“Calculation and evaluation before we continued the remaining trail- Nitesh looks very busy under the bright sun and the equipment all scattered on the table.”
We crossed Chamje and entered Tal that was a mixture of scorching hot and chilling cold and lots of turning corners where I witnessed one of the biggest majestic waterfalls in my life. As usual I was waiting for the boys to catch up but the view was natural; people carrying and pushing stuff, porters and guides, the middle was a lake with small houses built at the bay and it was our last point for lunch. Kabir and Freddie jumped straight into the lake for a bath while the rest of us chose to relax without having to get wet.
“Me and Kabir on our short cycling period stand side by side in the trail of Kathmandu from the Kakani Scout Camp. So many boards that indicate you where to go but our fingers point to Luxembourg.”
I knew we were late but I kept riding slow but steady crossing yet another waterfall and to Timag another hour or so to Kartee, Dharapani, Bagarchaap and then to Danaque. A short break at Danaque that looked like a zombie apocalypse had occurred; I told the lady of the hotel to deliver my message to the boys if she met them that I would be waiting for them in Timang. I could’ve easily mistaken the lady for a zombie because the place was so dead and hauntingly weird and so was she.
“The silhouette of Kabir carrying his bicycle in triumph over crossing Manang with Swargadwari behind is truly a sight to behold. The bike looks like a piece of cake for his muscly body!”
“If you want to experience crystal clear, you must go to the Dikurpokhari in Hongde, you can see the ground right beneath the water surface. Nitesh does a ‘dab’ and I still don’t know what I was going for, we had never seen a lake so clear before this.”
I had messaged Freddie last night saying that with their pace we would not be able to make it to Manang. Freddie had promised to get the boys here at Timang by 8 but once again they were late. As usual I was waiting without complaining eating my apple porridge because I understood that everyone has their limits and capabilities and so did the boys. Freddie and Kabir finally arrived around 11:30 am and without stopping they walked past me to another hotel; maybe they didn’t like the one I was staying at but they looked tense as if something had happened. Later Nitesh and Sarthak joined us and the unhappiness was clear on their faces but we needed to move on. Reaching Chame wasn’t easy- we were hungry, exhausted but pumped and I wanted to reach Pisang. We entered the headquarters of Manang and after lunch I continued to ride alone as usual without stopping.
“The mountains were so close yet so far and by my expression you can clearly see how excited I was to be facing the gigantic snow mountains just a few trails away.”
We went back to the hotel and got us a room where we would have to sandwich ourselves in because the room was tiny. Tired of Daal Bhat I ate some chicken spaghetti and headed to bed. Our room was in between Spanish and German travellers. With all the loud talking with two different languages resonating through the thin walls, it was impossible to sleep so we ourselves talked about stuffs to catch up to what we had missed from each other. Nitesh said that he fell in love with the lady boss at Bhartang who offered him an apple, which is also where he heard the same stories of the apple farm as I did.