Sikha – Ghorepani ( 2750 m)
Highway Rest and Recreation for horses in the old days
We climbed many more flights of staircases through rural villages and mountain forests mostly of temperate trees. But there are clusters of rhododendrons with twisted trunks and branches full of knots and all wrapped up in damp parasitic plants and thick layers of moss. In the morning mist and under canopies of thick and waxy leaves these gloomy forests looked eerie and ghostly. Yet I couldn’t help stopping many a times to soak up its ambiance of serenity and timelessness.
Through the myriads of leaves we could see the summits of Dhoulagiri Himal and Annapurna Himal. They had followed us to Ghorepani. They wouldn’t let us go out of their sight.
They follow us round the mountains
We came across uniformed children going to school. In these mountains many children have to walk 2-3 hours on mountain paths to go to school in the morning and to get home after school. So schools here start late at 10 in the morning and end at 3 in the afternoon to allow them enough time to come in and go home. Even then many kids who live too far away in the mountains still miss schooling.
Jamie and kids against structure built for porters and trekkers to rest
Villagers here are not poor. They keep lots of animals, all well-fed and they grow rice and millet. But living too deep in the high mountains they lack many amenities.
Away from the mountainous interiors more and more local folks here are worshippers of Hinduism. And there are less and less structures and expressions of Buddhism as seen in Manang and Jomsom districts where most people are Tibetan Buddhists.
Although the climbs were steep, gaining some 700 m, we managed to arrive at Ghorepani at about Here we could still see those familiar snowy mountains bathing in the sun. Down in the valleys below many trees and bushes have added on their autumn hues.
The mountains glow in the sunset hours
Ghorepani (horse + water) in the old days was a stop-over for horses but is now a tourist town with many shops selling liquors of local and imported brands and books mostly in English, remainders are in Japanese, Korean and local languages. In recent years non-English speaking tourists and trekkers are on steady increase. There are a number of internet cafes. Their fees are cheaper.
In the heart of town Ghorepani
Nepalese gaming in a street corner. They whacked a cup containing dice real hard on the leather pad
6 of us have come this far and this high. Except having problem with damned blisters we are fine. Tomorrow we will wake up at to trek up to Poon Hill for its gorgeous sunrise. Hundreds of others will be joining us.
Over the past days whenever I felt weary and lonely in the mountains I had been chanting these verses:-
O Himalayas, here we come,
blessed by your mountain spirits.
O beautiful and merciful goddesses
Of the Abode of Snow
come to us on clouds white
bless us and keep us out of harms
with all your mysterious charms.
We trek on your winding trails
Consumed by this lust
For your mountains clad in snow
And your deep blue sky!
And whenever I felt empathies for the folks in this backward mountain region I hummed the tune of this Chinese song, “A Crescent Moon”
In the night sky far away
there’s a crescent moon
Beneath that silvery moon
there’s a small wooden bridge
Beside that small bridge
there’s a lone ferry-craft
And in the stillness of that boat
is my childhood love Ah Jiao
Ye I remember all my folks back home
still poor farmers toiling in barren fields
far from their forlorn villages
in my ancestors’ poor homeland
carrying on the old way of life
humming the same folk songs
And when I hear those old songs sung
my heart grows damn 'sien' (Hokkien word for weary)
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