Day 143: To Bamboo or Not To Bamboo

To Bamboo or not to Bamboo, that, was the question.

6:00am. A deep sleep was had by all. Beth and I definitely felt a little old last night as we were tucking into bed when others were just getting started. To make us feel better, we were going up and they were coming down. To make us feel worse, they were mostly fifteen to twenty years our senior.
I went outside while everyone else was slowly getting out of bed. I went up on the roof above the restaurant and stared at the tips of the high mountains that slowly lit up with the rising sun. We were still far away, but it still gave me overwhelming chills.

The whole town was gradually coming to life. A lot of groans and moans for sure.
7:05am Breakfast time - muesli, fruit and cold, thin powdered milk for three and somewhat runny porridge for Rob. Masala, milk and mint teas have been staple drinks. For water, we have water bottles that we fill out of the taps that stream delicious, freezing cold mountain stream water, though we still use Aquatabs to ensure the water is clean. Robin is the little task girl, filling up our water bottles and hanging our soaking wet clothes (it hasn't been raining - that would be sweat!) in the evening.

7:40am. Already packed, we departed from Jhinudanda and immediately started climbing ... Steep steps went on forever. My legs actually felt fine from yesterday, but it was hot and a very quick sweatfest. We were pacing ourselves as Suresh and Keshab had, in so few words, indicated this was a marathon, not a sprint.

On the way up, we bumped into a family of five - kids ages 11, 14 and 15, and we stopped to chat. I asked them where they were from, and they answered "Australia.... Actually Tasmania." Wait a minute, I wondered if they knew the Mudford's. Sure enough, two of the kids took surfing lessons with Kylie and Andrew's kids. I can't believe we ran into a family, in the middle of the Himalayas, that knew the only people we knew in Australia. Their name was the Calligans, so we will call them the Callies - the Muddies, the Tinnies and now the Callies. Weird!

8:50am. We arrived at the top of a very long stair at the village of Chomrong. Chomrong is on a few different routes, so it's pretty big and established. There was even a basketball court! We saw lots of school kids walking up the steps from below and I noticed a lot of them were sweating too - it always makes you feel better when the locals find the terrain difficult!

We took a break to refill our bottles and have a small snack.
9:10am. The ground was flat, then sloping downward as we made our way through Chomrong and down to the lower end of the town.

9:40am. Right at the end of the town, we saw a store that seemed well stocked. I picked up three pairs of flip flops for $2 each for Robin, Abby and I - not 100% required but they would be nice when we were chilling after a long day of trekking. Beth also picked up a knee bandage - I tell you, the guy was well supplied!

Abby noticed a picture that she identified with of a trekker with a thought bubble containing a big slice of chocolate cake. I wasn't sure how many cake opportunities there would be higher up, but it was nice to dream!

9:50am. The valley leading out of Chomrong was right out of the Lord of the Rings movie. Terraced rice fields, stone houses and people going back and forth on the path with baskets hanging from their foreheads full of all kinds of different things.

10:20am. The downhill led to a long suspension bridge that indicated the start of a big climb that ended in lunch. We made our way slowly, step after rocky step, occasionally broken up by a short flat section.... But only very occasionally. It was tough going.

10:45am. We reached Lower Sinuwa and though the time was early, we were ready for lunch. After two hours and thirty five minutes of solid up and down walking, we were ready for a good recharge.

Beth and I went for vegetable fried rice - it has seemed to do the trick the last few days - large quantities of relatively bland rice, but still, rice is life. The kids both had huge bowls of macaroni. We've been drinking a lot of tea to stay hydrated during the stops.

The little town was like many - perched on the side of a hill with spectacular views of the valley below and an even nicer view of what lay ahead. Just after lunch, about ten or fifteen mules passed us going up. The pack animals were mostly empty for some reason. It always seems weird to me that they know where they're going. The driver was well back of the pack.

12:15pm. Ready to go after the long break, we put our day bags on, Suresh and Keshab put the big bags on and we were off. We passed all of the mules minutes later, grazing by the side of the path. I guess they were on some kind of regular schedule.

We passed a sign indicating we were entering vegetarian country.... Ok then!

We began to climb again, hitting a lot of steep stairs with small flats between. It was again, tough going. The last ten minutes were flat as we arrived in Upper Sinuwa.
1:00pm. In Upper Sinuwa, we took a short break. We discussed with the porters where we should stop for the night. We could either stop at Bamboo, about an hour and a half away, or push on to Dovan that was another hour up the path. The advantages of going to Dovan were hot showers, better views and shorter days on the next two days. We decided to wait and see, though I knew Beth really wanted to make it to Dovan. Robin starting to struggle mentally, so we didn't want to push it.

