7:30am. Breakfast was at By the time we left Dovan it was around 8:30am.
I remembered Babu saying last night during dinner: “It’s going to be a short trek and we will trek about 1.5 hours to Himalaya and then another 2 hours to Deurali in time for lunch. But for your group, even if you trek slowly we will still make it to Deurali maximum 5 hours.” such confidence he had of us.
Was it cold that morning in Dovan? Well, it all depended on how well-adapted one was by then. If negative 3 degrees was a level that one's body was getting a little more used to, then it may be just another day.
The SMUX friends said bye bye
So Ah Sing's SMUX friends descended early in the morning before we set off.
And we went on our way up towards Deurali.
I was still lost in my own thoughts. My mind was in a whirlpool of muddleness. It was a very difficult sensation to describe. Compared with EBC, I was nowhere near even one third as alert and as aware of my environment as while I was doing EBC. ABC was simply a blur. The trails were all alike, the trees were all similar, and nothing stood out.
"Uncle, is this part of ABC new to you?" asked Shu Ning.
"Yeah, Shu Ning. To me, this is uncharted territory," I replied. But I ommitted to mention that the part from Tadapani to Chhomrong and from Chhomrong to Dovan was really uninteresting to me.
The Village of Himalaya
Thus it came as no surprise that my legs simply sleep-walked up from Dovan until my eyes suddenly saw a village. It was Himalaya.
We arrived at Himalaya about slightly more than two hours after we started trekking. Ours were indeed undertaken with Singaporean paces.
We rested a while in Himalaya while Ah Li devoured plenty of snacks and biscuits, chips etc. etc.. It was good to see her appetite returning as she began to recover. But poor girl, these very food gave her bad cramps again during dinner time. We told her she really had no choice but to watch whatever she ate as her intestines were still recovering.
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| Serene standing at the steps to Himalaya |
The rest of the teammates seemed to be in good spirit.
Then out of a sudden everyone started throwing snow balls at each other. Siao one ah, they!
As I sat in a stuporous state in one corner, Fann came up to me. I was already by then, blowing out thick chunks of green sinus mucus the night before. I knew my sinus infection had started. I struggled from Dovan to Himalaya, breathless with chest tightness and bad post nasal drip. I wasn’t exactly sure if it was because of my acute sinusitis that weakened me, or was it a general weakness that had set in after 6 days of trekking, plus the fact that I hadn’t had much appetite the last couple of days. The cold weather made it worse. I was already on double top base layers and the outer shell. At Himalaya I could feel the cold draining my body of its resources and I put on the UNIQLO light down which, viola, it worked! I felt better almost instantly. The cold really had a way of wreaking havoc on one's body. It drained one of one's energy, especially so when one is unwell.
“老豆 you look tired today. Are you sick?” asked a concerned Fann.
“Yeah it’s just my usual acute sinusitis and perhaps some mild AMS setting in.” I was always the first to get AMS symptoms blur I was prepared to nip it this time round. I could ill afford to be sick. I had to stay ok for the family.Once we arrive at Deurali 3200m, my intention was to get Serene to give me a Dexamethasone jab plus double up another dose of Diamox in addition to starting antibiotics and prednisolone. I did not intend to tahan one more day because bugs turn nasty quickly up in the mountains.
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 'Morning Hike'
Dovan at 2600m was definitely cold in the morning especially after a rainy day the day before.
I believed Serene and I were a little not so mentally prepared after Babu’s reassuring talk last night. We really thought it was going to be an easy trek. But goodness me, it turned out to be tough. A lot of steep climbs was in store. Both Serene and I were feeling out of breath for the first time on the trek that we actually had to stop in the middle of the track after a short distance to catch our breath. This was so reminiscence of our EBC trek last year, the only difference was along EBC trek we had to stop many more times than this ABC trek.
“Kong Wan, it was a tough trek today, wasn’t it?” I asked him later during lunch.
But he replied: “Actually it was quite ok leh.” This Kong Wan really was something. In fact I could see Ryan, Nicole, A Lin, Ah Sing and Shu Ning in front most the time.
I could really 放心 liao. Nicole and Shu Ning turned out to be really steady trekkers.
Ice skating anyone?
Very soon right aftrer the village of Himalaya we came upon a stretch of frozen ice on the trail and the guide had to hand held each of us as we stepped gingerly across slippery surfaces. As we walked, the frozen ice got more and more. These must have been left over from the snow storm that two days ago.
Shoes spikes!
We began to worry as the slippery ice really slowed us down as every step we had to be very careful. The guides and porters were extra cautious in keeping an eye on us and holding each and every one of our hands.
