Watting out in Sukhothai & Ayutthaya

As strange as this may sound to some, the one thing I really did miss, while traveling was my Mountain Bike. It is well noted that they best way to explore Sukhothai Historical Park is by bicycle, but that by no means, means that you need to rent a bike in New Sukhothai and cycle to the park in the humid heat, which is 20km away (what did you expect), especially when there are much more civilized forms for transport, like thieving Tuk-Tuk’s. The fact is, it almost felt like I was cheating on my faithful bike back home, while cruising along the painfully flat roads of Sukhothai on a cheap Thai hire bike. Though, as they say, what goes around comes around and the 50km round trip to the park and surrounds, managed to undo a few weeks of physical therapy on my right knee (as I discovered once I got back home and after riding 16km, turned homewards, due to the knee pain).

Old Sukhothai was the first capital of Siam and the dynasty, established in the 13th century, lasted about 200 years with about 9 kings. This rich royal history has resulted in some of the most impressive ruins in Thailand, which have been rightly so declared as a World Heritage site (UNESCO, Wikipedia). The park itself has the remains of about 21 historical sites, with an additional 70 sites within a 5km radius, consisting mainly of Wat’s & Stupa’s (temples). So you can easily spend the good part of the day walking through the ruins, admiring the architecture as well getting a ample dosage of Buddha statues. In fact, after visiting Sukhothai and the surrounding area, you can officially announce that your are “Watted Out”, as there is no good reason to even want to even consider looking at anything that could possibly be classified as a Wat, or Buddha statue for the rest of your trip.

As already mentioned, a bicycle is the best way to get around the park and there are really an ample amount of perfectly spaced, shiny and squeaky-clean, bicycles to choose from around the actual park. In fact, I got the impression that a good part of any hire bike shop owner’s day consists of cleaning bikes and spacing them perfectly apart. The only reason I mention this completely irrelevant information is that my bike rarely gets cleans (admit-ably, I’ve made a bit more effort this year) and I was really impressed at the absolute precision in which the bicycles were spaced. I digress.

That evening I had shared a really enjoyable dinner of Red Snapper Fish, with a free topping of local insect, with a fellow traveler from Germany. Sitting under a fan, in an open air restaurant may seem like a good idea at first, but the moment it gets dark and someone turns on the neon light next to the fan, you may want to quickly re-think. Later that evening, I headed over to an excellent Internet café I had found the evening before, after arriving in New Sukhothai and caught up on Nepal posts and played some Warcraft DOTA online (what can I say, I’m an IT Nerd). What really was interesting is that the kids in small towns are encouraged to spend time behind the monitor at the Internet café. Figure there is sense in it, what would you rather have your kid doing… hanging around shopping malls getting up to all sorts of mischief or sitting behind a computer screen playing a harmless online game, where you and your friends get to hack each other apart in a virtual environment, while drinking a refreshing bottle of Pepsi (I drank a lot of Pepsi in Thailand). My vote is for the Internet Café.

Obviously not yet having my full of Wat’s, Stupa’s & Buddha Statues, I headed over to Si Satchanalai-Chaliang Historical Park (50km North of Sukhothai). Learning my lesson, I did however rent a Motorbike this time, which was more of a scooter with gears (no clutch and damn uncomfortable). Apart from being a lot more peaceful and “untouched”, it is much the same Sukhothai. Though it is still worth the trip, if you have the time to kill, if only to feed bananas to elephants.

That evening, over a tasty meal, with a much smaller portion of insects, I decided that I was officially “Watted Out” and that for a change, I’ll go in search of Rama Khamhaeng National Park, which climbs steeply up to the whopping height of 1185m (relative to the surrounds, this is high in the clouds)! Once I eventually found the place… admit-ably it was not the toughest place to find, just head off to the only high lump of dirt you can see (did I mention Thailand is mostly flat). I’m guessing (or at least hoping) that not many western tourists visit Rama Khamhaeng National Park, as the guards at the entrance were exceptionally friendly, friendly to the point of creepy. The one guard kept on rubbing the hairs on my arm and compared various body parts (hands, arms, etc), when he finally gave me a hug to try an compare my waist line, I decided that maybe it was time to go, before things when completely South.

