This is the tenth post of a three-week series. Please visit the “Adventure Journal” page of our website and start with “Why Nepal?” to read in order! As always, I have added perspectives from the kids (as they allow me to).

Cover Photo: We descended from above the clouds and back through the fields and forests to Chumling.

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Day 9: Chhule (Tsum Valley) (3,300m) - Chumling (2,350m)

June 6, 2019

Stats:

Walked: 6hrs 45mins
Distance: 17 miles
Elevation Loss: 3,117 ft

Today we walked back down the same trail as we had come up. The path was mainly flat and downhill, but at nearly 17 miles, it was the longest walk we’ve done as a family, to date. All of our legs and feet were aching towards the end of hike.

Along the way, we stopped in Chokkam Paro at a much bigger monastery, called Rajen Gumba. We went in and watched part of a chanting session, complete with bells and Tibetan horns. The most interesting thing about this monastery, however, wasn’t its grand size, the arger congregation of monks, or the immaculate campus, but rather, that ALL of the monks were women! With everyone wearing nondescript red blankets over their red robes and rocking the same shaved-head hairstyle, it actually took us a few minutes to realize this fact! This was my first time in an all-female monastery and I loved its energy.

Though the monks were all in chant/prayer, they welcomed us with eyes and smiles. They smiled a lot at the kids and many of the younger students watched us just as much as we watched them! The Gumba was newer, but still had many of the old Tibetan texts, butter mandalas, and other symbolic artifacts that Mu Gumba did. As we knew we had a long walk in front of us, we only sat for about 20 minutes and then bid farewell and expressed our gratitude through silent hand gestures and smiles.

We walked and walked while talking, telling stories, and taking some silent time for hours, until we arrived back to the same busy teahouse in Chumling. This time, when we arrived, an elderly Nepali man was being carried out of the home by his limbs—one guy had the hands and the other had his feet. He seriously looked dead, but then we were clued-in (mainly by the cackles from the audience) that he was passed out from “over-alcohol” as the Nepalis call it. They lay him down on the ground, a stone’s throw away from our tents. It was cold and he urinated in his pants (while still passed out). The kids witnessed all of this and I could tell that all of them were a shocked and processing in their own ways…I’m pretty sure this will be mentioned in all of their journal entries tonight.

A few hours later, as it was getting dark, I noticed that he was still passed out on the ground. I suggested to the hosts to at least put a blanket on him so he doesn’t die. They laughed at me and replied that he was fine. Whether he is the village drunk or not, he was old and I really didn’t want to wake up to a dead body. So, I insisted that it was only right to put a blanket on him. Ten minutes later, Kapil noticed a thick blanket fully covering him from head to toe (like a dead body, after all)…then I hoped he wouldn’t suffocate!

It had been 8 days since my last shower and my scalp was super itchy. I was paranoid that I had lice and would have to wait for two weeks before I got proper medication. I imagined lice eggs hatching in my hair and big black bugs crawling all over my head. I made the whole family check my head, but there comments were never reassuring. They always commented that I could have a lot of dandruff. Finally, I told the porters, hoping that there was some natural remedy for lice, and they said it’s probably just itchy scalp from being without a shower. This teahouse advertised a hot bucket bath and I jumped on it.

Remember the concrete toilet with the river running through it? Well, the adjacent room in the same stone structure, housed the concrete shower. Again, there is no light, lots of bugs, spiders, etc., but nothing a headlamp and flip flops couldn’t fix. There were only two issues of concern, one was that we didn’t have anything but a small camping face towel and two I didn’t have any conditioner. I was resourceful enough to substitute a t-shirt for a towel and oil (from the kitchen) as conditioner…but at least we had a bar of soap and a squeeze of shampoo with us.

Kapil and Kenza also wanted a shower, so I ordered three hot buckets. At the last minute, Kenza opted to come with me because she was scared. As I was shampooing my hair, I noticed that she was using bowls of water and mostly missing her body! I started to bathe her and we both got to the shampoo and soap stages, until we realized that there was not enough water to wash off! Through the door (in Hindi), I shouted for another hot bucket. They were surprised and said they would put the kettle on right away and that it would only take 15 minutes! AAAAAAHHHHHH! There was literally nothing we could do. Kenza and I stood in the dark concrete room, freezing our bums off (literally) for 15 minutes before we got enough water to rinse ourselves off. The only good news was that my scalp felt much better…phew!

