Tolka to Dhampus

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 47 – Location: Tolka, Annapurna Base Camp Trek; Nepal

16/10/12

We started late from Tolka, knowing we didn’t have too far to go to reach Dhampus, and worked our way uphill back into the forest, another hot day but there was a welcome breeze. The trail was busy today. At one rest stop the guys chatted to a porter who for some reason was completely soaked.

Tolka farmhouses, the Annapurnas hidden by cloud in the distance

There were a lot of cicadas in the forest and I managed to spot one on a tree. It was about half the size of the monstrosity we’d seen in Thailand.

Hard buggers to spot!

We took a break at a touristy village with lots of handicraft stalls. A big cannabis plant was growing next to our restaurant.

In one section of forest, the sky was full of swallows swooping around, eating the many beetles which infested this area, like the ones we’d seen a few days ago in their mating frenzy. The ground was littered with them.

The ground was dotted with these dying critters

We reached the valley ridge and in the forest found some older local men sat around chatting. One guy was breaking mushrooms apart which he’d picked in the forest and agreed to a photo. Shiba said that it’s very hard to tell the poisonous mushrooms from the safe ones, they look the same and the bad ones even grow in the same spots that safe ones have previously been found. Only he experienced locals can safely find the good ones.

After lunch in another touristy village we started down the other side of the valley through some nice open woods with a grassy floor scattered with flowers. Shiba asked me how I felt and I said physically fine but mentally tired, for some reason. He felt the same. It’s a bit strange as you get a lot of time to think but don’t need to tax your brain when walking at all, so really the brain should be alert.

We came out of the forest and passed lots of millet fields and people collecting rice. We passed some very muddy buffalo that must have been having a good wallow. The path soon widened into a rocky dirt road. Back into civilization!

We entered a village and outside a building a woman was weaving a scarf on a big cotton machine, similar to the ones I’d seen in museums in England. A young guy outside started chatting to me, saying I could watch and chat, no need to pay money. We chatted for a bit and he seemed very friendly, I learned about his cloth business. Of course then he invited me to look inside his shop and tried to persuade me to buy something, having already sweet talked me and presumably trying to guilt trip me into a purchase after his kind words. I explained my policy on souvenirs and made an exit. I thought it was a bit sly of him to act so friendly and say he wasn’t interested in money to begin with, only to try and get a sale afterwards. Still, his local business was a nice idea, giving local ladies work and being able to see them outside the shop.

We passed a few jeeps and entered the village of Dhampus. It was a quiet place and we stopped at a hotel in the middle, a modern building with real walls in the bedrooms! This building stood in contrast to the surroundings though, nice little long stone buildings connected by narrow stone paths.

Shiba took me up a grassy knoll where there was a nice view down into the Pokhara valley past some little shrines. A river stretched into the distance and the hills were layered. Down in the valley was a small town.

I took my camera for a walk around the village. It was really nice exploring and I seemed to be the only tourist in town. A little boy asked for chocolate and when I said no, he said “photo”. This I could do, so I took some pics for him which he was really eager to see. His father looked on from a porch in bemusement.

The narrow paths wound around stone walls and people went about their daily life as hens fluttered out of the way. Old men watched from the shade of their porches. I saw one building with clumps of dung in rows outside. They use this to smear over the floors of their porches – I don’t know why. The final result is a light brown and dusty finish.

I passed a public water tap where a guy was shaving and he spoke to me in English, we chatted for a bit. He was a farmer. On the edge of Dhampus I found a little temple with a pool in front, where the houses gave way to millet fields. Down a side path I terrified a cow shacked up in a shed, who strained to get away from its tether, clearly not used to seeing white people around its house!

Millet fields

Back in the village I passed another guy who chatted to me. He had a shaved head with bandages wrapped around the lower part. It transpired that he had come from Pokhara to be with his family, only a few days ago his grandfather had died in the village, so as the eldest grandson he was in charge. His father had died only three months ago so this was a double whammy of tragedy. Now the family would have five days of mourning. The sons and grandsons customarily shave their heads when an elder dies. It also turned out his brother worked at the hotel I was staying at. We chatted for a while; he was a very friendly guy. I gave him my condolences and went back to the hotel, where the man’s brother was playing the guitar.This chap was in his early 20s and called Kumar, and spoke really good English. He took me on another tour of the village, including a little restaurant he opens on festivals, when they get lots of locals visiting.

Typical Nepali toilet in the villages

Kumar and his restaurant

We arrived at the grassy knoll I’d climbed earlier, and a guy came up and started speaking to me, initially seeming genuinely interested until he produced a backpack of handicrafts to sell! We said we weren’t interested and ignored him as he persisted. We watched the sun setting from the hill, very peaceful and with no tourists spoiling the atmosphere. As dusk came I went for another walk to scope out good locations for photography for the sunrise the next day. Unfortunately it was in vain as where-ever a good shot would have been, there were always cables in the way.

