DAY 9: Today we walked to Laya, which is the main village in the area. According to our Bible, a guide on trekking in Bhutan by Bart Jordans, there is negligible altitude gain and 360 metres of altitude loss. I think maybe I’m splitting hairs here, but if he was to alter ‘altitude gain’ to ‘ascent’ and ‘altitude loss’ to ‘descent’, then the figures would be very different. It would have read altitude gain 268 metres and altitude loss 522 metres. Call me pedantic but there’s a large difference between negligible and 268 metres and let me make it very clear Mr Jordans is going to get s very stern letter when I return, as this is not the only anomaly we’ve come across.
The path was like so many others, rocks, mud and horse manure! Stephen, especially finds this exhausting and one slip means wet and dirty boots/trousers and if seen a loss of pride. We entered Laya just before lunch and settled down to relax for the afternoon, Stephen did a little more relaxing than me, as I went to watch a Bhutanese darts match. Where the ocky is about 30m from the target and the darts were really small spears. I also sussed out where the local amenities were i.e. the shops, bars etc as Laya came with the reputation of being ‘fun city’! Mmm, maybe not, but it is a beautiful village with some amazing houses and a boarding school that draws from all the local villagers.
DAY 10: We were here for two nights, a day of rest, although Dorje had other ideas, he wanted to take us on a walk that overlooked the village…I think we both categorically said ‘No Thank you’, in such a way that Dorje didn’t persist with the idea. We had a lie in and had our best breakfast yet, fried eggs, chips and pancakes…bliss, stuffed and happy. Then to top it off we were then upgraded to a room in the house where our tents were set up. Luxury, room to stand up and move around and even dance if we so desired.
There was an official visit to the school by a company called Yangphel Adventure. The school and village went all out to make them feel welcome, with children dancing as well as adults singing. The company were giving 300,000 Bhutanese Ngultrum, with an exchange rate of 70 Ngultrum to the pound this meant they were giving the school £4,300. Yangphel Adventure, I believe is a foreign company that has a tradition of putting on a lot of treks/cultural holidays in Bhutan. I’m sure that amount of money can go along way to helping the area keep its cultural identity, but for the display and the number of villages involved I would have expected a greater contribution. I could be doing the company down and they could be contributing to many schools. However, to put this in perspective the company officials and there were about six or seven of them, flew in by helicopter these cost approximately £3,000 per hour!!! Please don’t think I’m being cynical in any way.
It was, however, a fascinating show, which I’m glad I was privileged to see. The rest of the day Stephen spent in our upgraded room relaxing and dozing. There was a reason for this, the night before we had both suffered, Stephen more than me, a phenomena where in your sleep you stop breathing for 15 – 20 seconds, then suddenly your body automatically gasps for air, this has a tendency to wake you. It seems to be impossible to control and is one of the effects of altitude. As I said Stephen suffered to a greater degree than me so I spent the afternoon having a bucket wash and then sunbathing.
DAY 11: Today we were told by Dorje, it would be a hard day, fortunately, we both had slept far better a felt refreshed, so we started at 7am instead of our usual 8am. We descended 600 metres to the valley floor and there next to the last army check point was a cafe, the first and I’m pretty sure the last one we will come across on this Trek! So we stopped and had a cup of tea, as did every other person walking in our direction.
The reason it was so busy is that this route was also the main route to the nearest road, just two hours away down the valley. Funnily enough our path didn’t go anywhere near the road and civilisation. We turned off the main path 30 minutes further down from the cafe and our path went UP. And carried on going up through Fir Forests and then Rhododendron Forests for 960 metres to our campsite. Again a stunning position in a valley at 4,200 metres. We both found it hard. Some of the expletives that occasionally came out of Stephens mouth, when he was able to speak and draw breath, I’m unable to print…one thing that I can print that gives you an idea of how he felt is ‘a six year old girl on a trike with a puncture would have overtaken him on the path and would have asked if he was Ok’? Hopefully sleep will come to us both easily tonight.
