There are two steep climbs, one just before Ghasa and one after Lete, but both are relatively short. The stretch from Ghasa to Lete is along the left bank of the river and provides a good view of Annapurnas. The path there is laid with roundish, large size rocks - ankle twisters. The river itself looks very weak and small, but one only needs to look at the left bank of the river to imagine how it looks during the mansoon. The left bank is at least a 100m cliff, completely razed by the current. After climbing up to the plato after Lete the weather changes noticeably. There is a small pine forest and the snow line of the mountains looks very near.
In Kalopani the views of Nilgiri and the Annapurnas lit up by the sunset are amazing. I stayed there in ``See You lodge''. The lodge has a large table with coals underneath to keep your feet warm. There I met an old Scottish couple. Jimmy Thin, an ex-bookstore owner from Edinburg, told me how he hitchhiked in Switzerland in 1949 wearing a kilt, and how he was arrested for crossing the road at the wrong place. He seemed to be proud of his achievements. I told him about my impressions of Switzerland and about a Scottish friend of mine that lives up to the Scottish standards of (mis)behaviour in der Schweiz. Jimmy Thin was not surprised that the things in CH are still the way they were in '49. I was not surprised that CH in '49 was pretty well the same it is now.
Kalopani has no electricity, so it was ``good night'' at 8pm.
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06.03.92 - Kalopani - Lete - Ghasa - Dana - Tatopani
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The plane situation in Jomosom was not clear yet, the strike was still on. I wanted to spend some time in Kathmandu, so I decided to return to Tatopani. In the morning I left my pack at the lodge in Kalopani and went up the river, towards Larjung and Tukche. The river widens up on the plato and I walked along the dry river bed (the path goes along the left bank of the river). There were many caravans crossing the dry river. I walked up for about an hour, then turned back, picked up my pack at Kalopani and went back to Tatopani.
The return trip was very uneventful, except that I talked with a Nepali that runs a little road-side restaurant and lodge. He said that a few years ago he bought a piece of land on the left bank of the river for 16,000NR and turned it into a field. But one day the field was gone - the whole river bank was razed by the river after a mansoon. I asked him if he got any compensation from the government, he said that all he got was 50NR and 10 kilos of rice. He runs the little restaurant now and tends the second field he has, this one is a bit away from the river. He has 4 children, all go to school except for the older daughter who had to stop the school after four classes to help him at home. The school is 2 hours walk away, in Dana, and the children go there every day. Up to the sixth grade the school is free, including books, uniforms, stationary, etc.
When I got back to Tatopani it was already after 4pm and Kamala lodge was full. I stayed at a lodge across the street, but ate at Kamala. This was not appreciated by the guy who run the lodge, but the restaurant at Kamala is much better.
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07.03.92 - Tatopani - Beni
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The walk from Tatopani to Beni was long, but enjoyable. There are not many villages on the way, so it is a good idea to carry plenty of water or water purification tablets. The path follows the rocky left bank of the river. Sometimes the trail is cut through the rock and one ends up walking almost in a tunnel with the one of the sides open. There is not much climbing on that part of the trek. As I approached Beni, there was lots traffic: donkeys, porters, etc. At one time a large group of porters carried a suspension bridge cable. The cable was at least 200m long and there was a porter every 5m or so. The whole procession snaked along the hills, sharp turns, descents and ascents on the way. It requires a lot of coordination to even pick up the cable - about 40 porters are involved, there are so many turns on the path that any porter may see only 2 or 3 of his neighbours. To carry it, they all have to walk with the same speed.
Beni looks like a western ``cowboys and indians'' town, with a single street and 2-3 story houses on each side of it. Almost no people (perhaps due to heat), lots of dust. I could almost hear the tune from ``The good, the bad and the ugly'' and half expected Clint Eastwood to ride in any moment.
In Beni I stayed in Namaste lodge. The lodge is run by a large family. The whole family lives in the same house: adults, children, goats, chickens, trekkers and mosquitos. One westerner using a dental floss was a great entertainment for the locals. When he gave some of the floss to the locals then the whole happily flossing family became a great entertainment for the trekkers. I got very little sleep there, there were billions of mosquitos and they were everywhere.
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08.03.92 - Beni - Kusma - Pokhara
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After about 4 hours of walk I reached the end (beginning) of the new road that is being built from Pokhara to Baglung. At that place the road is nothing more than a large trail blown along the side of the mountains. That is where one can catch a ride on a truck back to Pokhara.
