Makalu Basecamp, Part 1
Makalu Basecamp, Part 3
Day 3 ( Contd.)
I start from Devrali.
Today's destination:
SheduaA friendly tractor guy offers me a lift, but I prefer to get on my feet instead. For the first hour, I'm just walking along the muddy road.
Few hours in, and I not only find myself on the wrong right trail - the usual trail first leads to Num and then down, but instead I take to a village track - but also caught in heavy downpour. I enter a quiet little Gurkha village, and ask for directions from a villager, soaking more rain and picking off leeches at the same time. Seeing my condition, he politely invites me into his courtyard. I spend the next hour here.
People are awesome. Not only did the man provide me shelter from rain, and tea, and crispies, but he also volunteered to show me the way down to the river. We make through his beautiful village, Amrang. I'm delegated to a village kid, who leads me out of the village and onto the jungle trail that goes to the river.
The jungle trail, as it turns out, is in disuse. I soon enter denser forest, where the trail is barely a foot wide.
First nasty when I miss a step and fall down the mountain. Somehow I break my fall to come back up, in single piece.
Leeches. Combined with unknown territory, civilizational void, and looming rainfall, it makes for a stressor beyond anyone's imagination, esp when they are found at every step. These almost had me broken by the time I got to a stream.
I, plucked out about 25 leeches off me, and thrice the number off my shoes.
Finally crossing the raging Arun Khola on this epic suspension bridge. It was 18:30PM and it was getting dark. Shedua, my destination for the evening, was nowhere to be seen/sensed.
Tired and drenched (of rain and sweat), I continued ascending. Soon, I decided to camp out in a tiny open patch. But out on a recce, I managed to see a light further ahead, which turned out to be a lodge. That was where my first night on the trail ended.
Day 4:
It was a funny and uncomfortable night. But I was greeted by a rainbow in the morning.
Today's destination:
Tashigaon
Thanks to the rains, I could only exit by 08:00AM.
After a few hours of walk, I made it to Shedua, my destination of yesterday's. I didn't stop there and continued ahead.
Some beautiful rustic scenes and the backdrop made my day's worth.
I walked fast, and got to Tashigaon around 14:30. Lucky to have bumped into the caring proprietor of Makalu II Hotel, who led me to the end of the village where all stay and camping is.
Camped on the heli-field at Tashigaon, and had the first appetizing meal in the day (and the last of it as well). Languished, made notes, and nursed my injuries until sleep hit.
Day 5:
Today's destination: Kongma
Left Tashigaon around 08:30, an hour later than planned. While on the trail, I got a chuckle seeing a helicopter land in same place that I was camping at an hour back.
About 2 hours into the trek, I was fascinated by the huge rock - ideal for shelter. Coincidentally, soon after, a drizzle started, and I ran back under it.
A group of porters was also going up. Here, they finally caught upto me, and chose to continue despite the rain. I was inspired and decided to stick around with them.
Soon after leaving a hamlet after a cup of "Cheeya", all hell broke loose. It was pouring down, and I was caught in the middle of it. The trail soon turned into a water stream. This is how flash floods happen. I ran for shelter under a tree, but that only kept the water away till the volume became overwhelming. I could see the water soaking my bags and clothes, but couldn't do a thing.
The rains abated, mockingly so, after an hour's heavy downpour. I was drenched; so was most of my gear. The ground was still soggy, often yielding. The trail kept climbing up. I was hating every living moment.
A chorten finally marked end of the climb. I was relieved. A few hundred meters thereafter lay Kongma.
Rest of the evening was spent in recovery. The porter crowd made it later, and soon the place was abuzz, except for this city boy crawled inside his sleeping bag on a bed at one end.
Day 6:
Trust me, if the Buddhist monks were to set out to find the next Dalai Lama, they might end their journey here. This kid was compacted humanity.
The following morning I climb the ridge atop Kongma, and he followed me!
I decided to spend the day drying (and burning) my clothing. Wise decision.
Later in the evening, I hike to Kongma La, study maps, and make ambitious plans for the coming day.
...Continued
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