Betty with her expertly carved walking stick

Some Yaks

Me on Kynjin Ri!

View from the top of Kynjin Ri: Day 5

Highlight of the trip! Even though I woke up with a ridiculously sore back and started my day by rolling around on the floor with Betty's tennis ball trying to work out the kinks in my neck and back, this day was by far the most spectacular! I popped a couple of Tylenols to fix my back and after a yummy breakfast of friend potatoes and vegetables we bundled up for snow and headed up Kynjin Ri. Even though we were trekking in snow (which, by the way, my trusty fake North Face hiking boots held up well in!) by the time we got about 20 minutes up we were warmed by the sun - so we paired down our layers. We hiked straight up between the crevasse of two mountains (with quite a few breaks since it was our only plan for the day) and made it to the top by around 10:30am. The view was incredible! We had a 360 degree view of snowey mountains, glaciers and jagged peaks - the perfect end (well turn around point) to our trek. The way down was even better. We took an alternate route and ended up walking along the top of a ridge back down to the village, past a structure with prayer flags, a memorial plaque, stone inukshuk-like structures (which our guides called "houses" - Sahadev said "your dreams would be filfilled if you built a house" - so of course we built little stone houses :). We arrived back in Kynjin Gumpa just in time for lunch, a nap, and to enjoy the rest of a lazy, sunny afternoon.

Day 4: Langtang to Kynjin Gumpa

Going from 1496m in Lama to 3330m in Langtang, it's definitely getting colder in the evenings. Betty and I bundled ourselves up last night to go explore Langtang Village and even more at night (in our rock hard beds) to keep ourselves warm. It's definitely a change from the desert we were in less than two weeks ago! We had another pleasant, short (3h, apparently we're quite speedy) hike today to Kynjin Gumpa. Everyone you pass here says "Namaste" or "good morning". It's nice and reminds me of the Coast :) We also saw a lot of local people on the trails, carrying food and supplies up to the villages. The size and weight of the loads carried is incredible and the people carrying them vary from as young as nine to as old as about late sixties? None of them complain and they all carry the massive loads by a single strap balanced on the top of their heads. It now makes sense why so many of the people I saw in villages on the way up had such stooped posture.

Today was our first sighting of the snowy mountains. We arrived in Kynjin Gunpa around 10:30am, had our first (and hottest yet!) bucket shower and then went to explore a nearby Tibetan monastery where we lit yak butter candles and then sat on a rock and enjoyed the view until the clouds rolled in and low and behold it snowed! It was pretty cool. Thank goodness for wood stoves and ginger tea. All of the people from the guesthouse huddled around the stove to keep warm to eat dinner before retiring up to bed.

Pilgrim Guesthouse: Langtang Village

Lunchtime Scenery Day 3: Lama Village to Langtang

Day three was much easier than day two, and it was a beautiful day even after the thundering and lightening the night before (thankfully it was only at dinner time and while we slept - it was still quite fun though :). I had my last soya milk (I bought two in Kathmandu that were non-dairy!) in my coffee which was AMAZING and gave the rest of it to Binita who devoured it like a crazed animal (apparently soya milk has a good bit of sugar in it?), had fried rice and egg for breakfast and then me, Betty, Sagadev (our guide) and Bijay (our porter) headed off. The small ups and frequent flats (and even some downhills) of the walk had me feeling like we picked the right trek: something that we would enjoy and wouldn't kill us. We had an awesome dal bhat (lentil soup) with curry and some ginger tea (my drink of the trek) for lunch and enjoyed the spectacular view, complete with prayer flags and ponies. We passed another army checkpoint and watched a helicopter fly overhead (to rescue someone? Somewhat creepy, though I was glad to see it was possible) and arrived at Pilgrime Guesthouse in Langtang at an early 1pm. We changed into dry clothes, napped and relaxed the rest of the day. Rough day :)