I slept well only for half of the night but woke up at
around 3am probably because of the bright moon outside our bedroom window.
In the morning, we had Thukpa and Chowmein for breakfast.
Jhule mountain resort offers good food. From Jhule, we headed for the Shivapuri
National Park. In the entrance to the park, a military guard we asked for
directions from, know only one English word, NO. To all our questions, he said
NO NO NO. Since we couldn’t get anything from him, we decided to take the road
with no tree covering.
We ended up walking from Jhule
at 10am to 2pm with brief stopovers for “minor” and water/trail food break. We
only bumped into two hiking groups, one big group composed of many tourists and
one guide. The guide commented on our team, European friend, Asian friend cute.
After more than a couple of
hours and not seeing other hikers except for military personnel patrolling the
area, we came up of ways of amusing ourselves by exaggerating Rhododendron.
We walked through a dirt road
with lots of pine trees and rhododendrons growing along it.
At around 2pm, we saw settlements
again, so we had lunch in the first dining place in Mulkaphar from where the
pipeline goes down to Sundarijal. I was the only one who ate since Nadine was
not feeling well.
Turned out there was an
entrance fee for Shivapuri from this end, so we were charged entrance fee as we
are exiting the Shivapuri National Park. I decided to go to a toilet in Sundarijal
and it was wild welcome to Nepal toilets. I won’t even wish that sight to my
worst enemy.
From Sundarijal, we took a bus
to Kathmandu and were seated with a fun bunch of locals. Two well-dressed
ladies, complete with accessories, came from working on the field and were
carrying their goods. Some of the passengers in the bus were buying their goods
from them. The trip was less than hour and we were already in Kathmandu. There
was a commotion when one of the guys forgot to pay the ladies. Thus, one lady
had to run after him. The whole bus was into the drama.
We did not know which part of Kathmandu we will get off from the bus.
Due to the limited English of the conductor we had no choice but to get off at
Puaay? Or something that sounded like that. Good thing there was already a taxi waiting
where we got off so we got in it and asked to be brought to Dhumbarai for about
P100. Kathmandu center was a stark contrast to the quietness of the surrounding
valley rim.
As soon as we arrived in Kathmandu, it was uber-nice
to finally get a hot shower after three days of trekking. Best feeling ever. However,
Nadine’s sickness worsened during the night. Good thing Joerg had natural
medicines. We slept early for the following day, since we will head for the
Last Resort, where we will be doing the jump.
