My trip to Nepal, 1993

In the spring of 1993, I wanted to go trekking in the Himalayas, so I arranged to go on a group trip to Nepal, and do some not too strenous trekking.

Kathmandu

We arrived in Kathmandu in the afternoon, had a quick sightseeing tour, and the next morning we took a chartered bus north-west to a small town called Dhunche, at an altitude of 2000 m.

The bus trip took 8 hours, for a distance of about 100 km, not counting the many twists of the road, which most of the time was built on the side of a hill or moutain, this being the reason for the twisting.

One thing I took note of was that the rhododendron weren't small bushes like home, but large trees.

Dhunche

At Dhunche, we slept in the tents which were provided for us, which we would use during the whole trek.

For some reason, I started to get rather sick in the night, but luckily we didn't have to carry our baggage ourselves during the treck, so I did manage to walk keep up with the others during the day.

The first part of the whole distance of 10 km we walked on the continuation of the road, then we turned off it and up the trail on the side of the mountain.

My first impressions, as going by bus hardly counts, is that it was very beautiful. Having the river, Trisulia Ganga, down in the valley more than 900 m lower felt very unusual to me. On the other side were mountain tops 1000 m higher.

We climbed up to 2500 m before returning down to Syabru, at 2200 m.

Syabru

After spending the night in our tents at sort of camping place outside an inn at the village, we set down the side of the valley to the river Langtang Khola, a tributary to Trisuli Ganga.

This far, much of the land around the villages had been terraced farmland, but walking along the river 700 m below Syabru (which we made in less than 2 km), it was clear we'd come to a more sparsely populated area.

The first 8 km walking along the river, steadily up and to the east, was fairly easy, but after we crossed the river on a suspension bridge at an altitude of 2500 m, the trail became much steeper and at one place we had to scramble over a cliff face where there'd been a rock slide.

At last, when it was nearly dark, we reached the village Lama Hotel, at an altitude of 2800 m.

Upon checking a trail guide book, we saw that the sum of the uphill stretches of trail had been more than 2000 m, but we had gained only about 1000 m, all this for a horizontal distance of 12 km.

Lama Hotel

Up to about Lama Hotel, we had been mostly walking in a forest, which apart from not having quite the same kinds of trees as home looked surprisingly much like home. Over 3000 m, the landscape changed and trees became scarse.

The daily routine was that one of the staff woke us nine tourists up early, giving us a bowl of warm water to wash in and a cup of hot tea. Then, we quickly had to pack up our sleeping bags and vacate the tents. While we had breakfast, the porters struck the tents and made off with our baggage. This way, they could be at the camp site in the afternoon before us and have the tents up already when we got there.

The cook and assistants were the ones most in a hurry to get started in the morning, as they had to reach the lunch site an hour before us in order to get the food ready, one time consuming task being to boil the water for at least 40 min.

During the trek, hygienic standards were strict and we couldn't eat without washing our hands with something which killed all nasty bugs. The food was also very good.

Our party was made up of nine tourists, the guide who was in charge of us, a sherpa who was in charge of the staff, with two assistant sherpas, a cook and assistant and two kitchen boys an up to 14 porters. As supplies were used up, porters were sent home or to take another job.

I was usually last, in spite of being in relatively good condition for walking on flat trails. These trails are much used and in good condition, but that doesn't move them closer to the ocean level or make them less steep.

Langtang

The next night, we camped at the village Langtang, also the name of this area. Now were were at an altitude of 3500 m, so in spite of not being very steep, the trail took some effort to walk.

It was also cold, even in the daytime, compared with lower down. Sweater, earmuffs and windproof jacket required much of the time. I had had that with me in my small backpack from Klättermusen all the time, together with the all important water bottle, which we filled at breakfast, lunch and dinner. At high altitudes you need to drink more.

All along the trail, there were small "hotels", often not more than one hours walk apart. I'd rather call them "tea houses". Their reason for existance is all the tourists walking the trail. Every day we met and passed many groups, most consisting of only a few people.

Kyangching

The stage to Kyangching, the end point of this part of the trek was only a little more than 5 km, but was the most strenous to me, due to the altitude.

One woman in the party fainted on the trail, but wanted to go on anyway.

At 3850 m, the weather changed rapidly, in the morning the tents were snowed over (it's the small toilet tent you can see on the left), but after a few hours the strong sunlight had melted and dried it away.

It was still so cold that socks hung up for drying could freeze in the wind.

We spent two nights at that village, but I didn't feel well at all, and ate very little. For example I missed having some of the yoghurt made in the dairy put up by a Swiss organisation.

Returning down

Down, we made over 16 km in one day, and when we came below 3200 m, I immediately felt much better, so I decided I wouldn't go with the party up to Gosain Kund on the way back to Kathmandu, as there's a pass of 4600 m on the way and many nights at high altitude.

The prayer walls were impressive: All the flat stones are inscribed with Buddhist prayers like those you can see closest. Tibet is close here, at times less than 10 km.

Trisuli Bazar

On the way back to Kathmandu, I got a lift with a bus belonging to another group of tourists. For lunch, we stopped at the town Trisuli Bazar, on the west bank of Trisuli Ganga.

Kathmandu

Rather unplanned, I now got some extra days in Kathmandu, which wasn't a bad thing in itself, as there's a lot to see there.

One morning, I met the woman who had fainted on the way to Kyangching, and felt even worse there than I had (in fact, she didn't even remember being there) in the hotel dining room. Not surprisingly, she'd collapsed on her way up to one of the passes and had been carried down in a basket on the back of one of the porters.

Sundarijal

We joined the bus who was going to meet the others in the party at Sundarijal, about 13 km north east of Kathmandu, and spent a night in tents again.

Rafting

I, and a couple of others, wanted to visit a national park in the south. Part of the way there, we rafted in rubber boats and had the tents and baggage driven by bus.

It was a very nice experience, nice and quiet, no large rapids, interesting places to stop at.

Chitwan

In Chitwan, we made guided trips around the area, by foot, Land Rover or elephant.

I saw lots of birds, rhinocerus, sloth bear and a leopard.

The national park is guarded by the army, who will shoot poachers on sight.

Text and images last updated 1997 Feb 09, document last modified 1997 July 30 by Urban Fredriksson