Travel Day 1009 – Kathmandu, NEPAL
My friend arrived today and we decided to go trekking as early as tomorrow morning, so all of a sudden I really had a lot of creative packing to do…
Packed Backpack for Langtang Trek
Actually before we could even think of packing, a few organizational things had to be done and with that, our first walk of the day lead us to KEEP (Kathmandu Environmental Education Project), which had changed locations to north of Tridevi Marg, somewhere behind the Garden of Dreams. KEEP was the perfect go-to place for some iodine tablets, biodegradable soap, used trekking poles and the latest trekking information since they were keeping really useful log-books for each individual trekking route…
After that we had to hit the stores in Thamel and get all the missing equipment that seemed necessary for the Langtang Trek. The main problem for us seemed to be judging the weather conditions in the mountains correctly at this time of year. We knew that it would probably be sunny during the day and pretty cold at night, but we also had to be prepared for rainy weather, cold winds and possibly some snow…
Friendly Guy from the Backpack Store
Last time when I was trekking the Annapurna Circuit in March, I carried a heavy sleeping bag and a huge down jacket with me. In the end I used the sleeping bag every single day, even with blankets on top by the high pass, but I never really touched the down jacket. Also last time I had carried a lot of food with me like cereals, oatmeal and biscuits, leaving me to carry a much too heavy backpack through the mountains. So the direction for me was somewhat clear this time: going as light as possible was the key in order to walk comfortably…
Clearly the down jacket was out, the sleeping bag remained a big debate, but was finally out as well in lieu of my thin fleece liner that could easily be used with blankets in guesthouses and food provisions were out too. This left me only to acquire a new headlamp (mine was broken) for evenings without power, some light flip-flops for bathroom visits and for lodges, one pair of thick socks for the evenings, one thin fleece sweater, a water bottle holder and some waterproof gloves, as well as thin gaiters for my shoes…
Packing for the Langtang Trek, Nepal
The only food I ended up taking were some emergency Snickers and Muesli bars, as well as some packaged tea bags. In combination with my travel mug the tea bags were one of the best ways to save money on my last trek since hot water was normally free, but one cup of tea did cost between 50 and 90 rupees, which was adding up quickly if one had a few cups of tea per day. The last missing item on my list was a suitable 50 liter backpack…
In the end I found a decent used backpack for 10 dollars, just outside of Thamel in a tiny shop which a really friendly guy, who made sure that the bag was fit for my trek. Wow, it had been a long and busy day and it ended up being a long night of packing, but finally everything was in the backpack and ready for the early morning departure. Yay… : )
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