7:00am. We had breakfast and set off from Chhomrong at 8am.
By this day we already lost count and lost touch of what we ordered fior breakfast. Every day the breakfast appeared similar, especially mine. The guides knew exactly what I wanted - Dal Bhat and koffee with milk. On top of my offeee I would add tow packets of three in one coffee to give myself the additional burst of energy. Crazy, me.
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| Breakfast at Chhomrong. Photo: Kong Wan |
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| Group photo before setting off. Photo: Kong Wan |
Babu said: “Let’s set off a little earlier to give ourselves some time. We will pass by Sinuwa, followed by Bamboo where we will have lunch, then after that another one and a half to two hours to Dovan."
I only had snippets of memories of this day’s trek. For some reasons the scene moved past as if in a slow motion blur. It was climb and descent and descent and climb. My mind was usually very lucid whenever I trekked and I could usually remember landmarks. But this day everything within my grey matter seemed to have fallen apart.
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 6: Chhomrong to Dhovan'
At one of the toilet breaks, I took the opportunity to ask Babu about how they selected their porters.
Babu explained the process of training porters. It all boils down to how honest the porter was. And although the company tried to deploy their porters all over Nepal but some villages like Lukla it would be tough as it was not accessible by bus but had to fly in instead. Thus for these relatively inaccessible places or some further away places the will get their company porters who lived near there to help out.
As for guides, Binod later explained to Kong Wan and I, that the basic training for a trekking guide takes two months. The company will assess the guides after the training but if they found the guide to be lacking in ability they will be axed off. Binod continued to explain that after the basic guide course as the guide advances in his career they will send him for first aid courses and such.
Chhomrong to Sinuwa required a steep climb. And that was what I could remember. So climbed we did. Climbed and climbed. In front of me the members climbed, behind me I believed some were also climbing. I was panting heavily, so was my Serene.
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| My poor Nuna Ai Ln must be suffering from her knee pain. |
A signboard! It said Sinuwa. Ok. We must be near already.
Lesson learned: Never pee under a string of prayer flags
“Papa, no no. Don’t pee under the prayer flags,” gently, Binod led us away from a tiny stream flowing down the slope with a string of prayer flags dangling above.This was at one stop point where Kong Wan and I had to pee urgently but we innocently stood right under the Tibetan Buddhist flag. Binod further explained about not peeing under the Nepali prayer flag because there was fresh stream water supply flowing downhill and it would be disrespectful to the deities. So again we learned something new.
Let's keep going...
When we were trekking in a big group the year before along EBC trek, we were all spread out. This round there were eleven of us. Yet, it was obvious that the difference in physical fitness was obvious and among us we were also pretty spread out. The younger and fitter ones were in front, and Serene and I were among the back.
“Ok! Bistari bistari jam jam (slowly walk),” radioed Binod over the walkie talkie. This Binod was really having fun. And so were we, enjoying the jovial predispositions of our guides and personal porters.
Trekking was very much like life. Every moment you walked you would meet and encounter different people, scenes and at times happenings which you would never expect. Could be good and pleasant experiences, or if you were unfortunate, catastrophies that may change your life. As trekkers we always prayed for safe and uneventful journeys. Somehow to those who subscribe to the philosophy of impermanence, life could deal you any hand any time.
And again like life, one could go through the whole trek without paying any attention to what was on the side of the trail but merely focus on the route itself. Some would neglect to smell the flower but pay full undivided attention to the rocks that one was stepping one, and in the process, miss all the excitement and fun around you. And before you knew it, the trek was done and your life was over. Others would gaze around and etched the environment into one's memory.
What type of trekker through life one would choose to be, it was totally up to oneself. That was why I felt trekking was so interesting. There was no right or wrong. It was simply human nature.
Sinuwa village for lunch.
Jacalyn produced a bottle of peanut crackers from Ipoh and we all went crazy and then she poured Pocari sweat powder into her water.
“Wah you are really a good trekker!” we all cried out. This Jacalyn never failed to amaze us. Producing surprises after surprises day after day. Ah Li really loved her Ipoh crackers and protected the whole tub inside her jacket just holding them next to her tummy all the way as she walked. Poor Ah Li was suffering from frequent abdominal cramps because of her food poisoning.
“Eh finish these crackers ah!” she instructed. “I’m not going to bring back home one ok!”
After lunch. “Chito chito Jam Jam (quick quick let’s go)!”
But the climb from Chhomrong to Sinuwa was a little tough because we had first 45 minutes of downhill followed by a long climb take up to 2330m.
I tried to take my mind off the toughness by reciting the numbers one to ten in Nepali: “Ik dwi din char patch cho shut at now daaash!”
It’s very interesting how the temperature dipped when we passed through Sinuwa and we were in the middle of the valley. Earlier on when we first started the track it was nice and sunny and we had to remove or our outer layers piece by piece. But now as we ascended I had to pile back the layers.
We arrived at Sinuwa at about 11:35am. The sign post said was going to take one and a half hours to reach Bamboo. But I believe that is at Nepali pace. Singaporean pace is probably 2 1/2 hours before we can arrive at Bamboo for our lunch.
