First day, Bus to Shyaphru (1467 meters)

Meeting at 7am with our guide in our Hotel in Kathmandu to take a taxi to the bus station.
We took a little breakfast before leaving in the bus station, masala tea and some cakes we bought the day before.
We spend all the day in the bus on mountain roads with some really difficult parts, the bus look like really old and it’s definitely not comfortable, we can feel every little rock on the road.
We arrived at 4pm in the Hotel, first take a rest on the balcony and play some guitar, then we took a walk around Shyaphru and have our first feeling about the mountain in Nepal.
We had a really good night with the local peoples from the hotel, we played some Nepali songs and tried for the first time the local wine called Roxie.
I have approximatively a 10kg bag plus one classical guitar on my back for this trek, I never done trekking with that much weight in my bag, we will see if it’s too much or not :).

Shyaphru to Gumnachowk (2470 meters)

First real day of trek, we left at 9am the guest house, first military checkpoint and here we are !!
We went through some empty cannabis fields with some rest of the last harvest, all around us for few minutes it was only cannabis plants …
We arrived in the restaurant for the lunch and we already felt the first effects of the bag on our legs and back.
After a good lunch and a good rest we are back to the trek, the real walk start now, we are going through huge forest, some hard paths and some really steep ways.
The roads are full of dust and it’s starting to be difficult to walk …
Here you can cross some cows and also a lot of mules going up and down on the trekking roads with a lot of products on them.
After four hours of walk we arrived to our final destination, a little guest house in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful view point and also a really good hot shower.
We stopped here because of a Spanish couple who said to us that this place is the best around and the others are not so good.
The first trek’s reflex after a long day of trekking came: do some stretching for the legs, wash and dry the used clothes with the last sunshine and try to rest a lot the legs.
We are eating inside because where the sun is hide or gone the temperature goes down really fast and can reach easy the 0 degrees.
We are all together around the heater and Antoine and I are playing guitar, Yes we are carrying our guitar for this trip, it’s like a challenge for us so we need to play every days 🙂

Gumnachowk to Langtang vilage (3430 meters)

The second day we walk the last kilometres in dense vegetation.
Today we are going up over a kilometre in elevation, the roads are more stiff and the temperature drops considerably higher we climb.
After lunch, the forest disappeared and is replaced by desert plains where horses, mules and buffalo smugglers their days.
After a long walk we finally arrive at Langtang village, we are all exhausted and the legs are very heavy.
Another kilometre of altitude in one day for my part I don’t feel very well and I’m getting a little headache.

Langtang vilage to Kyanjin Gumba (3870 meters)

This day was the shorter but the harder for me, arrived at the destination I collapsed in my bed because my headache has only amplify and I don’t feel good at all, we probably mounted too quickly.
Normally we now have the opportunity to climb to 5000 meters but impossible for me to walk, talk or even get out of bed for dinner.
So we spend a night here, the worst of all, despite the incredible environment that is around us.

Kyanjin Gumba to Langtang village (3430 meters)

So today we descend in case of illness it’s the only thing to do and take some medication.
After three hours of descent we arrive at Langtang village in the old guest house we spend a night.
I already feel much better and after a good toilet and a walk around my headache was gone.
Tonight’s big night, we hosted in the same hotel as the Chief of Police of the District of Langtang and his henchmen.
Evening around the fire with the guitars and with the entire family and guests. We sang Nepalese songs and drank Nepalese local wine all the evening.
Compare to last night I feel really good and ready for the next part of the trek.

Langtang village to Gumnachowk (2470 meters)

We are all shaped this time, the descent was not too hard except for a few difficult passages, we arrive after 4h descent in Gumnachowk in our favourite hostel for lunch.
We spent our afternoon to rest, wash, clean clothes and repairing small injures.
We meet here many francophone this tonight, almost everyone around us spoke French.
After 4 months of travelling still now I never seen as much as French.
I love this hotel because the shower is really hot and the sun is present until very late at night due to the orientation of the lodge and then the family living here is very friendly, they are mainly Tibetans.
We play guitar and sing tonight in front of us with this family watching us with big eyes and opened mouths, this is the only night where I feel playing in front of a silent audience ..
It are not used to see young peoples carrying and playing guitar in the mountains, they are crazy those French 🙂

Gumnachowk to thulo Shyaphru (2250 meters)

During the day you can see from Gumnachowk Thulo-Shyaphru off in the hill, this morning we leave for the destination.
We are all in great shape and we all recovered from previous days.
We arrived quickly at the restaurant for lunch and rest a bit before heading back.
The second part was only climb, a very long exhausting way but and around us a beautiful landscape.
We progressively been closer to our destination, it is still in the opposite side of the hill, we have to go back down.
We went from very high and the vegetation is very dense here, it’s jungle. The last mile was very very long and very hard.
We arrive in a beautiful little town perched on the hill in a good place run by a lovely couple.
For a few days we eat more and more and our guide did a little head because we made a full package for this trek with all included and we give heart to order french fried every ten minutes 🙂
After a few days of intensive work in the mountains, we begin to see the characters in each into the effort as we all start to get a little tired.
Automatisms are created quickly: been the first to take a shower, wash his underwear and t-shirt with the last rays of sun, fill in the camel bag with a little water and little magic pill and take Nepalese.

