Been a while, i was done with the break. Left my job, went back to my parents and took rest for almost 2 months. Did short trips, Came back to Kathmandu. Was looking for a job and a flat. No luck, Frustrated with the dust, rain and constant disappointments.
I remembered Anmol [One of my best friend], She was talking to me about this trip she and her friends were planning. I remember, how many times did i say no to her, that i cant go. But all of sudden i was like ‘fuck it’, i called her and let her know ‘I was in’. She was very glad i finally decided to join.
I was then added to a messenger group, introduced with the lads and ladies there. I was already so filled up with good travel vibes. Unfortunately common cold started to get me, sore throat, runny nose. I remember, i drank a quarter of rum night before, hoping to get rid of my cold. All it got was worst from the day i decided to join. I was going anyway.
Finally the day, We met at Machapokhari bus stand. I was the one, very excited, very first one to reach there. Most of them were from Khalti, and some of them from The physique workshop gym. We were 10 people altogether.
Amanda, Since i was sitting very near to him, he was my very first friend from the group. There was this guy who was travelling alone to Langtang sitting beside Amanda, I had no clue that we were going to have suchha good time with that guy.
First day we traveled to syafrubesi [ syapuebesi – according to Anmol ], Reached there in the afternoon, freshen up, did roam a little, got to know more people by then. The second friend i made was, Ikchyaankush, We were supposed to be camera buddies, I really liked his attitude throughout the trek.
Second day, The real trek begins,Had our breakfast, We started early in the morning, Our target was to reach Lama Hotel by the evening, Road was mostly ups and down and very stiff at the end, just before the destination. As we were walking by, Mountains started revealing themselves, everybody was so full of energy, excited, clicking pictures. We stopped by Bambboo for Lunch, gathered energy and again started walking. Stiff climb before reaching Lama hotel got the best of us. It was literally the worst uphill walk throughout the trek. I remember, Anmol was like ‘I cannot do this anymore’, When it comes to trek, i like to solo but I had to take care of her most of the time and someone else had to carry her bag. We finally reached Lama Hotel, Served with hot tea, That tea felt like Amrit :D. Took rest for a while, went out, roam a little, chitchat, got to know everyone better, The best thing about this day was we watched a movie before sleeping. Me, Amanda, Raju and Krisha di [ Raju and Krisha Di became my third and forth friends from the trip ]. the age of adaline, i really loved this movie. The worst thing about the day was, Bunch of foreigners who came back from langtang were partying that night, They were so drunk and noisy, We couldn’t sleep at all. At almost 2 AM, I think, We slept. Amanda was very furious about this.
Third day, This day was the second tough day for me. Very less sleep the last night, We started. As we went on it followed by beautiful landscapes and mountains were getting closer every steps. I started solo and went ahead this time from the start, As i went on, i met two foreigners, One was from France and the other from Mauritius. The lady was a spiritual healer, I was so submerged into having awesome conversation with her, i almost forgot i was there with a group. For almost an hour, we talked, as we shared the same path and the cool breeze, spectacular view of mountains. I was so loving it. She became my fifth friend from the journey. We had a very different connection. Later i met her while coming back, Got to know she couldn’t make it, because of altitude sickness. She was sick. I was literally very sad. She had to see what i saw up there. Later most of the time, i walked with Anmol, like always she is suchha crying baby. At some point i was so fuc££d up, Anmol showed up so much of energy, She literally helped me walk. I was so drained, every foot step were killing me.
At last we reached Kanjin Gompa, The view was very amazing. It was looking like it was about to snow. I could see the village from the distance, I was never happy as i was as i saw that. We went in, I really loved this place, So neat, Cozy as if it was my own home, We sat beside the fire, Drank fluids. It was so awesome. The guy who was travelling alone showed up there, We were planning to climb Tserko Ri. Most of the guys were like we will climb at 7 in the morning. I wanted to go as early as possible for the best view. We were informed that mountain was very windy and it starts snowing very early. Later we decided the solo trek guy, me, Raju bro and Krisha di would do the climb at 5 in the morning. Later the solo trek guy and i got high in the kitchen, beside the fire, it started snowing outside. It felt sooooo goooooood that time. Solo trek guy became my sixth friend from this trek. We decided to wake up early and went to bed.