Serene said today she felt very breathless. Well, me too. I think my conditioning wasn’t enough. Often I saw Korean men and women, some Chinese, Malaysians, Taiwanese and some Ang Mohs trekking down passed us in the opposite direction and they showed not only showed no signs of fatigue but were going at a fast pace!
Fann remarked: “Uncle, have you ever noticed that the Ang Mohs trekked very quickly as though they are pushing against time?”
A sentiment that I somehow agreed. But personally, I attributed it to better VO2Max and better trekking conditioning.
Rain clouds threatened... and finally it rained!
As we neared Bamboo, the rain clouds descended upon us and it started to drizzle. This got heavier as we approached Bamboo. This was when all our waterproof outershells because crucial. Down jackets were good, but they didn't take well to water. Once these are wet, they lose their warmth-protection. So most of us just piled on our waterproof layers on top.
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| Poor Ah Li was having bad abdominal cramp by now. |
Bamboo was a welcoming sight. We were hungry, tired and starting to feel a little cold.
What was even more funny was even as the rain got heavily some raindrops actually landed on our gloves as snow. So we could imagine that the temperature must have been close to freezing. Later at Dhovan I asked Nicole what was the toughest. She said the weather kept changing from warm to cold and she had to keep removing it and putting on her clothes.
At the lunch time guesthouse in Bamboo we had a great laugh when Kong Wan and Ai Lin dressed up Nicole with a temporary waterproof pant cover. I asked Kong Wan why.
"Oh, Nicole's pants are a little short for her long legs. So it could not protect her shoes. So we have to cover it up with the waterproof cover so that everything is kept as dry as possible."Well that made sense. But it was still funny. She looked almost like a patient who escaped from the hospital and trekking on the Himalaya. Hahaha..
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| Nicole wearing hospital baju |
This morning many of us couldn’t eat much as we have lost a little bit about appetite as fatigue started to set in. Even I myself could not finish my Dal Bat. That really worried me because we could not afford to go into energy deficit and every day we needed to replenish our glycogen stores within our muscles.
The trek from Sinuwa to Bamboo took us through with that area in the valley where we were immersed totally in the shade and it turned out to be quite cold.
I was panting like a dog (again) and was trying my best to engage all of my gluteus muscles so that I could take the load off my quadriceps.
We met an Ang Moh man who trekked up to Machhapuchchre Base Camp and then to Annapurna Base camp all in a day and was Nike returning to Bamboo.
“It was crazily cold up there,” he warned. “Crazy. Heavy snow. I had to descend back to Bamboo to spend tonight.”
That got us little worried.
Ah Li was still feeling something queasiness in her stomach although she was such able to start eating a little bit of a snack. Along the way she was really suffering from her intestinal spasm and had to stop and rest episodically to ease her stomach cramps.
DOVAN!
I really lost track of time. With the weather so cold and wet, we just walked. The wet ground made it difficult to walk as we needed to keep a close watch on the rocks and the puddles on the ground. Dovan being in sight was such an encouragement. We knew the trek for the day was coming to an end.
By the time we arrived at Dovan it was 4:08pm. What a nice change. But Dovan was really freezing due to the rain. I asked around and found that everybody’s thighs were aching. So were mine, more so than over the past few days. By the time dusk came, I was trembling from the cold of Dovan, so was Ah Li.. coupled with her abdominal cramp.
Ryan said: “This feels colder than EBC.”But it was only a zero or negative one degrees.
“Maybe it is because of the windchill,” suggested Kong Wan.
First thing that Jacalyn said upon arriving in cold Dhovan: “I am not going to even do a powder bath tonight.”That was just so coincidental! A thought that was just at that moment jumped into my mind - I totally shared her sentiment. What telepathy we both had! My plan was to clean my nether region with wet wipes and just powder there. That would be good enough for this very cold night. I will keep on all my layers- double Base layers top, outer shell (which I wore inside to prevent my sweat from wetting and rendering useless my two down jackets external to that.
What a coincidentce.. SMUX friends!
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| Ah Sing met her SMUX friend En Qi here in Dovan! She was with another three of the SMUX friends who had to descend because of food poisoning. |
During dinner Ah Sing met her SMU friends from SMUX, En Qi, here in this remote small village of Dovan and her friend said up there at Machhapuchchre Base camp there was snow, shin deep. There was another 14 SMU student staying in a village near MBC waiting to ascend ABC tomorrow but she had to bring three students who had food poisoning down to Dovan this night and descend further
We asked Babu if we encountered shin deep snow how would we be able to walk. Our good guide was forever reassuring:”Don’t worry. We will make do with what we have”
That night we took a three bed room and made Ah Li sleep with us, while Ah Sing slept with Fann and Shu Ning.
I knew it was going to turn even colder from Dovan onwards and started doing double top Base layers and double socks from this evening. I didn't dare to think about the next day because I knew Deurali was going to be frigid. Because Darric and Kong Wan said the last time they were freezing in Deurali. I just lived for tonight first.
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