Trekking in Nepal round Manaslu The upper part of the Buddhi Gandaki Valley Samagaon to Samdo Travellogue Day 10: Walking from Samagaon to Samdo, the last village before the Larkya La.
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At Samagaon the valley makes a sharp turn to the north heading up in the direction of Tibet. Being in the rain shadow of the Himalaya it is getting dryer and dryer.
Firewood About one hour after Samagaon suddenly some children carrying big baskets full of firewood came out of the scrubby forest. As most of the children in Nepal, they have to help the family from teh first years on. This group of four used all the morning to get some wood.
Phu or balloon I never give sweets or money to the children in Nepal. When a tooth would start to have in a hole it would take about 5 days to see the first dentist in Dading bazar and it would be expensive for a poor farmers family. So they probably would not do anything till the tooth is completely rotten. And money will just teach them the advantages of being a beggar. But I carry with me bags full of balloons and it is a wonderful gift. It is really nice to see them play and be happy. And I’m sure, when they will grow up they still will remember the days when tourist gave them balloons . In the Manaslu area often children asked very politely and with a low voice for “Phu, Phu !” It took me some time to understand that Phu was the local dialect for balloon and I had plenty of them!
short break
Khermo Kharka In the middle between of Samagaon and Samdo lies the pasture of Khermo Kharka with a very long mani wall. It is here that the trail to the Manaslu Base Camp branches of.
Samdo
It took us longer than we had expected to go up the valley and we could not see at all Samdo. When we finally saw the Chorten it looked like standing just alone. It was only when we reaches it, that we could see the houses of Samdo just hundred meter further. Just in the beginning of Samdo a new Lodge is being built and new wooden wall are added. We stayed there, but the rooms were still very basic. But i think in 2006 it will a pretty fine lodge.
Samdo has a altitude of 3690 m and is the last village before the Larkya La. To trails connect it to Tibet and in the summer months a big trading fair is held just a km further up with many Tibetan traders selling and buying goods. That is maybe also the reason, that many Tibetan refugees found her their new home.
The 40 houses of Samdo are sheltered a little bit in the side valley. When we arrived many of the villagers were just going over the Larkya la to fix the trail as they were planning to move with their Yak herds on the other side into the area of Tal to avoid the grim winter . From every family just one person will remain in the icy Samdo feeding the smaller animals and guarding the house. I was very astonished, when I realised that they nearly did nothing on the ice trail over the pass but mainly worked on the trail leading through the forrest on the other side.
It is understandable that People flee the winter in the height, as they just have some dried Yak manure for making a little fire.
The Yak manure is collected and dried on the walls. It is pretty smoky to burn it.
The producers of the heating material
Why I love to go to Nepal
little Napoleon !
The houses Most houses have the stables on the ground floor and you have to climb a step ladder to reach the living area .
At the end we were al happy in the dinning room where we cooked our self a perfect 3 course menu. As you can see the lodge is still under construction and very basic.
Photos: the pictures of the Manaslu pages are from me and my friends. You can see the respective photographer in the filename of the photo: HH = Hans Henninger, HPS = Hans-Peter Stupp, MJ = Manfred Jeckel and AdR = Andrées de Ruiter For the search engines, Trekking in Nepal, A travellogue of the Manaslu trek, Round Manaslu, Pictures of Manaslu trekking, Photos of Manaslu trek , Trekking in Nepal - round Manaslu , Samdo
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