Trekking has always been my panacea. It breathes new life into a seemingly alive but a dying soul. After a mundane year of existence, I needed it more so than ever as keeping my sanity at bay in the tumultuous yet lonely streets of Kathmandu is something I have always found extremely challenging. The occasional help comes from my departure into the creations of the natural world. The alienating life of the city quickly becomes a distant memory as I submit myself physically and emotionally to the vivid experiences offered by the natural world. In essence I consider this experience to be religious and if channeled wisely, opens limitless possibilities for answers to questions of existence and meaning.
It was finally time to close the doors to anticipation and imagination. The excitement came rushing in as I opened my eyes to this brand-new day we were all leaving for trek. It felt kinda weird as everything around me looked precisely the same but the emotional state of sheer positivity I found myself in was unlike anything I had experienced before. Perhaps, I had never looked forward to anything as much as did for this trek. This juxtaposition was something I had been longing for way too long and to see it take a shape provided me with a newfound vitality. Anyways, within an hour I met the vibrant cosmopolitan bunch of seven humans I was accompanying in this trek. The excitement was conspicuous on everybody's eyes and it was great to see everybody equally enthusiastic about the next seven days.
We did not have an auspicious beginning as after getting stuck in terrible traffic in the outskirts of Kathmandu for about three hours, we were forced to make some changes to our plans due to the delay, which, I initially suspected, could result in us making changes to our entire itinerary. As the days unfolded, it turned out the changes hardly had any significance to our original plan and that was a relief.
On the second day, as we continued our march towards Ghoda Tabela, I undertook a challenge with myself on how fast I could reach the next destination of Lama hotel where we were supposed to have our lunch. My challenge was quickly cut short as I got a panic call from one of the "team members'' who also happened to be my love interest. I couldn't decipher her words over the phone but listening to her cry her heart out made it obvious that something terrible had transpired. Confused and agitated, I immediately took a U turn and, on the way, I kept contemplating how I would take her back safely as I was convinced something dreadful had happened to her. On my way back I let my imagination run wild to figure out the nature of this dreadful event and I narrowed down the possibility to an animal attack - although extremely unlikely -, or a slip though the stairs - which was more likely -, oh, how I wished it was the later. After walking back about a third of an hour, surprisingly but to a great relief, I saw her approaching with all calm and composed demeanor, as if nothing striking had befallen over her. I got to know that it was merely a sting from Shisno (nettle greens) and the reason behind her freight was the poor child had never been stung by Shisno before. I was put to ease by this realization and celebrated it with a thick joint. :)
The walk on the second day was pretty rough and the fact everybody reached the destination safe and sound was a testament to high spirits everyone embodied on this trek. Another aspect of the day that was deeply confusing and frustrating was the estimation of duration from one place to another the local people provided us with. Trusting their estimation, we approached our walk with ease and in merriment, only to find ourselves battling to reach our destination by dusk. Soon we realized that we need to adjust the time provided by these people by a factor of 2 and this surprisingly helped us approximate the time better.
Until now the narrow and eerie path through the jungles, which although embodied its own unique spirit, had deprived us of the opportunity to behold the awe-inspiring landscapes we had all come to witness. It wasn't until the beginning of Day 3 we got what we came for. The monumental hills standing with pride on both the right and the left, and the hazy yet fascinating sight of impeccable mountains blessed my eyes and filled me up with acute ecstasy. My march through the villages was delightful and occasionally, I said to myself "man, what a day to be alive".
However, there was a part of the day where the endless delight and exuberance was overshadowed by a simultaneous feeling of melancholy and gratitude. Passing through the now devastated original Langtang village, it was hard not to feel overwhelmed and realize the fragility of human existence against the force of nature. On the unfaithful day back in 2015 when the earthquake raged through the village, the whole village was swept away by a landslide, an immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the wrath of which I could not have appreciated until I delicately walked through what is now a graveyard of hundreds that lay buried under the rocks. As it is said there is a sinister side to every beautiful thing, getting to behold the mountains and the landslide on a single frame helped me realize the order and chaos sides of mother nature in her full capacity. There was hardly any local person I had a chance to meet and talk to, who had not lost at least one of their loved ones in the village. With no intention to disrespect the dead, but emotional scars as profound as this makes you empathize with people who are alive to relive the horror countlessly in their minds than those who live peacefully on the other side. However, it was tremendously powerful and hopeful to see that no matter how many helpless battles people lose they tend to find meaning and purpose through all odds and voluntarily accept the burdens of life.