Dhampus village, from the hillock

Thanks to a power cut we had dinner by candlelight as Kumar played us songs on his guitar. He’s a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan and even saw them when they came to Nepal. We chatted through the evening and him and the family working there took a lot of pleasure in seeing my trekking photos on the computer.

Krishna gets stuck into his dahl baht the traditional way, with his hands. Messy!

Krishna gets stuck into his dahl baht the traditional way, with his hands. Delightful!

I learned Kumar’s father had died of an unknown illness, he had a problem with his arm and just got weaker and sicker. I guess they couldn’t afford medical care, like many people in Nepal. It really makes you appreciate the NHS and western medical services, where at least you can be medically insured. Here if you get ill it can be a death sentence. Kumar’s brother appeared later in the evening and was very happy to see me. He said “You are my very best friend ok?” and left saying “Goodbye, I love you”! I suspect it was a bit of a mistranslation! We called it a night for an early start in the morning.

Jhinu to Tolka

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 46 – Location: Nepal, Annapurna Base Camp Trek, Jhinu

15/10/12

After a bad night’s sleep (this time people were talking loudly through the paper-thin walls), we set off after a leisurely breakfast, leaving Jhinu and passing up and down through the forest, skirting along the valley. There were lots of trekking groups on this route and after I got into rhythm with my iPod I stormed along at a rapid pace overtaking lots of people. We leapfrogged the British girls a few times. Mid-morning we reached another Deurali (the third village with that name that we’d encountered!). At one rest stop was a baby basket hanging from beams. From time to time its father swung it strongly rocking it rapidly side to side. It wouldn’t pass any health and safety laws but I saw this setup a few more times on this day.

Down at another village, “New Bridge”, a big metal suspension bridge crossed the rushing river we’d seen at the hot springs. A troupe of long tailed macaque monkeys scrambled across the girders as we approached and ran off into the jungle. We began a long climb in the sun up steep steps, passing very thin terraced rice fields. On rocks sticking out of the fields people perched. Shiba told me they were on guard against the monkeys.

People sit on the boulders looking out for naughty naughty monkeys

You could see patches of fields where the monkeys had wrecked everything, breaking the plants. Half-way up we stopped for a rest and my companions chatted to a boy on guard. His days were spent perched under a tiny shelter watching the fields for the naughty simians. It must be mind numbing!

The poor chap destined to watch monkeys all day long

This flight of steps was a real killer. Can’t they put a granny stairlift here?

Further up we passed an old farmer ploughing with two buffalo. You could see he’d done a lot of fields already that day, and his buffalo seemed tired and un-responsive, loads of flies were clustered around their eyes. All the way up the steps, flutters of movement burst from the path and the fields as grasshoppers jumped out of our way. Some of them had blue wings which were only revealed when they flew.

Now that’s some hard work

The farmer has done a pretty good job, a lot still to do though!

We reached the start of the sprawling village of Ghandruk, the biggest settlement in the area. It stretched for about half an hour’s walk with scattered clusters of buildings.

Common carry sack for the locals, a criss cross of cloth acting like a rucksack

We stopped for a break at a rest stop where the owner, an old woman had bees living in her house – they swarmed out of the door right next to her kitchen. I asked Shiba if she minded and he said they don’t bother her!

Bees in their little log hive

Drying millet

The terrain here was open and we were quite high, offering views down the valley full of terrace farming and forests. We passed a stream by a small building with water blasting from its bottom back into the stream. Inside was a spinning grinding wheel powered by a water wheel, which was being fed millet from a funnel above. The room was filled with millet dust. As we exited a family thrust themselves upon us, wanting a tip for seeing their mill, a little girl was holding a tray with flowers and money. I gave them 5 rupees thinking it was a bit cheeky of them. This pattern repeated further along the path, with kids holding trays of flowers trying to give them to you for money, or clapping songs and expecting money as you passed them. You could tell we were nearly back to “civilisation” with the kids plying gullible tourists for money.

We went over a very dodgy bridge where a man with one leg was begging with a sign. Shiba said he had been a porter and had lost the leg to frostbite.

Looks legit

Further along we passed a woman outside her house who was making cotton clothing with a device in her lap. It looked quite intricate.

Weaving cotton

Tommy vs Buffalo. Who will win?

We passed terrace fields where people were collecting rice which had been laid out to dry, collecting it into piles and stacking it into a round tower. Shiba said it would sit there to dry further.

Collecting the rice harvest

The rice gets stacked into these circular columns for drying

We soon arrived at Tolka, another large village, and finished at a nice lodge with a great view out over the valley. It was only 3:30pm so we had lots of time to relax, and the day had been quite leisurely, with the guys chatting a lot to the locals along the way.I munched on popcorn and sat in the garden area, watching a lady filter through a big pile of rice on a mat. She put smaller piles of it onto a round tray, held it high diagonally and poured the rice back to the pile. As it fell the wind blew the empty husks to the side and the good rice fell back to the mat.

