| Tourentyp | |
| Lat | |
| Lon | |
| Mitreisende | |
Hi everybody, here is a summary of a trip to Nepal that I did in 2009.
I fell in love with Nepal and it´s friendly people in the nineties and promised myself that I would come back one day.
After a bit of planning and checking out some maps I came up with the idea of trekking up the Langtang valley, then crossing the Ganja La pass and from there walk into the Helambu region and finish the trek in the outskirts of Kathmandu.
Arriving in Kathmandu was a bit of a culture shock coming from our organized western world into this rather chaotic city.
I found myself a nice little hotel in the Thamel area, and yes you can still just show up somewhere and find a room without the help of booking.com, just like in the old days!
Kathmandu street life.
Kathmandu street life.
My only goal for that day was to go to the bus station and buy a ticket to Dhunche. The rest of the day was spend enjoying the magic of Kathmandu by just walking and eating my way around.
I have seen a lot of cities in my short life but Kathmandu definitely belongs to one of my favorites.
Next morning at 6:00 I took a Taxi to the bus station, holy shit…Hundreds of buses and full chaos, how was I going to find my bus? Well after finally finding my bus my karma was on the sunny side as some travelers showed up and asked me for the jeep area…No idea but where are you going? Dunche, Ohhh me too. Some space left on your jeep? The lucky answer was yes… So for a fist full of dollars I got myself a ride in a jeep instead of a slow and overloaded bus.
Somewhere along the way.
The ride was spectacular, Landscape, views, people and the food on the way.
And in the end Nepal would not be Nepal if we would not have been delayed with a tire puncture but we made it to Dhunche just before dark!
Tire puncture repair stop.
Next morning I started the trek and walked up my way to Langtang village in two days. Sadly the village of Langtang was destroyed by and earthquake in 2015 The Earthquake created a landslide that destroyed the entire village of Langtang.
Little adventure.
Amazing Nepal
Bed and breakfast.
The hard life of a porter.
First houses of Langtang village.
Solar shower, hot for the first in line, cold for the last in line!
Leaving Langtang towards Kyanjin Gompa.
Between Langtang and Kyanjin Gompa I started my accent towards the Ganja La pass. If I would have walked straight on the route would have brought me to Tilman´s pass. Maybe something for my next Nepal trip?
This Ganja La route is not a main trekking route as there are no villages on the route for the three days to come so you have to bring your own equipment.
Starting point of accent towards Ganja La pass.
Upper Langtang valley towards Tilman´s pass.
Looking down at my campsite and Kyanjin Gompa far below.
Ganja La pass (5160m) is not an easy pass to find and the crossing itself needs a bit of mountaineering experience.
From the top of the pass there are great views towards all sides. I could see Shisma Pangma (8013m) very clearly. Coming down the pass I had to cross the ruble of an old glacier before hitting the valley floor. I set up camp here and realized that this day was part of what life is all about.
Up towards the pass.
Looking down from where I came. The tents belong to a climbing camp.
Believe it or not, the low sadle in the middle is the pass.
I made it.
View from the direction I came from (Shisma Pangma slightly left from the center, 8013m).
This way down.
On my way down.
Camping at it´s best.
Next day I made an early start and just enjoyed the walking with all the amazing views.
During the day I caught up with a small Spanish trekking party going my direction. Walking in the same direction I had a lot of fun with two young porters. They told me it was their first trip as porters and even being from the mountains they had a hard time carrying their heavy packs.
For sure we could start a discussion that this is not political correct and so on but the truth is what other choice do these boys have? But still 5$ a day is not a lot of money, only thing I could hope for is that the Spanish would give them a nice tip for their work.
View back up direction pass.
The porters of the Spanish group.
No comment.
Lucky Picture.
Porters having a break.
That night all of us camped somewhere on route to continue next day to the small village of Tarke Gyang. Connected to our modern civilization by a two day walk towards the nearest road this village was still cut off from our “real” modern civilization.
