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Published: April 16th 2008
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Hi all!
This is it, another adventure is over...and what an adventure in Nepal! Indeed going there during the election wasn't the most relaxing experience but what a beautiful country, it was so worth it!
From the start it wasn't easy for the nerves; indeed on my flight from Delhi to Kathmandu, the captain announced that we would most likely have to go back to Delhi as the weather was so bad that he couldn't land in Kathmandu. He said he would try a last attempt before sunset...which was the good one! after flying 3 hours above Kathmandu, I was there at last meeting with Manu.
After 2 days in Kathmandu, we started our trek which was taking us to the Langtang region...we can say that we've seen it all: torrential rains, snow storm, nights at -6 degrees Celsius (even that poor Yak in front of our lodge didn't survive this), people striking who nearly stopped us from going back to Kathmandu (with no attempt to harm us in any way, it has to be said) and so on.
Anyway, we had a blast! Obviously thanks to the wonderful diversity of the region (forest, mountains, dry lands etc) but mostly thanks
to its people. They were absolutely lovely...we will never forget our Guide and our Porteur, Gopal and Harry. We had such a laugh everyday thanks to their sense of humour and crazyness, and as well when things were not easy, they were there to deal with those times with great professionalism. Both of you are absolut legends lads, thanks so much again for making this trip an amazing one.
So to sum up a bit we started the trek from Kathmadu on a land cruiser. After 9 hours drive, we stopped in a lodge area where we would start the real trek the day after. On one afternoon, on the way to Langtang, we got stuck because of the bad weather, the rain was too heavy so we stopped in a little lodge...it was only the 4 of us and the owner. We spent the afternoon singning Nepalese songs and playing Indian pool, great fun. It was snowing the day after but we needed to make our way to Langtang...we got there eventually by lunch time and decided to keep on going up to Kyaging after having lunch. By the time we finished our dinner, there was a snow storm
and had to stay in the little lodge with the family which was absolutely lovely. That night was the coldest night at -6 degrees and was really unusual for the season. It was so cold (look at the pics) that even the Yak outside froze to death.
It was still very cold in the morning but the sun was there. We finally made our way up to 4000 meters high in that lovely village of Kyaging...the view on the valley and the mountains there are unreal...we stayed 2 days to enjoy it fully and as well to get use to the altitude, which wasn't always easy.
Our way down was the toughest part of the trek. We had to walk down what we had walk up in 2 days...after arriving to the 1st village where the land cruiser would pick us up we were absolutely shattered, our legs were gone...at least it wasn't too high anymore and we could sleep a full night, which we couldn't do when we were at the top of the region.
The drive back to Kathmandu was going ok until we got stopped by unhappy people blocking the road as they were losing the elections.
There was no way for us to go back as we were midway to the capital and on top of that, Manu had to take his flight the day after and couldn't afford to miss it. Our guide tried to discuss with one of the leader but it really seemed hopeless. Then the army arrived...I can tell you that Manu and I were really worried at that point as we heard the day before that the army opened fire on a demonstration and killed 7 people. Our guide started to discuss with one of the "cop" who found us 2 of the leaders of the strike. Gopal (the guide) had a letter from his agency saying that we had to take our flight at 7pm that night and that we were sick, and that it wouldn't be good for Nepal to block tourists in that situation. We told them that we were really hoping for them to get what they wanted but that we coulnd't do anything to help them...they understood the situation and very calmly decided to let us go through. We thanked them 100 times and they were all waving goodbye and smiling at us...that was really relieving.
Kathmandu
Women making Carpets in the Tibetan refugee camp Back in Kathmandu, things seemed to be ok and hopefully will go peacefully.
I am now in Bangkok starting my SEA adventure with one of my best mate from France Lionel...I think we're going to have a blast on this one 😉
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Chris
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Fantastic!
Just cathing up with your adventures...so glad you had a blast in Nepal. See you soon. God bless