Lama Hotel

Rob's birthday was heralded in by Aite bringing us a cup of tea at 6.30 am. We were on the track by 7.40 am, and headed straight up the valley, following the river all day. We had over 1000 metres to climb, and Mithu set a slow and steady pace, Aite bringing up the rear. He provided me with a steady hand over the wooden log bridges, and carried most of our gear. I just had a small shoulder bag, and Rob carried my backpack.

We were mainly in broadleaf forest with patches of bright flowers. We had to don parkas as the rain became steadier and views of mountains were obscured, but we had a wonderful time with Mithu’s sharp eyes adding to our experience. He spotted 2 tiny deer on the far slopes, I have no idea how he saw them, they were so hard to see. Later on he found a family of monkeys with black faces and incredibly long tails. Rob spent the day in bird heaven, seeing many new species of brightly coloured birds. Mithu also pointed out fungi, and bee hives hanging from boulders.

We had a lovely cup of tea with fresh lemon squeezed into it about 10.00 am, then set off with frequent stops for rests or spotting, or to let people pass. There were many trekkers in both directions, local people carrying huge loads, and a couple of elderly goatherders in traditional garb including kukuri (knife) with a large number of animals. We had lunch in a Tibetan place called Bamboo at 1900 metres, very good fried rice and more tea. Beside us, the river pounded down over massive rocks and waterfalls fell from the cliffs far above us.

After lunch we had a pretty steep long climb, it seemed to go on and on until finally leveling out at the tiny settlement of Rimche at 2544 metres. From there it was an easy half hour to our destination, Lama Hotel at 2470 metres, which we reached mid-afternoon. Jungle covered hills towered above us, and Mithu found us a basic room in the aptly named Jungle View Hotel,  where we tried to get warm with hot cups of tea, biscuits and the host even lit his stove.

Right outside were many birds, pigeons, chickens and a busy squirrel. By 7.15 pm it was very dark outside and just 1 solar powered light inside. Fantastic that a wood-fired stove in a primitive kitchen can produce so much tasty food for so many people.