The past week our guides have been extolling the virtues of Manang, one of the larger towns on the walk. I am in good spirits this afternoon and I make up a song, alternate lyrics to "let's go to the hop" from the Woodstock album. I teach the chorus and backing to Santosh and we sing together as we walk along a wooded trail.
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
To Manaaaa-aaang
Let's go to Manang
They've got beautiful flowers and nice hot showers in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Ginger teas and yummy nak cheese in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Chaya Masala and wa wa we wa in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
To Manaaaa-aaang
Let's go to Manang
Dida and dai, bahini and bai* in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
I really could go for a veg momo in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Comfortable room and boom-chicka-boom in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
To Manaaaa-aaang
Let's go to Manang
Let's go to Manang
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
To Manaaaa-aaang
Let's go to Manang
They've got beautiful flowers and nice hot showers in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Ginger teas and yummy nak cheese in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Chaya Masala and wa wa we wa in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
To Manaaaa-aaang
Let's go to Manang
Dida and dai, bahini and bai* in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
I really could go for a veg momo in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Comfortable room and boom-chicka-boom in Manang (Ooh ah Ooh ah)
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
Let's go to Manang (Oh baby)
Let's go to Manang
To Manaaaa-aaang
Let's go to Manang
(* woman and man, girl and boy or more literally, older sister and brother, younger sister and brother. )
We arrive at Lower Pisang. The weather is cold due to the altitude. There aren't many trees around and the buildings are mostly made of stone.
At our lodge I have a shower. With trial and error I work out which tap is for cold water and which is for freezing. I feel fresh and clean afterwards.
We take a short walk climbing stone stairs to Upper Pisang. Here there is a beautiful monastery with a large stone courtyard with prayer flags flapping in the wind overlooking the stone houses, the village, the valley, the river, and with a back drop of snow covered mountains. From down the valley the mountains tower above us but from here we face them and taste their bitter cold.
At manang we have a day to relax. I sit in a cafe and order a large piece of apple pie and a pot of hot chocolate. In the afternoon we go to the "cinema" - a darkened room with wooden bench seats with a DVD player and tv. We watch "into the wild" which I remember discussing with Sherrie and Kerstin on top of a boat on lake Titicaca, Peru. The DVD freezes in several places and we use the remote control to coax it along. With about 10 minutes to go the power goes off. We groan.
Nepal has only so much hydro electricity - not enough to meet demand. When the water stops flowing so does the electricity.
We grumble as we leave the small cinema but the proprietor pursues us. He has a generator and we return for the end of the film.
That night hundreds of people of all ages gather for a concert put on by renowned performers who are Nepalese famous. The locals are happy and excited. A young boy has a bag of crispy fried noodles which he is eating dry from the packet. He comes across the flavour sachet and looks at with puzzlement. He decides that it is designed for throwing and does so forthwith with gusto. We dance with the crowd some young men dance on a nearby rooftop silhouetted by moonlit snow capped mountains.
Over the days we progress further up the valley. The river gets narrower. The trees disappear as we get higher.
One day we climb up to visit a small monastery overlooking - well, overlooking everything. When we descend and continue on our way I thing we are progressing along a mild downhill slope but after a couple of hours I notice the river is flowing towards us.
Onwards and upwards.
At Thorung Pedi we get up at 3AM.
I am outside my room and its not as cold as I thought it might be. It's maybe five degrees centigrade. I decide against wearing my down jacket and settle on my thermal shirt, tee shirt, shirt, jumper, fleece jacket and windproof jacket.
I have porridge for breakfast and I pocket 2 boiled eggs for a morning snack.
We turn on our headlamps and begin our walk up the steep path of dust and stones. Soon the outlines of mountains appear as our eyes adjust to the dark. After a couple of hours of continuous climbing, everything is visible in the pre-dawn light. The mountain behind is surrounded by golden billowous cloud lit up by an unseen sun.
We reach high ground and new mountains come into view. Up and down and around and over rocky ground. Here and there are patches of slushy icy snow by the side of the path. In the not too far distance there are large fields of snow covering areas of mountain side.
Gradually we climb higher and higher. At 5600m we reach the top. The Thorung Li pass is the highest point in our trek. There are cheers and photographs and congratulations. We see the other side of the pass has a steep descent into a huge valley.
As the day warms up I skip and bound and dance down the mountain side. A young Israeli man that I have met several times on the trail expresses his admiration of my craziness.
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