So, climb I did. The trail went straight up the side of the mountain (imagine climbing stairs, but you need to skip every second stair). Though what made the climb pretty tough was the heat / humidity combination, which under normal circumstances would have been bearable, was it not for the cloud of mosquitoes, which tagged along hoping for a free lunch. Stopping turned out to be a bit of blood bath, as each time you stopped to rest, wave upon wave of small black mosquitoes would descend on you and even though one can fight back bravely and kill may of them, there are still those that get through. Though, the view from the top was great!

From Sukhothai I caught a bus back to Bangkok and then backtracked to Ayutthaya(would have gone straight to Ayutthaya, but the guest house made a muddle of my bus ticket). I do not really have much to say about Ayuthaya, it’s just another town with more ruins. So why did I go? Well, apart from being a World Heritage Site (UNESCO, Wikipedia), all over Thailand you can buy stunning photos depicting Monks, Buddha’s, Temples or combinations of these. One of the most photographed Buddha images is that of a Buddha head embedded in twisted tree roots, at Wat Phra Mahathat. Where it not for this, I probably would have given the city a skip.

The ruins of Ayutthaya are however stunning, but after spending time in Sukhothai, ruins were not high on my lists of interests. I did however find a boat museum in the back streets and it is well worth a visit if you have time to kill. It is privately owned, not mentioned in any guidebook and entrance is free, you can however leave a donation if you wish (the owner when to a lot of effort, so LEAVE A DONATION!). The owner of the place is an ex boat builder and currently teaches. Even though he can’t speak much English, he is very friendly and more than willing to take you around his stunning little museum – I stand under correction, but from what I could gather he had built the museum part of his house himself, out of teak wood.

Next day it was back to Bangkok.

The Wats of Bangkok

Two weeks back home already and I can hardly believe that it was almost a month ago already that I was standing in a line inside of Kathmandu International Airport (KTM), patiently waiting to have all my hand luggage un-packed and inspected for those “weapons of mass terror”, which include such deadly items as nail clippers, blunt plastic scissors and safety pins. How is it that once you back in the rat race a single person who can’t be bothered to even stop and think for themselves for a second can cause you more stress and anxiety than the two tourists entering the airplane in front of you with a 30cm Steel Gurka knife sticking out of his backpack.

The flight to Bangkok, Thailand was pleasant, even though my stomach was recovering for a protein overdose the night before (in Nepal, when the menu says it’s a 600g steak that is the cooked weight). The new Bangkok airport is really impressive (not that I’ve seen the old one) and even though taxi drivers & hotels tout you on the way out, it fails in comparison to the valiant touting experienced exiting KTM.

The airport bus drops you right at the entrance of the infamous backpacker street of Th Khao San. If you disregard all standards, finding a room to lay your backpack down in, is really no difficult task (nor is the problem of finding food or drink as the street is packed with vendors). Needless to say, save the practically un-heard of problem of vacancy, I did not have much trouble find accommodation, as my only criteria was that the place needed to be clean (or at least give the convincing impression that it was). Besides I did not plan to stay in Bangkok long, just needed enough time to figure out how things worked and then move onwards.

Surprisingly, after the disco club next door cranked up the music close to midnight and a number of drunken & rowdy Brits tumbled though the corridors at 3am, I felt quite chipper the next day. Resolving that I probably should find quieter accommodation, I spent my morning exploring the local public transit system. Within a few hours I had resolved that the Sky Train and Subway systems are absolutely awesome, you really need to know precisely which public bus to take and that most of the tuk-tuk drivers who hand around Th Khao San can all burn in hell for all I care! Ironically it cost me as much Baht to get and from the Northern bus station as it cost for a ticket on a really nice government bus up to Sukhothai. Stranger still, I later discovered that the long distance government buses are much better / spacious / comfortable than the long distance “luxury” tourist bus (some how a TV does not make up of uncomfortable seats).