For the kids in the village the most exciting thing was the arrival of trekking groups.
I was soon to find out what was THE most exciting thing!
I checked in to the one and only “hotel” and was happy to have a beer and a real hot shower.
Well they had no running water but for a few rupees you could have a bucket of warm water.
So there I went with my bucket and reached the shower (if that is what we would call a shower) just below the hotel. It was a building with two doors. Door number one, the toilet (hole in the floor) and door number two a smaller hole in the floor and a little window.
I had a look out of the window….Ohhh what a beautiful view! Why the window was only 1 meter from the floor never came to my mind, but in some countries there are more odd things that you don´t really think about. I undressed and had my “shower” till children’s laughing came to my ear. I had a look out of the “window” and I looked into a whole bunch of village kids laughing at me
.
Well even I had to laugh. So these kids had their fun with us tourists every day, over and over again!
Tarke Gyang.
The Hotel.
Famous shower.
Could yo please clean mine?
And wash my clothes as well?
Next day I decided to walk down the valley and then up the other side to catch up with the Gosainkund trail. It seemed so close but it took me almost an entire (relaxed) day to reach the place called Tharepati.
The pension on the top of the ridge was just amazing and so the views. I was back on the tourist track as you can see on the photos!
All the way down the valley for the accent to Tharepati.
Village close to the valley floor.
Tharepati.
Tourists time at it´s best.
Amazing.
The next two days was just a nice and relaxing walk towards Kathmandu.
Even when the trail got more and more crowded with local people using this “highway” towards Kathmandu, I was just happy and thankful being here.
Early morning.
No comment.
Beautiful Nepal.
Close to Kathmandu.
The trail finished close to Bodnath Stupa so that was where I wanted to set my last hiking step before dropping my backpack.
For me it was my second time to visit this Stupa but it didn´t lose any of its magic after all those years.
Bodnath Stupa, end of my trek.
I spend the last few days strolling through Kathmandu before I flew home.
Nepal I am sure I will see you again!
I fell in love with Nepal and it´s friendly people in the nineties and promised myself that I would come back one day.
After a bit of planning and checking out some maps I came up with the idea of trekking up the Langtang valley, then crossing the Ganja La pass and from there walk into the Helambu region and finish the trek in the outskirts of Kathmandu.
Arriving in Kathmandu was a bit of a culture shock coming from our organized western world into this rather chaotic city.
I found myself a nice little hotel in the Thamel area, and yes you can still just show up somewhere and find a room without the help of booking.com, just like in the old days!
Kathmandu street life.
Kathmandu street life.
My only goal for that day was to go to the bus station and buy a ticket to Dhunche. The rest of the day was spend enjoying the magic of Kathmandu by just walking and eating my way around.
I have seen a lot of cities in my short life but Kathmandu definitely belongs to one of my favorites.
Next morning at 6:00 I took a Taxi to the bus station, holy shit…Hundreds of buses and full chaos, how was I going to find my bus? Well after finally finding my bus my karma was on the sunny side as some travelers showed up and asked me for the jeep area…No idea but where are you going? Dunche, Ohhh me too. Some space left on your jeep? The lucky answer was yes… So for a fist full of dollars I got myself a ride in a jeep instead of a slow and overloaded bus.
Somewhere along the way.
The ride was spectacular, Landscape, views, people and the food on the way.
And in the end Nepal would not be Nepal if we would not have been delayed with a tire puncture but we made it to Dhunche just before dark!
Tire puncture repair stop.
Next morning I started the trek and walked up my way to Langtang village in two days. Sadly the village of Langtang was destroyed by and earthquake in 2015 The Earthquake created a landslide that destroyed the entire village of Langtang.
Little adventure.
Amazing Nepal
Bed and breakfast.
The hard life of a porter.
First houses of Langtang village.
Solar shower, hot for the first in line, cold for the last in line!
