The night was cold but I was very very warm with the fleece lining the sleeping bag and the thick blanket provided by the guesthouse and covering my sleeping bag with the fleece liner on top really saved me from the freezing air.
Set off from Hille 8am.
Now this was going to be a tough day right from the beginning because we needed to trek to Tikhedunga and cross that famous hanging bridge, and then turn right and head up that 500m climb to Ulleri. Following that the ascent up to Ghorepani was going definitely to be tiring.
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| Kong Wan always very delligent in reminding everyone to start their Garmin and Strava. |
We knew we had to cover not only the distance from Hille (also known as Hile) to Tikhedhuga, which we could not complete the day before, but we also needed to proceed from Tikhedungha at 1480m, to surmount the 2 hours climb up to Ulleri at 1960m, and then another few more hours of climb up to Ghorepani at 2874m. From my memory of the last time we did it 6 years ago, this part was tough because it involved a lot of climbing up and down.
The trail from Hille to Tikhedhugna was still as beautiful as ever in the cool of the morning, with delightful little houses between these two villages.
But the climb wasn't as delightful. I distinctly remembered this climb towards Tikhedhunga 6 years ago. Chuan like siao. From afar, I could already see my teammates slowly moving up. I could almost hear the (older) members panting from this distance.
There were more charming and quaint little Nepali houses, the stone-paved steps which I particularly enjoy because they really brought out the flavour of these buildings and their surroundings. And I could even remember this house which we passed through six years ago!
What was Fann searching for?
So we walked and walked... climbed the steep uphill, passed the small hamlet of houses, and finally, as my memory did not fail me, we came upon the sign pointing to Tikhedhunga. There would be the suspension bridge somewhere ahead, after that we would arrive at Tikhedhunga, and we would turn right immeidately to start our ascent to Ulleri.
THE VIDEO
And yes! The suspension bridge to Tikhedhunga was finaly in sight!
Everyone seemed to enjoy the suspension bridge this morning. So far everybody was in high spirit.
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| An animation of crossing the Tikhedhunga bridge from photos by Serene. |
Click on image below for my Strava record of today's trek
Click on image below for my Relive Video of today's trek
Relive 'ABC 2018 Day 3: Hille to Ghorepani'
We didn't linger long in Tikhedhunga. In fact, we made the right turn imediately after the suspension bridge which brought us right to the foot of the 500m climb up to Ulleri. I wasn't sure how many of us in the team could recall the punishing climb. I knew Ah Sing could, because she suffered terribly six years back. Needless to say, Serene and I were victims of the climb. But Darric, Ai Lin and Kong Wan probably had faded memories of this part and I thought I'd just better not remind them.
So off we went, some using their quadriceps to climb, while other more well-endowed ones cleverly activated their gluteus to over come the steps.
Ah Sing was so much stronger this round, six years older, much fitter with her Tae Kwondo training, and her Aquathlon training, and definitely a stronger mental state than what she was then. I was very proud of her as I see her steadily climbing the uphill.
Suddenly, we came upon a new road. This was a newly built motorable road in the middle of the track from Tikhedhunga to Ulleri. It didn't used to be here. I felt a pang of sadness as this would forever change the ecology of the place. A trek was meant to be a trek, not a motorable route. It may mean more visitors, but at a price to pay.
We continued our climb up.
We ascended a total of close to 1500m on this day 3. The climb was torturous, nothing less than the one up go Namche bazaar when we were doing our EBC trek. Up and down. And up and down more.
I remember coming to this sign pointing towards Ulleri the last time we trekked this part. At this point in time, I was already panting like a mad dog, and it wasn’t even 3000m altitude yet.
Along this leg we met three trekkers- a young half Korean half Hong Konger man called Eric who lived and studied in Sydney, his Korean mother who could speak Cantonese and his girlfriend Nam. We would leap frog each other and along the way we would greet each other again and again.
Here somewhere in the middle of the climb, we came across this pleasant little guesthouse where we remembered six years ago we rested here for tea and we sunned ourselves.
"Hey, I remember this one," exclaimed Darric. "Seven years ago when Debbie and I came, we also sat down here. Please help me take a photo of me here."
Ulleri... Was that Ulleri?
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| The horse at Ulleri. Photo: Serene |
YES! Finally we arrived at Ulleri. Oh... such nostalgia! We all remembered this guesthouse very very well. And we just had to take a repeat shot of this scene to remind ourselves of our arrival here six years ago.
Of course, Ah Li was so happy to be here in Ulleri. Unfortunately on this day, this was merely half of our journey. We had a long way more to go to arrive at Ghorepani.
A shot of Serene and I was in order.
We had our lunch in a village after Ulleri. We were kinda tired. But we were still in great spirit and the food perked us up. We were also very happy to have a chance to sun all our solar panels here to charge our power banks.
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| Make hay while the sun shines. Photo: Ah Li |
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| OK, onwards with the Trek towards Ghorepani. Photo: Kong Wan |
And whad'ya' know! The big boulder! Oh, Dejavu again! We all sat down here for a shot six years back. And on this day we just had to do the same.
I love this shot of the girls.... and boys.
The weather must have turned a little colder as we trekked because Darric started putting on his outer shell layer. This Giant was quite something. He was not exactly feeling well after the durian party the night before our departure, having the flu, but yet he persevered.
Out of nowhere came this natural frame and I just had to ask Jacalyn to position herself right in the middle for the shot.
Soon, we could hear water rushing. It was the river at the bottom of the valley. We had arrived at the lowest point where there was this small little waterfall, and the out-cropping of the rock. Another dejavu moment and another shot to remind ourselves.
I love this still shot created by Pixaloop!
Jacalyn said: "Hey you must show me how you make the waterfall flow ok!"And I kept my promise.
Ghorepani drew nearer and nearer...
And here we could all see that waaaaaay ahead in front of Ah Li was none other than our Mongolian Kar-C Jacalyn 'Cheong'! This lady really had fire in her. She was cheonging all the way full steam ahead!
5:20pm. We finally arrived at Ghorepani. Just nice before the sky turned dark. Not much later than 6 years ago.
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| And here was a group photo with the HK-Korean Eric and his girlfriend Nam. |
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| And of course a victorious shot of ourselves. |
"It's another ten minutes climb to our Guesthouse from here," said Sharan. Wah lau eh. Just when we thought this was it, we had to climb some more. Thus was the terrain of Nepal.
I was looking forward the whole day to come back to this litle Stupa in the middle of Ghorepani. This little Stupa brought back wonderful memories. Now that I came upon it again, I didn't know in my heart, when will I ever see it once more. Life was and is impermanent. One moment we could be here doing something, and the next we could be on our way to reincarnation.
From the little Stupa, we turned right into a small alley and walked a little distance. The alley opened up into a lovely view of the Sunny Hotel (Guesthouse)
“This is the biggest guesthouse in Ghorepani,” pointed out Sharron.
But disappointed we were, for there was no NCell mobile signal for Ghorepani and for that matter, most parts of the ABC trek. We had been had by the retailer down in Kathmandu. Against my better judgement I believed his words. My research had found that NTC covered much better along ABC trek, like Jacalyn’s phone.
Dinner
We all deserved a good dinner for a long day of trekking. By now, most of the older members of the team were already suffering from thigh aches. A round of Arcoxia and Anarex should help a little.
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| This Shu Ning and Fann really clever. Ordered a sizzing didn't know what meat it was. |
A round of check of everybody during dinner time found most to be fine. Some were starting to have some sore throat, but generally the oxygen saturations were ok.
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