With an afternoon left, I did part of the walking tour detailed in the Lonely Planet Guide. First stop, Wat Phra Kaew & Grand Palace, where you literally have to “dress for the occasion”. T-Shirts require sleeves, long pants, closed toed shoes and no short skirts. No dressed adequately, no worries, baggy “one size fits all” pants and sarongs are available at the door. Wat Phra Kaew is mainly famous for it’s Emerald Buddha (closed, due to renovations), though there is still a lot to see in this temple complex, from gleaning stupas and temples decorated in mosaic and marble to the fascinating and stunning mural telling the Thai version of Ramakian, lining the inner walls of the complex. Make sure you have enough camera batteries and that you do not leave all your charged batteries in your hotel room, otherwise it’s a brisk, humid, 45min walk to Th Khao San and back (at least you get to practice ignoring Tuk-Tuk drivers).

Next stop Wat Pho, famous for housing the largest reclining Buddha (not closed for renovation). Now, I’ve already seen a lot of Buddha’s in my lifetime, but this one was really impressive, lying 46m long and 15m high, modeled out of plaster, around a brick core, covered in gold leaf with mother of pearl inlay ornaments for the eyes and feet. Though the only thing I could not quite understand was how they managed to take the postcard photo. Here is a huge Buddha, lying in a closed wall building, pillars all around it, and a space of not even 2 meters to walk around, but yet they manage to have a postcard of the entire Buddha, taken dead center and unobstructed. Pondering this and walking around the rest of Wat Pho, cured me of looking at glittering Thai temples.

I can’t really put my finger on it, but generally speaking, Bangkok did not impress me as much as some other big cities have. Even through I really did like the reliable, safe public transport system. I really like the idea of living in a place where a car is more of a luxury and not an absolute necessity. I also really appreciated the abundance and variety of available food. Talking about food… my favorite street vendor were the fruit ladies, whom have little trolleys, packed with slices of Watermelon, Pineapple, Guavas (big & firm with white flesh, unlike our soft & squishy red ones), Mangos and Melons! At 10Baht, a thick slice of Watermelon is perfect for sorting out the first hints of being hungry and wetting a dry mouth.

I did not find quieter accommodation, I did not even look and I also again did not have a very good night sleep. The bus ride to Sukhothai, was however thankfully very comfortable and pleasant.

Kathmandu

After a very pleasant bus ride back to Kathmandu (1200m), which was quite uneventful apart from a minor traffic jam caused by an overturned bus. Actually, this was quite interesting to see (no, grotesque corpse's were not scattered around randomly). What was interesting was they way in which the bus was being pulled back up the embankment. Basically, they had rigged a pull system and were winching the thing up the side, back onto the road, by hand.. seems most things in Nepal get done by hand.

In Kathmandu we decided to stayed the last night as a group in the same hotel, which we stayed in, when we were still wet behind ears, so many many moons ago. Then again, they did kindly toss our left bags into a lockable cupboard for free for 20+ days, so it's good traveler etiquette to at least stay at least one night. Also we went and a had a couple of beers at the infamous "Rum Doodle" bar, where a the place is supposedly legendary as the meeting place of worldwide outdoor adventurers and mis-adventures (according to the really irritating advert, you get to watch a couple of hundred times while trying to get through passport control when you arrive in Kathmandu Airport). Personally, the place was disappointing.

Next day, I found myself alone in Kathmandu (no, I did not get blindly drunk and lost my hotel). First on the agenda was relocation ... I found a really nice cheapish hotel in a quite side street, with really friendly staff and pretty decent single rooms, with attached bathroom (think I paid about 320 Rs a night), called "Red Planet". This was to be my base of operations, so to speak for the next 9 or so days. So, what is there to do in Kathmandu ... well not much.

