Bowman Crossing Borders: The Trek: Day 1

Well, I was very excited and did not want to sleep the night before our trek.  Dad thinks the higher elevation made it harder for me to have sweet dreams, but really I just liked being in the same hotel room as my parents and getting to wake Mom up with every little sound I made.

We woke up to lots of rain, a buffet breakfast of boiled eggs, toast, Swiss cheese, oatmeal and bananas at our hotel, and hopped in a car with a Tibetan driver, Nepali guide, and French friend at 8AM.  After a drive that took about an hour, we got to a town called Maneybhanjyang where we started trekking.

This is our group - Manu, Mom, me, and Dad.  Milan, our great guide, took the picture.  The sign says, "Way to Sandakphu, K.M. 31"

“Two steep kilometers,” is what Milan, the guide, told us, although Mom joked that she wouldn’t believe him the rest of the trek, because the trail didn’t even out much after those two.  I didn’t mind either way because my ride was pretty sweet and no harder on steep or even terrain.  After those first two kilometers, we did get a break at Chittray Monestary, where about twenty monks live and work and a nice family runs a tea house where I got a diaper change and break from the wet mist.

Chittray Monestary

Then we had a few more kilometers to a lunch of “soup noodles” (known as Ramen the world over) that we ate in someone’s house while I played with the bright cushions on their bed.  Finally, after a total of 11 kilometers and an elevation gain of about 1000 meters, we reached Shikhar Lodge in Tumling, which was equipped with a flush toilet!  Oh, and it was in Nepal.  I didn't even know until we actually started hiking that I would get to go to the country my parents have wanted to return to ever since they met in Glacier over Dad's Nepali flag sticker on the Taurus.

our room the first night of the trek, We used every blanket in there!

This is a friend I made before dinner in Tumling.

We had a lot of fun there, especially in the morning when Mom got to try her first Bhalay, or Tibetan fried bread, and Dad decided that he likes oatmeal if you water it down, add bananas and sugar and call in porridge.

Of course, when I went to bed, it was still raining, and when I woke up the clouds were still everywhere.  After Day 1 I was still wondering when I would see the Himalayas!