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| Tsergo Ri summit group. Back: Kul, moi, Machhendra, Jordi Front: Marcel, Chris |
An unsuccessful search later for another willing trekker, i decided to join a group with a guide. I say group, it was me and Jordi from Catalonia and our guide Machhendra. Machhendra was originally from the Everest region, a devout Buddhist and had a great sense of humour. Throughout the day he would chant and come out with quotes like "No worry, chicken curry" and "hows your head, tibetan bread". He is also a very experienced trekker and climber so was a very good pace setter. A few days before starting this trek he had summited a 6600m peak, the man is a machine.
Anyway, instead of boring everyone with every detail of the 13 day trek i'll pick out the highlights....
The bus journey
The only way to the trailhead is to take one of the infamous local buses. The bus was an old Tata bus (something like this) and my god was it busy. It was the start of the Hindu festival Dasain, so alot of people were going back to their villages. This meant that people, livestock filled the alleyway, drivers area and the roof. I was a little unfortunate and had the seat at the very back of the bus, with my bag on my lap and just about enough room to breath. Next to me was a lady from the villiage i was heading, Syrabru Besi, and her bag of live chickens, that were persumably going to be slaughtered for Dasain. It wasn't the most comfortable 11 hour journey but was very interesting to see all the villages on the journey.
The jungle
The first 2 days of trekking was through thick jungle. It was very humid and just over 25 degrees which made walking very sweaty. We soon met with a guy from Holland, Marcel, and his guide Kul, who we would walk with for the rest of the trek. The first part of the trail was littered with the most cannabis that i have ever seen. Not quite on the scale of the scene from "The Beach", but we must have walked for about 45 minutes with seeing little else! During one section of trail, Machhendra and I were a little ahead of the others so decided to rest. At that exact moment we heard a high pitched barking and a red panda shot across the path only a few meters in front. It was a great albeit brief sight, and i feel very priveliged to have seen it as there are estimated to be <10,000 left in the world.
Tsergo Ri
The highlight of the Langtand trek was to attempt the 4984m peak of Tsergo Ri (pronounced Chergo Ree). It was a climb of about 1200m from the village we were stopping, so was about a 3 hour ascent and just less coming down. For the trip we were joined by Chris from Germany who we had spent a couple of days with. We started at 06:30 and started to switchback up the first ridge at a very steady pace. This continued for about 2 hours making regular but brief stops to ensure no one was suffering from altitude sickness. The final hour was a scrambled of large boulders until the summit was insight! The last 10 minutes seem to last for ever. I was tired, very sweaty and out of breath. When i finally reached the stupa and prayer-flags of the summit i have to admit that my eyes teared up. It was one of the greatest feelings of accomplishment that i had felt for a long time. I was soon joined by the others for lots of photo's, local cheese and chapti lunch and dancing and singing from Machhendra and Kul.
Gosainkunda
It took 4 days of pretty strenuous walking to reach Gosainkunda from Tsergo Ri. We started by dropping Jordi off so he could catch the bus back to Kathmandu. The following day we had to climb 2200m, from 1300m to 3500m. This was probably the most i have ever had to push myself. The altitude was not a problem, its the heat and humidity that get me. I was also getting over a cold so breathing was much more difficult. It was the longest 7 hours of my life.
Gosainkunda is a lake at 4600m and an important Hindu sight. There are also a number of other smaller lakes on the mountain side. They are all perfectly clear, very peaceful and surrounded by stupas, prayer flags and hindu monuments. We took some time walk around before having an early night. The following morning, we rose at 05:30 so that we could see the sunrise over the lake. It was a beautifully clear morning and seeing the mountains reflected in the lake was awe-inspiring. It was hard to get going knowing that we were leaving it behind.
Helambu
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| Gosainkunda at sunrise |
For the final few days we joined the Helambu trail towards Kathmandu. As with the rest of the region, the local people are amazing. I have never met such friendly and interesting people. The are all buddhist and are very similar to Tibetan in their dress and culture. One family stands out in particular. It was our penultimate night and we were staying in a small village called Khutsumsang. We were joined by an english couple, Pete and Lisa, who we actually saw on the Annapurna trek in Chhromrong. Small world. We were almost immediately greeted by the family and welcomed into their kitchen / dining room. We spent the evening playing cards with the son, Neem, and talking about what we were all doing. They cooked us the most amazing Dal Bhat and we all drank Raksi (the local liquor) until the crazy time of 9pm! Machhendra told me the next morning that we were very lucky to be invited into their home, and not just kept seperate as usual. They said they liked our politness and how we talked and played with Neem. Amazing experience. I also bought a litre of Raksi from them for a special occasion.
It was a great experience, very different to the Annapurna trek, and although the mountains aren't as high (Langtang Lirung is 7200m compared to Annapurna over 8000m), the people really made it. Made some great friends along the way and been to almost 5000m above see level!
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| Summit of Tsergo Ri with Langtang Lirung mountain in background |
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| "Poo with a View" |
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| Drinking Raksi in Khutsumsang |
langtang region is a best trekking trail to hike aro9und low altitude with superb view! fond of that area!
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