We continue to get acquainted with the features of the Himalayan cold. The air temperature is positive all the time, but you freeze at the same time, like the last chicken. Probably, the height begins to act. In such conditions, the main test of the day becomes evening bathing (in hot water, which was turned off).Route: Danagyu – Temang – Chame.Passed: 12 km in 5 hours, evening radial 4 km in 2 hours.The total ascent is 900 m, the total descent is 460 m.Altitude above sea level: 2700 m.Terrain: coniferous forest.Yesterday’s early finish made us think about the advisability of getting up early (at 5 am)…? Of course not. It was just that the night was cold, Sveta even covered herself with two jackets over the sleeping bag. I was warm (in thermal underwear, fleece socks, a polar coat and a hat), but I couldn’t sleep either – my runny nose progressed. And in the morning we were finally covered by a real dream. So we gave ourselves an indulgence – we got up at 6:00.
path cut through the rock
shabby pine trees against the backdrop of mountains
cold road in the forest
Driven by the desire to move (to keep warm), we quickly got together and had breakfast (tea). It is already dawning outside, you can see how the wind carries yellow leaves along the street. Brrr. For the first time in the morning I don’t wear shorts with sandals, but a normal autumn set: sneakers, trousers, a hat, gloves, fleece and a windbreaker over a shirt.7:10. Leaving for “outer space”. It turns out to be not so scary and cold – in just half an hour I take off the fleece. The road creeps up through a forest very similar to ours – Crimean, beech.
power plant stream
8:13. Seeing a Nepalese micro-hydro power plant up close for the first time. A little more climb and we come out of the shadow of the mountain. It immediately becomes hot (the temperature is still +10, we just warmed up well). Quickly, before the sun changes its mind, I put on shorts and sandals.
[/ caption] yellow flowers by the road
glacier on the pass (we don't need to go there)
We reach a height of 2700. Today it will no longer be higher, but it will be lower and more than once. Roller coaster though and Nepal.
The sun comes out from behind the mountain
height 2700 meters
bald pine basking in the sun
Villages with guesthouses on the way meet regularly, so yesterday you could safely stretch a couple more hours without fear of being caught at night in an open field (night at noon, ha ha ha).
Nepalese grannies smoke
Nepalese salesman
Sveta washes apples
9:05. In one of these villages we buy apples. They are here for 30 rupees (3 hryvnias apiece), so for the sample we take only one fruit per person. Apples are nice – hard, juicy and very natural (Chinese synthetic ones were sold everywhere in Kathmandu). On the way we meet several apple orchards, but for some reason they look abandoned, and the apples are clearly brought from somewhere else.
mountain peak
Narrow Gorge
Lattemarang halt
10:15. We fall out into the wide valley of the village of Tangok. There is relatively a lot of flat land here, so the village specializes not in tourists (although there are also lodges), but in agriculture. The fields have already been harvested, the population is busy threshing grain and storing straw. The spaces liberated from cereals were given over to cattle for plunder.
horse in the Himalayas
hairiness increased
mountain pasture
Shaggy horses and cows graze very picturesquely against the backdrop of snow-white peaks. Applying the word “picturesque” to the huge herds of goats periodically running through the village is hardly appropriate, but they have their own charm. It was very pleasant to sit on a stone bench, cross my legs and calmly watch how the furry-horned sea flows past, filling the street from coast to coast.
this is how they thresh in Nepal
calm bull, probably Buddhist and vegetarian
herd of goats on Tanchoka Street
12:00. No matter how hard we tried to arrive late, at exactly noon the village of Chame emerged from the pine forest.
chame village map
chame village gate
let's swap
We check into the Hotel Marshyangadi Mandala – this is on the right side of the main Chame street (before the bridge, i.e. on the left bank) just behind the platform with a bunch of equipment shops. We took a separate triple house with a toilet, a socket and walls upholstered with foil (so as not to see through). The standard price is 100 rupees per person. A very decent place with delicious food, a friendly owner and the only drawback: warm water in the shower (not hot).
Marshyangadi Mandala hotel houses
in the room (house)
Central Chame Street
If before the shower I felt quite comfortable in a shirt and a windbreaker, then after bathing it took about an hour to warm up being dressed in thermal underwear, fleece, a puff and a hat with mittens. And at the same time, we did not stand still, but traditionally went to the evening radial.This time Taras did not keep us company. He preferred to stay in his room and read a little. By the way, right above our house hung a sheer rock wall extending into the stratosphere. I suspect “right over” is not exactly true, to say the least, but the cliff was so steep and high that it really felt like something overwhelmingly overhanging or overhangingly overwhelming.
Annapurna in the clouds
Annapurna Wall Panorama 2
14:30. Annapurna has been obscured by clouds for an hour now. How? I did not say that the overhanging rock was on the right, but on the left was She – the white and pure Annapurna2. I didn’t manage to photograph her invasion before the clouds (the sun was right into the lens), and after that the effect was completely “not the same”.We started our evening walk with a trip to the hot spring. In order to find it, we did not make inquiries from the locals, but followed our neighbors – a Chinese couple who were walking with a guide and a porter. I did not remember the Chinese, but his wife smoked so heavily that she deserved to be mentioned in this report.
The hot spring was turned off
and there is plenty of cold water here
Playing spies was fun and easy. The “client” did not notice the “tail” and led straight to the target – a hot spring (this is on the right bank of the river, from the bridge along the bank to the right). The spring, however, had dried up and the concrete bath of the bath stood empty and unsightly. The Chinese abruptly “broken off” and ran back to the hotel.We decided to continue the promenade (along the left bank), looked into the Safe Drinking Water Station and miraculously persuaded a nice Nepalese girl to give us 2 liters of water per bowl. In fact, they are obliged to do this, but only upon presentation of some tricky coupon distributed for free in KATHMANDU!!!
Tip: Be sure to ask for a pack of coupons for free water when applying for Kathmandu permits.
Then they walked through the forest pasture. It was funny to meet a purely tropical (in our understanding) water buffalo peacefully dozing in the middle of natural taiga.
mountains above the forest
forest above rocks
bumps above the head
Hawkeye D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%93%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B7_%D0%9F%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%81″>Benjamin Pierce, and I) noticed that small cones grow on large trees, and on small trees, on the contrary, hefty high-explosive anti-tank ballistic infantry hand grenades (large cones). On the basis of these valuable data, I prudently decided that “on business” it would be better to go here not to the bushes, but under the largest Christmas trees. And only now I understand how wrong I was – a small cone, falling from a great height, can hit no worse than a big cone that has fallen from half a meter.On the way back we did some shopping. On the main street of Chame, right next to our lodge, there are five shops and stalls selling food and camping equipment. Bought:
- sun protection lipstick – 160 rupees
- fleece scarf-hat-collar – 150 rupees
- 200 grams of good Indian biscuits – 200 rupees
shopping in Cham
in Chame General Store
At dinner, we traditionally ordered a lot of food, made the whole table full of plates, and a lanky Englishman sitting next to him with only finger chips (french fries) threw several eloquent glances in our direction. The man was clearly hungry. I do not remember how it happened, but we talked with him.Thomas (that was the name of the British) is 20 years old, this year he completed the next stage of education and faced a difficult choice to study further (which is expensive) or try to find a job (which is difficult – he is a geographer). To better understand himself, and just relax, he went to travel. I bought a round-the-world plane ticket (there is one) and with its help in the next six months I will travel along the route Nepal – Tibet – China – Thailand – Australia – New Zealand – USA – Britain.
in the sunset