegetable noodles, cola, and lots of weak black tea.
I asked if there was a toilet and was invited into the home of the owner.
I had been prepped, take your shoes off in someone’s home (and leave your smelly sock on, Hahaha) use the house shoes to enter the toilet area. I had a peak in the rooms, all quite spartan, bed rolls on the floor, bright rugs and a couple of wooden chairs. All quite dark inside. The toilet was clean yippee!
Looking out over sprawling Kathmandu we already seemed quite high but the trail carries on up. I was quite determined to carry my own pack and felt quite bad when SanchaRam suggest we swap but, his was a little lighter and helped a lot.
I slowed my pace and got into a rhythm as we entered the Jungle proper. It was silent, occasionally we passed a glade where birds were chattering. We saw where Wild Boar had been digging and several groups of Macaques in the trees. SanchaRam said there were bears and leopard’s in the park along with pangolins and others but they are rarely seen.
At one point we met another hiker coming down, he was Californian and said “further up its really beautiful aside from all the trash!” And its a sad truth there is rubbish everywhere even in the National Park.
Someone had told me that the Eastern way is its to keep your home and forecourt clean, everything else is just ‘outside’ and is of no concern. Not sure if that is true but, it does seem that way.
SanchaRam said education is the key and it will take a lot to change peoples attitude.
Up and up, then finally we made the pass and I’m only showing you the picture so you can see what an effort that climb was for me, I was exhausted.
Four hours of climbing, and then one and a half hours undulating downward path to Chisapani.
Passing the Army checkpoint we leave the park and enter the strangest village, one pink house ahead of us at an alarming angle, robbed of its windows and just left hovering over other buildings.
A short walk to our newly built tea house/hotel and the fantastic view over the Himalaya, like ragged teeth on the horizon. The lodge was named after one of the peaks Dorje Lakpa. I watched the sunset and the valley fill with mist, little lights sprang up all across the valley showing it to be quite populated with little homesteads.
The hotel room was clean but, the hot water was not working! So a cold wash brrr! Then an hour watching the owners wife (with woollen hat that had the word OBEY stitched onto it) deseeding Karela, a kind of cucumber, which was to be part of my dinner. I played with two little boys and showed them pictures of elephants and cats on my phone, chattering away in Nepali.
There were two other European women at the hotel, like me each had a guide. The other patrons seemed to be Nepali men and a bit drunk I think. After dinner, straight to bed with the bedding of the two beds and my sleeping bag for good measure…..
The Travelling Bee 