The rush of the rapids below emitted a constant and loud hum of water flow that was quite therapeutic when we went to sleep the night before. From 6 am everyone was in sync preparing for the days trek. Today's destination was Ghap, finishing at the start altitude, oddly enough, dropping to below 2,000 metres altitude at Bihi Phedi, our lunch stop. Breakfast was amazing Tibetan bread, fried egg and honey.
More R&R...
The path to Ghap switches from left bank to right bank in dramatic fashion
Equally tantalising were the deep and vast gorges that awaited us all the way to Deng. A fantastic location to shoot an adventure movie scene! We briefly crossed over to the East end of the Bhudi Gandaki river via a very rickety, patchworks of a bridge. Not long after we were back on the West End due to the apparent impossibility of blasting a continuous path on one side of this very rocky and steep gorge. Near Pewa, several waterfalls plunged into the river, one of them producing a spray well positioned with the sun to produce a beautiful rainbow at close quarters. The river below continued raging and the valley opened up a bit. We were still crossing paths with numerous trekkers on the way down due to the continued closure of the Larkle Pass since the big storm. We were not disappointed because Sama (Alt 3520), just before Samdo and Larkle Bazar - the beginning of the pass, had stunning views.
Nepali scarecrow
Emerging from the gorge
Now, more villages appeared some with very elaborate scarecrows to protect their crops. We had tea at the Shangri-La Home (the real deal!) before the crossing the ever more bridges revealing more buckwheat and potato fields. Just after Rana we came across a hydro-powered mill in action. We now rose up a bit in altitude, leaving the gorge and able to look back at the zip tight valley behind us and in the distance one of the Ganesh Himal peaks that gleamed beautifully yet menacingly above us only 2 days ago. At Bihi Pedi some of us took a break from the Dal Bhat norm and instead had a vegetable and egg spaghetti (smothered with spice normally used for momos in order to bring an otherwise bland dish back to life) and vegerable momos with a spicy sauce. Another mum, dad and child (with a son with time) trio dined with us. They were from Chicago, USA. We chortled at the ''Gangnam Style'' brand rum on sale at the tea house before we all went on our way.
From music sensation to tonic sensation
The rock faces of the peaks above and around us were stripy brown and black (probably ancient dried lava) but some sections were literally pebbles and mud, and others pure clay. A geologist's paradise. As the Western sun threatened to dip behind some peaks, the low rays made the piles of maize stalks in the fields gleam bright yellow. We went past the Ghap / Prok junction before arriving at Machikhola Hotel Camp and Lodge.
The unlikely trio: Fizzy drinks conglomerate team up with hip hop franchise and anonymous demon of Hindu lore.
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