There really is not much else to do out here in the mountains. Once the sun is gone it's completely dark, electricity is scarce, just about enough to shine a little 20 watt light onto a book. No TV, the mobile network was down (due to over utilization as the host told me). All you can do is go to bed at 8 and sleep. And one the sun is back again, life begins new.
I never really noticed this back home, if it's dark, we switch on the light, if it's cold we switch on the heating, if we want to know something we check on the internet, if we we want to watch TV, we just watch it, no matter what time of the day it is. Here, at 8pm you go to sleep.
Life is still based around the sun and very much the weather over here. It's nice to have this for a few days to get back to make us appreciate what we have, but I would not want to change for good.
Anyway, so much for my thoughts this morning. It was time to head off onto the our hike again.
Since we were going down, back into the valley first it was quite a nice and easy walk. We crossed the Marsyangdi River once more and passed through the village of Thanchowk. The village was only a narrow path (maybe 1,5 wide so that yaks, donkeys, chicken and people could walk through) with traditional buildings on both sides made from rocks stacked on each other. The rocks barely allowed any gaps for the wind to pass through, but if there were gaps they were not filled with clay or anything, so I am pretty sure it will be quite cold in there during colder months. Nonetheless, the down looked lovely, simple and just as you imagine a little Nepalese town in the mountains.
When passing through Chame, I had mobile network the first time on this trek. As I mentioned before I got a SIM card in Kathmandu, but unfortunately I got a card from the NCELL network which barely has any coverage in the Annapurna region. Here you should be using NTC whereas in the Everest Region NCELL is better. Good to know for the next time :-). However, in Chame I had coverage, even data network worked. So I caught up with contacting home.
Chame also has a trekking shop where I got another layer of fleece after yesterdays cold night.
We decided to not take our lunch break in Chame as we were on a good run and it was still early, so we continued to Bhratang. Unfortunately Mikael's feet did not fully agree with this idea and produced blisters, so that we decided to call it a day in Bhartang. This place only consisted of one lodge (where in most towns you have a selection of places). The lodge also was very basic. We stayed in a room of very think clay wall with only a small window (maye 30 * 30 cm) and no electric light. The shower consisted of a bucket and the toilet was quite "traditional" as well. But, that all didn't bother us, as the food was great and the hosts lovely. We light a wood fire in an oven in the living room and sat down together with them while they watched Nepalese News on a little 22" flat screen that was hung to the wall.
It was certainly a more memorable evening than if we had stayed in a comfy lodge with electricity and a hot shower.
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