Because of high altitude, i couldn’t get sound sleep, I was waking up most of the time. At 5 AM, Raju bro woke me up, I was like ‘Bro, Ma Jadina yar! Raatvar suteko chaina. Ma jadina la’ and slept. Later he came again, I couldn’t go back to sleep and decided to tag alongand go for the mountain. We packed up, thermos, biscuits, roti, chocolates, camera etc and headed up. It was very beautiful early in the morning. Sky was very clear and very blue, Mountains were shining as if they were diamonds. It looked so nice. There was snow all over the ground from the last night. We started walking. I had no idea what was waiting for me that day.
The road was very straight as we started, as if trail was designed to warm up ourselves before it could literally kill us. As if it was some kind of virtual game we play. I was full of energy and full of excitement, At such times i always like to be the first one. But as soon as the hill started, my pace slowly decreased. Raju bro and the solo trek [amazing guy] guy went ahead of us. Me and Krisha di were behind. As we climbed gradually, i began to question myself, if this were the right thing to do? but the view always kept me going.
At some point i went ahead of Krisha di, The view was breathtaking, but my energy levels were very low. I couldn’t do it anymore. I decided to wait for Krisha di, We sat down together, She mentioned she couldn’t take it anymore and she will stop from there, We were at almost 4400m, I tagged along, I thought to myself, This is it for me too, I cannot do this, May be the next time. We sat down on a rock, I took hot water out from thermos, She had coffee, We made coffee, Drank it. That was the best coffee i ever had. It was so satisfying. View was breathtaking. I felt so good for being alive that moment. Being right there, feeling the breeze, looking at the view, with every sip my energy levels were increasing. After a while i was so full of energy i could conquer any mountains. This was just a small one.
I decided to move on to the point where i feel like quiting again. As i went on, the way was full of snow, It looked so bright and awesome, As if it was the heaven. Every step, i was craving for the top. I pushed myself. I had no idea what was i doing but i kept going. I was literally shouting like a stupid person or a mad one if you may like it. I overtook everyone who came along my way. There was this point where i again wanted to quit, It was so windy up there. Wind started blowing out of nowhere. It dragged me down. I became hopeless. I again started questioning myself if i made a wrong decision? I hit my stick hard on the snowy ground until it went deep down the snow, got down on my knees, hold on to that stick as hard as i could as the wind was pushing me back. I knew if i’d slip once in the wrong direction, it could cost me my own life. The moment was very scary but deep down i was enjoying it. I was so loving it. The feeling i got that moment was not so expressible, so adventurous.
After a while, It became less windy and i decided to go up. As i moved ahead, everyone started to fall back. One of the guide told me ‘Bhai timita agi quit gareko hainau? Danger hawa lagirako cha yaha bhanda mathi najau’, Everyone were trying to get back and i was there asking for them to give me a side to go up. I went up all alone, crawling with my two hands and two legs, Every step i took was slipping me off back, but i climbed like a monkey. This was the second last hill to climb, I climbed it, Took rest for a while. There i met my two friends, Raju and solo trek wala bro, Raju bro insisted that i go back along with them, he suggested not to go up since it was windy and they had to come down. They reached the top but couldn’t sit there for longer since it was very windy. I thought may be i shouldn’t risk it. I shouldn’t go up since everybody was falling back. I wanted to go up. It was very near, almost 1 hour of hike, but it looked very near. I decided ”ok fine, I too will fall back now’. There was this other brother, the solo trek guy, He asked me, ‘BHAI CHADNA SAKCHAS?’ At that point i was like yes i can. He then told if you feel like going up do it but wait for somebody and don’t do it alone.
Since everyone was falling back, i was looking for someone to go up. When i said ‘Fuck it, i am doing this anyway, i am not quitting coming this very near, i wanna go up and see’, i saw one foreigner trying to go up. I must say this was the only crazy guy i saw up there. I was literally shocked looking at him, he had no sticks, was wearing cotton pants, he was not even carrying water with him, leave alone the food. I had second thoughts going up with such a crazy guy, but it was very near, I wanted to do this and we started climbing up.