From what I could observe and understand, the biggest struggle in these places is the access to the daily necessities. The lengths people go through to get access to necessities incites a strong feeling of admiration. Donkeys are the primary means of transportation of resources and those who do not have or cannot have access to these resilient creatures rely on their physical strength to carry the resources all the way through to the tough terrain from the nearest town which is miles from their homes. I could not help but appreciate the abundance of comfort I take for granted in the city. Also, I realized I must be deeply appreciative of the fact that the potential suffering that could manifest from any direction, and with much greater hostility, has indeed hidden itself away from.
On day 3 we successfully reached Kyanjin Gompa with no real discomfort.The next day which was supposed to be the toughest part of the trek was finally here and heavy snowing throughout the previous night surely could only make the journey more difficult. However, the desire and spirit I had this morning was no match to the mere difficulty that lied ahead of me, or at least this is what I had naively and ignorantly conceived without much consideration. The climb to Tserkori was the highlight of our trip, and I do think this feeling was mutual among all of us. We knew if we conquered this climb, we could be very proud of ourselves and more importantly, we could have something to endlessly brag about.
So, off we went after a meal most of us did not enjoy,but the one we all needed. Yet again, we did not have an auspicious beginning as we took a wrong turn early in our journey which became clear to us only after getting back from a difficult trekking day, but I will come to this later . We all started approximately at the same time but soon five went ahead, and three of us lagged behind which later turned out to be a fortunate blessing in disguise. As we marched ahead, the road only got steeper and consequently more difficult. Three of us were able to sense the danger of continuing on the same path and decided to take an alternate route, which from a distance looked at least less dangerous than the path we were initially heading towards. I must admit we did not think it through and decided to take a leap of faith on our instincts and fortunately, it paid off. It was a straightforward climb that took us back to the right trail and we were extremely happy about it. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the other five who barely escaped a predicament that had a higher probability of death than of life. There was no sign of the other five who were walking ahead of us, and I started to get suspicious if they were able to get out safely from what looked like the middle of nowhere.It gave me immense happiness to see everyone after a nervous fifteen minutes or so.
Clearly, it was obvious from their gestures and reluctance to proceed ahead that they had experienced something traumatic, the gravity of which I could only apprehend after getting back safely to the hotel and hearing everyone's account of the precarious situation they found themselves in and what went through their minds. Anyways, contrary to the popular opinion, three of us decided to continue our journey to Tserkori, although I must admit I now had no intentions to reach all the way to the top given how difficult the route covered in thick snow had become. On top of that, for an amateurs like us, trying to navigate the path through the hill drenched in thick snow would be a tough, if not an impossible task. But it was important that I saw through my spirit and continued the journey the best I could. After another 90 minutes of climbing using a bottle and a stick to strengthen my grip the best I could, 2 of us reached the top of one of the nearby peaks which was en route Tserkori. Having never reached so high before, I was flooded with emotions. The tranquility and spiritual weight the place offered was surreal to its core. With a throbbing yet a soothing heart, exhausted yet proud legs and a happy mind that was put to ease by the journey made so far made me wonder if I could be any more alive. The journey to this point was risky and from what I could observe, the journey back looked even more dangerous as one misstep could be fatal, but the surreal panoramic view of the mountains combined with the chilling breeze that incessantly kissed my face was worth all the risk I had taken and was about to undertake. I should say, I am a little disappointed to have it in the back of my conscience that I could have covered more distance, but I was not courageous enough. Maybe it was a good decision, maybe not, who's to tell? The closest I could come to making up was the accounts of the only guy who was on the same trail ahead of us and was unable to reach the top due to difficulty in navigating the path.
Getting back to the hotel was very comforting after a long and eventful day. Three of us gathered around the five who took their turn to explain how they barely got out alive. Now that everybody was safe and sound, we could insert some wit into our discussion. It is at this moment I realized that five who barely got themselves out from the middle of nowhere, although did not get to experience the serenity of reaching the top, got a much better story they could endlessly brag about. I could not get enough of hearing them talk about their experience of climbing Yala peak, a neighbor peak to Tsekori and get a funny vicarious sense of near-death experience.
The next morning,nature finally blessed us with a clear sky and that meant a sumptuous feast to the eye of the nearby mountains. Every obvious aspect of the environment this morning was beautiful to say the least and soon we said goodbye to the place that has given up priceless memories we are sure to cherish throughout our lives. It was a tiring walk, and soon after we reached our destination, we gathered around, smoking and drinking to celebrate yet another successful day.
Without going much into details, the next couple of days were packed with great fun and then, to everybody's displeasure, we had to return to the same old city. Surely, I can go on and on as I dig down into my repository of recollections that will live in me forever, but I feel this is a good place to put an end to this piece of writing. Writing this piece has given me time to really think about my experience which consequently has been tremendously helpful to make better sense of the experience on an individual level.