ABC Day 5: 12 Dec 2018

Dropping our altitude from Tadapani to Chhomrong

Daybreak in Tadapani. Photo: Jacalyn.

Jacalyn must have been one of the first to wake up at Tadapani.  She really took her time to breathe in the fresh mountain air and to appreciate the loveliness of daybreak.

Was Tadapani cold?  Yes it was.  We had no more NCELL mobile signals after Ghorepani thus we had to depend on the purchased wifi signal to check the temperature online.  Personally just going by feel, it was just as cold as Ghorepani.  Babu confirmed that the temperature at Ghorepani and Tadapani were similar - meaning it would be below freezing at night.  So it wasn't a surprise that we woke up to a sub- zero temperature that morning.

12th Dec, Wednesday, 8am (in the morning)

Anyway... since I had the paid wifi, I just did a check of the temperature at 8:30am.  It was negative 3 degrees.  Not too bad.  Babu said that when we moved down to Chhomrong, it would be warmer as it was lower.  Whatever it was, we were merely just right at the start of our trek.  There were more days to come and more mounts to climb.  We were trying to conserve our base layers and clothing.  So far I had been using only one base layer for the past few days, but I changed my trekking pants to the one with the fleece as it was getting colder.

It wasn't cold enough for me to go on double base layers yet.  But I was sure as we ascended the time would come.  The anti-bacterial, non-smelly, underwear that Jacalyn recommended (ExOfficio Men’s Give & Go Brief)  that I bought from Amazon was really good as it didn't smell at all.  But perhaps the weather wasn't so good for drying so it did not really live up to its reputation of drying in two hours.  So by this day I was already on my second underwear.  Thankfully the central dining heater last night helped dry up my first.  And I was brand new all over again.

The sky brightening up. Photo: Jacalyn

By the time the rest of us crawled out of our sleeping bags, the sky had turned into a sunny morning and all of us scrambled to hang our solar panels on the clothe-lines to charge our devices and power banks. We had no choice. We were half expecting the sun to be bright like our EBC trek with plenty of charging opportunities but so far most days were cloudy and shady.

I really loved this quaint little guesthouse in Tadapani and the view it offered, especially in the morning. Magnificent peaks, lovely morning lights, and such cool crisp air I felt that I could live here and become a village doctor or something.  But that was just wishful thinking. 

Ah Li and I, we had the tradition of taking a photo of our reflections (here was Ah Li six years ago in Tadapani) in the mirror early in the morning when we brushed our teeth in Tadapani.  Six years back it was a FREEZING morning we woke up to when we walked down to brush our teeth.  I could recall the irritated look on Questal's face when she braved the cold that morning to brush her teeth in Tadapani in December 2012.  On this morning, the girls all wanted to relive the memory of taking a shot of ourselves in the mirror brushing our teeth.  Of course I obliged willingly.

Although it was a different guesthouse this time, and the girls had grown older, the feeling of the moment was still the same.  If one day, IF... we were to be back to Tadapani, I was sure we would relive that moment again.

THE VIDEO


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 5: Tadapani to Chhomrong'

My impression of the trek on this day was a shorter one.  In retrospect I was really wrong.  It was still about a horizontal distance of 10km.  The only difference was perhaps the Nepali flats on this day were relatively flatter.  That allowed us to cover the distance a tad faster.

The village of Chhomrong was at an altitude of 2170m.  So we would gain a net descent of slightly more than 400m.  Thus right from the beginning it was downhill all the way.  Studying the Relive video, I could see that we were trekking mostly in the valleys and on the side of the valleys.  Again whithn the canopies of the woods.  It was still shady because of the trees, but the shades had gotten to me.  I was beginning to yearn for the sun.  Why? It was really cold in the shade.  I'd rather have the air temperature at sub-zero, but having the sun shining on my back to give me some warmth, not to mention charge my solar panel.

Only occasionally when we mounted a crest that we would find ourselves out in a clearing and exposed to the sun.  Here we were resting outside a villager's home for a while, enjoying the view.

It was interesting how they hung their sweet corn below their roof to dry.

We walked a little more and then we came to a really beautiful guesthouse with a huge lawn that opened up to a magnificent view of the mountains.  It felt almost like a 5 star hotel among all the guesthoues.

