Travel Day 1011 – Extended Langtang Trek, NEPAL
02/15 Goljung La via Gatlang and Thanbuchet to Gonggang (2230)
Our first night of the Tamang Heritage Trek was nice and cozy in the little wood-paneled room and we made sure be up at 6am again to see our first sunrise over the mountain tops…
Nicely Preserved Gatlang Village, Nepal
Actually we had a 15 minute climb up to the hilltop with the lookout behind the lodge where we had watched the sunset yesterday evening, but it was well worth it to climb up here again. This time around the mountains opposite hand where in the warm sunlight, giving the entire area a very different appearance from yesterday evening. Luckily the view was entirely clear and so we could even enjoy the views down to the valley, where we were supposed to pass by in the afternoon…
But first we had a nice breakfast outside of the guest house, packed everything up, took some last photos and then started walking towards Gatlang. It really was an easy, level walk for about two hours to reach the unique village of Gatlang and along the way we could once more enjoy the views of the valley and the snow mountains in the back. But what became really the highlight of the day, was the amazingly preserved Tamang village of Gatlang…
Tamang People fetching Water, Gatlang
The entire village consisted of traditional stone houses and when we arrived, it felt as if we had travelled back in time to a village hundreds of years ago. It was simply amazing to watch the friendly Tamang people in their traditional clothes, fetching water from a well, spinning and weaving in front of their stone houses, while looking at us as if we had come from a different planet to visit their preserved, traditional world. It was almost bizarre and we spent about a good two hours just walking around, looking at things and amusing kids while showing them photos of themselves…
For me personally the Tamang stone houses with their three solid walls and wooden front side were a real architectural treat. It really seemed that all houses were built in the same manner, as a two storey structure where the main living area was raised above the storage area or animal shelter and only accessible via a wooden ladder. Some houses had a little porch like structure, but all seemed to have three small wood-carved windows, which must have been the only source of light for the inside area as far as I could tell…
In any case, the entire village had a certain calm around it and the pace of the people seemed extremely slow and relaxed. It was actually pretty amazing just to watch all the friendly Tamang people with their smiley faces mind their own daily business. Everybody seemed so happy, especially the children, even though, or maybe especially because, they had no luxuries in their lives. It was really amazing to experience that…
Buddhist Chorten by Gatlang, Nepal
Once we felt ready to leave Gatlang, we continued our walk though the fields and along seemingly endless rows of Buddhist stone choertns. The walk down 500 meters of altitude to the valley took us about two hours as well, which made Thambuchet a good spot for a late lunch. Unfortunately Thambuchet itself was a partially destroyed version of a traditional Tamang village, where probably the easy road access had “helped” to modify the village in a rather destructive way…
After lunch we had to walk in light rain to Chilime and then another 500 meters in altitude steep uphill to Gonggang. Our goal would have been to reach Tatopani, but after 2 ½ sweaty hours of uphill climbing, we decided to end the day in one of the two small lodges in Gonggang. It had been a long and quite eventful first day of walking and we were quite happy with the days result and the many new impressions… : )
Find all Day 02 – to Gonggang via Gatlang Photos here.
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