NEPAL [ A Family Trekking Travelogue ] - by limwhow & SereneXMM

[limwhow]

... after Deurali Pass, and heading for that steep slope...

Walking along the Ridge always give us surprises after surprises.
Full of surprises. Really full of 'em.
One moment we were in the Rhododendron forest, another moment we were out.
And suddenly looking to the right we caught sight of a breathtaking scene.
And SereneXMM just had to stop in her track to take a shot of the view...

Here is that shot of hers:

I was equally intoxicated by the sight. And spent a tad longer to take it in.
By the time I turned my attention back to SereneXMM, she had already leaped up the steep climb...
Just like a Mountain Goat!

I struggled half way up that steep climb, and I looked back to see Q and Fann the Penguin far away behind me.
There was two paths up ~ one short, but steep and required big climbs, the other longer but more gradual with steps.
I'd better warn the girls about not doing that steep one.
Impossible to shout, I walkied talkied them:

But knowing Q and Fann, they are one kind of relaxed trekker, very different from me.
The sky can threaten to crumble and they would still be standing there appreciating the view.
So here was Q doing just that...

[Shot taken by Fann]

 

[limwhow]

... into the thick forest of Rhododenron yet again...

I really can only imagine during the blossom season, the whole forest would have been a canopy of red.
But now, we found ourselves trudging into the shade of the tall trees.
And the very frequent climbs were no less painful.
AhSing Jiejie was really strong. Her drive continued despite the pain.

After the ups, came the down...

... and AhLiXMM and AhSing were taking a little breather in the middle of the track, waiting for us...

And I was so impressed when I found an arrow that was drawn by AhLiXMM!
Both AhLiXMM and AhSing had the presence of mind to make sure they directed those of us behind the correct path, or a better path to take.
Very thoughtful of them...

 

[limwhow]

... of Two-legged tree and Prayer flags...

The walkie talkie crackled. It was AhSing and AhLiXMM..
"Bzzzz... Papa, Papa.. there is a tree with two legs ahead of you.. you can see it when you walk upwards some more."
"Ok, thank you for telling me. I will keep an eye out for it," I replied.
And hahaha.. indeed there it was.
I did what a typical Nepali man would do.. I went round and round and round and round the tree...
And I poke my head through the two legs.. And gotten SereneXMM to take a shot of me to keep it as a record.

The climb was still tough, with ups and downs..
But at least we were in the shades and it was nice and cold.
Then, suddenly we came upon prayer flags.
Until now, for as long as we have trekked, we haven't seen Buddhist prayer flags yet.
Understandable, the first two days of our trek we were trekking in Margar territory.
The Margars are Hindus. And now, as we approach Gandruk, we are entering Gurung territory. Gurungs are Buddhist tribes.
Aaaaah.. thus explained the Buddhist prayer flags.

.. hehehe.. me and my mischievous self. What else is new?
I quickly walked up to the prayer flags and hoped for blessings...

[Shot taken by SereneXMM]

Jokes aside, the trek was only half way through. There was more to come.
Hopefully with the second half, there would be not too many surprises.
Or even if there were, please let us all go through them with no harm.

[Another angle by SereneXMM]

 

[limwhow]

... the last time I saw the son.. until we came to Tadapani...
Yes, you people must be thinking that I was crazy.
But indeed this was the truth.
Right after the prayer flag, I caught sight of that young man.
After that, for the rest of the trek, he was way ahead with the porters, constantly keeping in touch with us via the walkie talkie and keeping us informed of the dangers ahead..

Danger?
What danger? Trekking in Nepal has danger one meh?

 

[limwhow]

"There is a very very slippery slope ahead!" came the son over the walkie talkie.
"It's so slippery, I slipped and fell a few times together with Ramesh. And he helped me up," continued the young man over the walkie talkie. "Be very careful!"

Hmmm... slippery slope?
The impact of his message didn't hit me until we suddenly found ourselves stepping onto ice....
Yes. Frozen ice.
Shucks.. where were all my shoe-studs?!
I brought everyone's shoe-studs just for this very purpose.
But now they were all packed in the big backpacks and were with the porters all the way ahead liao.
Goodness. I totally didn't expect this. Otherwise I would have distributed the shoe-studs to every one and it would be easier.

[Shot taken by Fann. Her favourite shot of her own feet.]

