Langtang

We started our day at 6 am with a hearty breakfast and packing up our bags. It turns out all the men suffered through the night because of the Momos we'd eaten at a rest stop. It must have been a sexist stomach bug because I was totally fine. 😆

The start of the trek was through a rough road that was being used to get to the new hydrodam that was being built, so not the most pleasant start. However, after about 2 hours of this, we got onto the original path which was quieter and immediately beautiful. With rocks and trees lining the fairly steep path, we felt like we'd entered into a different world. We saw lots of bamboo and the river looked gorgeous blue from the glacier it had melted from. We even spotted some gray langur monkeys on the rocks eating the flowering trees.

Our first lunch stop was at a typical Buddhist tea house with all the traditional coloured flags flapping. The food was all very carb-heavy, perfect for a tiring day's hike. We gobbled down some basic chow mein noodles and headed on. I came to love my hiking poles; after mastering the rhythm, I found them invaluable in helping me haul myself up the larger steps when my legs just couldn't do it. I realised I have a slow steady pace, which Fredrik, who was also struggling, enjoyed greatly.

We arrived at Lama Hotel, our teahouse for the evening, after a 6-hour hike, reaching 2380m up (from 1550m). This was the most basic place we stayed, with just simple wooden walls, a shared squat toilet, and no WiFi or plugs. We think the view was good, but the clouds had rolled in so much that we couldn't see anything. After eating our meal in the common room, which was a largish room with benches all around the outside, with a hot stove in the middle and the kitchen just off this, where everyone came together to eat their meals and chat. Pretty tired but not too uncomfortable, we headed to bed early and fell asleep straight away.Read more