Travel Day 1016 – Extended Langtang Trek, NEPAL
07/15 Riverside via Ghodatabela and Chyamki to Langtang (3430)
The night in the valley by the loudly running river had been pretty freezing and in the morning instead of sun, there was only chilly dampness…
Finally, nice Views on the Langtang Trek
So far we had always very nice sunrises and great views in the morning but the Langtang Valley was so narrow here that it seemed impossible to ever see the sun at all. In the very far distance we could only vaguely see some of the snow mountains and so the best thing we could do was pack up quickly, have some breakfast and get moving in order to get warm and hopefully find some views as we were supposed to climb higher over the course of the entire day…
But first our day started with a walk through the cold forest until the path slowly went up and into the sun. We passed Woodland Lodge, then Ghodatabela, which would have been a nicer place to stay for the night and then after about two hours we reached Thyangsyap where we stopped for a tea. None of the these places were actual villages and every single time we passed a guesthouse, the local people came literally running after us to try to sell us some food or drinks…
Finally, Villages on the Langtang Trek
Luckily when we sat down in Thyangsyap, we chose a bench that didn’t belong to a guesthouse. By now the forest had finally ended and we were actually able to see the snow mountains at the far end of the valley. Why this Langtang Trek was so popular continued to be a mystery for us since it was lacking the remoteness and charm that the Tamang Heritage Trek had offered. It was off-season, but the trail appeared to be like a mountain highway and when there were no tourists passing by us, it were porters carrying goods and construction material up and down the path…
Finally after our rest stop in Thyangsyap we started passing little stone villages again and the views of the mountains were getting better as the Langtang Valley seemed to get wider the further we walked. Eventually we reached a place called Chyamki, where we had another short break for tea while I used the time to explore the traditional stone village uphill. This village really only was a small cluster of houses but they reminded me pretty strongly of those Tamang houses we had seen previously. But best of it all, there was a nice old Gompa in the middle of the village from where one could overlook the entire valley…
Finally, Snow Peaks by Langtang Village
With new confidence that there was at least something nice to see along the Langtang Trek, we continued our walk to the Langtang Village. As it turned out, there were actually two parts to Langtang Village, first there was the tourist town with a lot of spread out, sometimes pretty ugly lodges, but then after that there was the original stone village in pretty well-preserved condition. Naturally we walked straight to the traditional stone village while looking for a charming lodge, but we found everything deserted…
So unfortunately we had to walk back to the touristic part of the village, but on the bright side, due to the off-season time of the year there were so little tourists in relation to the amount of guesthouses, that we managed to get not only a free room as we usually did, but also a free hot shower and even 30% discounts on the food from the menu. So in the end, Langtang Village was quite a decent place to stay and get acclimatized. We even had enough time to go for an exploration walk though the old stone village and up to a little hill overlooking the valley. Finally the Langtang trek started to look a little bit better… : )
Find all Day 07 – to Langtang Village Photos here.
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