The Adventures of Andrew Maurer

Had a quick start to the day, again deciding to hike a few hours before having meal 1. It took 3.5 hors to go from Chame to Pisang, compared to a suggested time of 4 hours. It seems that the suggested times are much faster than would be typical for a given stretch of trail. I would think the suggested times on the local signs are much faster than those in Lonely Planet or other guidebooks written for trekkers.

I stopped at 10am for dal baht in Pisang (400NPR for dal baht + tea, negotiated from 400 dal baht + 65 tea). They got to work pretty quickly, and I was able to eat and then leave by 10:45am.

The next section was a stretch of trail to Manang – where I’d hoped to get to by the end of the day. Though from the fast time to Pisang, I secretly thought I might make it beyong Manang. I arrived and left by 2:15pm – excited to still have time to hopefully make it to Yak Karka.

I went strong from Manang to Yak Karka – it was all uphill. About 30 minutes from Yak-Karka it got quite windy and started blizzarding with snow. I felt a touch out of place. The only other people on the trail were Nepalis, bundled up for the snow, some carrying things between villages. Then there was me, in shorts and a tshirt, running past them as it snowed, trying to make it to Yak Karka quickly so I wouldn’t have to stop to put on my rain jacket or toque. I got some interesting looks.

It was about 2.5 hours to Yak Karka from Manang. I found out that they didn’t have running water, so the only way to shower was through a bucket shower. Most places were charging 200-300NPR for the night plus 125NPR for a bucket shower. I ended up finding the cheapest place, near the end of town for 50NPR + 25NPR for the room + shower. My first time bucket-showering, it was better than I expected it to be. The bucket was large and the water hot, after having been heated on the stove.

I had dinner and went to bed around 8pm. It was too cold to stay up in just my base layer, trekking pants, fleece jacket, and toque. I was warm once in my sleeping bag. People were pretty impressed with the distance covered today. Most people do it in at least 4.5 days: Chame to Pisang, Pisang to ???, ??? to Manang, rest/acclimatization day in Manang, half a day to Yak Karka.