Trekking in Nepal- round Manaslu
Day 2, from Armala to Machakhola
To enlarge the pictures, click in the upper left bottom for 700 Pix and the lower right bottom for 1050 Pix
The next day we trekked from Armala to Machakhola. Armala was already on the top of a high rock wall and the next days we always had to climb and to go down again.
On the way we met many of the people who have been at the big party the day before and I was astonished that obvisiouly the had come even from villages being 1 hour far away
The harvest of millet was full in progress.
But when I walked singing along the way they all came laughing to say hello
In the narrow valley the sun reaches late the bottom and so we started in the haze and walked allong beautiful trees.
Soon the valley narrowed to a gorge and the path led through a nearly vertical rock wall.
Definitely not a good place to stumble
Left the view down the gorge.
I just would like to advise all trekkers, that it is definitively much safer to trek with someone else. If you fall down on such a place you might not be able to climb up anymore and nobody of the few bypassers would hear your screams because of the noisy river.
This trail is not been built for the few trekkers but mainly for the people living in the Buddhi Gandaki valley. So be prepared to meet big families with children, traders and caravans of donkeys.
Bridge in the gorge
Videoclip HH, mp4 19 MB
beautiful waterfall
Videoclip HH, 3,5 MB
after a wile the valley opened again and on the gentle slopes paddy grew on fertile terraces.
For me it was the first time, that i was going with a group and several porters. So we had to stop every day around 11 AM to have a daal bhat.
The only problem was, that there are no lodges prepared to feed 10 persons on the spot and it took around 2 hours to cool it. So we lost precious time in these short days in November/December when sunset is at 5:30 PM.
Later we found a solution. One of the porters was chosen every day to run ahead and order daal bhat for everyone. So our lunch break was reduced to half to one hour.
We stopped in Lapubesi for Lunch .
There my friends saw a foot driven machine for dehusking rice
Stups
Videoclip HH, mp4 3,4 MB
In the kitchen
In the lower part of the Manaslu valley kitchen are just an open annex with no chimney .
The smoke will just go away through holes and the holey roof . The best place is therefore on the floor where the air is acceptable.
I
Derai mitho !
Paddy fiels near Lapubesi
In this narrow valley there is nearly no place for any bigger fields. But these are very fertile.
Finally we reached Machakhola.
At the entrance gate a Maoist banner was attached, and we knew, that we entered Maoist country.
In Machakhola we found a real Lodge with a sign board and a Menu card! They had a dormitory with beds and even blankets. Compared to the Annapurna region it was very basic but we slept very well.
Only Bachan, who preferred to sleep downstairs i a separate room was badly bitten by flees
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
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