Leaving Langtang towards Kyanjin Gompa.
Between Langtang and Kyanjin Gompa I started my accent towards the Ganja La pass. If I would have walked straight on the route would have brought me to Tilman´s pass. Maybe something for my next Nepal trip?
This Ganja La route is not a main trekking route as there are no villages on the route for the three days to come so you have to bring your own equipment.
Starting point of accent towards Ganja La pass.
Upper Langtang valley towards Tilman´s pass.
Looking down at my campsite and Kyanjin Gompa far below.
Ganja La pass (5160m) is not an easy pass to find and the crossing itself needs a bit of mountaineering experience.
From the top of the pass there are great views towards all sides. I could see Shisma Pangma (8013m) very clearly. Coming down the pass I had to cross the ruble of an old glacier before hitting the valley floor. I set up camp here and realized that this day was part of what life is all about.
Up towards the pass.
Looking down from where I came. The tents belong to a climbing camp.
Believe it or not, the low sadle in the middle is the pass.
I made it.
View from the direction I came from (Shisma Pangma slightly left from the center, 8013m).
This way down.
On my way down.
Camping at it´s best.
Next day I made an early start and just enjoyed the walking with all the amazing views.
During the day I caught up with a small Spanish trekking party going my direction. Walking in the same direction I had a lot of fun with two young porters. They told me it was their first trip as porters and even being from the mountains they had a hard time carrying their heavy packs.
For sure we could start a discussion that this is not political correct and so on but the truth is what other choice do these boys have? But still 5$ a day is not a lot of money, only thing I could hope for is that the Spanish would give them a nice tip for their work.
View back up direction pass.
The porters of the Spanish group.
No comment.
Lucky Picture.
Porters having a break.
That night all of us camped somewhere on route to continue next day to the small village of Tarke Gyang. Connected to our modern civilization by a two day walk towards the nearest road this village was still cut off from our “real” modern civilization.
For the kids in the village the most exciting thing was the arrival of trekking groups.
I was soon to find out what was THE most exciting thing!
I checked in to the one and only “hotel” and was happy to have a beer and a real hot shower.
Well they had no running water but for a few rupees you could have a bucket of warm water.
So there I went with my bucket and reached the shower (if that is what we would call a shower) just below the hotel. It was a building with two doors. Door number one, the toilet (hole in the floor) and door number two a smaller hole in the floor and a little window.
I had a look out of the window….Ohhh what a beautiful view! Why the window was only 1 meter from the floor never came to my mind, but in some countries there are more odd things that you don´t really think about. I undressed and had my “shower” till children’s laughing came to my ear. I had a look out of the “window” and I looked into a whole bunch of village kids laughing at me
.Well even I had to laugh. So these kids had their fun with us tourists every day, over and over again!
Tarke Gyang.
The Hotel.
Famous shower.
Could yo please clean mine?
And wash my clothes as well?
Next day I decided to walk down the valley and then up the other side to catch up with the Gosainkund trail. It seemed so close but it took me almost an entire (relaxed) day to reach the place called Tharepati.
The pension on the top of the ridge was just amazing and so the views. I was back on the tourist track as you can see on the photos!
All the way down the valley for the accent to Tharepati.
Village close to the valley floor.
Tharepati.
Tourists time at it´s best.
Amazing.
The next two days was just a nice and relaxing walk towards Kathmandu.
Even when the trail got more and more crowded with local people using this “highway” towards Kathmandu, I was just happy and thankful being here.
Early morning.
No comment.
Beautiful Nepal.
Close to Kathmandu.
The trail finished close to Bodnath Stupa so that was where I wanted to set my last hiking step before dropping my backpack.
For me it was my second time to visit this Stupa but it didn´t lose any of its magic after all those years.
Bodnath Stupa, end of my trek.
I spend the last few days strolling through Kathmandu before I flew home.
Nepal I am sure I will see you again!
Kommentar