Num to Bhote Bhas: Another Day, Another Downpour

Today's itinerary involved an easy stroll to Chichilla for lunch and another easy stroll back to our old campsite at Mane Banjyang in the afternoon, but...

Down came the biggest rainstorm you could imagine. Dawa found us some shelter at a lodge in Deorali, where we dried out and had an early lunch. Here we met the porters for the Austrian expedition that was intending to ski up Mount Makalu. A strange objective, but no doubt someone had already skied down Makalu. It may have lost something in translation, of course.

Mani stones in foreground, very wet undergrowth behind

We stopped about an hour short of Mane Banjyang at a very pleasant spot just outside Bhote Bhas. This meant that Tumlingtar is a full day's walk away from us tomorrow. I was quite pleased to stop early, if only because my right knee was getting a bit worse and I was beginning to limp noticeably. I shall have to have one of Dawa's pills tomorrow.

We came across this wonderfully enthusiastic American ornithologist, on a one-man expedition to photograph rare birds and capture their songs on tape. He was a military history enthusiast, like myself, so we had an entertaining conversation about the various wars that fascinated us.

We sat down later to calculate the tips to porters, kitchen boys and Sherpas. The standard rate is one-tenth of a day's wages per trekking day per person. We had budgeted for about 3000-4000 rupees (about £30-£40), as per the Terra Firma recommendation, when we had set off from Kathmandu. Most of us had set off on trek with barely more than this.

When Tim calculated the amount it was 7000 rupees each: ie £70 each. None of us had enough money. After we had calculated and recalculated the amount, we realised that it was true and it was because we were only five clients, but there were nearly as many porters and Sherpas involved as in an expedition for 8-10 clients. Essentially, we all became penniless at a stroke, which was to have unforeseen consequences later on.

Next The Last Stretch Back Slippers Before The Snows