nepal 3

IX. ANOTHER TREK the second trek we decided to do is called the langtang valley...it's much shorter, only 7-8 days, depending on how you do it...we took a bus to syabrubesi, stayed the night, and started the next morning...the first day was a 1000m climb (net)...it took us around 6 hours...there was a lot of up and down, quite a bit of it was steep, so we actually climbed more than 1000m...we climbed more than 1000m on the day...it was a relief to arrive at the "friendly guest house"...the next day was another 900m climb, this one much easier and faster...the third day was only 2 hours, though we knew it would be short...we were howeva, expecting three hours, and were quite surprised to come over a hill and see the village all of a sudden...we had been excited, as kyanjin gompa has a cheese factory...but because it's not high season anymore, it was closed...soooo disappointed...from our guesthouse we could see part of the langtang glacier, as well as two ridges in the himalayas...the kanja la himal, and i've forgotten the name of the other one...gorgeous...the fourth day we decided to stay in kyanjin gompa another day, and do a day hike...so we continued up the valley for three hours, and almost made it to seeing another glacier...by the time we got back, we could feel it in our legs...layna stepped into an icy river we had to cross, i can still imagine the cold!! the next day it was back down again, back to friendly guest house...(we skipped the village we had stayed in the night before first arriving in kyanjin gompa)...the 6th day we intended to descend 800m, then climb 600m to a village called thulo syaphru...but we didn't get to the turnoff until having been on the trail for more than four hours...i wasn't in the mindset to climb at that point...layna let me make the call, and we went to syabrubesi again...the following morning we walked back to that turnoff, and did the climb...steady, pretty steep for 3 hours...it was worth it though, the views of the valley were great...we could see how steep the langtang valley is, and appreciate the climbing and descending we had done earlier in the trek...that night there was a "jamboree" in the village of thulo syaphru...at least that was what the lady who owned our guest house called it...we had no idea what was going on, but it was great to watch...lots of singing...it seemed to move through the village, stopping in open areas in front of guesthouses...there was always a table in the middle of the area, and the same people lined up at the table each time...the men would sing, then the women...over and over and over again...they circled around a bit, and there were some men in some sort of costume beating drums and spinning around...the last day we walked to dhunche... during this trek we saw white monkeys, yay!! awesome to see animals in the wild...i've only seen monkeys in a zoo previously...well, there is a temple in kathmandu sometimes called the monkey temple because of the troop that lives around the area...but that's not really "wild"...those monkeys have figured out how to take food off visitors, they can even unwrap lollies!! this trek was cheaper than our first trek...because it wasn't as long, of course, and also because we didn't pay for our lodging 75% of the time...because we were trekking outside of high season, the people who run the lodges have a harder time getting people...they usually offered us a free room, and a bit of a discount on our food...(the food is where the lodges actually make any money)...not a huge amount, but still, it was nice...during this trek we also got our first taste of yak curd...SO GOOD...you all know i'm a huge fan of curd (yoghurt) in general, so i was happy to try it...the first time we had it, it had been made freshly that day, and was still warm...GOOD...the next morning, we had it again, from the same place, and it was still GOOD...the day we came back down the valley, from kyanjin gompa to the friendly guest house (in the village of lama hotel) we tried another place for yak curd...it was the best we had...AMAZING...i wish yak curd was available in more places, but i suppose it's best that it isn't...hee hee...the other food of interest we tried was a snickers momo...the owner of the lodge wrapped the snickers in pastry, and pan fried it...so when we got it, the snickers was melted inside the crust...heaven!!
X. "HOME" TO KATHMANDU we're now in kathmandu for the third time...we've done a few more errands, gotten permits and tomorrow will take off for our third trek...this morning we started the process for getting our indian tourist visas...it was my first time in the embassy of another country...lots of waiting around, (about 5 hours worth!...when they finally called our numbers, it only took a minute or so to do what needed to be done)...but oh well...we'll finish up the process when we return from this trek...we've stayed at the same hotel each time, they've gotten to know us pretty well...hee hee...they hold onto all our stuff we don't take with us, which is awesome...