We breakfast at 730 and get the bags down to the lobby for 8 to be loaded on to the 3 pickups which will be with us for the remainder of the trip. There are two Toyota Hilux and one ancient tiny Mahindra thing. We begin to wonder who will get the short straw and have to travel in that. Luckily it is not us and we set off in moderate comfort.
The roads are in a shocking state in places. Don’t talk about rough roads and potholes till you have driven here. We see new asphalt being laid before our eyes and then some that was laid 2 years ago and it is falling apart. Probably a combination of the skin deep layer of tar and the extremes of climate, rain and landslides.
We get pulled over by the police and our driver is ticketed for having the wrong type of number plate. Apparently you need a green one if you are ferrying tourists around. The other two 4x4s didn’t bother to stop so the police were determined to get us. There was a kind of karma later when we all have to stop to get our papers checked and the others get their tickets then.
After about 4 hours we stop for lunch and to hand into our riding gear to go the last 34k. We start at 2500m and finish at 2800m aided by a good tailwind which is a feature of the afternoon here.
The scenery keeps getting better. But we are climbing very gently and on a sealed road. It is not easy. I am reminded that air is thin even at this altitude when my pulse races even when trying to do very little. God knows what it will be like later in the week with steep hills and another 1500 to 2000 meters and cold to deal with.
We roll into kagbeni and wind our way through tiny streets in this medieval village. We bump into a gang of school children all shouting ‘Namaste’ to us. Really sweet.
Dinner is a bit of an adventure for me as I choose a local staple of boiled buckwheat served with a pot of warm clarified butter, roasting hot chilli paste and a veg curry. Think nearly solidified grey coloured wallpaper paste and you’re not far off the mark. I get it down cos I’ll need the calories but am a little jealous of the guys who have order the Yak burger or chicken curry.
When the sun goes down, it gets cold quickly. The room tonight is cold and I’ll be sleeping in my down jacket, thermal leggings and a woolly hat. No central heating or double glazing up here. And the next two nights are promised to be colder still….no running water as it freezes in the pipes. So there’s a bucket to fill before the water stop so you can flush the loo….this was not clearly explained 😳
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