The Majestic Himalayas!

Guillaume and I have arrived in beautiful and majestic Nepal!  We fell in love with the country the moment we arrived two weeks ago.  From the busy tourist streets in the Thamel district of Kathmandu, to the remote, reachable-only-by-foot villages of the Himalayas, Nepal keeps drawing us in closer and closer.  It is our favourite place we've ever visited!  

Still reeling from the civil war that ended only six years ago, Nepal is a beautiful country with kind people, a fascinating culture, and enough adventure to fill your lifetime ten times over!  Nepal wasn't on our radar until about a year ago, when a colleague back in New Brunswick mentioned to me that he hiked the Annapurna Circuit about five years ago.  He highly recommended the trek (as well as the guide he used)...it sounded like a perfect stop on our round-the-world trip!  Up until about two months ago, we also planned to hike the three-week Annapurna Circuit...that was, until, we had difficulty obtaining visas for India.  We changed our plans and decided to hike for only two weeks, and spend the other two weeks in Kathmandu, waiting to obtain visas (still crossing our fingers!).  

There are many different types of treks to do in Nepal, from the famed Everest Base Camp and Annapurna treks (each three weeks long), to much shorter one or two day hikes closer to Kathmandu. Each vary in length and difficulty, and require some research before heading to Nepal.  Our plan was to trek in Langtang National Park.  

We've finally arrived in the mountains!  After the craziest seven hour bus ride of our lives, we finally arrived in Dhunche, located in the northern part of Nepal, close to the Tibet border.  We lucked out with the weather...this was the only day we had rain. 

We took a walk around Dhunche when we arrived, which was the same time kids were finishing school.  This little boy ran up to us and asked if we could take his picture...he was pretty happy.  Dhunche is the largest village in the Langtang region, and many families that live in more rural areas send their children to school in Dhunche.  The villages are anywhere between a one to three days hike away.  The children are boarded in Dhunche, and travel home every now and then to visit their families.  As we continued our trek, we started to learn that actually attending school was a great privilege.  Many families could not afford to send their children away; if they could muster together enough money, usually only one child would go (a male).  According to my Lonely Planet book, about 70% of children in Nepal will start school, while only 7% will actually make it through to their 10th year.  When 68% or more of Nepalese people get by on less than $2 per day, it's not hard to understand why the rates of children not attending school are so high. 

Here we go!  From left to right: Raju (our porter), me, Guillaume, and Dambar (our guide...thanks again, Sean, for the great recommendation!). 

Our trek started with about an hour or two hike on this semi-paved road.  It was the nicest part of the trail we'd see the whole way.  After that, we had steep ascents and descents (which were excruciating for my knees!), switchbacks that allowed enough room for only one or two people on the path at a time, and (my favourite) semi-flat paths that led through the forest or grazing land of yaks. 

A great picture with a view of the terraced fields in the bottom right hand corner, as well as the mighty, snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas in the background. 

Coming into our first village mid-morning on our first day.  As you can see, things look quite 'modern' because the road passes through this village.  The scene changes a bit later on...

This is just like the bus we took from Kathmandu to Dhunche (except ours had more people on top).  Picture the bus scenes you've seen in movies set in Africa, people crammed like sardines inside the bus, with luggage squeezed into every extra space, plus people riding on the top of the bus, dangling over the edge or hanging out the door.  Then, imagine the bus criss-crossing through the narrow mountain roads that were, at best, cleared of most boulders that fell from the side of the mountain during landslides.  Looking out the window down at the large ravines just inches away from the wheels surely makes a person feel a bit more uneasy, if you're not already feeling queasy from motion sickness.  Take this scenario and multiply it by ten, and that's a bit what our bus ride was like.  Although a few extra prayers were said, we surprisingly weren't too worried (despite the fact that there are many bus crashes each year). 

Pictures really don't do the scenery any justice...it was all absolutely breathtaking!  Guillaume said it well: 'It's like you're on a hike back home, with 'panoramic views' every half hour or so.  Well here, the whole trek is a panoramic view!'  The main crops farmed are rice, potatoes, and wheat.

The background almost looks fake, eh?!

We stopped for breaks at tea houses along the trail.  All served the same food - noodles, rice, soup, hot drinks, and traditional Nepalese food.  All the food is cooked in a detached kitchen building, over handmade stoves like the one above. 

We both agreed - these were the best fries we had ever eaten!  All of our meals usually consisted of the same things: veg noodle soup and some type of fried potato.  Filling and tasty! 

Waiting for Raju and Dambar

Back on the trail.  Looking down at a few cows, a little wooden hut, and a stone house in the far left.  Further down the path was a small apple orchard. 

The mountain range in the middle (farthest away) is a part of the Tibetan Himalayas, only about 50 miles away. 

Guillaume came up with a genius idea the second night in...to zip our sleeping bags together!  This helped stay a bit warmer as the nights grew colder the higher we got. 

Guillaume was so excited about the suspension bridges we crossed.  In this picture, we are up much higher than it appears! 

Cat whisperer Guillaume!  The cats always seem to go to Guillaume instead of me for some reason (until recently, he didn't even like cats!).  Shetti, this one year old cat that belonged to a 13-year-old girl named Maya that lived in one of the remote villages along our hike, fell asleep on Guillaume's lap and stayed there for our whole break. 

Guillaume's great military experience came in handy.  Thanks to his constant attention to our feet, we ended the hike with zero blisters!  A big accomplishment for all the trekking we did!

Another village along our the trail.  The houses are built of either stone and/or wood, with thatched or steel roofs.  You can usually find at least a dozen chickens running around, as well as cows and goats. 

