Samagaon, 3530m

Another long day's trek and then an acclimatisation day at Samagaon. In our case, we needed the rest and not just the acclimatisation but Chris was starting to get headaches at this point - altitude is getting serious. We still (just about) managed a trek up to the lake on our rest day in between trying to keep warm. The water froze in the morning so sucks to be you, you only get to drink the water you heated on the stove and stuffed in your sleeping bag (pro tip).

Saw our first yak, got our first view of Manaslu peak (8163m) and got caught in a few traffic jams of mules carrying building materials. Elli learned to play the Tungne, a Himalayan lute, in a teahouse over lunch. Samagaon itself is a proper village and a very historic one on the Nepal/Tibet trading route. It's primarily inhabited by Tibetans and has a lot of monasteries and traditional houses where the animals live underneath. Also means they just wander round willy nilly which is quite amazing.Read more