The Kathmandu Valley is pretty large and contains a couple of cities, of these cities there are three royal cities, namely Kathmandu, Patan & Bhaktapur. Patan is on the south side of the very dirty and revoltingly polluted Bagmati River and is about 1 hours walking distance from Kathmandu. I never initially intended to walk to Patan. Initially I wanted to catch the bus to Bhahtapur and after finally finding the "correct" bus station, I was informed that the bus drivers were on strike (sounds like home), so I figured I had time to kill (I actually walked past the strike, so it was not a hoax).

Patan is also known as Lalitpur, meaning city of beauty an hence it is considered to be the oldest and most beautiful among the three cities, though this is debatable. The most important monument of the city is Patan Durbar Square, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's nice enough, but much the same as Kathmandu's Durbar Square. Interestingly the city was planned on a circular format with Buddhist stupas at each of the four points of the compass. Read more about Patan.

Bhaktapur lies about 12 KM east of capital city Kathmandu and is a quick 45min bus trip and is known as the "the city of Devotees". It really is a stunning place to get lost in. which I did, a few times, just following little streets and side roads. Actually the Lonely Planet guide book has an excellent walking tour through Bhaktapur, which gets you to all the major sights like Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Taumadhi Square, Dattatreya Square and Pottery Square. No Tuk-Tuk's or cars are allowed into the old city (I saw one, but it was wrecked), which makes walking a pleasure and the architecture & integrally carved wooden decorations of the old buildings make it well worth getting lost.

After seeing Kathmandu, Patan & Bhaktapur, you are officially "templed out" and your head is pretty sore from constantly bumping it on ceilings and doorways, so I decided to sign-up for a rafting trip down the Bhote Kosi river, with a company called Ultimate Descents (I mention them, because they were really well organized and well trained). The river is described as "Nepal's Steepest action packed rafting trip" / "100% Adrenaline Rush". The rapids in this river are all classed between IV- V at high flow, and a more classic III at lower levels. Don't worry, they don't drop you in the thick of it, the first day is spent lower down the river, where the highest rapid is a class III, teaching you all the required skills you need on the raft. The evening is spent at the Borderland Resort (the place looks amazing, but the accommodation is nothing to write home about), then the next day is action packed, hitting those class IV & V rapids. Not only was the rafting really adrenaline pumping, what really made all the difference was that we had a really good friendly mix of travelers. Could honestly not have asked for better.

Getting back from Rafting, I found I had two more days to kill. Kathmandu is a great transit point between side trips, but staying there for an extended period of time can become pretty boring. So I used the one day to get some shopping done and go to the Kathmandu Zoo (another hour's walk, because it's close to Patan). The zoo is a bit sad, the animals are kept in cages, much those in the Snake and Animal Park on the Hartebeespoort Dam. Also most of the animals are quite tame and generally look pretty "tired of life".

My last day, I rented a Fuji Mountain Bike & bought a "cycling the Kathmandu Valley" and went exporting the surrounding hills, for some rumored wicked single tracks. Looking at the map afterwards, reckon I ended up doing about 80km and without cleats, it was pretty tough (my right knee was not to impressed with me either). Had decided to go up to a peak and into the Shivapuri Watershed and Wildlife Reserve (2700m), which is apparently home to the sloth bear, langur monkey, leopard, barking deer and many species of birds. Did not see any on the way down, then I again at the speed I was going, I don't think even the leopard would have come close to catching me. Damn it was fun, did not find all the single tracks I was looking for, but did find some wicked ones, as well as a couple of army outposts, dotted along the mountain. The last thing a member of the esteemed Nepalese army expects, while eating his Dahl Baht, is some Westerner tearing through his outpost on a Mountain Bike. Also raced a couple of scrambler motor bikes down the last section of really bumpy & muddy dirty road... it was close, but gravity and letting go of the brakes is your friend.

Next day it was off to Thailand.

Pokhara

There is actually very little to do in Pokhara, except laze around the lake and over-indulge in the many restaurants, which line the lakeside. Well, that is what most trekkers, which end in Pokhara do. After all, you've just been physically exerting yourself for the last 3 weeks, so why would you even think of doing anything else, but take a well deserved rest... I've never been one to sit to still in one place and thankfully a large portion of the group tended to agree.

