My first experience : Trekking to Chhromrong, Nepal

My first experience : Trekking to Chhromrong with my husband ( Arun Prakash Shrestha),friends (Sandeep Giri & Nabin Gurung) –from November 19-23, 2010 (4 nights/ 5 days)

By Sonika on January 12, 2011

Who does not love trekking??

Before I start describing the trek, I will put in a quick word about Chhomrong. Trekking is one of the most popular trekking routes for ABC (Annapurna Base Camp) of Nepal and situated towards the northwest of Pokhara. It sits at an altitude of 2210 meters above sea level and is inhabited of Gurungs, one of the many ethnic groups of Nepal, with their own religion and culture. The trekking offers the spectacular mountain scenery along with charming villagers. The trail passes through rhododendron forest and fascinating traditional Gurung villages and from there we can have a nice opportunity to witness the culture and tradition of Nepalese countryside.

The Chhomrong trekking provides a good preface into trekkers whereas it also provides some wonderful close up views of both the sacred mountain Macchapuchre (Fishtail) and Annapurna South. Most of the people of this village were greatly dependent upon employment in the British Army till the second half of the 20th century.

My husband, friends and I took a trek from November 19 to 23, 2010. I still dream about it, it was so incredibly beautiful. My husband has trekked before but this was the first trek for me. I was always asked to walk in the front and my husband at the back.

I have travelled to many great travel destinations worldwide, but this trip for me has been the best one, as I had never thought that visiting just another part of my own country could be so exotic, eye-opening and inspiring. I have thoroughly enjoyed this trip to my heart's content. I would have felt so helpless and frustrated but with proper direction, guidance, support of caring husband and set of lovely friends (both comedy characters – make you laugh till your intestine hurts!!!), trekking hand-in-hand, everything went so smoothly. I just couldn’t stop laughing at the funny songs sung by Sandeep and the lovely time that we had together. Team work definitely works wonders!!! So is Life, if you are fortunate enough to have loving, caring, supportive members, you rock, regardless of any struggles!!! And I just thanked God for giving me a bunch of such beautiful people in my life!!!

As I am writing this, I can see this one is going to be really long! Have patience with me. 

Day 1 (19 November 2010, Friday)

Kathmandu(1320m)-Pokhara Airport (960m)-Phedi-Dhampus(1750m)-Pothana

Woke up at 5 am. Had a light breakfast with my husband. Friends came home to pick us up. Our friend Sandeep’s driver (Buddha) safely dropped us to the airport. Our scheduled flight with Agni Air was 9 am but due to the bad weather our flight took off at around 10 am.  It took us 25 minutes approx to reach Pokhara Airport. Pokhara is Nepal's most beautiful natural valley, which is also the most popular tourist destination.

In Pokhara Airport, my husband’s friend (Rijan Rijal) made taxi arrangement to drop us to Dhampus. The taxi was there, our luggage loaded and went to Chipledhunga (7 minutes by car), met my husband’s friend (Amar Gurung). Since, it’s a lunch time, we had a yummy Thakali Meal with sukuti at Mustang Thakali Kitchen which was paid by Amar.

After lunch at Chipledhunga we headed for our trekking.  We started our trek by driving a short distance  to Phedi (30  minutes by car) by the  same Maruti 800. We changed the taxi to Toyota deluxe (1972 –older than me) as the pick-up with heavy load was not good. Drive from Phedi to Dhampus (40  minutes by car) was good too though we have to push it in few places! Maruti 800and Toyota trip total costs Rs. 2,100 only. We got off from Toyota and took a coffee break at Dhampus in Dhaulagiri View Hotel and start walking again passing through a rhododendron forest as we move forward to the village of Pothana.

We reached at Potaha at around 5pm (approx 2 hours walk). Overnight stay at Hotel Annapurna in Pothana. We had quickly hot shower and bought local chicken costs Rs. 2500. We had dinner which was kinda typical village food; it was consist of rice, dal, curries and chicken. While the dinner preparation was going on we had some drinks (Khukuri Rum and  Royal Stag Whiskey) with chicken fried. Since the cooking staff was busy with other guests (Korean), my husband started cooking by himself. He cooked chicken fried and chicken curry which was yummy. At around 10 pm. we went to bed. My husband and I were well prepared for the cold in the night as we brought thermo cool/ inner. No use of sleeping bag which we have carried because hotel people provide blankets. Because of cold breeze I caught cold already. I had medicine and applied tiger balm into my nose and neck all around which burnt my nose skin badly.

