DAY 5

Ghasa (2120m) to Larjung (2560m)

Day break delivers a blue sky morning in the Himalayas and we get a prime view of Annapurna 1 (8091m) and the Nilgiri range of North (7061m), South (6839m) and Central (6940m). They are stunning white peaks that sit behind the forested valley we are walking up. Clouds will blow in the afternoon, but for now, this view makes a size-able reason to come here.




We walked on from Ghasa, following the road in part, until it had collapsed, washed away in landslide. It was a perfect slice out of the road, about a meter in length. Looking down into the crevasse was a cut away section of the road, just mud and stones. We took a run and leaped over, leaving the local kids jumping up and down on a section that was showing promise of also collapsing.




The next village gave me a sense of de javou. It was past school trips, visiting old castles in South Wales, like Chepstow, where the castle's courtyard had been reconstructed to look as it would in some medieval time. The village houses were single storey, made of dry loose stone and timber with random sized windows. Inside revealed nothing more than an open smokey fire, a black pot, benches and shelves. Often there was no chimney so the smoke would seep out from under the roof and over the streets of stone slabs, where chickens peck around your feet and you have to dodge around the piles of animal **** that are smeared everywhere. People wear dirty wool knit clothes, and their faces and hands are black with soot and mud. Everyone seems well-fed and they all smile to we smile back and wander on.




I slept well the previous night but by lunchtime I felt weak and unwell. We stopped for lunch and I ate a large portion of daal bhat (lentil soup, rice and vegetable curry). The owner offered me a free second, identical portion and so I ate that as well. I slept in the afternoon and then got up to eat a large portion of pasta and some apple pie and custard, and felt more normal. We both realised that with our new walking habit we were burning about three times our normal amount of calories each day but still only eating standard portions of food. I had worn myself down and we resolved from now on we should stuff our faces.

In our hostel tonight the only other guest staying was Steve from Australia. Steve had definitely come to Nepal to 'find himself'. He was a nice guy who explained he liked to walk and think, then look and think, then walk and think. His days of walking and thinking and finding himself had been going on for quite some time.

We watched, what we thought, were eagles flying high above and later one of them swooped down towards our hostel looking for something. We had our camera to hand and managed to get a photo.



Outside the hostel we talked to some Indian pilgrims coming back from Muktinath, their faces were painted white and yellow, like daisy's. They only carried a tiffin (an Indian lunch box) the clothes on their back and a thin blanket for sleeping. I couldn't decide, they were so under prepared for walking in the Himalaya, brave or stupid? The most unusual pilgrim was the young, smiling, blond haired Austrian girl, in bare feet. We discovered she was on a pilgrimage, had taken a vow of silence and was going to walk the whole way with no shoes. This really confused the Nepalese who all asked us where are her shoes? and why she no speak? is she dumb?


Cooper Out

Love Dan & Kat