As the sun got lower some very nice sun rays peeked out through the clouds. I’ve never been anywhere that you get so many great sunrays, almost every day. As I chatted to some Germans, I tried some Mustang coffee, which is coffee mixed with the local homebrew, rakshi. It smelled and looked like gravy. Unsurprisingly, it tasted awful – although separately I like the ingredients!

When the dark came I had a nice hot shower, which actually worked (still cost 100 rupees though), and went into the restaurant which was pumping out modern tunes from big speakers. It was quite bizarre up in the mountains. After some photo work my back was killing me so I retreated to bed and read.

The most ruffled chicken I ever saw in my life. Bwark!

Jhinu Hot Springs

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 45- Location: Nepal, Annapurna Base Camp Trek, Jhinu

14/10/12

Another clear morning

I was woken up at 6am after a bad sleep from noise on the nearby path, the Nepalese already cruising up and down this mountain highway. After breakfast we started down the steps towards Jhinu, through a village where some kids had found a very sick chicken who couldn’t walk. One of the young boys was really upset. They were cheered up a few minutes later when a Australian lady came by and gave them all pens!

The poor dying chicken

We crossed the old and dodgy bridge at the bottom of Chhomrong. As we climbed up towards the village we passed Rose (the Dutch girl) again. For the next hour we went up the endless staircase through Chhomrong, leapfrogging with Rose. Near the top of Chhomrong we veered around the hill to the left on a different path, squeezing past some buffalo who were wandering on the path. I asked Shibu why they were allowed to roam free – he said they would head home for dinner when they got hungry.

Drying food on the roofs in Chhomrong

No idea what this fruit is!

For a few hours we descended steps under the bright sun. The trekkers going the other way were knackered from the hard climb. I spotted a few big lizards by the path, and the air was full of flying beetles. They also lay scattered on the steps. Shibu said they were out to mate and the ones on the ground were dying.

Descending to Jhinu

Good camo on this lizard

We arrived at the village of Jhinu, its four hotels spread over a steep slope. Despite Shibu reserving a hotel in advance, they’d rebuked the reservation and we had to stay at another. After lunch we got changed and headed down a steep path through the jungle towards Jhinu’s main attraction, its natural hot spring.

Jhinu

Rarrr

Half an hour’s walk brought us to a very fast, strong river at the valley bottom. There stood a little stone hut for changing and a man took a small fee for access to the hot springs, which were sitting right next to the river.

The river rages next to the hot spring

Two rectangular pools had been built and hot water flowed out of pipes into the pools. After a wash under a pipe, me and Shiba dipped in. The water was lovely. There were only six others here, and they had company. Big white monkeys, Languars, were hanging around only meters from the pool. Sometimes you’d see them licking the rocks, Shiba said they like the taste of the water from the hot springs. The monkeys were easily spooked and kept their distance when more people arrived. They eventually retreated into the trees as it got busier and didn’t return.

Manboobs, ladyboobs, manboobs

The monkeys watch with interest

Jus’ chillin

The pool was really relaxing after 4 days of hard trekking. Shiba had a long piece of string looped over his shoulder, crossing his body. I asked him about it and it is something that all of his caste, the Brahmin, wear every day. They first get the string in a ceremony when they are 15, and change it every few weeks.

Shiba enjoying the hot spring. You can see his string around the shoulder.

More and more tourists arrived until the place was packed. I chatted to some Australians and Rose showed up. I caught up with her and some British girls she knew. Meters away from the pools was the rushing river. The brave went for a quick dip in the shallow river water to the side, which was freezing. After Rose survived the plunge I decided to try too. My body screamed out in shock, but returning into the pool I felt great – all my pores opened wide and my skin was cleansed.

A Korean man sat next to me and started singing a dramatic song really loudly, which made me and the girls laugh. After a while he pointed out a Korean lady in the pool and told us she is a famous Korean singer – he was singing one of her songs. Then he and some other Koreans got her to perform. It was a bizarre scene, sitting in the hot pool whilst she sang the dramatic and waily song in her swimming costume! The Korean’s of course were enthralled and clapped and cheered for her afterwards. Not the place I’d expected to find a celebrity!

This baby goat was having trouble keeping up!

We stayed in the pool for a few hours and eventually my body, now wrinkled like a prune, couldn’t take any more and so we walked back up to the lodge to relax. I felt the cleanest I had for a week! As darkness fell I popped over to another hotel to join the British girls for a drink. Back at my lodge for dinner, I watched a big group of trekkers being given a final pep talk from their guide, and then we were entertained by their porters, who were singing a local mountain song, drumming along, and taking turns to dance – energetic and extravagant, featuring twirling and foot stomping. I did some photo work and turned in for the night.

A porter twirls in improvised Nepali dance

Every night all sorts of flying beasties converge on the lights from the lodges. One moth was as big as my hand!

Alan Stock Photography

My travelling (mis)adventures. It's ok to cry.

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