It was very slippery and very stiff, It was like those games i played, Very tough at the end, last levels, The summit looked very near but it took so much of the time to reach there. Every step was killing me, but the view up there in every increasing step was filling me up with different levels of energy. After almost 45 minutes i reached the top, The view was breath taking, complete 360 degree moutain view. Weather was so nice, sunny, wind completely stopped as if it wanted me to enjoy the view from the top and rest there for a while. I took my thermos out, drank water, ate some biscuits, looking at that amazing view. It felt like heaven, After few minutes i was full of energy. I felt no pain. I was very happy that i made it to the top. Everyone went down. The foreigner friend from UK and i was only there at the top. I shared my food with him. I sat there for almost half and hour. It was lovely.
Later as we came down, I fell down many times, Thankfully no any injuries, At some point, Walking down was not an option so i decided to slide. I even taught my foreigner friend to slide as well. He had so much fun and he enjoyed it a lot. I could she it in his eyes. Hence he becomes my 7th friend from this trek. He was crazy enough to walk down very fast. After couple of minutes i couldn’t see him. Later i saw him way down. I was only one left up in the mountains, the mountains, me and the clouds. There was not a single person up there. I so loved the serenity of that place. I felt like those mountains were mine. As i crawled down, i was very tired, I couldn’t walk any faster. Coming down was very hard for me. Every 5 minutes i was taking rest, I had to race the sun since i was afraid i will lose my way and there wouldn’t be anyone to help me up there. My thermos was empty. I was very thirsty. Mountain again filled up with clouds and it started getting darker, If it had snowed, that would have been life threatening. Altitude already got me, I had one cetamol before, I had to take the other. I literally chewed cetamol since i had no water an my head was about to blast. I never knew before cetamol tastes that bad. It took me a lot of time to come back to hotel. At that day i had climbed up 1200m and down. Finally i reached hotel at 3 PM. As i was there i saw everyone was waiting for me , worried [not everyone]. [ Especially Anmol, She was very happy seeing me there finally. Thank, God! she said ]
The group that was supposed to climb at 7 AM didnt do it, As they were done with roaming around kanjin gompa , they decided to come back to langtang valley the same day, The plan was actually to sleep the night at kanjin gompa. As i reached there some of them started treking back to langtang valley. Raju bro and solo trek brother were there waiting for me. I had hot noodles with soup. It tasted so good like i had never eaten noodles in my life. Later after a while we also moved back to langtang valley. 3 of us decided to go little ahead of the group and party. This was the best day of the trek. We came down almost 45 minutes down from langtang valley and found us a shelter, The place was cozy, We met foreigners there, made few friends, did party, got high, I mean nothing could end that awesome day as it ended there. This was one of the awesome and happiest day of my life. It felt so good.
The next day we woke up, started to walk down, First few hours were awesome. I was walking with the beats from the speaker. Solo trek wala brother was way cool, had speakers with him. We trekked along the way as if we were dancing to the beats. It was lovely. We stopped at Lama hotel for Lunch, Later after almost 1.5 hours, We were united with the group. Anmol almost beat the life out of me with the stick for leaving her the last day. I can feel you 😛 . As we came back my legs started hurting me in every step i take. It was the worst day of the trek, The feeling of coming back, last day of the trek, pain in the legs, etc. Everyone went ahead. I was left alone. At some point, i was afraid that it would get dark and i had no torch, my phone was also dead, i had to race the sun asking the time to people i meet along the eay and calculate if it would get dark until i reach syafrubesi. Thank god, i met two ladies with the same pace as mine, I made two more friends from Israel, my 8th and 9th friends from the trek. We chatted along the way, They were also slow walkers. Later i got united with some of us from the group. Finally went to hotel. Had food. Later Raju bro, solo trek bro, and we partied till the night. Ended the trek as it should be ended. Slept.
Next day, woke up, had breakfast and we descended back to kathmandu. All tired and happy.
This was one of the amazing trip of my life. A trek to remember, A spark to climb.