Ps. We were given a surprise at dinner…a hot water bottle, this has to be the second best thing after Stephens line of naked Canadian dancing girls!!! I believe I’ve already implied that sanity is not his strong point!
DAY 12: Today started with a 250 meter climb, we know it’s going to be a long hard day, all the same that was a vicious start. Half way up we were told to ‘stand and deliver’ by some government workers who were improving the path. Apparently it’s acceptable in Bhutan whilst building paths and local roads, to ask for a ‘contribution’ towards refreshments for the workers, me I call it a Toll or just plain highway robbery! Stephen and I contributed 50p each and they seemed very happy! We reached the fifth pass, Tsemo La, in good time only for the cloud and mist to envelope us obscuring any view.
Stephen and I have settled into our own pace. Mine is faster uphill and Stephens is faster on the flat and downhill (although there’s been very little of that) Sanga usually accompanies me and Dorje stays with Stephen. Because of the mist, Dorje thought the campsite was over the next ridge and unfortunately it wasn’t. When you are told that the end is near, you start to relax and your body winds down…to be then told that it’s another hour away is demoralising and to find that extra energy, let’s just say that even Red Bull and its wings wouldn’t have helped! We both got there in the end and this was our highest camp yet at 4,950 metres.
We’re all settled in at camp, Stephen’s taking his usual afternoon knap, whilst I ponder tomorrow. Another long day, this time over 1,050 metres of descent!
DAY 13: The altitude affected us both last night in different ways. I had to get up to per five times! Do you ever get that feeling that you haven’t quite finished a wee but you can’t do any more, well that’s what it can be like for the first couple of nights at around 5,000 metres. It means that you lie down to try to go to sleep, still wanting to pee! Stephen, just suffered from a restless night’s sleep, which meant he was tired this morning. We set at around 8am for the sixth pass, Karakachu La. Our second pass at over 5,000 metres. My mate Bart Jordans says that the is an altitude gain of 80m…his name, once again was mud, as the actual ascent was 285m! We have decided to discard his altitude gains and losses and accept whatever it actually is…I said I was going to write a stern letter on my return home, Stephen and I are thinking up more devilish ways to get our own back, the current favourite is to leave a large horny Yak in his bedroom. Seriously, the view from the pass was our best yet and once again we left a prayer flag to give not only ourselves, this time, but also our families and friends good fortune.
The descent from the pass, as I’ve already said was over 1,050 metres and in places very steep. But the weather was on our side and the views were breathtaking. Once we hit the valley floor the path followed the Po Chhu river for 8 km, with beautiful waterfalls cascading down each side of the near vertical valley walls, to our campsite. A wild campsite, next to the turquoise glacial river in peaceful Rhododendron forest.
DAY 14: Another misty morning, which slowly cleared as we walked a further 6 km Po Chhu valley. Dorje started off at quite a lick and I have to say I struggled to keep pace. Stephen had had a wonderful nights sleep, so he was full of beans. I’d had a good nights sleep as well, but their pace was a little uncomfortable for me. The steep valley sides once again entertained us with its waterfalls that tumbled for hundreds of metres and the ever changing Autumn colours of the forests that some how clung to the valley sides. The easy walking came to a sudden end and the track started to climb with a vengeance. The path wound its way through switchbacks up to a village called Woche. Who knows why it’s there, Yak herding, I assume, but it sits on a small Alp in the middle of nowhere. The sun was blazing down by now and it was a place to rest and soak up the magnificent mountain scenery.
Dorje gave us a choice of two campsites, I made the choice of the second, higher and further away site as we had plenty of time and it would shorten the following days walk. Let’s just say my choice wasn’t in the end popular with Stephen or me. But we did sit on a rock high up from the valley floor, looking both up the valley and down, drinking a cup of tea, absolute bliss. The final push to the second site was steep and long, but in its defence it does have an outstanding vista. Unfortunately the cloud rose from the valley floor to shroud us in complete and utter silence before what otherwise would have been a lovely sunset.
DAY 15: Stephen’s first words to me this morning were ‘if I ever suggest anything like this again, march me to a hospital and have me committed’! To be continued