thulo Shyaphru to chandanbari 3330

Today Moso mind to take a carrier because it does not expect to finish the trek with his backpack.
After a few minutes lost this morning we finally find the Lama Dai carrier a small man, not too young and already drunk at 9am 🙂
We start the day by climbing back the hill, we enter in a dense forest in which we rather continue climbing.
It becomes increasingly hard for the legs. Arrived in a clearing, the slope becomes steeper and each additional step are painful.
After one good hour ride we finally arrive at the lunch place with 390 degrees panorama, impressive!
Walking after lunch was much less tiring than this morning, so we arrived at the guest house on the other side of the hill, the sun disappears much faster here and the clothes we tried to wash are not dry yet …

chandanbari to Gosain Kund 4680

We woke up always at the same time and after a breakfast and waiting everyone’s ready we were going for a long day trek.
The first part was quite easy compare to yesterday but the two hours before the lunch destination was really hard, it was going up really hard, we left the forest for the desert, now there is nothing in the mountain just small vegetation.
From there we had a really good view but after the lunch and a quite hard walk we reach a point were from here we saw lot of mountain chain, it was the first time I saw something like this, it’s for me the best view I ever seen in my life.
Two hours more to go to the final destination: the highest point we are going to sleep on this trek, 4380 just before the Gosaib Kund point we gonna do tomorrow.
We decide to woke up earlier like 5h to have the sunrise up in the point.
So after a quick diner and some drink we went to bed.
It was the worth night I ever made in this travel … So cold and impossible to sleep near Moso, he was doing to much noise … Arg :s I didn’t sleep at all.

Gosain Kund to Ghopte 3430

Wake up at 5am as planned, I’m already half-awake so store and make my bag was very quickly for me.
Petit dej and I’m ready, now we need to wait for the others .. I am so angry for not being able to sleep that I left first the place before the others without waiting or I’ll miss the sunrise, ….. failed, it was already up, I should been there 30 minutes before.
I arrived after a 45 minute walk at the top of the peak where a cold wind was expecting me. Antoine joined me after a few minutes and stuck on the ground we wait the others so as not to be in that icy windy environment.
After a good half hour we were back to the party for a very long descent.
It took us around 3 hours before reaching the places for lunch.
It was one of the longest descent of this trip. we reach finally the vegetation and after lunch the fog take place around us.
The second part was almost as many descent as climb, we call that here the Nepalese flat.
For a large part to the end of the day, I was ahead of the others, 5min on Antoine and almost an hour on the other.
We arrived in a small very welcoming hostel but without hot shower, we have to wait until tomorrow to wash us correctly.
We still wash our socks and underwear but the hand contact with the cold water was very hard, no more sensations in the hands for 30 minutes.
Dinner, a bite of guitar and everyone in bed, we are exhausted from this long day, surely the longest of all the trek.

Ghopte to Kutumsang 2470
During the morning we had a really long walk before reaching the lunch place, it was friends of Lama Dai our porter so he was glad to see his friend again.
This day the weather was not really here and we were walking in the clouds so it was a bit cold due to the humidity, mysterious atmosphere like been in Lord Of The Ring.
We all getting tired so the rest of the day was going down and for me and Antoine this day was more a race than a trek, the landscape was amazing compare of all we saw before, lot of vegetation, we are back to the juggle.
We arrived one hour before the others so we had time to have a shower, clean our cloths and take a good tea.
We ask to eat an all chicken for diner so we saw it alive and dead after the guy cut his head.
It’s the first time we eat meat in all this trip so we had a really good diner, maybe the better after all those Dahrbat and after this a really good sleep.
Tomorrow is the last full day of walk so we need to keep some energy to finish this without problems.

Kutumsang to chisapani 2165

Last day full day of walk, we are all exited to finish this trek, like we are all tired … we have all some injures on the legs or the feet and also some muscle pain we are all dreaming about real food and a good massage when we will be back to Kathmandu.
Like all days, Antoine and I took the lead with Lama Dai, we start slowly and then faster and faster.
We reach the lunch place faster than the others and we wait almost one hour before they arrived.
Little lunch for me I’m not so hungry and I feel really sleepy, I can tell you now that I don’t have more energy back and I feel really tired, this trek is not so easy as we can thought.
As we are exited to arrived, Antoine and I goes down really fast but unfortunately the last part was a really big climb to do, a three hours climb …
After a while we were able to saw our hotel on the top of the hill, it was a really good feeling.
I was really cold this night, in the hotel there is no heater and the shower was really cold too. We almost spend all the time in our room with some candles to heat our fingers.
Here we are, last sleep in the mountain YHHhEEAA.

Chisapani to kapan

Today is our last walking morning and for the first part we were all walking together, we reach a good place and we took pictures together, it was like at the start of the trek, we have almost finish and it is the last time we gonna see the white mountain of Nepal.
This was a really short day but a really hard one, it was going down all the time and the last two hours it was only steps and steps.
Lunch place, it’s finish ! ouf .. Now we just have to eat something and wait the taxi to come back to go to our hotel in Kathmandu.
I’m exhausted, I need rest for the three next days.

Kapan to Katmandu by taxi

Hotel, Massage, Showers, Meat, Laundry and we are already thinking about the next place to go …. Pokhara and the Annapurna Mountains.