Tādi̇̄ Kholā

This day was technically still part of the trek, but it was just our travel back which ended up being quite eventful.

Dil Man had managed to get us a private jeep ride back to Kathmandu, instead of taking the public bus, but for no extra cost (just a tip for the driver). It was faster, so we left the village at 11 am and hit the road. The shortcut we'd been told the day before was going to have better roads "as they weren't under construction", however, we quickly realised they should have been. They were just bumpy dirt roads that followed the cliff valley, sometimes passing ANOTHER hydro-dam. The amount of bouncing about I did on those roads I'm surprised I didn't have bruises. Sometimes we'd hit a perfectly asphalted road where the driver would speed up to 80 km only for it to end in more dirt road 10 seconds later, no exaggeration. (The longest one we were on was for 30 seconds, Nico timed it).

After stopping for lunch and eating Dal Bhat, we were then on asphalt the rest of the way. To avoid the construction coming into Kathmandu, we took an alternative more scenic route which took us way, way up into a mountain to then come back down into Kathmandu valley. We went so high a very thick fog surrounded the car, and for all the skill of the driver, he loved to go way too fast and overtake any vehicle he saw, which was quite nerve-racking on the bad road conditions. The tension of the drive came to a peak for me when we witnessed an accident right in front of us.

A man, with a lady on the back, was driving a scooter up these long winding roads in the mountains before Kathmandu valley. Going around one sharp bend, he avoided an incoming car but lost the balance of his motorbike sending him and his lady skidding to the ground. We saw all of this from behind him and the driver slowed, but then overtook them and carried on. We were all shocked at what we'd seen and I wanted to get out and help as the driver was half under his motorbike, but the driver warned us that if we stopped and helped, the police would likely arrest us thinking we had something to do with it. He also made excuses that he thought he might have been drunk, however, I think it was just a simple loss of balance. I hid my tear of shock and remorse that we didn't stop and help as the others continued to discuss the particulars. To be fair, the lady at the back was fine, she was already standing shouting at the driver in anger over having crashed at all and he was conscious and already trying to lift the bike off himself as we passed them, so I think they probably were okay. But it pained me a lot to be so heartless and not even considering helping, which I know if it had been me I'd have been very shaken and wanted assistance.

We arrived in Kathmandu in one piece and said goodbye to Dil Man and the other two Danish guys. It felt weird walking away from people that we'd spent so much time with over the last few days.

We checked back into the last hotel we'd been at where we left some stuff and then headed out for delicious buffalo steaks which I'd been desiring the whole hike.Read more