Looking back, we have unknowingly entered the permanently frozen part of the forest.
Mahesh: "It's above 3000m here, and the ground is forever in the shades of the Rhododendron trees. So it is forever cold here."
"And the ground is always frozen hard."

Goodness me. Goodness me.
The son was way ahead and had slipped a few times. Thankfully Ramesh was with him.
The two younger girls were slightly in front and were gingerly walking. Thankfully Mahesh was with them.
And here I was with SereneXMM and the two elder girls. And we were all ice-skating.

 

[limwhow]

The first real danger on the trek...

For the second time on this trek (the first being up Poon Hill) I felt a sense of helplessness.
"Shucks. What have I gotten the family into?" I questioned myself. "This is no joke. Really."
"Even for myself, every step I take I can feel my shoes slipping. How can I expect the children to walk without accident?"

SereneXMM of course as always, was the first to make noise.
It wasn't easy for me to walk, and what more for a young and weak little lady like her.. Hahahaha..
But she was brave.

Fann was just walking behind Q. And at this moment it just hit them that the ground is super frozen hard.
It would have been easy to walk in fresh snow, for that would be soft and tread-able. But frozen ice was another thing all together.
The dangerous thing was, the edge of the slope was just, as always, centimetres away.
Thus if any one was to slipped, it would have meant a free one way ticket down.

And what else was to come?
Yes, the ground was root-bound. And it was still undulating a terrain that we were walking in.
So many times, I found myself having no anchor to step onto, on my way downslope.

"Childen, children..." I buzzed over the walkie talkie. "Be very careful. If you cannot walk down the slope, just use your butt."
Silly advice. Didn't know if it would even work or not.

The progess was painfully slow and scary.
We were hoping only for flat ground on which we could one step by one step swhished our way ahead.
But unfortunately this terrain presented us with slopes after slopes.
And the frozen ice just didn't relent.

 

[limwhow]

... A Mesh of Roots and Ice ...

Yeah, it was all just like the photo that Fann shot below..

It is hardly possible to step on the roots or in between them without slipping.
We literally had to look for either dungs from ponies or patches of mosses (although slippery in themselves, were relatively less slippery) to step on.

Going up slope, I personally found no anchor at all on my feet.
And time and time again, I had to dig deep in with both my trekking sticks and use all my arm strength to push myself up.
The dig would have to be deep enough, if not, even the stick would slip.
Sounded really crazy right?
Yeah... but it was just so crazy.

 

[limwhow]

... and trekking sticks are good for pulling people up icy slopes too...

Yah. Didn't know that.
Until we reached this slope.
Again I carefully and slowly pushed myself up with only my sticks.
Then looking back, I saw Q swishing around.

"Aaaaaaahhh... can I crawl towards you?" she exclaimed.
"Or can I step further up the slope on the right side?"

Huh? What you talking about, Q?
Haha.. she was really in a fix. Cannot move backwards nor forward.
She was very very happy with her trekking shoes. First time I see her shoes failed her. Haha..
Anyway, at that point in time, the urgency was to get her over.

I found the mosses very important for when I stepped on them at least I could move forward.
But until today I could not explain if these patches of moss where stable or not, meaning that if I were unlucky, would the patch itself slip from under my foot and bring me down too?
I didn't know, and would never know.

Finally, I was able to pull her over with the trekking stick.
Useful. For what they were worth, the trekking sticks were MOST IMPORTANT on this day at this time.

 

[limwhow]

A video of our ice skating...
Can hear SereneXMM KB KBing in the background.

Apologies.
Really this unexpected turn of ground condition caught me totally by surprised.
Aside from the photos that I have taken and the little bit of video I managed to capture,
I wasn't able to achieve any more pictorial documentation,
because I was more frightened myself
and trying my hardest to overcome the obstacles.
Thus this was my only set of videos.

[video=youtube_share;L098RXDHqKk]http://youtu.be/L098RXDHqKk[/video]
​

 

[limwhow]

... Is this the end? Or are there more icy slopes to come?

"Son, how are things over your side in front?" I buzzed him on the walkie talkie.
"Papa, Papa... more slopes. Wow.. there is another big icy slope.. I also slipped here. Luckily got Ramesh." he replied.
"Ok OK.. you be careful. We are way behind you. But we are walking slowly. Over." I instructed him.

I guess as much. When one is at 3000m and above and covered by shades within a thick forest, the air is expected to be freezing cold, and the ground frozen hard. Haiyah.. I should have known. But this is what I meant by no amount of preparation would prepare us for this.

