Trekking in Monsoon

Trekking in Monsoon

Trekking Monsoon

I just came back from Ghorepani  Poonhill Trekking. It was an awesome experience in my life. This year, I had a very unique experience in the monsoon. When the government of Nepal & the weather forecasting department announced not to travel in three days in the month of Aashad, I have had a Nepali group for Upper Mustang and again government announced not to travel next four days, but I needed to operate twenty Chinese groups for Ghorepani  Poonhill Trekking. The first one was by bus but both groups were scared before the tour & trekking but both become adventurous & successful journey at the end. I just went trekking in Monsoon in Nepal and it was enthralling as well as challenging at the same time.

I went to Pokhara via Buddha Air but Chinese guests went by bus via Bandipur. I checked in hotel Dandelion Pokhara but guests were already checked in at Hotel Dandelion. I went to Main Street of lakeside to buy rain cover & stick to be prepared for trekking. I got a phone call from the senior guide and he told me that the tour leader is interested to meet me once. I was also interested. I met them & we discussed trekking planning for tomorrow. I hired a Chinese trekking guide from Pokhara for trekking & two professional guides went from Kathmandu.  In our discussion, the Tour leader insisted to go trekking to both professional Chinese guides but they were hesitating from potential risks in monsoon trekking. Finally, both were agreed to go on the trek. We become twenty-four from Pokhara including two children, most of the women & a senior brother has assembled steel in his toe last week. But, their zeal was so amazing. We departed from Pokhara after breakfast. I sourced nine Brahmin senior porters from Nayapool.

We all assembled in Nayapool and bought a rain cover for bags. Then, our jumbo team started trekking from Nayapool.  When we start our trekking, immediately we wore rain cover because the rain was on top of our heads. We were planned to have lunch at Hile & Simsime( Showering rains) and were there till our lunch from the very beginning. We had lunch at Hile and again started our trekking as planned to reach Ulleri. When we started trekking after lunch, it was not raining, it was showering & we were a little bit tired but raining was helping us to hike for Ulleri.  We saw many landslides near Ulleri during our trekking. I was hearing some noise about a bag missing of a foreigner (He was not our guest) at Nayapool. I was not taking it seriously but again and again Pokhara based guide got a phone call from a guide of a foreigner about t missing bag. Then I also become worried. We crossed Ulleri height and checked in the Hotel Kamala guest house. The hotel was so good and Kamala Didi (owner) was so kind and hospitable. When all guests were checked into the hotel, a bag was outside. I thought it was the same missing bag of a foreigner and immediately we telephoned at Nayapool. Then, I forced a porter to return your home carrying the bag, I agreed to compensate all amount of whole trekking. Because we did not have heavy bags and it was our mistake. Finally, two porters were ready to drop the bag & they returned Ulleri dropping the bag ultimately.

I offered to our guests to drink local millet wine but only three accepted my offer. We had dinner, there was no regular electricity.  We charged our mobile from solar-charged single multi plugs.  Again, we started our trekking from Ulleri on the second day. It was going to be a little bit easier than the first day but the condition was the same. Raining as the first day and attacking of leech was another burden in our treks. Because continuous raining & cold weather is a favorable environment for leech. We have experienced only mountain lifestyle, trekking in monsoon & view of some green mountain on the way. We had not seen any crystal clear mountain in our trekking. I found approx. 5 France-based couples throughout trekking and I congratulated them for winning the world cup football and they were proud of their national football team.

We reached Hotel Snow View Lodge Ghorepani on 2 afternoons. We checked in the hotel and same as we had dinner and planned to go to Poonhill for sunrise tomorrow morning. But we set alarm for 4 and then we woke up but the fog was thick and raining was same as the previous day. So, we canceled our sunrise. We were unlucky, we had not seen a mountain yet. We trekked as before we saw many white fog lakes upon the mountain but we had not seen the mountain. The attack of leech was skyrocketing, one child & a lady were feeling uncomfortable but the rest of them were trekking very smoothly.  It was raining continuously; we had lunch at Banthati and checked in Hotel Magnificent at Tadapani. Because we were waiting for a miracle in weather. After 20 minutes we checked in, we saw a few lines of the mountain as the line of crystal.  Because it was our final night of trekking, we were praying to god but we could not see the mountains. I offered soup to our guests. But they demanded to prepare themselves. Then I talked with the hotel owner to provide his kitchen and he agreed to give it. Then, a senior lady prepared egg soups as their cuisine. They also made their cuisine for dinner as well. They were really happy to get such an opportunity.

Then I initiated to dance in local music after our dinner and all were excited about music. And I started dancing with the tour leader. We danced for more than an hour in folk, Baja & traditional Nepali music. In the end, they started to dance to their music. I intended to make them happier.

I am not a professional guide. I have fluency in English & Hindi but I did not know the Chinese language. But the trekking forced me to learn Chinese languages and I learned about twenty Chinese terms useful in trekking. I am committed to learning the Chinese language in the future. Because I faced many problems having a language barrier with my guests.

We had a debate on the topic,” Nepal is for all seasons.”  Is it good for trekking? I explained this article and raised a question in the case of trekking. Are Trekkers only coming for mountains or other things that can be explored? What is our immediate plan to make all seasons treks in Nepal? What are our precautions to trek in the monsoon? How to display our mountain in the monsoon? These can be are major issues but I preferred to go trek in monsoon but more things should be done to promote our brand of trekking.

Anyway, last day we trekked to Kimche via Ghandruk and we traveled by bus to Pokhara.  We did not see our crystal clear mountain throughout trekking but experiencing the struggle to see the mountain, experiencing local food, and being conscious about the environment was seen as exemplary for our future generation. We finished our trekking without disturbance and a single problematic situation. This is my life experience of trekking in the monsoon as the tagline of visit Nepal 2020. Lastly, Mardi Himal Trek is the Signature package of Duke Nepal Adventure.