A crowing rooster and a mooing cow outside our window woke me up before dawn, but I went back to sleep until 8:00. Lal was in no hurry to get up. He had a headache, probably from drinking three beers last night. (He had one in the kitchen while I was changing for dinner.) We had a leisurely day planned, with only a two and a half hour walk this afternoon to Landrung, visible down the valley across the Modi Khola on the hillside. For breakfast, I had scrambled eggs and cornbread, which was a bit heavy and oily this time.
We spent the morning at the hot spring, which was less crowded than yesterday afternoon. The masseur was here again. He offered a shoulder massage for 150 Rs and a leg massage for 100 Rs on the rocks next to the river. He gave me a free hand massage as a sample, but I told him I was not interested. Some women said his massage was wonderful. He was nicely dressed, with a wool sweater and neatly styled hair. He shared an orange with me and some others. He had a large bag of them. He has a friend who works for Lufthansa, and he travels frequently on discount tickets. He would work at the spring four more days, and then planned to go to New Zealand in December. Later, he planned to return to his village for a wedding.
After soaking in the warm spring for a while, a German got out and tried taking a dip in the cold Modi Khola river below. Soon a few others tried it. One swam out too far, and was caught in the main current and almost washed downstream over the rocks. Lal took a dip in the river, and I tried it also. It was really icy, so I didn't go in for long. The sun hit the spring at 10:30.
After 11:00, we returned to the lodge for lunch. I had Wai Wai noodle soup, which is similar to Ra Ra soup, but spicier, with red pepper. I saw Lal eat it for breakfast and thought it looked good. I also had a piece of Tibetan bread. A young Israeli man with a large pack and sore back tried to get the lodge owner to let his son be his porter to the Annapurna Base Camp, but he refused, saying he needed his son to cook. He said his son could take him as far as Chhomrong at the top of the hill. The Israeli liked the man's son, and wanted him to be his porter, so he persisted, but the man said it was impossible. Finally, the father, a retired Gurkha, offered to do it himself for $1000. He was clearly getting tired of arguing about it, and Lal told the Israeli he should drop the question.
After lunch, we took down our partially dry laundry from the clotheslines which were hung all around the lodge, and followed the trail downhill out of town. Lal washed his shoes yesterday, and they were still wet, so he walked in flip-flops today, as most porters do. Then we crossed a small river, and later the Modi Khola, which was wider here and had a long and rickety bridge. Then we climbed back up the other side, passed some waterfalls and a landslide area, and reached Landrung in about two and a half hours. We started to see banana and orange trees again. Landrung was surrounded by terraces of green vegetables with yellow flowers, which Lal said were used to make pickles. He did not know the English name. Landrung was high above the river, and we could see back to Hot Spring. It was now very cloudy. I had to steady my camera agains fence posts to take pictures of the mustard fields and valley.
We got a room in a lodge decorated with many Communist symbols. Lal said they would sell us a chicken for 500 Rs, or $10, which he said was a very high tourist price. They would kill it and cook it however I wanted. I said I did not want the chicken, although we had not had any meat, except tuna, on this entire trek, and I was getting hungry for some. Lal said he would cook me a `chicken steak' when we got back to Kathmandu. By steak, he meant simply a large piece of meat, not the little pieces usually seen here.
We hung our laundry on a line outside to finish drying. As I rested in our room with the door open, a bunch of baby chickens walked in, and then out again. The chicks and a couple of adult chickens lived under the stairs in the dining room, behind some Coke crates. I saw them all go there around sunset as I sat there waiting for dinner time. There were more chickens outside. Two Belgian women who I had met at Hot Spring arrived, and they bought the chicken which was for sale. One was caught outside and brought behind the lodge. It came back a while later headless and featherless, with its giblets in a bowl. It would be served roasted, except for the parts which would be used in a soup. When it was served, it appeared to have been a rather small chicken.
Meanwhile, I had a bowl of onion-egg soup and fried rice with vegetable, cheese, and egg. Lal also brought me an unsolicited rum tea. Even the glasses here had Communist (Sun party) symbols printed on them. He discussed his plans to try to go to Qatar to get a driving job and make more money than he can make here. He wants to use the money to buy an auto-rickshaw, so he can have permanent work in Kathmandu. Guiding treks is too seasonal to support his family all year. He does part-time driving work in the winter, when he can find such a job. His wife works in a carpet factory.
Before I went to bed, the people at the lodge brought in a radio so I could listen to the 8:00 news in English. It turned out that no party got a majority in parliament, since the right-wing party took 20 seats, while the Nepalese Congress party got 80 and the Communists got 88. A coalition would be needed to choose a prime minister under the 1990 constitution, but the Communists wanted to choose their own. The king insisted on a decision in two days, since he must open the parliament session promptly, as required by the constitution.
Scott A. Yost, 1994. All rights reserved.