Luckily, we met this caravan of mules (or are they donkeys?) when the path was a bit wider and had no steep drop offs.  There was enough room for all of us...! 

Langtang National Park

Much of our trail followed the river.  I've never seen water as clear and clean as this water was.  Pure glacier water! 

More animals along our trail...this time, a white horse.  Sometimes they would pop up out of nowhere.

My new favourite drink along the trail....lemon tea!  Mmm...so delicious and so hot! 

Our new friend, Chris, from Ireland, who so thoughtfully gave me his knee brace without any hesitation, when he learnt that I was having problems with my knee.  We met many wonderful people along the trail from all over, including Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands, and Montreal (!).  Unfortunately, I lost my little notebook that included their contact information!  So, if any of you who we met and exchanged contact info with are reading this, please drop us a line...we'd love to hear from you, and to have your email addresses again!

Entering the highland pastures of Langtang, where the yaks and other grazing animals love to roam. 

One of a few checkpoints we had to register at.  It was great to have a guide, he took care of everything!  If anyone is interested in trekking in Nepal, we would love to recommend Dambar.  There is no way we would have hiked without a guide. 

Tibetan prayer flags can be found all along the trail, and are meant to bless the area.  Each colour represents a different element: blue (sky/space), white (air/wind), red (fire), green (water) and yellow (earth). 

Our room in Langtang.  Each morning, we awoke at 6:15 am, got ready and packed our things up, had breakfast at 7:00 am, and were on the road again by 8:00 am.  All of the guesthouses we stayed at were great, although extremely basic.  Some had power, some did not.  Each had two single beds with thin mattresses (one for us, the other for our bags), one or two windows with curtains, and no heat.  Except for the first night, we had to leave our room or building to use the squat toilets.  A few had shower rooms with lukewarm water, but when it's freezing outside, lukewarm is more like freezing cold.  Brrrr....!!! But, at least we had a roof over our head and (for the most part) warm clothes to get us through the cold nights. 

On Day 5, Guillaume and I made the decision to turn around and start the trek back.  I was in a lot of pain with my knee, and we both came down with bad colds (Guillaume was really miserable!).  The fact that we were getting higher up in elevation and were already feeling the effects of altitude, and that we were a three days walk away from the nearest road and transportation (the only way out in case of emergency was by helicopter that cost at least $7000 USD), made the decision a bit easier.  We also soon learnt that the village and pass we were supposed to reach two days later was impassable due to snow (which would have forced us to take an alternate path), also helped us to feel confident in our decision.  We hiked seven to eight hours each day in the Himalaya Mountains and had an amazing time....the fact that we were stopping one week early was just fine. Within the first hour of our trek back, we were joined by this lovely little dog I named Sherpa.  The fact that I gave her one of my granola bars could maybe be the reason she followed us for the whole morning.  But, she also somehow made me feel that we had made the right decision to turn back.  Thank you, Sherpa!  :)

A type of yak commonly found in the highland valleys of the Himalayas.  Although domesticated, we were told to be careful around them (as they've been known to charge people that get too close)! 

It was very common to meet porters along the trail carrying loads twice their size!  It's amazing to think that at each village we visited, every single item that was there got there on a porter's back.  Each year, many porters in Nepal die due to complications with high altitude, exposure, or exhaustion.  Oftentimes, they are ill-equipped for the elements, mainly because they cannot afford to be (most of the ones we saw wore flip flops!).  But, with that being said, Nepalese people are physically made to do this type of work.  They do it with little complaining and will most always greet you with a 'Namaste' on the trail.  The physical labour they do day after day is truly amazing.  

Surprisingly, we took very few pictures along the trail; we were always too busy watching the path and on the move. 

Resting my knee while 20 chickens ran around me (which you can't see, obviously). 

Again, the picture doesn't do this scene justice.  Right above the river lies a village of a few small huts, a guesthouse and a tea house where stopped to have lunch.  Facing the other way are some more mountain peaks...an absolutely beautiful place to have lunch.  On our way back, we walked along the river bed that will be gushing with water in a few months time, when the monsoon season hits. 

Getting closer to the big city.  We were stuck here for about 30 minutes due to a truck (the one on the right) that went off the side into the small drainage ditch, and the other truck (on the left) that was stuck against a rock.  They had to jack up the truck on the right and manoeuvre it somehow to get it out.  The roads really only have enough room for one vehicle at a time.  Clearly, the drivers weren't paying enough attention...

Having daal bhaat for lunch just before reaching Kathmandu; we didn't have enough guts to eat it the local way (with our right hand), so we used a spoon instead.  Daal bhaat consists of rice, lentils, curried vegetables and pickled vegetables, sometimes served with chicken or fish.  Nepalese people eat this twice a day, first in the morning between 9:00 and 10:00 am, then again around 8:00 pm.  It's delicious, but very filling!  The great thing about it...they'll keep serving you until you're stuffed! 


One week after we began our trek in the Himalaya Mountains, we landed back in Kathmandu (this time via a privately rented jeep that happened to be making it's way back to the city from where we were).  We were so glad to not have to ride the bus for nine hours; we made it in five! 

Our trek was truly an amazing experience; we are so glad it was a part of our itinerary.  We met some of the kindest people along the trail - from Nepal and all over the world.  We learnt a bit more about rural village life in Nepal (where about 80% + of the Nepalese population resides).  It was, without a doubt, one of the best experiences in our whole lives....and one that we will remember and cherish forever.  Who knows, maybe we'll be back again in a few years to hike along another remote trail in Nepal....who wants to join us?!