The end of the road, the ``terminus'', in some ways reminded me of some science fiction movies depicting old decrepit star bases out in nowhere, with all various space creatures simply wanting to get out of there. This place was dusty, completely gray and yellow - no tree or grass could grow there. It was full of all sorts of tired, dusty, unshaven, dirty people and animals: Tibetans, locals, Buddhists, trekkers, truck drivers, children, cows, goats, chickens, porters, laden donkeys. All were moving, shouting, talking, hissing, whistling, eating, drinking, spitting, washing, meditating, sleeping, arguing, selling and buying. Although there were a few buildings, most of the people were outside. The buildings were nothing more than randomly assembled wooden or metal frames with plastic wrapping and signs like ``Eagle Fooding and Lodging'' or ``Hotel Lucky''.
Suddenly a man looking official (he had a shirt that was white no more than 3 days before) appeared and said that there would be two trucks going back to Pokhara at 1pm and that we could seat on the top of the cabin for 200NR. That sounded like a reasonable deal for a 4 hour ride. Shortly a truck appeared and I, along with several other trekkers, climbed up on the roof. This is probably the least dusty place in the truck outside the cabin. After we made ourselves relatively comfortable, the truck moved up the street, turned around and stopped. There was a big commotion outside the truck and in the back of the truck.
Apparently a local thief pickpocketed the truck driver's vallet and among other things stole the permit required to drive the truck on the unfinished road. Some of the people from the crowd caught the thief, but not before he managed to destroy the evidence - he tore up the permit, money, and everything else he stole. Needless to say that the crowd was a bit upset - in the worst case that could mean that we all would have to wait until the new permit is issued or until another truck comes. That would mean overnighting in this god-forgotten place. The thief was caught and tied in the middle of the back compartment of the truck. Lots of people were shouting at him, and he was pushed around a bit before they managed to tie him up. He asked for water and someone poored water from a jug in his mouth, his hands were still tied up. I was afraid that they would hang him right there or at least kick the shit out of the guy (there was no police around). I was quite surprised that the whole incident ended up in a lot of shouting, but nobody had actually hit the thief. Eventually the truck moved and the thief was dumped at the police station instead of the permit. In any western so-called ``civilisation'' that I know of, the thief would never get out of the situation without being administered a good amount of crowd justice.
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(Rest day; Island)
In Pokhara I stayed at ``Bedrock'' hotel, where I got a separate room with a private shower. I was splurging by Pokhara standards - I paid 100NR (about 2) per night. The price took a lot of bargaining, the owner even showed me the hotel booklet for the US and European travel agencies, where the same room was advertised for 29.95!! So, although the room was pricy by Pokhara standards (one can get a room with shared facilities for 50NR), it was still a very good deal by international standards.
Pokhara is a great place to rest and to eat after the trek. There is more food variety there then in the whole of Switzerland. There you can get everything: Chineese food, Indian, Tibetan, chicken kiev, Swiss fondue (eek!), even something called ``kwality ice-cream''. Besides eating, doing laundry and meeting (drinking with) all trekkers you met on the trek before, there is little else to do in Pokhara. I rented a boat and paddled to the tiny island on the lake. The island has a few trees and a Hindu temple in the usual run-down state. The Hindu temple is apparently quite significant, it is used during a festival, once a year, for an animal sacrifice.
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11.03.92 - Pokhara - Kathmandu
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The bus trip back to Kathmandu was just as much fun as the bus trip to Pokhara. I ended up sitting at the end of the bus, behind the rear axle. That meant that all the road bumps were amplified. There was also a Nepali guy who was travelling with his family and tried to impress them (and me) with his knowledge of air travel. He said that he worked in airport and once went to Germany. So the whole conversation was something like:
Lufthansa is good. Service very good. Frankfurt - Munich 43 minutes, 727. Frankfurt - Bonn 24 minutes, 737. Good plane, Lufthansa good....
Eventually I pretended to fall asleep, but he kept on waking me up with the new information on air-schedules.
He was also very interested in prices of things. How much does it cost to fly to Kathmandu? 1500 Dollars ????? Wow!!!!! How much is your watch? 40 dollars??? Wow!!!! How much did you pay for your camera? 400 dollars??? Wow!!!! How much is your salary???? They all seem to think that everyone who comes to Nepal is millionaire. |
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