One Year Away

Joseph

6.30 AM – Wake up.  Peek out of sleeping bag…it’s cold in the room.  Get out and quickly change out of night clothes into walking clothes.

7.00 AM – Meet Clare and Darroch (our trekking companions) and Kaji and Laddu (our guide and porter).  Order a breakfast of milk tea, boiled eggs and Tibetan bread (a delicious fried bread).  Over breakfast we look at our maps and trekking books to see what’s in store for us that day.  After breakfast we fill two water bottles and treat them with iodine tablets.

8.00 AM – Pay lodge bill and  hit the trail.  Kaji walks in the lead with the rest of us following mostly in single file on the often narrow trail.

8.02 AM – Leave village area and follow the trail into the hills.

9.00 AM – Walking, walking, walking…

10.00 AM – Tea stop.  We find a small tea house on the trail and stop for a break and to have a drink.  A big pot of milk tea and a small one of hot lemon are much appreciated.
 
11.00 AM -Walking, photo stop, walking…

12.00 PM – Getting hungry…but our destination for the day is only one hour walk away.  We find a chultara (stone bench/resting area) and eat a chocolate bar.  We keep walking.

1.00 PM – Around the next bend we see the collection of stone houses that is our destination.  The largest buildings and those with corrugated metal roofs are the tourist lodges.  We walk into the village and Kaji leads us to a lodge he knows.  We greet the owner, inspect the rooms and drop our bags.

1.15 PM – Lunch time!  We try to order similar meals to each other so that the lodge owner has an easier time and uses less firewood for cooking.  Dal bhat is the favorite dish – it is a tin tray with four sections with rice, lentils, curried vegetables and a pickle.  Free refills…

2.30 PM – One by one we make our way to the solar heated shower to take advantage of the water while it’s still hot.

3.30 PM – After a brief look around the village it’s time for a rest.  A nap or long break to read.

6.00 PM – Meet for dinner in the lodge dining room.  Instead of Dal bhat this time we order some fried noodles with vegetables, egg and yak cheese.  Yummy!

7.00 PM – Darroch teaches us how to play a new card game.  When the power cuts off we continue playing by candlelight.

8.30 PM – Bedtime!  We’re tired from the walk and want to sleep.  The altitude makes sleep difficult though and we wake up several times in the night.  On the plus side, dreams are vivid and easily remembered.