After a very good night's sleep, Lal brought me tea at 7:30 AM, and I got up and washed. For breakfast, I had a double onion omelet with Tibetan bread. For a change, Lal had an omelet and Tibetan bread as well. His usual breakfast was noodle soup. The sun didn't get this far into the valley until about 10:00, when we were well on our way. As we passed through the jungle, we heard monkeys, but did not see them. We passed a man cutting bamboo with a large curved knife. I showed my permit at the checkpost, so they could record that I had left the mountain area. I had tea and an orange in Sinawa. We saw flies, domestic animals, and Nepalese women for the first time since we came through here on the way up. Sinawa is the first permanent village on the way down.The higher villages are just collections of lodges open only during trekking season. The ACAP regulates where these lodges may be built, and has moved some so that there would be lodges only in approved locations.
We then crossed the gorge back to Chhomrong on the other side. Chhomrong is spread out along a long stairway all the way up the side of the valley. Climbing it was tiring, and Lal was faster than I was. At the top of the hill, we stopped at the same lodge that made me sick last time, because Lal has friends there. I hoped for better luck this time. I ordered a spring roll, which was a large turnover filled with vegetables and spicy potatoes and fried. It took a while to make, but we were not in a hurry, since we didn't have much farther to walk today, and Lal wanted to spend some time with his friends. The goat was still here. It ate some salt out of a container on one of the picnic tables, and was chased away. Vendors again had souvenirs spread out on blankets on the patio, and the long-haired German from Annapurna Base Camp was buying some. One vendor tried to sell me a Tibetan wood block for stamping prayer flags, which he claimed was very old, but I was not interested.
Lal talked to his friends in the kitchen for a long time. They were listening to a soap opera on the radio. Occasionally he sent out a lemon tea for me. At 2:00, we decided to go on. The rest of the walk was downhill, about an hour to Hot Spring, which was visible far below from the hill just outside Chhomrong. As we left Chhomrong, we saw some monkeys, black-faced lemurs, in the trees below the trail. They had white heads and black faces, and the trees were full of them. I took some pictures, but they may have been too far away to photograph well. The descent to Hot Spring begins from the white house on the corner where we entered the Modi Khola valley coming from Tadapani. It was very steep, but short. I was glad we were going down. People coming up looked exhausted. We arrived before 3:00. There were many new lodges since Lal was last here two years ago. This town is barely mentioned in my guide books, but has recently become popular. We stayed at the original lodge, at the far end of town, which is the only one Lal had seen before.
We decided we had time to wash some clothes today at the hot spring, a fifteen
minute walk down the hill by the Modi Khola river. I changed to my Columbia
water shorts, which I brought for bathing. The hot spring had been recently
developed, and had a changing building and two small concrete pools into which
the 105
water was piped. Water also flowed from two small pipes
outside the pools, where soap was permitted. Soap was not allowed in the pools.
Construction of the present facilities was completed just one year earlier in
November, 1993, but the spring has been partially developed since 1990.
Lal did both his and my laundry at one pipe, while I showered and washed my hair at the other pipe. Then I sat in the pool for about 45 minutes while he completed the laundry. Initially, the pools were roughly segregated into men and women, with the men in the warmer and cleaner pool on the right. Most bathers wore only underwear. A masseur offered his services, and was popular among the women. The masseur also sat by the pools and made sure nobody brought soap into them. Cold drinks, including beer, were available from a vendor.
Around 4:00, a group of boys from the village arrived, and the segregation changed, with most of the tourists going to the pool on the left. I stayed on the right, and Lal eventually finished the laundry, and showered and came into the pool as well. We stayed until dusk at 5:15, and then headed back up the steep hill for dinner.
Lights were visible as we arrived in town. Our lodge and several others had generators. Our inn was decorated with brightly colored lights, and the outside dining area was brightly lit with flourescent lights. Origami birds and garlands made of candy wrappers hung above the tables among the lights. We changed into dry clothes, and Lal ordered a beer for each of us. I mentioned that Thanksgiving had come, and I had missed the turkey and pumpkin pie. He told me that pumpkin pie might be possible, and talked to the lodge owner, but found that it would take too long to make one tonight. I was not sure I would want to see what they think a pumpkin pie is anyway. I did order pumpkin soup, however. A Belgian lady sitting next to us said that it was good, and although it was a bit weird, I liked it. I also had fried noodles with egg and vegetables.
Lal said he would buy us a pizza with tuna and cheese to share if I bought beer to go with it. I agreed, and we had a pizza with two more beers. The pizza had a large amount of tuna, cheese, and garlic, but the only tomato was a few dabs of ketchup. The 650 ml beers sold in Nepal are quite large, and I went to bed shortly after 8:00 feeling somewhat tipsy. I would be up several times during the night after all the drinking.
Scott A. Yost, 1994. All rights reserved.