Thulo Syabru

 Andrew's birthday-31 today - what a way to spend his birthday!

 5.00am wake up call and we were all ready to leave Kathmandu by 6.30am.We finally left by 7.30 am after the bus was loaded with gear (on top), all of us plus the guides and four in a four wheel drive. Our delight was short-lived when 20 minutes later we had to pull over to get air in the front tyre and queue up for gas.
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We took ages to drive through Kathmandu as it was a festival day and the traffic was horrendous.  The chorus of various horns was amusing as the buses and cars fought for their places on the road. We had plenty of time to look at the roadside with ramshackle markets. We saw the army guys and a policeman having a cup of  tea on the side of the road during this chaos, a  man selling a pile of bras to another man and a man carrying car doors to sell.  There were families on motorbikes (mum and dad and two kids), and even a goat on the back of a motorbike. The roadside was dirty and muddy, with rubbish everywhere but the women persil clean and smiling.

 Finally after 45 minutes we were out of the city, steadily climbing higher and higher following the rice terraces.Saw limes, papaya, lemons and loads of bananas. Picked up a welcome cool fresh breeze after the fumes of town. One slight anxiety when the driver stopped to ask the way!!! The side of the road often a prep area for the white 'carrots" cleaned and trimmed for there trip to town in a basket. Some of the houses had  corn hanging to dry under the eves like a fringe.  We had an unexpected and very welcome we stop to recover a lost bag thanks to Russell for spotting rolling off down the road. There were stunning views down the valley and a chance to stretch it was along time before we stopped again. Right up to the top then a very winding drop down  which Jill found unsettling .the brakes began smelling pretty bad as well as the fumes the heat increased so we were pleased to get out for a few minutes. Back in and onward up again more flowers , Judus trees, lantana, chinese lantern  and great views all the way to Trisoli.

Lunch Dahl Bhaat and a cup off tea . Met up with the 4 wheel drivers who had had a faster but fumier drive over. Pretty hot here and our first experience of Nepali toilets and a view of the 10 year old boys washing up!!!!! guys at tiko you have never seen so many dishes washed up in cold water!!!!  They were experts.

Next stretch changed from sealed road that we all? would have liked to have biked ,to narrow unsealed rock base with huge potholes. Luckily the driver had a left hand man who whistled and thumped the driver round the sheer drops into raging torrents. Great road side views of animal butchering on the front porch, women working consistently all the way up teenage boys lounging in packs, kids carrying kids, old men sucking on pipes, women up  trees, chopping wood, caring for the animals and washing and washing.
The houses mostly right on the  edge of the road are a deep ochre colour or dry bricks often with blue paint somewhere maybe a door or  window  frame. Had another unsolicited stop to retrieve and reload the baggage and had a lovely interlude with a group of kids turned we turned into film stars for the moment.

And then the landslide before the landslide! Scary.

 8Hrs after we left the hotel we stopped in the mist and disembarked, the weather started on it's customary afternoon swing with cloud closing and some light drops of rain before we hit the road for the final 10km trek along the remainder of the leading to Dunche.

Light rain soon turned to heavy showers, with a number of apells of very heavy rain. The group had spread far a wide, 3 or 4 or us had umbrellas purchased back in Kathmandu for a song. Those carrying the umbrellas were being hunted out by those with light jackets. After around 2 and a half hours we wandered into Dunche, for our first Tea House stop of our trip. 

 

Today has been a very pleasant trek in fine weather to Thulo Syabru.  It deserves a full blog - but we will get this away - before the next power cut.

 

Various contributing authors.

 

Photos may appear later