MANASLU TREK LHO TO SAMAGAON VIA SHYALA 28 MARCH

Manaslu at sunrise it's 6 o'clock in Lho and the sun is just starting to illuminate  Manaslu peaks. 

Tibetan flags are now prevalent and the women and children are dressed in traditional Tibetan clothes .

After some minutes Lho slowly wakes up. 

Manaslu is now bathed in early morning sunshine, the building in the foreground is the monk's dormitories.  

The young man in the foreground is in charge of the health post in a village called Prock near Ghap. The guy wearing the hat is the local who now lives in Singapour and who is setting up the museum in Namrung. 

Beautiful paintings in the 'kani' , entrance gates . 

We arrived in Shyala, ( 3520m) the only village  between Lho and Samagaon . This village has 360° views on the surrounding mountains and the views of Manaslu are Stupendous

The walk from Lho is through a pine and rhododendron forest with a babbling brook to keep you company while you walk. It takes about an hour to get to Shyala. 

Ju and I with Manaslu as a nice backdrop to the photo. 

Manaslu North ( 7157m)

After having feasted our eyes on the surrounding mountains we continue onto Samagaon but here the snow is sometimes very deep and it is only possible to walk along the narrow path that others have made on the snow, as it was late morning the sun had started to thaw and our feet sometimes penetrated through the crust. 

It was quite hard going and took us an hour longer than it would have done under normal weather conditions. 

We crossed several avalanches and in its  aftermath there are many pieces of wood and local people come to gather them for  for their fires. Women and children all work together.

Our arrival  in Samagaon with many yaks and a lot of mud. 

The hotel terrace just in front of Manaslu 8163m where we enjoyed a Dal Baht lunch, a cup of ginger tea while taking in the view and gleaning as much heat as possible from the afternoon sun. 

Normal route to the top of Manaslu. The 4 march an Italian team left  the base camp by helicopter because of heavy snow (http://blogs.dw.de/adventuresports/2015/03/04/italian-manaslu-expedition-snowed-in-and-flown-out/). They are due to come back in 15 days to try to attain  the summit. Camp 2 had been set up but it was devastated by the recent snow fall. 

Samagon monastery with a big prayer wheel. 

The roof of the 'kani' with Manaslu which looks as if it is in walking distance  

The Manaslu hotel, the last hotel in the village on the right hand side just after the 'kani' . there was a check point opposite it but it was closed when we were there. 

A very large bedroom, it does have an ensuite shower but they were closed and everyone used the shared facilities. The rooms were very cold as all the sunshine is outside on the terrace and does not penetrate into the bedrooms. 

The sun is setting over Manaslu. 

The clouds are gathering over the mountains and the locals tell us that bad weather is again on its way.