Tuesday 8.10.2024
Summary:
Trek Bahundanda – Jagat
Start: 8:05, 1300m
Finish: 13:50, 1500m
Weather: very warm, shorts/t-shirt
Drink: 2,6L
Expenses: 250 (Coke at lunch)
Although there wasn’t much of a difference in elevation between the start and finish, the route was hilly all day as it went up and down along the valley. The day was sunny and hot and the sweat was pouring down like crazy all day. Luckily, I had a spare shirt in my daypack, so I was able to enjoy my lunch break with a dry shirt. The hiking shirt also dried out in the sun during lunch, but that wasn’t much consolation because 15 minutes after we left it was soaked again. There was a gas shower at the hut, which immediately turned on the hot water. Too hot, in fact, as there was no (at least not functional) control. After dinner the whole group went to bed quite early.
Wednesday 9.10.2024
Summary:
Trek Jagat – Dharapani
Start: 8:00, 1500m
Finish: 16:15, 1885m
Weather: very warm in the morning, shadier and windier in the afternoon, shorts/t-shirt
Drink: 3,2L
Expenses: 250 (Coke at lunch), 600 (2 x Cokes at the hostel)
The day started the same as yesterday. The temperature rose quickly after we left and again we were soaked with sweat. The sole of the ‘Nike’ sneakers that Heikki had bought in Kathmandu had started to come off on the first day of trekking. The solution, of course, was to wrap the toe of the shoe with duct tape, but that too failed as water flowed over the trail in places. Not so much that you couldn’t have crossed them quite easily, but the tape got wet and came off. Heikki got a piece of string from a tea house and wrapped it around the toe of his shoe. With those tricks, we made it to the finish line. This day was a bit longer than the previous and we didn’t arrive until half past three. The last hour’s uphill was quite hard on the legs and the pace was not overwhelming. At the hostel I went straight to buy a bottle of coke. A shower was also necessary, but judging by the freezing temperature, the water came straight from Lake Tilicho. It also started to rain a little in the early evening, so my hand washed underwear and hiking shirt didn’t dry at all. The shirt is made of very quickly drying material, so it will probably dry in the room overnight. The underwear certainly didn’t dry out at all, as was the case with the previous day’s underwear, even though the previous afternoon had been much warmer and drier. But I hung them outside my backpack and the sunshine did the job during the morning. So tomorrow I’m going out again with my underwear hanging from my backpack. Luckily, they’re all black. This is also a self-correcting problem, as higher up, vanities like showering and changing underwear are not indulged so frequently anymore.
