Nepal: Day 3 (11/07/19)
Woke up around 9am today and Saajan ordered me breakfast while he stepped outside to chat with some folks. After fueling up on granola cereal, fruit, a thin pancake, and an egg we were under way. The sky was very clear and I was amazed by just how far I could see. I asked Saajan about the mountains in the distance and he listed off their names. I don’t remember them very well but it was north so I’m pretty sure they were the peaks around Dorje Lhakpa. Everest wasn’t among them, which isn’t surprising since it was over 50 miles away, way too far to see even on a clear day.
We walked along the ridge line for a time, chatting about our favorite Hollywood movies before coming to an especially barren and dug-out area with wide roads for heavy equipment. Apparently the land is quarried for dirt and sand, which is very controversial. As we were descending in the late morning I started getting stomach cramps - no doubt from drinking the local water yesterday like a moron. I was having a real bad time and we had to stop several times for me to poop my brains out on the side of the road. Fortunately I still had my entire supply of meds for traveler’s diarrhea, so I slammed a double dose and within an hour was back to 100% by the wonders of modern medicine.
While I was stabilizing we stopped at a tiny concrete rest hut on the side of the road. Saajan got us some tea from an old dude, and talked with a man and woman that came down the road just after us. They hit it off introduced themselves: L and Sonya. Turned out that Sonya was from northern France, where she runs a boarding house, and is out traveling with L as her local guide. They were both lovely people and I got to practice a little French with Sonya as we walked and admired the views of terraced valleys and distant snowy peaks.
The road eventually narrowed back to a regular foot/motorcycle trail and we came into a small town where we stopped for lunch at a home cafe. Honestly what I remember most about the place was checking out all the flowers while waiting for food. We all got dal bhat, just like yesterday for lunch, but what I came to find out is that every home and restaurant has a different recipe. Its always lentils and rice but the sides vary wildly. This time it was beans and pickled veggies and was of course delicious. We ate, talked, and them continued our journey, now beginning to descend into the valley below and towards Nagarkot. Along the way I pointed out a terrace growing yellow flowers and asked if they were for sale as decoration like a traditional flower. Saajan explained that they were actually for making oil. I assume that means it was flax but since he didn’t know the word in English I can’t be sure.
Mid-afternoon we we passing through a mountain town and stopped to take a break near a shrine, marked by the dozens of multi-colored prayer flag lines leading to it. We just sat and enjoyed the moment, watching the flags blow in the wind and being silent with each other. That moment is definitely on of the most memorable of my time in Nepal so far. I think partially because it was in good company and partially because it was worked for with two days of hiking.
We passed through another small town, this one with a central street, mopeds, a school, and people actually out and about. Which was in contrast to the other small towns we had seen, as they were generally loose collections of houses and maybe one or two cafes with only a person or two to be seen. From there it was all proper dirt roads that wound up and down the landscape. It was getting into the late afternoon at this point and we were feeling the last 7 or 8 hours of walking. Sonya especially, she was struggling to get up some of the hills and her feet were hurting, which is when I noticed she just had slip-on shoes compared to everyone else’s sneakers or hiking boots. But we just kept pushing since we still had a ways to go, eventually arriving at a collection of inns on the outskirts of Nagarkot. At this point we still had a little distance to cover until our planned destination but Sonya really couldn’t go any further so Saajan and L found an inn for the night (Mountain Resort Pvt Ltd if I recall) which was really nice. Like walk-in shower and a balcony looking out over the valley nice.
We all cleaned up and met for dinner where our guides ate with their hands while Sonya and I opted for the cowards way out and used utensils. I did resolve to do it myself at least once this trip though, which got hearty encouragement from L and Saajan. After dinner we played cards for a couple hours, cracking up over Count, BS, and Golf (six-card game). We called it a little after dark and I passed out after a very long but satisfying day.
