At this very moment it is 3.35pm in Dobhan, 1070m. I’m sitting in a small pink painted room with a little TV hanging almost diagonal with the Nepali music channel on, three wooden tables with a black and white flower pattern and wooden benches, a fake round wooden table in the corner, a fridge and some other things. This is the dining room of Hotel Royal Mountain. My guide and sati(friend), Sandip, is sitting across from me, Dain, my other companion on this adventure is in his room and besides the people who live here there is one French couple and their guide hanging around the hotel site. A group of 4 Brits and their guide are probably on their way here, and that’s about it, these will be the people I’ll probably spent my next 2 weeks with haha. The hotel is next to a river and surrounded by mountains which make me realise again how small I am, and how beautiful big and impressive this world is. We have hiked about 22 km today and I have to admit that my legs and hips are aching.

While sipping my black tea with chini(sugar), I thought to pass the time till diner by writing this blog which I’m probably gonna post much later haha since I’m running behind on blogs and mostly because there is no service or good working WiFi around here hahaha. Back to nature and ‘local’ digital blogging/diary keeping.

After the QuestTrek ended on the 27th, I managed to get stuck on the toilet thanks to a twisted stomach. Luckily after a painful long morning I could spend the rest of the day in bed. Only to start the next day with the same ritual. However, I felt good enough in the afternoon to go with Anne to a Christmas market in Thamel plus I had a meeting with my trekking companion who I hadn’t met yet. It turned into a very long day but I managed… I thought. My body didn’t agree and unfortunately made me cancel the Sinterklaas event the next day. I stayed in bed all morning after a terrible night. In the late afternoon I met Dain, Bikram who was supposed to be our guide and his friend Sandip. We discussed prices, made the itinerary clear and arranged a sleeping bag for me, I left them my passport and money to arrange the permits and was happy with a ride home from Sandip. Diving straight into bed and praying to recover fully before the trek… the state of my health at that moment scared me more than the trek itself.

The 2d of December, Monday, the day before we’d go on the Manaslu trekking. I woke up much and much better after a deep sleep of 11 hours. However, I felt very nervous. There was doubt about how strong my body would be, taken into account that it had been struggling with illness over the last days without even fully recovering from the QuestTrek. Besides doubt I felt nervous because this would be something I’d do on my own (well with guide and Dain but I didn’t really know them yet). Also, a trekking is not some beach holiday, it would be a challenge and maybe dangerous, into the snow and very high in the mountains. I was anxious, still not fully recovered and I just wanted hugs haha. And this all didn’t stop me, it wasn’t the truth and I was happy to get the love and support I needed from my friends and family around me and online. I packed my bag in the morning and emptied my room. I went to the office had my meetings and bought the last snacks and goodies for my trek on my way home in the afternoon. My friends got me some medicine (because besides diarrhea I was suffering from a cold woohooo) and I felt (more) ready to go.

5.30am on the 3d of December, my alarm rings and I’m already awake haha. I had a good night of sleep, I felt more myself again and happy to go, I was actually going! I said I wanted to do Manaslu and I freaking managed to arrange this unique trekking! I got dressed, packed the final thingies and went outside where the taxi was waiting for me. Of course I arrived way too early at the bus stop where I would meet Dain and Sandip. Bikram had to drive his truck for his other company so Sandip took his place as our guide. While I was waiting at the chaotic colourful bus park, I brushed my teeth, looked around and when the clock turned 6.40am without a sign of Sandip or Dain I started calling them (and getting a bit nervous…). Turned out after many difficult limited English phone calls, that I was at the wrong bus park!!! Noooo, typically me! Luckily it was only a 5 minute walk away, so Bikram (who did come to wave us goodbye) came to pick me up and we rushed to the bus. Nepali are not that strict on time management which meant it was no problem that I was a bit later. I got a window seat in the front and Dain sat next to me. The bags were stored safely and my snacks in my lap, ready to go. It would have been around 8 hours of driving… We arrived in Soti Khola 12.5 hours later. Why? Surprisingly not because of the bumpy terrible dangerous (secretly very much fun) roads, but because of a strike in a little village in the Gurkha region, one hour drive from our destination. The overall ride was fine, I chatted a lot with Dain. He is a great talker with endless stories of trekkings, music and much more although I often only got half of it since he uses all names and synonyms instead of easy language… woops haha. I also managed to sleep and dream away while looking out of the window. During the whole drive they played Nepali songs, very loud. At some point the bus stopped and we had to wait 1.5 hours, till 4.30pm, because then the strike a bit further down would be finished. Yeah… This wasn’t the case. When we drove up to the village there was more waiting, discussing and a final decision that we were not allowed through because of the still ongoing strike… Noooo. We set our hope, together with the French couple who were also on the bus, to maybe find a jeep… we started walking down the village road, past the strike which consisted of two burned tires in the middle of the road…., and got a gossip about a car waiting for us on the other end. After 10 minutes through the village, we found a secret bus waiting for us, woohooo! We arrived hungry and happy, at the cute hotel next to the river in Soti Khola, private rooms ready for us and we immediately ordered food. After dinner it was time to sleep. Gather our energy for the first day of trekking! …

Which brings us back to the now, the actual first trekking day:

By now it’s 6.30pm, in between writing we played cards and had Dal Bhat for dinner. It’s almost time to sleep. Walking tomorrow seems like it’s gonna be a challenge because my legs are protesting with every move hahaha.

We started today at 7am with breakfast which meant that I got up at 6.30am to pack and get dressed. And off we go, we would only climb from 700m up to 1070m but it would take around 6 to 8 hours of walk along the river.  The hike was beautiful, there were no real steep hills and most of the way was still reachable with a motorbike. The roads were thus very easy and time flew by. We followed the river up which meant many amazing waterfalls, high mountains around us, white peaks on the horizon, the occasional river/waterfall to cross over rocks or a home-made wooden bridges and many birds and lizards. Parts of the hike were in silence while other moments we talked a lot. Towards the end there was even some singing together with Sandip. We had a nice early lunch and continued afterwards with new energy. The sun was shining and I enjoyed the moment. Before I thought that I would maybe lose myself in thoughts while walking but I wasn’t, I was awake, looking and moving haha. I had no idea about the time passing by and didn’t feel any aching until we arrived. Apart from coughing every now and then and a dripping nose, I was feeling great. Only for short moment I thought ‘ow my what have I started’ but the other moments were filled with thank you universe for this amazing trekking! Wonder how this balance will be over the next weeks haha. The pictures say much more then my words, I haven’t described the beauty of the surrounding with even one percentage of the appreciation it deserves. As excuse I’ll tell you that I’m tired right now and ready to sleep. Later alligator