First up was a peaceful paddle across Phewa Lake, on some brightly painted boats, which can be rented for a very reasonable price (especially if your willing to do all the work yourself) all along the lakeside. Reaching the opposite bank, it was a quick climb up to the "World Peace Pagoda", which is a massive Buddhist stupa and a great vantage point, offering spectacular views of the Annapurna range and Pokhara city... well that is at least what the guide books say. The stupa itself is in need of a repair and is obviously not so well looked after (guess the whole world peace thing is not going so well) and the views are great, but the clouds obscured the view. So back down and across the lake again... I distinctly remember hearing someone trying to charge us a 100 Rupee "Paddle fee" to look after the boats paddles (I also distinctly remember ignoring it).

Next we rented bicycles (really rickety things) and went in search of the International Mountaineering Museum, which was really interesting, filled with all sorts of old mountaineering equipment and such. Then the rains came (and some very large pieces of hail ... pigeon eggs size, no jokes). Once passed, it was off to Devi's Falls, which is about 2km from Pokhara and really is an awesome little waterfall. What was even more amazing was when we returned two days later and went across the road to a couple of caves (Gupteshwor Cave, I think), which after following an underground passage, pops you out at the bottom of the Devi's falls. I digress ...

Next day we rented some bikes again and cycled up to the Seti river gorge. The river flows right through the city and is completely underground at places. There are however points, where the river can be see running at the bottom of a gorge, which is probably no more than 2 meters in width, but about 20 meters in depth (and people live right up against the gorge, quite amazing). Here some folk cycled up to Sarangkot. I turned the other way, just the thought of a stiff climb on a bicycle, which was bust falling apart somehow just did not appeal to me and besides, I had a very tourist thing to do ... shopping. Books are very cheap and there were quiet a few bookshops lining the lakeside. Also, bought some stunning artwork (art is always something of personal opinion).

Our last full day in Pokhara, was spending "lazing". So instead of bicycles, we upgraded ourselves to a motorised form of transport ... 125cc Motorbikes. Now I should point out, that up to this day the only motorbike type thing I've ridden was a scooter. Similar, but different. Anyways, we explained to that we have never ridden motorbikes before and the owner of the bikes asked us "Can you drive a car, with gears". "Yes", we answered. "Ok, no problem, we will quickly show you," he replied and 5 minutes later we had graduated, 20 minutes later we were zipping around Pokhara (a bit shaky at first). Damn, it was a lot of fun and we got to see everything still outstanding (as well as re-visit some sites) and go see another small lake about 20km + outside of Pokhara. Oh, the interesting thing to note (besides the fact that the folk we rented from not asked to see drivers license, passport or even find out where we were staying), was that the motorbikes we rented all belonged to private individuals (would rent your private bike to some tourist, whom has never ridden a bike before).

From Pokhara we rented a prive bus to Kathmandu (16 seater... and this time it was just the 7 of us, it was great).

Pokhara, was a really great city and I would recommend it to anyone. Swimming in the lake is very refreshing too (but make sure you are in the middle somewhere, it's otherwise a bit polluted). The only disappointing thing about Pokhara, was watching the absolutely shameful cricket semi-final against Australia. Otherwise it's a great place to "relax" a bit, regardless of wheter you've been trekking or not.

Ghorepani to Pokhara

After spending a dry night in Ghorepani, we greeted the next day with our second Alpine Start, in order to walk up Poon Hill and watch the sunrise over all the peaks, which line the Annapurna range. I had started developing the first symptoms of what looked like a potential nose-cold, so it was a tough, rasping climb to the peak. As described in all guide books, the peak was packed with fellow trekkers and tourists all waiting to catch the first glimpse of sun beams over Annapurna. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as sky was heavily overcast, though the clouds silhouetted by sunlight still looked spectacular. I think we were one of the last to leave, having waited a couple of hours, watching some of the clouds slowly disappearing, revealing snow covered mountain peaks. Returning to our tea house in Ghorepani, we had a quick breakfast and started making our way down towards Ulleri (2070m).

