The Adventures of Andrew Maurer

I woke up at 6am, showered, packed, and got ready for breakfast. I had ordered breakfast the night before for eating at 6:30am, but they seemed to have forgotten, so it wasn’t ready until 7am. I ate quickly and left immediately on paying the bill.

I got lots of strange looks, briskly walking down the street in athletic clothing and a small pack. More than a few times, someone would look at me, make a motion like an airplane and go “vroom!”

I almost got by without needing a TIMS card. The man said that the office was closing in 5 minutes, because of the strike. I figured it would probably be checked later on the trail, so I just paid the $20 US. (It was only checked once again – at the very end of the trek.)

Nice trail through the forest. Not too busy. Met some Canadians coming in the opposite direction who were doing their masters in geology at Queens. They were in Nepal doing field work. I didn’t want to stop for lunch, so got a packet of peanut cookies (80NPR) and 5 Snickers bars (70NPR each) for later in the trek, since I knew prices were supposed to increase lots as I got farther into the mountains.

I stopped at 2pm and almost called it a day. I had made it much farther than sounded normal and it had started to rain hard. The man was very nice and offered me a room for free. I decided I would stay unless the rain stopped. I would not have been happy with myself stopping this early. The rain did quiet down, so I headed onwards to Chyamche.

There was one trick in the trail – taking the “~traditional trekking route” that was supposedly faster than the road. I think it was. I stopped at the first guest house, which was before the actual town of Chyamche. It overlooks a waterfall and was a nice place to stay. I met Brian (a fell runner from the Lake District in England) and Bellefleure (from France), and after a shower, had dal baht, and spent the evening talking. Brian explained that the trick to getting the most bang for your buck with dal baht is eating very quickly. They come to refill your plate after 5 minutes or so, so the more you’ve eaten, the more you get refilled.