All Roads Lead to Khamding

Truthfully, I felt a sense of relief to be loading up the Jeep and leaving the frenetic pace of Kathmandu. Don’t misunderstand, the city is amazing, but this “outdoorsy Island girl” can only last so long in the crowds before nature withdrawal sets in. So with great excitement, and a fully loaded vehicle we began our 11 hour “expedition” to Khamding.

The drive was an adventure all in itself. We began by once again weaving our way through Kathmandu and although it was only 6 am, traffic was busy. As we put distance between ourselves and the city, we followed a river valley and climbed higher and higher via a series of switch backs up the steep mountain banks. Throughout the day, the road morphed into several different versions of itself. We experienced fresh black top, old blacktop, potholes, divots, deep mud, brickwork, gravel, sand and a short delay as a result of a recent landslide. 

Harrowing isn’t really a long enough or powerful enough word to describe our drive to Khamding. Kim, bravely or simply because Tendi suggested it, road shotgun in the front passenger seat. I lost count of the number of times I noticed her clutching the side of her seat. Rob focused on photography, appeared nonchalant yet he did squeeze my leg on numerous occasions and to Tendi’s amusement I was caught ducking, flinching, gasping and cowering!

Thanks in large part to the incredible skill of our driver we survived near collisions, sections of dense fog and successfully completed a river crossing (the bridge had been washed out). It goes without saying that in Nepal when a bridge is washed out the only logically thing to do is to just drive straight across the river bed. Jostled, shaken and stirred we neared Khamding only to grind to a halt to allow a local logging operation. By local logging operation I mean a few men with a chainsaw and a machete. They were. downing trees directly across the road and seemed quite surprised to see us. We watched in amazement as they worked cohesively as a team to expertly measure, cut the logs and clear a path for us within minutes of our arrival.

As darkness falls we are gathered together in the lovely home of Tendi and Lamu. We are welcomed like long lost friends. The bond between Tendi, Lamu and Kim is very special and by association we are also treated like family. Tendi and his father built this home. It feels like family. It is a gem. Words can’t express our gratitude.

Giggle of the Day

Giggles were plentiful today - I will share a few:

Put away your radar guns, and grab your paper and pen! Simple, yet effective, speed control on the route to Khamding is monitored by a system of manned check points. Drivers are issued a series of coloured papers that they present at each checkpoint. Their drive times are monitored, so those with a heavy foot on the gas must either drive the appropriate speed or pullover and wait until they meet the expected travel time before proceeding. It was a little disconcerting to notice numerous drivers pulling over for tea as opposed to driving slower.

And speaking of speed, or lack there of, we are beginning to seriously worry about our hiking pace. Today Tendi gave us a quick tutorial on Nepali definitions of hills, peaks and mountains. Hills are anything up to 5000 metres, peaks are 5000 to 7000 metres and mountains are considered anything over 7000 metres. To our dismay we have been training all summer long on hills. It is time to rename Mount Washington to Hill Washington.

Last, but not least, as we sat warm and contented in Tendi’s dining room drinking our tea, Tendi’s son popped in and asked if we would like to use the internet. Collectively, our jaws dropped! Tendi’s daughter lives in Australia and as a gift she gave her mother a wifi extender to enable them to chat via FaceTime. You can imagine Rob, our resident tech nerd’s delight to be chatting all things tech in this remote Nepali village - population 100. I can not believe we have internet connectivity and squat toilets in the same home. What a fabulous paradox of tradition and modern life.