Day 2 (20 November 2010, Saturday)

Pothana-Deurali-Tolka (1810m)-Landruk

Day 1 was the easiest day we had in the entire trek so we had a good night’s sleep and surprisingly in the morning no pain in my legs. All of us got up at around 6:00 am in the morning. Had coffee with cookies (from Himalaya Hotel) sent by my lovely mom and paid Rs. 4,800 for 1 night/ 2 rooms/ dinner including local chicken/ coffees.

By 7:30 am we started moving ahead for our next destination Landruk. We walked for around 45 minutes and reached to the small settlement of Pittam Deaurali and it’s time for a break again. Had Gurung Bread, Omelets and coffee there which costs Rs. 1,250 only. Everyone munched happily. To continue with our trek after breakfast we start moving ahead. Making a steep descent on forested slopes and then we then climb gently and emerge into the main Modi Khola valley, and finally reach to Tolka at 1810m and bought one kg oranges costs Rs. 80 which was really good. We then moved from Tolka to Landruk, a Gurung village. Ten minutes below the Landruk village, the trail to the sanctuary leads away to the right which shows the sign pointing the way north to Chhomrong.

We reached Landruk safely (appx. 5 hours walk), had hot shower and had Dal-bhaat-tarkari (lentils-rice-vegetables) at around 4 pm. Soon after that, we proceed to one of the school there where our friend Sandeeps Gham Power installed solar. We enjoyed the inauguration ceremony at the school with some delicious snacks (selroti/ chicken/ milk tea/ raksi). The attendants were school staffs, people from an Australian non-profit called Project Light Up, some VDC people and us. We were lucky to attend a celebration.

It’s time for dinner but we just had some boiled potatoes and drinks as we had late lunch. The school arranged a function for the Gham Power group and Australian donors. The function commenced with a welcome address by VDC people. There was a dance program as well as singing. Everyone danced including Sandeep and my husband. Nabin fell asleep soon and I was not able to dance with my pain in legs. I got hungry and had maggi noodle soup all alone, sharing just a little with my husband. We slept at around 1 am that night.

Day 3 (21 November 2010, Sunday)

Landruk-Jhinu Danda (1900m)-Chhomrong (2210m)

So coming back to the actual stuff, on the third day I had a bad time from the morning. When I got up, to my surprise I had a bad pain in my both ankle. Thankfully, I got a pain balm which I applied gently and did some ankle stretch up but I managed to stay on my feet. We woke up at 6 am clicked some beautiful pictures of mountains (Annapurna South, mostly!). Freshened up, had coffee and light breakfast. We all had some biscuits (glucose biscuit 1 packet for me and coconut biscuit for 3 pax) with coffee and Maggie noodle soup recommend especially by me. The rooms and food costs Rs. 2,770 only as we had all veggies the day before. The Guest House name is Hotel Laliguras, the food at this place was tasty and the place homely.

We started walking at 8 am  in the morning from our Guest House. Initial part of the trek that day was smooth. The most stupid thing I did on this trek was not to wear a proper trekking shoe but a jogger. The way is through lush green forest and we were walking upstream on a river, waterfalls could also be spotted along the way. In 3rd day walk too we noticed series of tunnels and bridges.

The guest houses shopping are done mainly by porters carrying loads. Porters were either in flip flops or in canvas shoes or sandals carrying tremendous loads in their bamboo baskets using a tumpline (naamlo) across their forehead. Many of the foreigners we have met on treks are from Korea, China & United States.

We cross the river at Shiuli at 1340m before climbing the Jhinu Danda at 1750m. At around 2 pm we found a particularly beautiful spot to have our lunch in Jhinu. The lunch consisted of Spaghetti, Macaroni, Omelets and coffee, which costs only Rs. 1,400. The food was tasty, may be because we were hungry. After lovely lunch, we started again to our destination. The trail continues upwards, on a good path, was long and tough. Being moderately fit with the help of my husband, I had no problem in completing it. It has also started raining. We were enjoying ourselves at a stream when rain hit us hard for the first time. All of us went into our rain sheets but still it is uncomfortable. Fortunately the rain did not last long.

We reach Taglung at 2180m. After a short distance from Taglung, the trail rounds a bend and enters the upper part of Chhomrong, a gurung village. The way was again uphill till the end but it was manageable. Chhromrong is a large village that is spread along a huge stone staircase, which drops to the Chhromrong Khola. The Annapurna, Machhapuchere (Fishtail) and uncountable Mountains always stand high welcoming every visitor with a smile.