I was wondering how long more would the icy trail last. But it showed no signs of abating.
“Can we use our crampons?” asked Serene after crossing an especially long stretch of Cimb’s with frozen ice. I thought that was timely because moving forward there was bound to be plenty of frozen ice.
“Actually Babu, it’s shoes spikes, not crampons. But you think it would be good for us to start using them?” I asked.
“Do you all have the shoes spikes?” asked an astonished Babu. “Yes, all of us.” I replied. Haha.. our chief guide probably did not realise how prepared we all were for this trek.
“Ok then put them on but be careful when you walk,” replied our Chief Guide.
Once all our shoes spikes were fastened to our trekking shoes we suddenly had new found wings! It was such a breeze and we walked with much more confidence, no longer that frightened of slippery ice.
“Wah these shoes spikes are really good!” remarked Jacalyn.
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| Serene with her shoe spikes |
So finally I was relieved that our shoes spikes came in handy.
“Without the shoes spike it would be so much more dangerous, and we will need each guide to hold our hands to cross each icy surface. That will really slow us down,” said Serene.I asked Fann later if the shoes spikes made any difference. She was wearing a shoe spike only on one foot, and on the other one she was using her trekking stick to support herself as she trekked. Her answer?
"Wah, it REALLY made a lot of difference," she replied. "On my foot with the shoe spike I could walk on any icy surface without slipping. But on the other foot without shoe spike, I kept slipping and the guides and porters had to lead me on a long round-about way to avoid the ice. It was so cute, every time I slipped on the icy trail, I will hear the special effects from Jacalyn behind me - her 'Oh, aaaaoo, aiyah, wah wah wah... aiyah'... It was so funny I kept laughing," remembered an amused Fann.
Slowly advancing towards Deurali
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| The slow careful slippery climb. Photo: Serene |
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| Some more icy climb. Photo: Serene |
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| Now I finally knew why Deurali was so cold - cos it was all ICE. Photo: Serene |
As we moved along, Kong Wan suddenly pointed out to me a Nepali porter who uses a thick pair of socks pulled up his shoes to provide friction. That was most innovative. We asked Babu later during lunch if the socks helped. He gave an affirmative. But somehow I still felt that the shoes spikes beats everything hands down.
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| YES! The Signboard. Photo: Serene |
After five hours of trekking we finally arrived at the highest guesthouse in Deurali - Deurali Guesthouse.
It just finished snowing so the rooftops the ground were all covered in light fluffy powder. Ryan, King Wan and I very quickly started laying out our solar panels to catch the last few hours of sunlight.
The unforgettable icicle en route to Deurali. Very very near Deurali already.
Although it was sub-zero in temperature but the stong sunlight really was a good chance for us to lay out all our solar panels to capture whatever electricity we could for our powerbanks and handphones. This was what they were meant for!
“You see, on our left further up the skies are clear and bright. But looking to our right there are so much heavy dark clouds. Such drastic contrast.”
I concurred. I was hoping it would not snow here in Deurali but before I could complete my thoughts, fluffy light snow started falling outside the windows. Looked like it was going to be a frigid night tonight.
I was exceptionally fatigue on today’s trek. I could not afford to be sick. Once we arrived at Deurali straight away I locked ourselves in our room and I quickly got Serene to give me a Dexamethasone 6mg injection. During the trek when we had a stop at Himalaya I have already started Avelox, Theolin, Dhasolone- because I was feeling breathless.
On this day we arrived at Deurali really earlier at about 2:40pm and had plenty of time to do charging with our solar panels and even took short naps.
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| We all having a swell time capturing the sunl. Photo: Ah Li |
Babu: "Plesae do not take nap. Because if you sleep now you won't be able to sleep tonight."But honestly we were all so tired, we all just slept. Everyone was s shagged they simply bo chap and slept.
Deurali was soooo freezing that night. We had no mobile data, we had no wifi, we had nothing but a constant unrelenting companionship of sub-zero freezing. How low, we couldn't tell because we had no signal. Sleeping was an agony. I was on all my seven layers, and my fleece lining inside my sleeping bag, and I managed to squeeze a thick blanket INSIDE the sleeping bag and zip it out, and on top of the sleeping bag outside, I piled two more blankets. I must have been the worst cold-weather sleeper Deurali had ever seen.
Suddenly I heart a commotion outside. Ah Sing's SMUX friends, the ten plus of them who made it up to ABC and back down from MBC just happened to past through Deurali as we were resting. They were so happy to meet up. These brave young men and women were rushing downwards to rendesbous with the three sick ones and En Qi.
Our last and final push to ABC was the next day thus we really to rest well this night.
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