Langtang Trek - D3

Langtang Trek

DAY 3  -  Ghora Tabela ( 2973m) – Kyangjin Gompa (3870m) (November 13th, 2011)
up 1010m | down 190m | duration 5:00

Characters in a faceless world
A warm rain relieving from a summer days heat
Believes in a faithless time
A childs smile making you forget about all your troubles
Authentic individuality above a uniform mass
A walk through this timeless place


The morning surprises us with good weather. A blue sky makes a good start in the day. Tibetan bread is served honey and egg for breakfast. Not only the weather is more friendly now, also the scenery changes. The formerly depressing narrowly cut valley opens up. Rain forest changes into wide farm land, mountains and clouds now make way for views on Langtang II. First time to see this impressive mountain on our trip. We pass two control posts today, military is checking our TIMS passes. Although I expect not much to happen I still feel discomfort in the presence of heavily armed people in uniform.

Small farms were established next to the trail. Many of them see their chances in making some money with tourists. So we pass bye plenty of guest houses. Most of them ask us politely to buy some food or to stay the night. The steady questioning is nerve killing in the end, especially since few of the inhabitants ask us more in a harsh way.

It is windy and dusty as we enter Langtang village. We stroll around the place for a while. There is not much to see and therefore we soon continue our way. Today I am tired, we are walking all time above 3000m and the 2000m in height we climbed yesterday did not leave me untouched. Around midday we arrive at todays destination, a place called Kanjin Gumba. I have soup and mixed MuMu, a vegetable Calzone, for lunch. The menu is as usually, excellent and truly vegetarian.

We use the afternoon for a walk. People are tall here. They have a very own appearance, different to all other ethic groups I have seen in Nepal. The dresses people wear seem very traditional, are of beautiful colors – mainly read. The womens bodies carry beautifully crafted gold allover. Many times people talk about the DalaiLama. Their cultural origin is the Tibetan Buddhism. The ties to these believes are strong, many religious sites were build along the way. My host actually seems to know the Dalai Lama, it is said, that he also has visited the villages here. I love these people for being such stong individual characters in a world that becomes more and more uniform. I love them for keeping their old believes and their tradition. A heritage of uncountable value. I love traveling.

My young guide is more the opposite type. His studies aim is to deliver him a good job. He is pushing it hard, trying to become the perfect gear wheel in todays fast live of the big city as soon as possible. What a pity I think for myself. As we stroll through the village we reach the YAK cheese factory and the monastery, being there now already for six hundred years. First I was smiling about a heli rescue landings spot, now Nischal tells me that a Korean Mountaineer is waiting to be flown out, however bad weather does not allow flying. The poor guy is suffering from altitude sickness.

Naively I have been astonished about the amount of time people spend talking here. Everybody seems to have a word for the other. Now I learn that most of it seems to be boring small talk. My guide complains about being asked too many times where he was going and what he would be doing.