Laundry first; too tired to climb flights of steps to Upper Pisang, be it closer to the Abode of Deities
We finished our regular breakfast of 2 eggs, 1 or 2 pieces of capati, a bowl of oat broth, bits of honey and cheese, followed by coffee or tea. Despite the fact that these had been the items regularly served, our chief guide still made it his duty to take orders from each of us for every breakfast and for every meal. He paid no attention at all to the reminder that appeared in many handouts: “To save fuel, order the same meal for all members of a group”. He had probably presumed that none of us would be happy with same food and drinks. He could be right. It is a case of slight difference makes a lot of difference to lots of people most of the time, I suppose.
Out of Chame we continued through some forested area and came to some tea-houses in a rather broad valley. We were probably separated from the Marsyangdi. After the morning tea we went on a path cut into some vertical and overhanging cliffs. I walked through resisting the temptation to peek into the forested ravine way down, a place with crouching tigers and hidden dragons, I suspected.
Later, after some tortuous and slippery slopes we came to some high grounds full of pines in an apparently protected forest. Here in the midst pines there were some makeshift stalls selling trinkets, gemstones and drinking water in bottles. The owner of the first stall welcomed us with “Selamat Datang!” in Malay. Later he explained that he had been to Malaya some 30 years back and could therefore speak street Malay.
“Selamat datang” from a lost brother
I looked around and saw pine forests in zones, especially on higher slopes across the valley next to us. They remained dark green while other deciduous trees and shrubs were turning on their autumn splendor. There were patches of crimson and yellow shrubs on our way, many of them bearing berries
Pine forests on mountains
Autumn casts its magic-leaves turn into flowers
From here the path we were on was broad and motorable-though there were no vehicles- all the way to Lower Pisang.
Then we had our lunch at Dhukurepokhari on a spur. We could see a few snow-clad peaks.
After Dhukurephokari it was quite easy as there were no exhausting climbs. Nevertheless it continued to gain in altitude. They use the term “Nepalese flats” to describe such tracks. It was still a steady climb of about 600 m. to Pisang at 3000 plus metres.
At about 3 p.m. our guide gladly announced that we were at Pisang already. The sun was still high in the sky. So we all rushed to get laundry done and hanged socks and clothes out to dry. Mee Poon, Kelly and Soo Chan went on up some flights of stone steps winding up to the Upper Pisang monastery for a better view of the Pisang valley. The rest of us decided to take a good rest in our blue chalets.
Upper Pisang is a settlement of about 200-300 houses scattered on a slope. From Pisang where we were we could see shops and tea-houses up there. There the farmers are mostly Tibetan Buddhists. The guide told me that somewhere in these mountains there is a community of Tibetan refugees. I was reminded of seeing the picture of 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso being placed in the most prominent position in some stalls we passed by.
I don’t think the villagers up there are getting much out of their croplands. But they survive well on their livestock including the weird-looking hairy yaks. To me all yaks were all black until I saw grey-haired, orange-haired and also tricolor yaks roaming and grazing.
The wind is swift and chilly at over 3000m. We have to put on extra clothes.
very nice!
ReplyDelete