Yangla Kharka > Kathmandu

After 3 nights and 2 days of rest we embarked on our journey to Num. Some people said 5 days to get there, while the locals said they do it in 2 or 3 days. We hoped to do it in 3 days so we could contact our teammates and family as soon as possible. It seemed a little ambitious since our packs were jam packed with mountaineering gear and food we had brought for the high passes, but we were eager for a challenge and some adventure.

The plan for the first day was to hike to Kalo Pokhari. This would be the second Kalo Pokhari we would be camping next to on this trip. So we set off down the same trail we had envied just a week before from the other side of the river. This trail too had some land slides, but it was more well developed and hiked smoothly. We enjoyed blooming yellow and pink Rhododendrons and nice riverside hiking where the trail was intact.

The next section was one we had were less excited about. Many trekkers doing the MBC (Makalu Base Camp) trek had told us how they were dreading the climb back up to Dobate. So we summoned our strength and began sweating our way up the steep rock steps. This wouldn’t have been too bad except we only had our mountaineering clothes and boots. Clothes which comprised of all our warm layers and boots that are rigid, hot, and heavy. Tom had a blister on his left heel from the day before hiking to MBC and back to Yangle. So each break the boots came off trying to mitigate blisters and to keep trench foot from setting in due to the sweat.

We reached Dobate early in the afternoon. Our friend Sangita was hanging out there having lunch so we stopped as well. The friendly owner made us some veggie rara soup and warm chyang. We enjoyed a little conversation and amused some young kids who had portered food over from Tashigoan. Then we started up towards Keke La in a light drizzle with Sangita and the porter Pasang who caught up to us on his way back home to Seduwa.

We told them we were planning on stopping at the lake to camp, so as the clouds moved in and rain picked up we held back. Much of the hiking was in the snow and it was nice to have footprints to follow for once. Once we reached Kalo Pokhari we hung out in a shelter to avoid the heavy rain. We spent an hour unsuccessfully starting a fire in the shelter until the rain stopped. Then we quickly set up camp and enjoyed our first night back home in our tent.

We woke to frozen rain on the tent and sun that couldn’t quite reach us because of the mountains. It was a slow start as we waited for the sun to dry our gear, so we enjoyed a leisurely morning.

The night out was worth the gorgeous sunny morning hiking up from the lake to Shipton La. We were able to look back on the south faces of many mountains we had hiked through on our way to MBC.

Once we reached Shipton La we could see we were teetering on the edge of the mountains looking down on the foothills. Everything below was shrouded in clouds with only the tallest hills peeking up. From here it was 9,000 feet down to our intended destination of Seduwa.

Most of the hiking over Shipton La was in the snow until we got down below 13,000 ft. The stone path and stairs were reminiscent of a miniature Great Wall of China as we winded our down the ridge. In Kongma Danda we met the better half of the guest house owner in Dobate. She got us some water and told us to stop in and see her daughter, Pasang, in Tashigoan. We became acutely aware we had entered the jungle again when we started getting swarmed by no-see-ums during our breaks. Even then we still enjoyed being back in the forest full of plants and mushrooms we had never seen before.

We followed two young sisters and their herd of goats into Tashigoan around 3 in the afternoon. As we entered the village we asked an older lady how long to Seduwa and she replied “1 hour.” We saw a familiar sign for the guest house and met Pasang who spoke good English and was quite friendly. We needed something to dull the pain from our hot boots so we took a lesson from locals and got a pitcher of chyang. We sat outside and talked to Thómas, a friendly Ecuadorian who was on his way to MBC. His friends were attempting to climb Makalu without oxygen and he wanted to give them some encouragement. His Sherpa was quite friendly as well so we all sat and talked for a while assuming we only had a short walk to Seduwa.

3 hours later, after getting lost in some paddy fields, we stumbled into Seduwa in the dark. We had forgot our previous lesson; when an elder Nepali women tells us how long until the next village, we should always triple it. After asking around we finally found Pasang’s aunt and uncle’s guest house she had told us to stay at. Dolma, her aunt, got us a room and started on some dal bhat. We were covered in sweat and were more than ready to get our boots off. Tom popped off his left boot and 2 engorged leeches fell out. During our last break, Tom had taken off his boot in the dark by a creek to relieve some pain and forgot about the leeches. Hirudin, the anticoagulant enzyme found in leeches, causes an impressive amount of bleeding which was the most surprising part.