From the lawn, Babu pointed out where we could see a bunch of blue-roofed houses.  That was Chhomrong.  It looked near.  But we had learned that visual nearness in the Himalaya did not equate physical proximity.  It would be at least a good few hours of trek to arrive at Chhomrong.

As I trekked, I kept thinking of the altitude: Tadapani was at 2630m and we would be descending to about 2170m at Chhomrong. Understandably there would still be some ups and downs.  I was mentally prepared for that.  Deep in my heart I was hoping to be able to reach Chhomrong for a early day of rest.

Babu said during dinner yesterday: "The two days from Hille to Ghorepani, and frmo Ghorepani to Tadapani were tough days because of the long journey and the ups and downs.  But the trek from Tadapani to Chhomrong will be much easier."

I should think so too.  Because studying the map, it really did appear to be thus.  Looking at how Kong Wan was smiling and how everyone else in the reflection in his sunglasses were gleaming, we were enjoying this day's journey.

And from the way Ryan smiled as he trekked, I would believe he was having a swell time too.

Korean trekkers?

Serene found some Korean signs along the way.  Talking about Koreans, we discovered many Korean trekkers on this trek, both young and old.  The Koreans were a trekking people, and they were really passionate about the mountains.  Korea itself was a country of mountains, and these people grew up being immersed in a culture of mountain climbing.  In actual fact, remembering the musuem in EBC I recalled many Korean expeditions summitting Mount Everest.  Thus it came as no surprise that we would encounter many Koreans along the way.  So much so that Serene kept greeting 'Anyong hasaeyo' to anyone who appeared remotely like Korean.

True to Babu's words, Chhomrong was located at an uphill climb.  Frankly I could not remember much of the trek on this day.  Perhaps my brain had been numbed to the walkng or I might have been preoccupied but all I could recall was steps after steps after steps.  And the uncomfortable coldness in the shades.

We didn’t suffer too much (well we did suffer quite a bit, but relative to the previous two days, today wasn't too bad lah) on this leg and Serene’s food poisoning was brought under control and was no longer having diarrhea. But another victim caught the E. coli bug- Ah Li. She suffered queasiness of her stomach and spasm and pain and her walk was affected. Thankfully Binod was very helpful and offered to carry her bag.

We passed by the village of Ghurjhung where there was a Ghurjhung school for the local village children.  This was how the rudimentary school looked like.

There was a box outside the school asking for donation. Contributions like these I personally found meaningful.

And when we came to Siprong, the ladies were fascinated by what laid on the floor being sunned.  Jacalyn and Serene wasted little time in recording them into their handphones.

And soon, the trek merged into the monotonous continuation of Nepali flat.

Why were Ai Lin, Nicole, Kong Wan and Ah Sing laughing so happily? What was it that they saw that tickled them?

OOOOOOOOHHHHH... This Jacalyn lah! Bridge also jump! She was full of energy, this Jacalyn!

Ryan was in high spirit today.  Must have been all the chocolate puddings that he was consuming.

And he was back to his mischievous self.

Yes, we must be close already,,,

Suddenly we saw a decorated frame. "Shiba Bibaha - Happy Marriage," said Binod.

So it was the local customs to match make a young couple six months to one year in advance.  And then when the big day come, the bride will move into the groom's home. And the ceremony would take place.  We were forunate to witness this.  And for good luck, Jacalyn decided that she should just stand uder the decoration and have a shot taken of herself.

Of course, the self proclaimed Singaporean wife and Nepali husband also grabbed that chance to re-confirm their vows, established since November 2017 in EBC.

And so... the climb continued.  This Chhomrong ah.. say it was 2170m at a lower altitude, but still it required quite some amount of climbing.

What went up had to come down.  So coming down was the blessing because we finally saw Chhomrong.

Yah. Ah Li was so happy to arrived at Chhomrong.  But her abdominal cramp was killing her.  I had to give her two jabs that evening.

We arrived st Lucky Guest house at Chhomrong. It was not so cold as Chhomrong was at a much lower altitude.  But the hot water shower here had much to be desired, a Jacalyn discovered to her dismay later.

We had to give Ah Li a jab and started her on Cycin because her symptoms were so classic of food poisoning.

It's so cold to even brush teeth. Only Ah Sing crazy enough to wash her hair. Photo: Fann.

By now most of us were on powder baths for the past few days because the weather was too cold and most guesthouses’ hot water showers dripped cold water instead, so we gave up and wet wiped ourselves down and powder ourselves dry.


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