Nepal day 9 and 10: Coping with rain and altitude

Day 9

Today would be a short trek from Timang to Chame, Chame is a bigger village and you can find plenty of shops there. The route was slightly uphill and I met an Italian guy on the way who I trekked with. He had been travelling for a year and still has some countries left to travel like India and Myanmar.

I reached the next villages in good time and I had lunch just before Chame. I got the Dal Bhaat set again and it just keeps getting yummier. I have a new favourite Nepali song now which is called ek kaan dui kaan and it’s really catchy!

I got to Chame around 1pm and there wasn’t much to do, I walked through the town. Refilled my water bottle with drinking water and stocked up on paracetamol because it gets quite nippy. I splashed out on chicken curry for dinner and it was really good.

The WiFi was working so I could catch up on everything in the world. Nevertheless I slept before 8pm as it was freezing.

Day 10

I woke up at 6am and I slept fairly well, I woke up just twice at 1am and 4am. But I was well rested. Unfortunately the weather got worse and it was raining a lot. I ate an omelette for breakfast again and decided to set off before 7am regardless of the rain.

I trekked with my Italian buddy again for the first part, he is very quick for me! Actually I think I am a slow trekker because I get overtaken a lot which is disheartening but doesn’t matter too much. It just means I’m super unfit haha. Anyways we reached a village called Bratang which is apparently famous for apples. There is also a fancy lodge there which costs a lot of money. I don’t like apples, especially red apples because they make my mouth itchy.

I carried on trekking solo now as I was going slowly. It was still raining as well, so pretty miserable, I couldn’t take pictures with my camera. Once I reached the next village I decided to stop for lunch here at 11am. I think you know what I’m going to have for lunch now!

Apparently it’s just 45-60 minutes to Pisang where I will stay for the night but I was really hungry. Also I’m now above 3000m so altitude is starting to have an affect now. Shortness of breath occurs more quickly and my heart beats much quicker.

I walked slowly to Pisang enjoying the scenery as the path widened. Unfortunately due to rain I couldn’t take many pictures. You can see Annapurna II (7937m) from upper Pisang but it’s cloudy for me, maybe I can glimpse it in the morning. The weather should improve the next few days so hopefully no clouds! I reached Pisang before 2pm and I spent time talking to the owner Kansar. This place is brand new and he’s not charging me for the room, I just have to eat dinner and breakfast here which is usually the case throughout the circuit, especially in the off season anyway.

The initial plan for tomorrow is to take the high route to Manang which can be 6/7 hours of trekking. Probably 8/9 for me. I’m not in a hurry so I might rethink my plan for tomorrow. I had dinner at 6pm, I ordered chicken curry but they didn’t have any. Kansar suggested I have Yak curry, and I’m like what what? I decided to go for it and it was really delicious! Yak meat is hard to describe, it’s tough and chewy, much more than lamb for example. I haven’t had beef but I can imagine it’s not far off.

Just as I finished dinner 4 trekkers arrived from Czech Republic! They trekked from Timang where I stayed two nights ago, so they trekked in one day what I had done in two days, impressive! I slept early once again just before 9pm.