The big difference between the mountain people and us city-dwellers..
People would ask: "Wouldn't Mahesh been able to warn you all before hand?"
Good question, I would say.
But there is one big fundamental difference between a Nepali mountain person and a tropical city-dweller ~ the mountain people would walk this trek like there is no big issues.
Why do I say that?
Because even as we were skating on ice on this trail, we saw groups after groups of Nepali porters and locals climbing up and down these very slopes that we were walking on, with hardly a blink of their eyes.
And they were wearing those normal rubber boots that we see so often worn by fish-mongers in the markets.
And what more, they were having heavy weights strapped to their forehead!
I really could not believe - to these people, the ice was nothing.

Moving on...

So we struggled on. Trying to muster whatever little amount of friction the sole of our trekking boots could grip.
... grit our teeth and groaned when we took on icy ascends and frozen descends, and heaved a sigh of relief when we have some good grounds..

... and we were constantly on the look out for slippery parts that could be deceptively misleading.
After a while, we could tell which was a good ground, and which was not... Haha...

.. the family trudged on, hearts in throat, knees bent at all times to absorb whatever shock the ground would send upwards.
And we crossed freezing streams on equally icy and slippery wooden bridges... to find another icy slope just ahead of us.
What an adventure for a group of Singaporeans!

 

[limwhow]

As abruptly as the permafrost came, they went..

Yes, the frozen ground below us just went away as we descended to a slightly lower level.
Just like that.
Sigh... so unbelievable.
And we were back on gravel track and soil again... and the surrounding just went passing by, as though nothing had happened earlier on in that Rhododendron forest. My goodness.
Whatever it is, some form of blessings and protection was in action.
And we all made it out of that Rhododendron forest in one piece.

Click on the image below for a larger version...


Yes, we went on trekking, as we looked forward again to Tadapani.

 

[limwhow]

Yes, down to the bottom of the valley before the last climb...

Righto.
As can be seen on the GPS map, we would do one last descend before we head up to the last climb up Tadapani.
And we could begin to see the drop.. steps after broken steps downwards.

Never a stretch without seeing a local porter lugging a heavy load up to the next village.

.. and here, we came to the bottom of the valley.
And AhSing was so cute, she instinctively grabbed several stones and made a Longda while AhLiXMM looked on.
"Just for blessings and for good luck," AhSing said. "We saw some of the small Longdas along the way, stacked by the local villagers."
"Ok AhSing. That's a good idea. Who knows, maybe years later when you return to this spot, you will still see your Longda standing there," I teased her.
"Yah, maybe hor.." laughingly she agreed.

The Longda at the bottom of the Valley...

And here is her creation...

 

[limwhow]

Lunch time, no?

By now, everyone was tired.
And desperately in need of some infusion of fluid and glucose.
Lunch destination which Mahesh planned, was just over another hill...

Exhausted, SereneXMM and I stumbled into the little village where the front party were awaiting.
Don't ask me what we had for lunch. Because after all the excitement, my brain could register nothing any more.
And if I were to hazard a guess, it would be nothing else other than my normal hot lemon tea and Dal Bhat.

Here, just to put things into perspective, was Lunch Point.
At the bottom of the last ascend.
Ok lah. After lunch we will all give it our BEST shot up to Tadapani...

We were all secretly hoping that the guest lodge in Tadapani would be.. good.
Why? We all had been wearing the same Base layers for the past three days, and we desperately need
a good hot shower, some warm food, warm drinks, a good wash up and... sleep.

 

[limwhow]

The Home Run towards Tadapani...

Yeah.. it'd been a long, tiring day. And we had all outdone ourselves, especially SereneXMM and the children.
It was time for a last burst of fire towards our destination, Tadapani at an altitude of 2660m.
After descending to the bottom of the valley, we were now gearing ourselves for the last ascend.
Here, looking down from the view point at Tadapani, was the track up of our last ascend, from the goal keeper's vantage point.

Click on the image below for a larger version.


It was 2:30pm already.
And the sun was going down below the mountains.
The chill of the cold air was starting to get to our tired body.
As exhausted as my body, was my operating of the rangefinder... LOL.. I had no strength to do the usual manual focus, nor the shutter speed estimate.
Everything was aga-aga already.
Thus these shots were all the best record shots my shagged brain and hands could muster at that point in time.
Still, they recorded the moments of our hike up..

