So the end has come, i have walked for 22 days, completed several marathons, reached an altitude of 5416m, climbed about a million steps and had the time of my life! Sharon and Mark were the best companions i could have asked for, we shared so much on the journey and laughed hard everyday! To them i thank for the extra laughter lines i now have.....
Day 15 ..."relief we have done it..."
Relief and joy to be here.....we decided to stay another day to make sure we were all fit and well before carrying on and i was quite happy with that decision! There was still a layer of snow on the ground and so the days activities involved building a snowman (sharons first as she is from Florida). It was so much fun, there were only patches of snow but we perservered rolling balls and collecting half a tonne of yak poo in the process!!! A little boy of about two came to jion in with us but i had to keep an eye on him, trying to distract him from beating our snowman up by having snowball fights. He loved it and was soon cheering with joy as he managed to hit Sharon or Mark (i was the snowball maker), though we thought that teaching him how to throw snowballs may not have been such a good idea when he started to launch yak poo at his mates! Whoops!
Later on we visited Muktinath monastry, it is such a peaceful place and so beautiful, the snow lying on the ground and sprinkling the trees setting the mood. The monastry has prayer flags mounted everywhere, they are printed with the prayer 'om mani padme hum' and with each flap of the wind the prayers go into the world. A wonderful way to spread them i think. Here there are also 108 waterspouts which are respected as holy water and many people travel from far and wide to visit the monastry and touch the water from each spout as it is seen as holy. We spent some time here each in our own thoughts enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. On the way out i bought a prayer necklace as a reminder of the achievement i had made the day before and the monastry.
Day 16 ..."Our easy day..i never thought i would say that!"
We left with our new friend Paul (uk) to Kagbeni, a gentle downhill walk, singing songs on route and trying to remember all the words to Bohemian Rhapsody....we never did get them in the right order! Oh well..when in doubt just do be do be do it! Kagbeni is a beautiful village, we followed the winding streets along the cobbles set beside a stream dodging the herds of donkeys and calfs in the search of somewhere to stay. That found we chilled at a german bakery enjoying the delicous cake and basking in the sun before it set.
In the evening the four of us had dinner and played our usual card games, this time with a twist! A table next to us had been given this drink concoction with their dinner, we enquired as to what it was and they offered to let us taste it as they weren't all that keen and i wasn't surprised. The drink was in a shot glass the contents i am still not sure about....it was a beige colour yak cheese drink....it had a layer of oil on the top and nutty bits in it. It looked like diarrhoea/vomit!!!! Yet i still tried it under the context that it 'was actually quite nice' - thanks boys.....it was gross! So we played cards and the loser had to drink it....it was a tense game....thankfully Sharon and i got out quickly elliminating us from downing it. We sang 'we don't have to drink that shit' as the game continued before Mark lost and got the prize!!!! Yuk! As you can tell there wasn't an awful lot to do in the evenings!!!!
Day 17 ..."the replacable penis....who keeps stealing it?"
Before leaving Sharon and i went in search of 'Kheni' two primitive clay models built onto the walls as protective figures, one male and one female.....the reason will become clear why we wanted to find them (very childish!). In our hunt we inadvertantly entered a monastry the wrong way, feeling like tresspassers we crept around until we were spotted and paid. It was okay though we weren't in trouble...A kind monk took us to these figures when we enquired as to where they were in the village. The woman one was really battered and hard to make out, i think we had passed it several times without knowing. The man however was very dominating, it stood taller than me, white face with a big black moustache and a bright red coat. The most distinguishing thing about him though was his manhood displayed in full glory....a huge carved wooden penis. It looked very out of place against his clay body !?! The story is that his penis is constantly being replaced as it keeps getting stolen.....who is taking them and why?
Mission accomplished we left at midday to head to the next town....really we should have let alot earlier and we son found out why! The walk was easy being relatively flat but the wind was horrendous....unbelievably strong..at one point i just plonked myself on the groud as i thought i was going to get blown of the path! We all walked on, heads down, sunglasses on, scarfs over our mouths to try and avoid getting mouthfuls of dust.
We arrived in Marpha (apple town) abit dusty....showered and warmed up in the dining area. A group of us sat and chatted and enjoyed the speciality of the town...apple cider...and it was soooo good. The other drink i tried was 'mustang coffee' i had seen it all the way along and was intrigued so i thought i would go for it....in hindsight i wish i hadn't! It is made of coffee, sugar, tea and apple brandy, after a couple of sips i donated it....the smell of it was dreadful...vomit!!! No, it really stank of vomit! Later i was soon to become the evenings entertainment....throughout the towns a light festival was taking place, lots of candles, singing and dancing....i was soon grabbed into the street and made to dance! Sorry England i think i let you down with my interpretation of dancing......it was a fun evening though and the apple cider helped! Purely medicinal of course!
Day 18 ..."What to do with ourselves?"
Its so nice to have chilled walking days, no stress, no horrendous climbs, just walking and talking. Sharon and i each took an ear of my mp3 player and sang our way along, adding little dance moves every now and then to the amusement of ourselves. We arrived in the next village at 3pm, the earliest we had ever reached somewhere and we were all at a bit of a loss as to what to do? Eating was out of the question as it was too early for dinner so we read, played cards and chess and met new friends and then ate and ate and ate......
Day 19 ..."Quick, quick, blast"
Getting drizzled on with rain we decided to stop for lunch and wait it out....and just in time as it turned terrential! Now i was worried about leeches again....so when we left i tucked my trousers into my socks (a v hot look!).....would this be good enough protection against the blood suckers?!
