The downpour intensified as the invisible sun rose. We realised that wet gear will need to be worn, despite it being well after the end of the monsoon season. Amir informed us that a cyclone that developed in the Indian Ocean has just gone past the Indian border promising to bring continuous rain for the next 2-3 days. The owner of our hotel at Arkhet Bazaar described it as a tornado and Amir later called it a tsunami. I imagined vortexes and waves of intense rain. Maybe they were not far from the truth. After gorging on a delicious egg on bread with piping hot ''dudh cha'' we rejoined the trail.
The journey today took us from Arkhet to Nauli Khola
The rain was constant but not too intense. Most villagers were huddled in their homes and shops, exchanging morning banter or just watching this odd weather system unfold. We were a full unit now, with the second porter, Yam, joining us. The river Buddhi Gandaki below flowed faster with the glacial and rain water mix in unison. The surrounding terrain was mostly was mostly rice paddies, close to harvest. The paddies overflowed as the water cascaded from preceding paddies downwards. The path narrowed at times, getting rockier and sometimes muddier. Hidden streams from the mountain tops popped out of nowhere on our side of the valley. On the opposite side, high waterfalls sprayed through etches in the hard cliff faces into the river that was at this point a vicious, raging rapid ever widening to fit the available space in the valley as precipitation momentum surged. The rain got harder and harder, and most of our waterproof garments soon became so-called waterproof garments. Jason's backpack waterproof cover had blown off without him realising but Yam happened to be walking behind him and recovered it before it got camouflaged in the mud.
High waterfall
Today's trek was not scheduled to be an all day affair and we were expecting to arrive in Lapubesi by lunchtime. We could afford to stop for brief rests and for tea at the one of the numerous tea houses along the way. The Australian trekkers, who had slept at a teahouse slightly further up the trail from Arkhet Bazaar, overtook us as I was busy dunking cookies in my tea. We crossed lots of runoff that flooded paths, sometimes just simply going with the temporary streams. It was getting quite slippery, and to our surprise, Team Oz were headed the other way. The unfortunate, big hearted Aussie was on one foot with his friend and porter supporting him. It turned out that he awkwardly slipped on a loose rock and sprained his ankle. It was swollen and he suspected a bone break. What a tragic outcome! They were planning 3 weeks up on the Manaslu circuit.
Silt rich high waterfall
Not long after, in a bout of self preservation instinct, out came our trekking poles. We could not afford to be reckless ( I am not hinting anything but I noticed that the Aussie lads were not using trek poles). Indeed it got more slimy with the continuing rain. The valley began to narrow as we started a steep climb up a chiselled path with a sharp right drop into the rapids. The trek pole and 50cm was the difference between the me and getting tenderised on a piece of rock on the river bed. The treacherous conditions called for another tea break, this time at what looked like a narrow end of a funnel. All the energy of the wind rushing through the valley was concentrated on this teahouse, constantly pummelling the roofs. Things calmed up a bit in the middle of the night at our Nauli Khola teahouse. I knew that because Jason returned from a twilight wee announcing that the moon was out and shining along with the twinkling stars. This was a sharp contrast to the pitch black just after dinner.
The creepy guest of the night: the biggest spider you've ever seen!
However, in high spirits the day after the storm
No comments:
Post a Comment