The path down from Ghorepani towards Ulleri was thankfully a lot less steeper, than the one we came up and along the way we stopped to watch some people busy distilling a local spirit called "Rakshi". The process in itself is actually very simple and the results are potent. Though I have to admit warm Rakshi tastes a lot better than the Apple Brandy we tried at Larjung.

One thing, which is very noticeable on the trek are kids. There are hundreds of the little buggers running around and it's quite easy to judge which trekking routes receive the most trekkers by the vocabulary and insistence of these kids. For example, when we started the trek at Besisahar, a few of the kids there would say "Hello, School Pen". the closer we go to Manang, we still had a few "Hello, School Pen" as well as a few "Hello, Sweet". Once we got over the pass and hit Muktinath / Jomson, it just got bad from then onwards, which each kid saying ether, "Hello, School Pen", "Hello, Sweet" or "Hello, One Rupee" and quickly went from cute to just damn annoying.

Reaching Ulleri we stopped for lunch, looked down at the famous "3421 stone steps", leading up from Tikhdunga (1515m), looking over an amazing view of the valley below & looking up at rain clouds rolling in for the afternoon shower. I did not count the steps going down, but 3000+ steps is not as easy as it sounds, the descent is pretty stiff. Though I did feel a bit sorry for the poor buggers who were coming up.

As predicted, it started dripping as we were reaching the bottom and by the time we reached the outskirts of Tikhdunga it had turned into light rain. So we quickly found shelter in the first guest house. Just as well, because the it started pouring and we sat and drank tea, while watching some wet and clearly disgruntled trekkers trudging down the remaining steps into Tikhdunga and beyond. By the time the rain had stopped we had settled ourselves and decided that we would walk the last couple of Km to Nayapul the next day (the really hot shower also helped speed our decision to stay).

Next morning the weather was clear and we made our way down towards Nayapul , stopping a few times along the way to swim in the ice cool river. Our final stop for lunch was made at Birethanti (1025m), where we ate an excellent Daal Baht before almost running the last km to the bus stop in Nayapul to catch the bus to Pokhara, where we had arranged to meet the rest of our party.

20 Days of trekking ... it was definitely worth while.

Larjung to Ghorepani

Moving on from Larjung, we wanted to get as far as possible, as there general feeling of "OK, we getting a bit gatvol of this". A feeling most likely being symptoms of sharing a road with some motorbikes and the occasional tractor as well as having to deal with really terrible afternoon winds. Thankfully, the path we were following diverted off, over a suspension bridge at a turn in the valley and rejoined the old path, which was used long before there was a road. The turn brought also on very welcome changes in the landscape as well.

We stopped for lunch in a small town called Ghasa (2010m) and listened to distance blasting noises. Here the ultra caring tea house owner told us that it was "not safe" to carry on, as the road had been closed for the rest of the day, due to the blasting and construction work. A very likely story ... especially when you have the potential of catching a "big fish" ... 7 trekkers, lunch, supper, breakfast and accommodation... we could see the dollars (or is that Rupees) in his eyes. So we kindly thanked him for his concern and left, ignoring the cries of "you'll be back". Much to our un-surprise, we crossed a suspension bridge to the other side of the river (it's well indicated on all up-to-date trekking maps), to the old path avoiding the road building & "blasting".

From the across the river, we had a very good view of the Nepalese road building process... it's really an interesting spectator sport. Everything is done by hand (except the actual blasting). The holds are hammered into the rock by hand and the blasted rock, which had not already fallen into the river, is also moved by hand. It's really something to see, these young Nepalese scrambing over the steep rock, meters above the river floor, tossing rocks down and hammering new blasting holes (a few weeks with out TV and you find things like this interesting to watch).

After passing what seemed like a sea of pilgrims on there way to Muktinath, we reached Rupse Chhahara (1600m), were we stayed for the night. Next day, we made our way to Tatopani (1190m), hear the path splits and you can either carry on with your descent and head for Beni. Alternatively, you can start heading upwards again to Ghorepani (2750m), were you can sit and watch the sunrise from "Poon Hill". So we sadly said goodbye to two of our party members, as the thought of climbing just over 2km and then coming down again, did not agree with sore knees.

