Thame to Lungden. House of cards.
Awake to sunshine! Thrilling and bright. Thame has treated us very well. We had a fire, we all made calls to family and generally loved it. And then we wake up to sunshine. Thame, we love you! To our south, bathed in sunshine lies Kongde peak. And to the north lies Tibet. Today will be a relatively short hike to Lungden and the day after the really hiking begins.
The morning is spectacular. Shangri la indeed. It is sunny and gorgeous. Today we follow the Bote Kosi today through a long valley. When we stop for lunch at a small teahouse, we meet our first fellow trekkers on our same route, 3 Aussie gentlemen, all well over six feet tall. They’re on the tail end of a three month tour of Asia. Jealous. Me.
After lunch we come to a fairly high stream with no clear crossing, and Pala and Dawa gamely jump in to build us a rock bridge. And then, in what seems no time at all, we’re at Lungden. Since we’re in so early, Anita and I go off wandering the small town and looking at the river before heading back to the teahouse. This one has cute double bunks, like girls camp and little pitched roof additions being built. It starts to rain, hard, just as the three Aussies appear. They were hoping to make it further but the rain is really not messing around, so we all end up in the common room by early afternoon.
The Aussie boys are fun and good-natured, but they have nothing on their guide. These tall young men have hired a Mongolian guide who is well under 5 feet tall and has more energy the you can imagine. He sings, dances, tells stories, and jokes with us about his many wives. He does a credible impression of one of his Japanese clients falling asleep at the table—‘So tired. So tired. So….Tired.’
We spend the evening reading aloud, eating far too much, laughing hysterically and building houses out of a deck of cards the Aussies have brought. The competition is fierce, but Dawa, a future civil engineer (we hope!!!), clearly destroys the competition.
By the time we head off to bed, the rain has stopped. The skies have cleared and the starts are unreal—so close you feel you can touch them. And as we’re well beyond having electricity, no other light to interfere.
We’re hoping for a clear, early start in the morning for our first hard day. Renjo La. Hoping for a 5.30 start if the weather holds.
Pictures
Closer shot of Kungde
A yak, or nak (depends on gender)
Pala and Dawa building us a bridge
An adorable baby cow along the way
Pala, enjoying the sun
Our teahouse at Lungden
The boys outside hanging out. Gara and Pala in forefront in hats, Dawa and Tsonky behind.
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