Nepal – Hiking in the Himalayas

Nepal is fascinating, it’s different! Kathmandu, its capital is  chaotic, dirty and busy but at the same time like a village or rather the fusion of villages. After sunset around 6.30pm things almost start slowing down already and at nine it is absolutely quite. With sunrise life comes back and prayers and incense blow through the air.

I had the chance to stay with local families twice which allowed for cultural insights on two different social levels. The hosts were so friendly and helpful in both places and the food was very good. it is called daal bhat and consists of rice,veggie curry,spinach and lentils and i really liked it.

After city and nearby city life it was time for nature again and time to meet up with my guide and the fellow hikers and finally our porters and cook. We were a great team, I was very happyand enjoyed their company,support and laughters. Our trek was in the Manaslu area, starting at about 600mum and we reached as high as up to around 3600mum. Originally, we were to cross a pass at 5170mum but snow came early and stormy and after having heard stories of porters frozen and probably lost fingers ,and overall uncertainty if crossing would be possible in a few days and considering our responsibility and one of our fellows acclimatisation issues, we have decided to return through the same valley. Everybody was finally happy with the decision and so we hiked “nepali way” (never flat,up or down, over many bridges).
The hike was beautiful from tropics up to the foot of a glaciar, very varied and the deeper into the valley the more tibetan the culture again. Every night it got a bit colder but we were staying in guest houses always and always found a place except for one night where our support team was so flexible to improvise for us and furnish a kind of cellar or storage roomm.

My fellows were wonderful, i had the honour to join Markus who had done the trek 40 years ago already! And Dao, an adventurous lady with a great talent and passion for photography. I look forward to seeing them (pictures and the two) back in Switzerland. As well as our great guide Ram and his lovely wife.