Sete 8448ft to Bhandar 7198ft
After our efforts getting over the Lamjura La Pass yesterday we are in no mad rush to get going this morning and we have a leisurely breakfast sat outside in the sunshine. As we get ever lower, the temperature gets higher, the walking gets easier and we get fitter. The bird life has also returned and we sit eating breakfast to the morning chorus above our heads. When we finally get going it takes us just two hours to walk down to Kenja at 5,362ft.
Although early we decide to have lunch as we are facing a fairly big incline after Kenja, heading up towards Bhandar our stop for the night. We are now completely in tune with the rhythm of walking through this beautiful country with its high mountains, raging rivers, friendly people and rich culture. Lemon pancakes for lunch which for me has become my staple lunchtime diet. Sometime back, Mark bought a massive lump of cheese, Yak or Goat I’m not sure and at lunchtimes we have taken to finishing lunch with some cheese and ritz type biscuits that they sell in the trailside shops, all very civilised.
After lunch in Kenja we follow the line of the river, the Likhu Khola for a while and then, crossing over a suspension bridge we leave the river behind and start to head uphill. After a while we arrive at what appears to be a building site but is in fact a new road being built. Civilisation is encroaching into the rural and mountain areas of Nepal, and road building is a big part of that. If you live here, its seems a good thing, who wouldn’t want a road so they can get to places and trade easier? If you don’t live here or are concerned about the destruction of the natural environment by bulldozing roads through hillsides and long established habitats and the impact that will have long term it is maybe not such a good idea. These are big issues, not just in Nepal but all over the developing world.
On the trail up to Bhandar I get some video of a bunch of kids singing “resen phiri re” a traditional Nepali folk song. I showed it back to them and it was great to hear them giggle their heads off when watching it. The trail headed up along the dirt track of a road and at the top of the pass we stopped at a lodge for a rest. I’ve been drinking some great orange squash type drink for a couple of days which Dan had started drinking and is made all the better for the fact that the water is ice cold. Steve and Mark had great pleasure in telling me that the water obviously wouldn’t have been treated in any way and I had obviously forgotten. I figured that I hadn’t been ill so far so it was probably worth the risk especially as we were coming towards the end of the trek. Bhandar was a long stretched out village along the road and we checked into the ‘Sherpa Lodge’ at the far end of the village. We are all in one big room for the first time on trek.
For map and route details of this walk click ‘learn more’ below.