For dinner, we ate a special Nepali soup made of stinging nettle leaves. Kaysee was thrilled to get his revenge on the stinging nettles and went into the kitchen to throw stir them into the boiling water! Mingmar (our guide) told us that this is a traditional dish that they eat annually to clear the toxins out of their bodies. Rejoicing at the sight of “greens,” Kapil and I lapped up our bowls of soup; Kenza and Kaysee barely touched theirs and Z had about ½ of his bowl. It was thick and slimy but prepared with flavor to mask the slight bitter aftertaste. It was definitely a new experience for us, and quite yummy!

Just before I was about to head toward our tents, the host (a young woman in her mid-twenties) expressed that she was sad to see us leave. We got to talking and I asked her how things were going at the teahouse, expecting that she would comment on business and new construction. Instead, she told me that she personally was not well and that her stomach hurt. She said she had medicine from the clinic, but what she has cannot be cured from medicine because she has gotten sick from a ghost. I was pretty surprised at where this conversation was going.

She continued to explain that her dead mother had come to her the other night and had made her sick. I asked why her mother would want to hurt her. She replied that she had been abandoned by her mother, but the specific details got a bit lost in translation (she was speaking broken Hindi and words for abandonment and trauma were not in our shared vocabulary). I hugged her and told her that she should go to a Gumba and have the monks heal her. I also told her that I would pray for her too. She promised she would walk to the Gumba tomorrow. With my head and heart swirling from this conversation, I walked to my tent (just next to “over-alcohol” guy who was still passed out), got into my sleeping bag, and closed my eyes.

I awoke to loud sounds of thunder that seemed to echo among the Himals. Lightning on the outside, was illuminating the yellow of the tent on the inside immediately followed by roaring thunder. We were in the eye of a storm and I desperately hoped our tent would hold-up. I zipped the tent cover closed and found Kapil doing the same. He had already been up to use the bathroom around 3am (an hour earlier) and noticed that the passed-out guy was still there. At 4am, he was nowhere to be found. The rain must have sent him home.

What a day this had been. We walked from high in the mountains through the clouds down below. The literal highs and lows of the altitude coincided with the emotional highs and lows of the day. From the powerful positive energy at the female monastery to the pain and sadness of the Chumling woman, Day 9 reminded me of a humbling analogy for life by Joni Mitchell—"I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow, it’s cloud illusions I recall…I really don’t know clouds at all.”

Our Day 9 photo location was in the bamboo forest, just before we reached Chumling…at this point, our crew had already walked about 13 miles.

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Excerpt from Zayan’s Journal (12 years):

In one day, we went from Chhule at 3,300m of elevation and came all the way back to Chumling at an elevation of 2,350m. With a net elevation loss of 950m and a total distance of 17 miles, Day 9 was the longest day of hiking thus far. Although 95% of the hike was either downhill or flat, by the end of the hike my legs were trembling and my right knee was throbbing.

One interesting thing at the campsite was that there was a drunken man lying passed out at 4pm. It was both sad and humorous. It was sad because lying there passed out so early in the day, but it was funny because he had pissed on himself!

Excerpt from Kenza’s Journal (9 years):

Today we started to walk backwards (meaning walking back the way we came).It was mostly downhill which was a bit easier, but we walked for 17 miles which is very long. We also went to a monastery that only had women monks. I really liked the Buddhist prayers—they sounded like a nice lullaby.

I am really missing home but I know we will be done soon!

Excerpt from Kaysan’s Journal (7 years):

Today it was flat and down hill. At the last bit of the hike we were on a landslide part! It was the longest hike I had ever done in my life—17 miles! We got to the same camp that we have been to before. It is called Chumling.

At night time, there was this verey over drunk guy. They moved him outside and he peed his pants.

At the last bit of the hike, we were hikeking in a big cloud! I fell five times.