1:15pm. The porters anointed Robin with the name "Kanxi" meaning little sister, and Abby with "Thuli" meaning big sister. I think the nicknames are going to stick for a while. "Slowly, slowly Kanxi" they said. And we were off.
We climbed and climbed.... It was a familiar sight. Steeps stairs with the occasional slope to break it up.
1:45pm. The end of the climbing section led to a downhill slope into Bamboo, we hoped. We passed a few guys coming up the slope that were carrying about fifty pieces of 3/4" bamboo that were about twenty feet long. I couldn't believe how quickly those guys, carrying that huge weight on one shoulder, were moving up the path. Crazy. From Chomrong on, most supplies are carried by people (the mules, as I found out, stopped at Sinuwa). Propane tanks, food, toilet paper, supplies - all carried over many kilometers, up and down to supply the various camps.
2:00pm. After a gradual descent, the path turned sharply downwards. Transitioning to a descent feels just like when you come off a climb when cycling, and drop into an easy glide downhill. The pressure is off, and you can just focus on where you're stepping and let gravity do the work. That is, of course, if your knees are doing well. Beth was starting to get pretty sore on the downhills, but overall she was doing great.

2:30pm. Bamboo was a cute little stop, in a bit of a valley section. We met an Australian family from Perth that had three kids also aged 11, 14 and 15. They'd just arrived from all the way up at ABC - the Dad and eleven year old were suffering a bit from altitude sickness, so they wanted to come down quickly.
We turned as we heard the sound of a helicopter coming up the valley. It's never a nice thing to see, as there aren't too many positive scenarios that involved taking a helicopter ride back from ABC or MBC to Pokhara, and at a reported $6,000US cost, it was an unlikely pleasure ride.
The question was raised again, continue on to Dovan or not. I will give Robin all the credit here - despite being pretty tired, she agreed that pushing on to Dovan made a lot of sense. This kid is surprising me so much - it really brought tears to my eyes when she said that.

3:10pm. And we were off. The path to Dovan was really tough. It basically climbed the whole way. I dropped back with Robin, and I can't even tell you if I was putting this on or not: I told her I was suffering and that I really needed her help to get through the tough climb. She lept into action, forgetting her mental barriers, and turned the "pick a goal" strategy around on me.

She was not completely convinced at first that "I" needed "her", but as time went on, it became clearer that that was true. She picked a goal "Ok dad, next up is the large boulder at the top of that stair". When we got to the goal, we had to touch the object, say out loud "we did it" and take a breath. Then it was on to the next goal. I was so inspired by this little dynamo. When we finally saw the last stairway that led up to the village of Dovan, we held hands and finished to the end together.
4:00pm. I realized later that I really had been suffering that last hour. I'm so proud of Robin, and she was on cloud nine at what she had accomplished. She will remember that moment for many years to come I'm sure.
We had trekked for a total of five hours and twenty five minutes, not including breaks. What a day. What a day.
The carrot at the end of the string was a beautiful hot shower for all. Up here, you pay for everything - recharging batteries, hot showers - everything. And that was just fine for us. The shower felt so good, and Beth was flying high.
As we busied our selves with showering and getting settled in, an older guy with white hair was giving us the real stink eye. We all noticed and couldn't help wondering aloud just what would make a guy seem so bitter chilling out in the middle of the Himalayas.

We even had other adults (yes, adults!!!) to talk to in the late afternoon and at dinner so all around the decision to go to Dovan was a great one. There were two girls, single travellers that had met in Pokhara from Belgium and Holland that were particularly nice to talk to. We even struck up a conversation with the stink eye guy and his wife, and it turned out they were from France (...) and were quite nice, in the end.
We heard speculation that a Chinese woman with leg injuries and a huge black eye was the one who needed the helicopter from ABC. Yikes!
Keshab and Suresh continue to treat us very well. They take our orders and serve us meals from the restaurants, keep us focused on the trails, call ahead for room reservations when possible, and in general, are constantly at our beckon call.
Physically, we are doing well. I feel like a I've gone for a really long ride each day - that certain body rush you get with a big day of exercise. The girls seem great. Beth has been a bit preoccupied with the impending cold as we climb further, as well as potential altitude sickness, but she is in good spirits.
We had a great night. We retired to the room after dinner and had an hour and a half of hijinx and hilarity. By 8:30, we turned off the lights and were out.