From Bamboo Village to Syabrubesi
So this is the last part of our adventure. Since we are already far down the valley, today will be easy and enjoyable. A day to cherish before we return to Kathmandu tomorrow.
Bye-bye Bamboo
Crawling out of the sleeping bag for the second last time, it has already become much warmer. Here at 2000 meters, the altitude is no longer noticeable.
One last look before departing. In daylight – unlike at two thirty in the night – the Village appears much friendlier. In the background, the river roars, a few meters past the hotel and has already massively increased in width and force.
The valley opens up
Today's destination almost in sight, we can hike in a very relaxed way. The valley opens up slowly, but Syabrubesi is further away than it seems.
The numerous groups panting towards us have not yet become aware of what awaits them. Some groups consist of twenty or more participants. So if you dodge, you may wait five minutes before they all pass.
Even more heavy loads
And the porters are busy. One wonders what they have to carry up. Sitaram tells me that there are camping equipment including tents and camping chairs and tables, cooking utensils and provisions to carry up the mountain. Especially the Chinese seem to have a strong preference for outdoor catering in the accustomed style.
The porters, with their typical doko baskets held by a strap around the forehead, are an important factor in the economy of the Himalayas. The average daily wage of a porter is around 1000 rupees, i.e. approximately 10 Swiss Francs.
You have to imagine that: sometimes loads are carried up that we westerners couldn't even lift from the ground. And all this for 10 Swiss Francs, an amount for which we wouldn't even get up from the sofa … Sometimes, very rarely, women porters are there too. They are also small and sinewy and incredibly strong. It is probably better not to start a quarrel with them.
More young animals in the pasture
Earlier noticed - many cows have given birth to their young. There they lie now or already stand on rickety legs, carefully eyed and protected by their mothers. It is likely that they would attack at once in the same way as our cows at home with any threat of danger. But one would like to cuddle them, the sweet little stinkers ...
Final destination in sight
Last stop then in Riverview. The name is well chosen because here the river is close and booms and rumbles. And then the last lunch on the way – noodle soup with eggs.
The suspension bridges now have a length accordingly, so you balance even longer on the swinging bridge (which still gives me great pleasure again and again).
It's going faster and faster down the mountain, but in between, how could it be otherwise, the last steep steps give me the rest. I won't miss them.
But then the goal becomes visible. We're almost there. What a pity. Now that I am used to to the strain so perfectly...
Success!
The houses of Syabrubesi appear around a corner, although still some distance away. So there it is, the long-awaited final destination, although now it's a bit of an annoyance that the trek will be over in an hour or so.
Now that the muscles have been strengthened, the head has been prepared, the knees can be loaded, the back and shoulders are accustomed to the heavy load, I could actually go on. Maybe with less steep steps, less repulsive toilets, but with even more yaks and langurs and dzopkes and great mountain panoramas.
But it's over. We pass the first houses on the other side of the river, where numerous women are discussing and organizing the financial things of the village. So they are not, as I initially thought, playing cards (like the men in Kyanjing Gompa), but working seriously. Then we cross the last suspension bridge, a high five and a hug with Sitaram, and it's done.
Now the evening is relaxed
Nothing stands in the way of a relaxed evening in the company of other trekkers who have also arrived at the final destination. Most of them are glad and happy to have made it (like me), but probably also with a laughing and a crying eye.
Now we don't have to worry about missing sleep anymore, we only have a long and tedious drive back to Kathmandu ahead of us. So we sit together, our Thai friends, who have to work again in two days, but also a couple from Australia and New Zealand. It's interesting that although they belong together, their plans for the future, at least in geographical terms, are very different. He will take up a position in Guam (!), she in London.
The ways of the Lord are inscrutable.
But there is a lot of laughter, you lean back and relax, the adventure has found a happy ending …
P.S. Matching Song: Noir Désir - Le Vent nous portera
And here the journey continues ...
