Trekking in Lang Tang

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Henry Antochow, Poland
Henryk's Notes Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 10:49pm

The most important point of my visit in Nepal was left for the last.Having come to Nepal I had no clue where to go in the mountains - all I knew I wanted to reach as high as possible and what's even more important wanted to experience Nepali culture in its natural habitat - Being here for some time I learned that there are still some virgin places but to go there one has to get a permit that costs a couple of hundred of US - this was of course beyond my budget...:)

There are three popular places in Nepal where people usually go trekking - that is Everest, Annapurna and Lang Tang - First two are famous but at the same time commercialized to the limits (ex. thermos of boiling water = 300 rupees)I decided on Lang Tang, funnily enough I met an old friend from Hyderabad - Mikko who was also going to do the same trek. Me, him and his friend Andree went together. The guidebook says the trek takes about 8 days, the highest point of it is 5000m high hill called Tchhori (here Im not sure about spelling :))

We left Kathmandu early morning to arrive at a village called Saybru at 4pm located at 1460m above sea level. The road was pretty good for the first 3hrs then the tar was over and for the remaining time only stones...:) that made us tired so after short walk we went to bed. The next day got up early and after breakfast set out for our journey... The path was pretty easy and I soon left my guys behind, after some time I met some local Nepalis going the same way and joined them as their pace suited mine. Around noon arrived at the place where we supposed to finish our trek for that day - I waited for my guys and told them that I wanted to go further as I did not have enough for that day...:) That's when we decided to split.

Along with my new Nepali friends decided to go all the way to a village called Langtang (3400m) a place that finishes second day of trekking and after 11hrs of walking, little after 9pm we made it but it was so dark that for the last hour we had use torchlights. When we got there I was so exhausted but at the same time happy - Only later one of the local guys told us we walked 32km :)

Next day 2hr walk from Langtang village to Kyangiin Gompa (3900m)- we took a rest for a couple of hours and went to see a glacier - it was all to get acclimatised to the altitude at which I was - surprisingly I did not have a slightness problem with my health. I the village I met a local guy who offered to walk with me to the mountain top for a small charge.

The next day to have a good view on the surrounding mountains we got up at 4:30 and after small breakfast left an hour later. The walk was pretty steep additionally to that when my guide went to release I walked by myself and confused the way :) after 30mins saw him much higher above me and to catch up with him had to climb really really steep hill - that taught me a lesson to stay close... We continued the walk and after exactly 3hrs and 20 mins reached the top - The guide told me I set a new record for foreigners as normally this route takes 5-6hrs...:) We stayed on the top for about one hour admiring beautiful views and took and easier and longer way down - Only then I started feeling the consequences of my fast ascend - I had a mild headache and fever but that didn't stop me from walking and after a couple of hours everything was fine. When I reached the village we came from I met my friends and after a quick chat I continued my way downhill. I spent the night at the same place as the second day and morning the forth day went all the way back to the place where the trek started. There met one of the Nepalis whom I traveled with and stayed at place owned by Tibetan woman - she told me her story how she her mother and a porter traveled through the mounties in 1959 running away from Chinese invasion...