We are not far from Tibet it is only a mere three day walk from Syabrubensi and the road we start on is the only one that leads from Nepal to Tibet. There are many suspension bridges on the walk today, they ae all made of metal and thankfully are not too far up, they do however wobble a lot but after yesterdays bus journey I have little fear left.
It is cold in the morning and we get a steady pace going, we are following the river to Langtang through the jungle that lies on the mountainsides. Some Himalayan monkeys are jumping through the tree's, they have long white tails and flat black faces, very different from the monkeys at Swayambunath and much shyer. Further along I could see where wild bee's are making honey, high up on a rock face. Large dollops of honeycomb are visible as the bee's swarm around them. It is illegal to take this honey from the park and it is supposed to be extremely good for ones health and fetches a high price on the black market.
Along our journey we keep seeing a man carrying two large panels of wood down his back via a strap around his forehead. His pace is slow but he keeps catching us up and overtaking us when we rest. From time to time all you can see is a panel of wood slowly making its way along the path.
We came closer to the river and there was a distinct smell of sulpher in the air that comes from a nearby hot spring. Geljin asked me if I wanted to take a look and we headed of to the other side of the river via a rather unstable looking wooden bridge with nothing stopping you from falling over the side. By the pool you could se the steam rising up and there were white prayer flags hanging up next to it. I put my finger in the water it smelt nasty but was pleasantly warm.
We stop for lunch at Bamboo it is 11:30. I refill my water bottle and add the little iodine pill to kill off any germs. There are a lot of lodges along the way where families have been living for centuries. I am told that the path that we are on is at least two thousand years old and would have been used as a trade route between Tibet and Nepal.
There is a small family living at Bamboo with two children. A boy who is merely a toddler no older than three and a girl of around seven or eight. I had to rescue the boy from a livley black puppy that had him pinned to the ground and was playfully trying to bite him. The same puppy nipped at my hand as I was eating, my knee smashed the table and almost sent my dinner flying.
Lunch took about an hour and the walk afterwards was much harder. The sun had come out and it was nearly all uphill, although the path seems to go a hundred meters up and fifty down. It was hard and hot work but there were plenty of lodges to rest at along the way and I even bought pair of yak wool fingerless mittens.
We reach Lama Hotel where we will be spending the night. Lama Hotel is actually the name of the village and our lodgings is called 'Friendly Guest House'. It is still hot when we arrive at about 15:00 but as the sun goes down it starts to cool considerably. A lot of the lodges have solar power one going so far as to declare 'Solar Shower, Best In Langtang. There is also a sign for a 'Special Home-Made German Bakery Shop' but I am not sure of its authenticity..
There were a few people staying at the guest house. A girl called Tammie from Australia who's parents are both from Hong Kong, a Dutch guy called Mark and their Sherpas. I learnt a Nepalese card game from them. Everyone is delt five cards the aim of the game is to end up with cards totaling no more than five. Every turn you have to lay down at least one card and pick one up from either a card tyhe person before you layed down or the pack, you can place cards in either numbered pairs, triplets, fours or in runs of the same suit, just like poker. Aces are low. You can only declare your hand on your next go and if somebody has a lower value hand than you, you lose. It is a simple game and good fun, far more tactical than you might imagine.
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