Back to Lamagaon and Buddha’s footprint

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Day 8 Nyile (3360m) – Lamagaon (3300m)

Well this morning brings more news on the health front. I awoke feeling a box of fluffies but unfortunately Gordie has if anything has worsened overnight. He awoke feeling sick and listless but bravely opted to carry on so we decided to have a short day down to Lamagaon.

About a 2.5hr walk at a pretty leisurely pace to Lamagaon. Gordie obviously feeling like s..t but like a trooper keeps on plodding on.

We arrive back at the tea house we visited for morning tea a few days ago and decided this would be good stopping off place. On checking out the rooms, the man proudly showed us how he had taken our suggestion of hooks to heart and installed hooks in the rooms. If there was ever doubt we’d stay here the hooks sealed it.

Gordie went to bed for a well earned snooze while Arch, McVet and I went back up the trail about 15minutes to the next village where there is a famous cave in the rocks above.

Got the key to the cave off the guardian (actually got his daughter with the key) and off we go across freshly sown field to the face of the hills and a steep climb to Milarepa’s Cave. There are two chapels here one devoted to Milarepa (whoever he may be and without internet we sure don’t) and one that houses the deities of the various local religions. So all in all a potpourri of religions and beliefs.

To further confuse things there is a footprint in the second cave that Himal told us was Buddha’s but the guide book said was Milarepa’s. Himal also quietly confided in me on the walk back that he has doubts. So who knows, either way whoever’s footprint it was takes about a size 6 so he was a small guy!

While up the hill got the key keeper’s daughter to take a couple of photos for us and also despite her initial shyness got her to let us photograph her. Chris printed the photo off (he has a small instant printer he brought along to give photos to the locals) and Tom jumped at the chance to take it back, leading us believe he might be a bit sweet on the young girl. Not sure how a long distance relationship works with no phone, internet or any other communication outside the valley.

One thing worth mentioning was that on the way to the cave there were a couple of families ploughing their plots and planting potatoes. By the time we came back they had knocked off for the day but in one of the fields a cow had got in and was quietly walking along the open furrows munching on seed potatoes. We got Himal to tell the people in the advent house as obviously they only have a limited supply of seed spuds and if the cow eats them the people go hungry next winter. What was at the time inexplicable was how disinterested the locals were. Not until later did we discover they owned the cow, not the potatoes!

After lunch and checking how Gordie was going, we set out to explore the village. Of real note was a new Gompa being constructed at the back of the village. To put it into perspective this is a very small village, perhaps twenty houses but the Gompa looked big enough to House the entire population. Unlike New Zealand OSH hasn’t arrived here yet so we just wandered onto the site. Fascinating they were building what is quite an imposing structure but ever stone used had to be manually chiseled flat on either three or five faces. There was a little team of guys sitting beside big mound of stones patiently chiselling away, seeing this beside the size of structure they were building gave real impression of just how much human labour goes into building something here with little or no machinery.

The smoko hut gave real meaning to the word smoko as it was filled with smoke from an open fire inside (no chimney) and on the door said breakfast was served at 10.00am and dinner 5.00pm. Arch photographed as he thought he might institute something similar on his sites.

Back the the tea house where Gordie remained asleep so we sat in the dining room and told a few stories until Tom (porter) came in and entertained us with card tricks. We got the distinct impression him and Himal might have been getting stuck into the local hooch as they we both very cheerful and more animated than usual.

Gordie got up and joined us for dinner and ate a bit so hopefully is on the mend.

Had a bit of chat wth Himal on how we would go the next few days, we’re currently about two days ahead of the initial schedule so have a bit of time for extra side trips or acclimatisation as we get higher on the Manaslu circuit. Tomorrow we’re remaking pretty flexible as depending on how Gordie is will determine how far we go.

Bloody cold so off to bed pretty much straight after dinner.

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