May 16-17, Pokhara to Samar

Day 2: Pokhara to Kagbeni (2,810 meters)

Up early this morning and we flew from Pokhara to Jomson before we started on foot. Finally a day of trekking awaited me. On arrival in Pokhara we met the reminder of the big group which now brought their number to 9. After a brief breakfast, Kunga, Gopi and I set out towards Kagbeni. There was something about Jomson, the clean mountain air, the super clean streets and sparsity of people makes this town a pleasant short stop before the trekking starts on day one.

The trek from Jomson to Kagbeni was about 2.5 hours or so, across the Kali Gandaki river bed, (which was barely flowing at this time of the year, one can only imagine what this river looks like during monsoon season), with a brief tea stop at Eklo Bhatti, we reached Kagbeni. Our arrival at Kagbeni could not have happened sooner, as the wind started to pick up rushing in sand and uprising dust in all directions.

Kagbeni was a stop for day 2 of the trek. My room window provide a great undisturbed view of the river bed and the Annapurna mountain range. Late that afternoon, Kunga and I went sight seeing in Kagbeni to the Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling monastery which was established by the Tibetan scholar Tenpai Gyaltsen in 1429. The three story monastery, more than 500 years old boasted a rare and antique collection of protective deity worship weapons and the wall of this prayer room was covered with painted murals of Tibetan protective deities on its walls. The room was poorly lit, the walls in a state of deterioration, some of the murals destroyed and unclear, but this was truly a great start to the trek - the paintings were nonetheless beautiful and probably as old as the monastery itself. From the roof top, I got a clear reflection of how small Kagbeni actually is. The houses are designed in the traditional Tibetan style with flat roofs which serve as storage for firewood for the harsh winter ahead and the hanging of prayer flags that flutter in wind :-)

Day 3: Kagbeni to Samar (3,660 meters)

Let me start by saying that today was a bitch. The walk up from Kagbeni was tough and almost all the way we walked either with the wind in our backs or with howling wind against us. We started at around 07:30am and only finally reached our pit stop for the night in Samar at 15:15 pm. As we left Kagbeni we hit the trail with a steep hill, but due to a construction of road we were forced to either go up higher or cross the river bed. We chose the river bed for the start, however, due to the river being too deep at various spots, the high mountainous trail it was for most of the day. From the hill tops we got to see great views of the villages we had either passed through and of Kagbeni.

We had a short tea break at Tangbe (3,060 meters). What is really striking about the villages we have passed, including Tangbe, is the missing age group of people. In most vilages I came across, I found either elderly people in their 60's (and older) and the parents of children ranging between the ages of newly born to 10 years old. I saw no teenagers or anyone between 11 and 30 years old.  On asking various questions on why this was so, I was interested to learn that most families send their children to study in India, Jomsom and Kathmandu. Some children return back to the village, however, a large number of children growing up away from their families end up staying in those places and getting jobs to support their families from afar.  The fields of Tangbe were covered in barley and wheat, which as I am told will be ready or harvest in a few weeks, long after I have come and gone. A rare and beautiful sight to see the field green and glowing compared to the surrounding mountainous terrain of red and brown sandstone pillar looking formations.

After Tangbe, it was time to hit the trail with a steep uphill climb making our way to our lunch stop for the day, Chele (3,030 meters).  After lunch we braved for the infamous 'Chele cliff' - it was all steep and falling rocks around the mountain's edge, which just kept going on and on. And when you think you have reached the top, around the corner it would get even steeper. Needless to say the infamous 'Chele cliff' was the hardest part for me on this trek.  Somewhere half way up, the wind started howling and battered us from all sides. The end point was not near and the journey now got harder.

On reaching Samar, Gopi, Kunga and I just sat in silence drinking Tibetan tea, and catching our breath. The silence seemed to go on forever. But after a hour or so of resting our feet we explored this little village. Although Samar was small, the villagers appeared to be united in their day-to-day activities (keeping the village clean, maintenance of the dirt road and the daily grazing of the goats and cattle that belong to the villagers). Samar at 3,660 meters was my stop on day 3.