So up we went ... then it started raining, so we stopped in a very dark & small "tea shop" to wait for the rain to pass. At about 15h00 it looked like it was starting to clear, so we decided to get some spring in our step and head up. So we climbed, it rained a bit more and we climbed some more. Most of the way up, was stairs made from slabs of marble and other local stone. Imagine ascending almost 2 km in altitude on your stairs at work. Stair Master 2007! It's also quite a think to image that all these slabes had been cut out by hand and carried on peoples backs to by carefully leading into a staircase, to link towns all the way on the route.

That evening a wet very group of 5 people arrived in Sikha, desperately looking for a hot shower and warm meal, we found it, at the "Dhaulagiri View" tea house, we there ultra friendly staff we very helpful and made us some excellent meals. From Sikha, we had a short day the next day, taking 4 hours to climb up to Ghorepani. Where we made it before the rains, with enough time for lunch.

The next day we would take on the remaining 400m meters, up to the summit of Poon Hill, to see the famed sun-rise views... us and the rest of the Trekkers staying the night in Ghorepani, whom had come for exactly the same reason.

Throung La to Larjung

As mentioned in the previous post, Throung La was exhilarating. Though I am going to add the altitude was something very interesting to experience, especially since I've never been up past 3500m, so did not know what to expect. Did not get any of the major AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) symptoms, but definitely felt that it was a lot "harder" and took more effort to walk a few meters up hill.

Once on top of the pass, it was time for photos & tea from the tea house (tea only, no accommodation), which is only open during the trekking season. Then on down to Muktinath (3800m), here the landscape suddenly changes drastically and looks very barren and unfogiving, much like the descent ahead of us. The guide book describes the descent as "very tough on the knees, though it's not steep at first ...". Yes, the descent is "tough on the knees", in fact so tough it's almost painful and saying "not steep at first" is an understatement, it's reasonably steep, then quickly becomes insanely steep. Needless to say, my knees were pretty buggered by the time I got down and I felt some serious pain. I had never been so relieved to see the familiar faces of the advanced party, who had dashed ahead up the past, grinning at me from the roof top of the guest house they had chosen.

Muktinath is the next most Holy place to Hindu's in Nepal, after a place called Pashupatinath and attracts hundreds of pilgrims per year. There are also a substantial number of Buddhist pilgrims, which also come to the temple complex in Muktinath. The fame of Muktinath comes from a "natural phenomenon", where within a cavity a blue flame can be seen, burning over a trickle of water. I did not go see it (the tough of walking up hill the next morning was not very appealing), but on the route out we did walk into a lot of pilgrims on there way to see it.

Leaving Muktinath, we headed for the town of Jomson (2710m), via Kagbeni (2800m), which is a really nice oasis of a town, next to a river bed (though you need to do another long descent to get to it). Here we had lunch and "acquisitioned" a donkey to carry one of our party to Jomson, who's knees had decided "this far and no further". In Jomson we staying in real luxury at "The Majesty" hotel and I would recommend it to anyone passing by (or flying in / out). Jomson has an airport, so in the mornings you can amuse yourself by counting flights.

From Jomson, we headed to Larjung (2550m), along the river bed. Apparently in places the bed is up to 1 km wide, but is mostly empty, apart from the strong stream, which winds it's way through the bed. On the way we stopped in Tukchey, which is famous for a Brandy Distillery... much to our dismay, it was closed when we go there, apparently the "boss, has gone for a meeting" and the workers did not know when she would return. Just as well, 'cause we bought a bottle later and it's about as strong as the stuff my grandfather use to brew, which could also strip the paint off walls.

Oh, no photos in this blog, the PC is a mean-machine meant to play online games with, hence the USB ports have been disabled (don't ask) and I can't access the photos on my portable HDD. Oh, also hence the hurried post ... I heard the mention of folk playing Warcraft III, DOTA (sorry the inner nerd becons).