Right after lunch, we started.

And very soon, the step-ups came.. and they kept coming and coming and coming...
From ascends with rock steps...

... to ascends with nothing more than gravel slopes...
with some stones and rocks any how strewn just to fill up the decorations...
.. to finally arrive at..

Tadapani...!

Yes, we finally completed the toughest day of the whole trek.
Phew... what a relief.

The walkie talkie came crackling through. It's the ever hard-working son.
"Pa Pa Pa... the porters and I have arrived ahead of you all. We came to our intended Guest lodge. But it was fully taken," he said.
"No matter how the porters talked to the guest lodge owner, they couldn't assign us any rooms.. Now we are heading towards another lodge to see if they have rooms for us."
"Ok, great job, ZA." I congratulated him.
"No worries, any lodge is ok, as long as there are rooms."

 

[limwhow]

Annapurna Guest house... Any Guest house.. also can.
Yes, Tadapani it was. Great. Time to rest liao...

We dragged our limp bodies onto the compound of the Guest house.
A small little lodge it was. But never mind. They had rooms.

Tadapani was a tiny tiny little village, with only a small handful of lodges.
It was a by-the-way kind of village that was in between the bigger villages, thus it was more for travellers to rest before their next leg to the next village.
It had no power supply of its own. And electricity was via generators.
Thus heat and power were premium here in this tiny settlement.
Thus in summary...
Yes, they had a single shower room - but it was OUTSIDE, and we had to walk down the stairs in the cold to the shower and shiver our way back to our rooms. Of course hot shower was chargeable per person.
Power point? Can forget about charging our handphones and whatever.

So how? Do we shower or not?
Haha.. Of course we do.
I think after such a long and tiring day, even if hot shower came at a premium, I would reward each and every one of the family a nice and hot shower.

 

[limwhow]

... that evening at Dinner, after everyone had nice hot shower...

We sat around the dining room, which was heated up via a central furnace burning firewood.
I looked at all the shagged faces.. and I smiled.

Mahesh, who was sitting next to us, smiled broadly and said:
"Today all of you were very very good! It was a difficult trek. But you all completed it from Poon Hill to Tadapani."

Yes, the boy and girls and every single one of us should have reasons to be proud.
Well, of course, compared to many other more difficult treks, this was still nothing to shout about.
But to a family who was trekking together for the first time, I would have nothing to complain about.

I made my usual dinner rounds looking at every body and checking their conditions.
The knee pain was still bothering AhSing, and the calves pain still disturbing Q Jiejie.
AhLiXMM's arm pain and ZA's back pain were still nagging.
SereneXMM was aching all over from head to toe - that one no need to say one. She is the most poor thing.
Fann the Penguin? Nothing bothering her. Of course, Penguins mah..
Haha.. OK, every body looked still tip top.. all the small problems were nothing that some pills could not address.

Needless to say, sleep came very very quickly for the members of the family.
We gobbled down our hot food and drinks.

And before long, were snoring away in dreamland.

 

[limwhow]

Mission accomplished for today?

As for this fateful day, I would echo a loud yes. Mission certainly accomplished.
I think the children have excelled in the face of adversity.
Some had shown their leadership, in forging ahead and keeping everyone behind posted.
Some had put their determination to the test in pushing on despite physical pain.
And every single one of these lovely children, and the lovely Mommy, had displayed a strength of character that could only be distilled to the surface under such conditions.
With the unexpected turn of events, they had overcome obstacles after obstacles.
They all deserved a good rest for the night.

And tomorrow..?

Tomorrow would be another new day. Another new adventure.
But that would be left till tomorrow. After this day's trek, the next two days of hiking would pale in comparison, Mahesh reassured.
Really? Well, knowing how things were in the mountains.. we couldn't say for sure..

But let's see how things developed.

... to be continued...

 

[Daoyin]

Finished my first helping of pop corn and drinks. Now that it is intermission time, going out for a refill. Haha.

Great FAMILY adventure.

 

[TWmilkteaTW]

Nice. Suddenly, really have the feeling and urge to go on a trekking trip too. :bsmilie:
But maybe not in Nepal yet..

(erm just curious..to do this..roughly how much does it cost for 1 adult?)

 

[Daoyin]

.... ehh doctor.... with all these travels to Cambodia, Nepal etc, got time for work or not? Looks like your grandfather from Fujian left you a big inheritance. haha.