The journey through the Himalaya Mountains had been incredible with ups and downs. I was still going according to my plan, but what happened thereafter really crossed a line through my plan and…
THE EXPERIENCE
Freezing cold at night
Last night was absolutely freezing cold and I woke up at 3:30am and couldn’t sleep anymore. I also didn’t feel well. I fell back to sleep and then woke up late. I was still able to catch the Spaniards from the night before, Oscar and Cristina, for breakfast and then left around 8:45am.
Journey to Gokyo: meeting some Americans
The journey was a very exhausting steep uphill trek, which was pretty challenging; but after making it to the top, it was pretty much straight on a flat path. On my way, I had some serious stomach problems and was in a lot of pain. During the journey, I bumped into some Americans, which were really nice and we caught up on how things are going.
The last part of the day
I was not far away anymore and the landscape was amazing with nice lakes. I was so happy jumping around and it somehow made me think of the song that the school I visited in South Africa had sung for me, and so I whistled it (TW VISITS KWA MIYA PRIMARY SCHOOL). At around 11:30am, I finally made it to Gokyo at an altitude of 4,790 m – such a beautiful place located right next to a lake surrounded by Gokyo RI and other mountains.
The best lodge in Gokyo
I went to check into the Chou Ouyo View Lodge, which was recommended by Linnea, the Swedish girl I had met in Kathmandu who also gave me a map. She told me about the old lady running the place and said she is very nice. At first I didn’t see it because she was a little rude and didn’t want to give me the room I wanted for the price I wanted. Ha ha. But after I told her that Linnea told me to come, she totally changed her behavior and was a total different person. I got a nice room, which I’d chosen on purpose because it had three blankets inside; and since I didn’t have a sleeping bag, this was perfect and more than necessary. Once I actually moved into the room, the cleaning lady came to take one blanket out; but I said no, no, I needed them and closed the door. Ha ha.
For the rest of the day…
I used the rest of the day to acclimate at the new height of 4,790 m and used the Wi-Fi for once, which costs N1,000 Rupees / hour (10 USD) while I had lunch. I only used the Wi-Fi for 10 minutes, so I paid only for 10 minutes but he forgot to turn it off or change the code, so I used it for about 90 minutes – pretty smart, right ?
I relaxed and went to the bakery to have hot milk. When I asked whether there was sugar in the dispenser, the guy replied yeah, of course, but it ended up tasting weird so I realised it must have been salt. While chilling, I briefly saw a guy playing with his game boy pocket – how cool I thought
At night, I chilled with some English tourists who shared some pretty cool stories about how they had come from Tibet and about their journey with all the equipment they carried. They had all been part of a trekker team in the UK. Then I headed to bed, pretty early again.
I TRAVEL FOREVER’s VIEW & RECOMMENDATION
At the end of the day, I was fairly happy that I had arrived at Gokyo because I really saw it as one of the highlights of the trip, as expected not so many people were going there. It was nice to meet more people on the way and I was really blown away when I saw the lakes just before I arrived in Gokyo.
#TW
