W Himalajach
Napisze teraz o naszym treku w Nepalu.
Wybaczcie, ze po angielsku.
Wybaczcie, ze po angielsku.
:
A mini-van picked us up at the Siva Purvi Cottages and we started driving.
We didn't have to go far.
Maybe 2 hours max north-east from Kathmandu.
We got dropped off at the Hotel Left Side, which looked just terrible (see below).
The porters took our possessions on their backs (We first had to repack into these yellow trekking bags).
We only had our days backpacks with us with water, some clothes and basically anything that we might need until the evening.
We were just dropped off here to start walking.
Porters took the yellow bags on their backs.
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Our trekking itineraries indicated that we will not walk more than moderate 4-5 hours per day.
Some people signed up for the trek specifically with the assumption that this will be a light event.
We were in for an interesting surprise!
By the time we started walking it was already 11am (sort of late to start any long day treks)
We started off with walking on a steep incline.
The guides would not answer exactly how long would the incline take (their normal practice in order not to scare people :) but we were in good spirits and estimated no more than 1-2 hours.
But after 2 hours there was no end in sight.
After 4 hours, the guides told us that we still have 2 more hours!
Well, we finally reached the peak at 6pm.
We just got 7 hours of very steep climbing.
We were not done yet, but at least from there we walked down hill.
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From the top we got to see the high Himalays peaks for the first time and it was uplifting.
We also saw a sunset over the peaks and it was beautiful.
But the sunset also meant that within 20 minutes got very dark.
We had some headlamps and flashlights but it was hard to see anyway.
And we still had to walk more to find our lodge.
The guide said that we are about 40 minutes from the lodge so a group of faster walkers (5 of us plus assistant guide) took off at a much faster pace.
However after 40 minutes, we were still in the middle of the trail with no sign of any lodge.
Our assistant guide looked lost and we lost our confidence in him.
Our group was beyond exhausted at that time and some of us were tripping and falling down on unexpected rocks.
What was also concerning was that we didn't see the other group behind us (for a while we saw their flashlights in the distance) but now the space behind us was pitch black.
Our assistant guide took us off the trail and we were cutting through steep passes going up and down.
Our group was getting more and more worried.
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We were imploring on the assistant-guide to call the other group and our actual guide to figure out where we are and how to get to the lodge.
Surprisingly he was able to get through to him but under the pressure or maybe he was tired too, he lost his ability to speak English and we had no clue what he was saying to us.
We only got the message that the other group (of the slow walkers!) already made it to the lodge!
So we were lost!
A few more passes up and down and we finally said that the actual guide, Buddhi, has to come and find us.
And he did!
The guide was running down and we got encouraged by seeing him.
We were no more than 15 minutes from the lodge but we were already much lower and had to actually climb back to the lodge arriving around 8pm.
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We got hot tea and cookies followed by a dinner made by our porters.
Everyone was exhausted and we just crashed in the rooms shortly after.
It was a super adventurous first day of our trek!
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Next morning we had a wake up call at 6am just in time for a sunrise.
Since we arrived in the lodge after dark last night, we had no clue where we are.
Well the morning awarded us with the most amazing sunrise of my life.
The Himalayas peaks were all around us.
We were at around 3,000 meters and the 7,500m+ ranges loomed in the distance with the sun rising above them.
The views were mesmerizing. Some group members wept.
After-all we all came to Nepal to experience the mountains and the Himalayas.
After that tough prior day, we felt redeemed.
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The group was determined never to split again and we didn't
To be continued