Overnight stay at Chhromrong (7 hours walk), Fishtail Lodge. It was a full moon night and the moon was in her full glory. She never looked more beautiful to me before. I realized that she was staring at me all the time, some time behind the trees, sometime behind the clouds and sometime openly. Probably she liked me among all the guys in the trek.

The temperature was freezing in the evening. We had our dinner at around 8 pm. The potato chilly at the lodge was the best I had ever tested.

Day 4 (22 November 2010, Monday)

Chhromrong (2210m) –Syauli Bazaar (1140m)

It was 1 am in the morning; I went to the toilet and was really extremely surprised to see the mountains so near. My surprise turned into joy! This was a pleasant surprise. The view from the guest house was breathtaking. From here the mountain views are fantastic and include Annapurna (8091m), Annapurna III (7555m), Gangapurna (7454m) and Machhapuchhre. I slept again and we all woke up early and started clicking more pictures that morning. After hot cups of coffee and some biscuits, we started our walk again. Walking was becoming extremely difficult for me because of excruciating pain in my right ankle.

The Room and food costs Rs. 3,800. From Chhromrong we continue back down the trail upto Jhinu Danda (1 hour 30 minutes walk) where we had lunch the day before. We put down our bags and took rest for some time. Nearby there is a very nice stream and hot spring, which motivated us to go there. Lots of monkeys were around the place. The hot spring bath washed away some of our pain. After that, same for late breakfast (costs only Rs. 1,800), unlike the day before at the same guest house.

Leaving Jhinu Danda the trail descends to cross the Chhomrong Khola on a suspension bridge, then climbs high above the Modi Khola on its west bank. From Jhinudanda to a small forest that is to a river on it crossing suspension bridge. It is a long descent to the settlement of Shauli Bazaar. You have to climb all the way to the top of tall hills and then descend completely to the river below before repeating the process. Our friend Sandeep repeatedly sang mix songs for us while walking. The trail is straight and down to reach New Bridge which is a beautiful village on the bank of Modi Khola. At around 4 pm we found a place to have our late lunch in Kyumi (costs Rs. 800 only). We had dal-bhat-tarkari in our lunch. The food was tasty as usual.

When the sun was yet to touch the horizon, we were in search of the way using our head light while Sandeep was happy using his solar light carried all the way with him. Passing by the valley we came across a small hotel in Syauli Bazaar. From the Jhinu Danda it is appx. 4 hours walk. This is a short day and allows us to spend some time relaxing in this fascinating village. Overnight stay at Syauli Bazaar, where we spend our final night on the trek.

Day 5 (23 November 2010, Tuesday)

Syauli Bazaar – Birethanti (1065m) - Naya Pul- Pokhara

Our last day of the trail. Early in the morning breakfast at the guest house. It has also started raining. After sometime the rain stopped, paid our bill (Rs. 4,500) and we started early walk and make the 1 hour 30 minutes trek to reach Pokhara. We are now down to the Modi Khola and from here it is an easy and pleasant walk along the river bank to Birethanti at 1065m.  It’s a beautiful village situated in a fantastic spot on the Modi Khola river. This is a busy village with many trekkers starting and finishing their treks here, and there are many tea-houses and shops. Had hot lemon in Birethathi and little walk to Naya Pool.

Driven back to Pokhara (about 1 hr) from Naya Pool by Toyota Taxi. One gets to view good scenery along the drive. We arrived back in Pokhara by 12 pm, lunch at the same Mustang Thakali in Chepledhunga where we had on the first day. Taxi from Naya Pool to Chipledhunga costs Rs. 1,500. After lunch (Rs. 820 for 4 pax) we had some time to refresh ourselves in Amar’s place before our flight. Took taxi again for airport (Rs. 150). Fly back to Kathmandu at around 4:30 pm. Lady Pilot made me scared but we landed safely. We reached home at 5:30 pm with amazing memories of the trip.

Tips:

·         For travelling always be mentally and physically prepared. All you need is peace to appreciate the serenity in life.

·         Try and interact with locals-the more you are exposed to local people and culture, the more you enjoy and learn.

·         Travel light-don’t carry a huge luggage. Tag along a pair of clothes. Always carry extra emergency money.

·         Sun block!

·         Check the weather forecasts during the time of your trip.

·         Carry your medicine in proper quantities and some basic medicines.

·         Have a great trip anywhere you go, learn new things and make the most of it. Enjoy!