Brett and Bernii

This blog entry is written by Brett as part of our solo adventures. Stay tuned for Bernii’s blog that will drop in the next few days to hear what she has been up to.

On Friday 2nd May I flew from Bangkok to Kathmandu. The flight was only three and a half hours and by 2PM I had checked into my hotel in Thamel. I had lunch and a few Gorkha beers at Fat Monk’s Rooftop Bar where Bernii and I had frequented when we were in Kathmandu last year, before exploring the Thamel area (bars).

The following day I moved to the Hotel Moonlight where I met up with the group of people I would be spending the next two weeks with while trekking the Tamang Heritage Trail and Langtang Valley through Intrepid. There were eleven of us and the Lead Guide. The group were from Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, and were aged from 19 to 73. We were given an outline of what the next 14 days would entail and we provided our insurance information. We were then given duffel bags to put our gear into which would be carried by the porters between the teahouses where we would spend each night. Some of the group (myself included) then had a few beers in the outdoor garden at the hotel, before going out for a group dinner at Kathmandu Grill Restaurant.

The following day we left Kathmandu in three jeeps on a very bumpy journey to the village of Syapru Besi (1460m). After about 6 hours we arrived at the Hotel Country Villa which would be our home for the night. We checked into our rooms and went for a short walk up to a temple overlooking the village. We then returned to the hotel for dinner before having an early night.

The next morning we hiked from Syapru Besi to the village of Gatlang (2238m). The hike involved a lot of uphill at the start and by the time we arrived at the village of Goljung for lunch I was confident that the few days that I had worn my new hiking boots around Bangkok was insufficent to wear them in properly. My right heel had developed a serious blister and my left heel was getting close to matching it. After we arrived at our accommodation in Gatlang, the Paldor Peak Guest House, I attempted to bandage them but it proved futile. The Gorkha beers at the guesthouse did help to ease the pain though.

In the afternoon we hiked up to a nearby lake Parvati Kunda. It started raining heavily when we were halfway there and persisted until we had returned to the teahouse. It was the first chance I have really had to test out my wet weather gear (that I have had for three years and paid a small fortune for), and it did its job keeping me dry.

The following day we hiked from Gatlang to Tatopani (2607m), stopping at Chilime for lunch. There was a lot of uphill which was not good for my blistered feet, but at least my boots should be properly worn in by the end of this trek. Our accommodation for the night was the Eco Guest House.

The next day we hiked through a rhododendron forest and made our way up to the highest point of the Tamang Heritage Trail, Nagthali Hill at 3210m. We then had a long descent which took the pressure off my blistered heels and put it all on my knees. Finally we arrived at the village of Thuman (2338m) and our accommodation at the Polata Guest House. Some more Gorkhas were in order after a long day of hiking.

After a good night’s sleep, we departed Thuman and made our way down the valley and then up to the village of Briddim (2239m) where we spent the night at the Briddim Guesthouse. Along the way we caught our first glimpse of monkeys in the trees near the trail. Briddim is the end of the Tamang Heritage Trail and from here we would be making our way into the Langtang Valley, after a few Gorkha beers and some rest.

We hiked from Briddim to Lama Hotel (2420m) where we stayed at the Hotel Origin Guest House. The itinerary advised that the standard of accommodation at Lama Hotel is slightly below the usual standard, however we found it to be very pleasant. The only downside was the need to walk to the outdoor eastern style toilet in the middle of the night (after a few Gorkhas). The vegetarian pizza was the best of the whole trek, and I looked forward to returning in a few days to have it again.

From Lama Hotel we made our way to Langtang village (3500m). The hike was pleasant and for the final two hours we had some rain – not enough to make it difficult, just enough to make it more interesting. Before we arrived at Langtang village, we made our way across the site where the Langtang village was tragically buried by a landslide caused by the 2015 earthquake. The scale of the landslide was suprising to me and a bit surreal. We dried out gear at the Village View Hotel & Lodge and wet our thirst with a few Gorkhas.

The next day we hiked from Langtang village to Kyanjin (3830m) where we would spend two nights at Nurling Kyangjin Gumba Guest House. The accommodation was very nice and gave us the opportunity to sleep in the same bed for two nights – the first time I had done so since leaving Bangkok. In the afternoon we did an acclimatization hike up to 4000m to help avoid any issues with altitude sickness and prepare us for the ascent of Kyanjin Ri the following day.

After a good night sleep we woke early to start our ascent. We left the guesthouse at 6:30AM. The going was slow (Bistārai Bistārai) as we made our way up towards Lower Kyanjin Ri (4400m), arriving at about 8:15AM. We spent some time there taking photos and catching our breath before continuing our ascent to Kyanjin Ri (4700m), summiting at about 9:40AM. After taking more photos and enjoying the accomplishment, we made our way back to our guesthouse where we rested for a bit before heading out to enjoy some victory Gorkhas.

The following day we left Kyanjin and descended to Lama Hotel where we again stayed at the Hotel Origin Guest House. The Intrepid itinerary said, “The long walk down will be rewarded with a ‘mountain cold’ Sherpa beer”, and they weren’t wrong. I was almost running (Chiṭō Chiṭō) to Lama Hotel by the end of the hike. We enjoyed multiple Gorkha beers at Lama Hotel.

From Lama Hotel we descended further to Thulo Syabru (2130m) where we stayed at the very nice Langtang View Hotel & Lodge. It was the second shower that I enjoyed during the trek. We shared a dinner with the porters and guides before a rowdy dance party to celebrate what we had achieved over the past 10 days. A few Gorkhas were consumed.

The final day of hiking was from Thulo Syabru to Thulo Bharkhu. It was a fairly easy walk (Nepali flat) taking about 3 hours. We said our goodbyes to our amazing assistant guides and porters (Dhan’yavāda) and climbed into the jeeps for another bumpy ride to Nuwakot and our superb accommodation at The Famous Farm. We imbibed a few Gorkhas on arrival before heading into the village to explore the old Nuwakot Durbar which was heavily damaged by the 2015 earthquake and was under repair. We returned to the accommodation where we enjoyed an amazing dinner and a few more drinks.

The final day we jumped back in the jeeps for another bumpy ride back to Kathmandu. I did a little shopping and returned to Fat Monk’s Rooftop Bar for a quick bite to eat and a Gorkha. The group then met up in the garden at the hotel for a few more Gorkhas before we headed out to K-Too Restaurant for our final dinner together. Some of us had discussed that we wanted to have yak steaks for dinner, and our tour guide was able to arrange with the owner of the restaurant to have them available for us. It was tasty but more of a novelty and not something that I would order again.

After dinner I went with some of the group to the Purple Haze Rock Bar which had a live band performing and a really great atmosphere. We danced and had more Gorkhas and finally made our way home at about 2:20AM.

On Saturday morning I met up with the remaining group members and said our goodbyes before I made my way to the airport to fly back to Bangkok.

The experience of trekking the Tamang Heritage Trail and Langtang Valley exceeded all of my expectations. It was such a great group of people and the guides and porters were truly amazing. Our lead guide went out of his way to make sure that we all enjoyed the trip. It was my first group trek with Intrepid and I expect to travel with them again in the future.

Now I’m off to have a few Gorkhas Changs.