When we went down for dinner we saw Sangita was there as well. Then Pasang showed up too and said hi. It was nice to see some familiar faces. We finally had service and were able to reach Gombu, who let us know our teammate was okay and not in the hospital. We told him to let the group know we would have wifi the next day and should be able to get a jeep soon.

One of the relatives of the guest house serenaded us with song and sweet vibrations from the Tungna. The Tungna is a Tibetan stringed folk instrument that sounds comparable to a banjo. After enjoying the music and ginger tea, we were off to bed for a good night’s rest.

Knowing the hike to Num was only a few miles we slept in. The sun was out and the guest house was bustling. The guy the from the night before was giving Tungna lessons, kids were playing under the tables and the family was busy doing their chores. We indulged in coffee and had the best trail pancake we’ve had. Dolma gave us some bananas then we were off heading down through the village just before 10 am.

As we went down we saw a lot of mule trains and locals heading up the trail. One of our favorite parts of trekking has been seeing all the locals on their home trails doing their usual commutes. We feel like little kids curiously observing every little thing we see; how they plant their gardens and layout the farms, how they bring everything they need up and down the steep difficult trails, and how families will carry or take their kids between villages. The trail we were on was the main route between Seduwa and Num, it went down and up 3,000 ft crossing a river valley.

We were so sweaty by the time we reached the river that we had to take a dip. Not to mention it had been over 2 weeks since our cold water spigot rinse in Hongon. After we bathed in a little hole next to the raging river we discovered butterflies were covering our clothes laid out in the sun. There must have been over a dozen different varieties surrounding us. Their color was so spectacular we couldn’t take our eyes off of them.

Once we crossed the suspension bridge and started the climb up to Num we realized why we saw so many people on their way up the trail in the morning. It was hot and muggy. We sweated back through our clothes within the first 30 minutes and hardly saw anyone on the trail until we got closer to the village.

While taking a break in the shade we met a mother, father and son, or in Nepalese: ama, dadu, and babu. They were on their way to catch a jeep to Khandbari. The boy was 8 years old and knew more English than his parents. We hiked the last hour up to Num with them. Tom shared his trekking pole and let him wear his helmet. With all our gear he had thought we climbed Everest. The trail was very difficult as we climbed 3,000 ft in 1.2 miles.

We emerged between 2 buildings directly on to the main road. Not knowing exactly where to find a guest house Tom wandered over to some uniformed gentlemen in the main square. One of them was very friendly and led us over to the Purba Sherpa Guest House which looked nice. A young man named Nima came over to greet us.

As soon as we connected with wifi we reached out to the parents and had plans to FaceTime. In sync with classic Nepal planning, the power went out moments before we could make the call. Our poor parents had to wait another 30+minutes before we could connect again, but getting to see everyone’s face and hear their voices was pure joy.

We worked out logistics for our jeep to Tumlingtar and booked our earliest flight to Kathmandu which wasn’t until Saturday so we stayed a second night in Num. For a couple hundred rupees we got a bucket of hot water and indulged in the closest thing to a real shower we’ve had in over a month. Then we relaxed on the patio playing cribbage, drinking tongbas and watching the neighborhood kids play on the grassy field in front of the guest house. First a group of kids playing with a white rabbit, then another group who went straight into a show no mercy wrestling match, all under 10 years old. The streets were busy, more than normal Nima said, because if the upcoming election. Num was a sweet village and a nice place to relax.

Our first jeep ride started with just the two us, then a kind local man hopped in the front seat. The driver had us rocking out to Nepali tunes and before we new it there were 12 people crammed into the jeep. The ride was bumpy and the road was wet from the rain the night before. The driver was skilled going in and out of high and low 4 wheel drive to make it over the obstacles.

We stopped in little village called chinchilla and were greeted by the sweetest man. We enjoyed fresh samosas and spicy soup that the local man in the front seat treated us to.

We arrived in Tumlingtar by 1 and it was hot. We walked around until we found a hotel and were greeted by a 2 inch cockroach. We didn’t really care cause this hotel had the real deal hot shower. The kind that comes out of an actual shower head. We walked around town and bought ourselves a watermelon then retreated to our air conditioned room to enjoy watching Jaws with some cold beer.

The following morning we caught a plane ride to Kathmandu. Only a few hours delayed we were happy to finally arrive back to our home away from home, the Tibet Guest House.