MANASLU TREK 21&22 MARCH : KAJI VILLAGE AND LAPUBESI

We chose this trek because it is less busy than that of the Anapurnas and Everest, wilder and longer but less steep to arrive up at the 5200 metres altitude of  Layrke Pass . We had 18 days and with Julie's knee problem we weren't sure what to expect !

Before showing you our trek a quick presentation :
- our porter Kaji on the left and - our guide Lokendra his brother.
Both of them are super guys.
We are on the bus for 8 hours with a short break for Dal Baht for lunch. Everyone gets off the bus and eats the same thing . 

This guy spends the whole 8 hours hanging out of the bus sometimes with his head practically underneath it making sure everything is alright. He also hops on and off and sells the tickets. 

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After 4 hours and a break for lunch,  we had done the easiest part of the trip between Kathmandu and  Dhadingbesi via Malekhu.
From here the road is inexistant, just a mule path and 4 more hours to go (100km).
But as a recompense, we start seeing some of the real Nepal with the  beautiful scenery that we had so long dreamed of. 

And look , in oreder to make us feel at home we even drove through this pine forest! It felt like being back in  Provence :)

 Where there is water there is life and Nepal has a lot of water so a lot of life with fields full of crop and villages just around the corner. 

Rice fields are also very prevalent here in Nepal ( of course they need to produce a lot for there consommation of Dal Baht, twice a day : mid-morning and evening 

The wheat is ready to be harvested but hey don't bake bread , only chapati and Tibeten bread higher up in the mountain

 After  our bus trip which was the most arduous part of our trek we had to go to Kaji and Lokendra's village, a walk across a Nepalese suspension bridge and a 250 meter hike  up to the village. 

Our l room in Kaji's house.
The hospitality in this village was just fabulous ! 

 Just Kaji's youngest daughter  Silpa , who is the smalllest child on the first photo and the eldest daughter Rajpa on the second photos
The other  are nieces and a nephew. Half the village belongs to the Kanal caste (the family name of Lokendra) and the other half are Risul.

Kaji's beautiful wife, a ready smile and a super cook and hostess. 

Many people came to see the 'strangers' who had arrived in their village. 

Monisa, she is 10 and wants to become fluent in English

 Another simpatico family, the elderly lady  on the left, broke her wrist 4 months ago and has done nothing about it. Now it is still very swollen and a blue colour and  hurts a lot. She needs to go to kathmandu for treatment but is is a days bus journey away adn she has to have money to pay for x rays and treatment. After the trek
Lokendra is coming back trek to take  her to Kathmandu to get her repaired !!!

Tonight it is party time because we are here , all the villagers come to sing and dance for us.  

 But we also dance

We even got Lokendra to dance!

Kaji , our host and porter playing a djambe

Even Ju danced despite her bad knee. 

Lokendra once again

In the morning we saw the girls preparing something,
 but what is it ?

 They were necklaces of flowers for us with a going away ceremony for all of us wishing us well and safe on our trek. Now we have the third eye diligently applied onto our foreheads by Kaji's wife's sister . 

We are ready to start on our great adventure, our first time in the Himalaya mountains !

More and more people for the departure photo  ( they love having their photo taken and  love looking at them even more, for these people it is a television and they looked at all our photos with fascination each time even if they had seen them four or five times already. 

Is time to walk now, J1 : first day from Baseri to Lapubesi 5 hours of treking along the Budhy Ganda valley with a lunch break  in Soti Kola

 Many picturesque views along the way. 

Our first view of snow capped mountains. 

The path winds its way along , up and down and up again following the river bed. 

 One of the many beautiful waterfalls (rambro tango) to be seen on the way. 

Still on the path , Lokendra always in front , Ju follows , me behind and Kaji in the back. So we are protected from the front and back !

Hotel Laxmi in Lapubesi, wonderful view and beer. We met a  couplefrom Toulouse, Christine and ...  and an Israeli of 67 years old Avnar. This  is his 6th time  in Nepal. 

We have just arrived and Ju takes the first seat she can find.