We set off and soon found ourselves amongst some drama..."quick, quick, blast", a local shouted at us, so we started jogging forwards...then...."back, back, blast".....which way to go?!? We were shown to a locals house and told to get under the corrugated tin roof of the veranda and basically stay put until we were told otherwise. They were blasting the hillside to make way for the new road, the thing is i wasn't feeling that confident about the roof that we were sheltering under...would it save us from any stray debris? We soon heard a 'boom' and we were safe to go....not a piece of shrapnel in sight! The next obstacle was a dodgy suspension bridge, half of the netting missing and the parts that were there held evidence of a recent landslide!!! I just kept telling myself 'focus on your feet' until i had safely reached the otherside, sweating like a pig!!!
Arriving in Tatopani we had a treat, five minutes walk away there was a hot spring. Yay! We quickly gathered all of our stuff and got there in double quick time.... a hot bath, espeically great as we hadn't showered in a couple of days as it had been too cold! Sharon and i unfortunately had to make do with sarongs for swimming atire...fetching...not!!! Plus i really don't think that the 'second skin' look is really so great! It was a wonderful way to end the day though....
Day 20 .."another one bites the dust"
We started the day very late...(slight understatement!) actually rising at 11.45! Shocker! The thing is Sharon and i don't really help things, what normally happens is one of us will wake, look at the other and if they are still sleeping then go back to sleep themselves. We have even been known to ask the other "are you awake?" and then the reponse is obviously "no!"....excuse...well we like our warm beds! After having a late brunch, bags on we were set to go until Mark had to make a dash for the loo.....oh no.....he came back pasty faced and said he needed to stay another another night. He tried to convince us to head on without him but as i have said before we came as a team and thats the way it was going to stay. So we spent the rest of the day doing mundane things like washing.....and then later the hot springs!
Day 21 ..."how many flights of stairs could this be?"
As we had stayed an extra night we decided to do a long haul of a day to catch up on time.....this in turn meant a 1600m climb, we had been warned it was hard and steps most of the way...(who needs a stairmaster?)...fun fun fun! Five minutes after we had left Mark had to run back for another loo stop, Sharon and i carried on this time as we knew he would catch up in no time at all. Walking along the trail we came to a split in the path, having no-one to ask which way i turned to a stray dog who i named mutley, "which way do we go?". The dog took a path and having no-one to ask we followed, later on we were able to verify with a local that we were infact going the right way! Good old Mutley our angel dog. He stayed with us to the next village and then disappeared...probably going to help some others...
The walk was mind numbing...step after step after step...it was relentless.....after reaching the top we found out that we had gone up about 3000 steps!!!! Let me tell you it felt like it! We also had another Maoist checkpost to contend with....we explained that we had donated but not been given a reciept, then proceeded to pull out the camera and give them proof (Sharon with her 'comrades' holding the flag!). This seemed to do the trick but we were told that there were other stops and we may have problems.....we would just have to wait and see!
Day 22 ..."the finale...escaping the maoists!"
Rising at 5 am we headed out to venture up Poon hill to see the sunrise, we stepped outside into the pitch black and then realised we didn't actually know where we were going! The three of us all tired then had a mini disagreement....Mark telling us to follow the torches, Sharon and i trying to explain we hadnt seen any, and around and round in circles we went. Thankfully someone with a guide walked past ending out 'discussion'....we followed behind them up the hill. We were soon in a long line of people walking up, torches glowing there way up the hill......at the top it was freezing and we huddled together to keep warm. Slowly the sun rose in the sky illuminating the mountain peaks with oranges and reds, it was beautiful sight to see. You could see for miles into the distance, the valleys stretching out and mountains slowly coming into view as the light got brighter. Awesome.
The last day of our trek...a momentous day for all of us! Paul also jioned us, we were all walking out together. Yet another checkpost we encountered and again our story (which was true) worked, just another two to go! The way was down....all the way down, through villages that seemed to go on forever....jungles, past streams and waterfalls, it was very tropical. The descent was a hard one....step after step and so painful on my knees...something in my head must of snapped as the next moment i am hurtling down the steps at the rate of knots. People i passed must have thought i was a complete nutter as i whizzed past.....i just didn't want to stop....i wanted to get to the bottom and get it over and done with. It took a couple of hours to finally hit a falt surface! That was the worst done, from then on it was 'nepali flat' which in english actually means up, down, up, down.....!
Walking next to the river we came across a little girl carrying two bags on her head (the bags were in a sling, the strap across her forehead), one rice the other flour. She dropped a bag on the floor and was struggling to pick it up, Sharon helped her by taking one of the loads, in return the little girl unknowingly helped us 'escape' the maoists...We saw a checkpoint ahead....how could we avoid this one?....a plan emmerged....We went back to the little girl and offered to carry her load to her house. We followed her across the bridge and up through fields to her home where we deposited her goods at her home. We were now on the other side of the river....and could see another bridge in sight....if only we could get to it without being spotted! We tried being invisable but needless to say that didn't work so we just had to hope for the best. One guy came up to us offering his 'help'...."i can take you a short cut"...yeah right...i don't think so...i think he would have just walked us into the lions den!!!! So we ignored him and carried on......we crossed the bridge and high fived eachother with glee! Again we had done it.....i must admit i was abit of a twitching wreck the whole time!!!! The last checkpost was shut when we reached it so they didn't get any of our money, leaving us some dough to get some beers once in 'civilisation'!
The finished our trek as we had started it, in the dark with our torches.....how apt! Caught a taxi back to Pokhara and headed to the first restaurent we came to for a slap up meal and a beer....the shower could wait!
