A Day at the Spa

This turned out to be our toughest day so far - mainly due to the almost continual descent and sticky lowland warmth. Occasionally we’d climb out of the valley to skirt rocky protrusions into the ever-narrowing Gandaki gorge and this would provide some light relief for our legs, whilst breaking us out into a heavy sweat. The climate was beginning to assume an almost stifling quality as the warm air was laden down with heavy moisture, struggling to escape from the valley bottom and this did me no favours at all. With so much humidity in the air my perspiration was unable to evaporate and produce the necessary cooling effect and as I walked I could feel my core temperature rising continually. The only light relief of the morning came as we descended into a valley in which we found ourselves surrounded by a sweet, heady perfume, which seemed to be emanating from the surrounding flora. On closer inspection we discovered, much to our amusement, that the forest floor was completely carpeted by young marijuana plants. There didn’t appear to be any signs of ordered cultivation and when we asked Suriya, he confirmed that it simply grew wild…although, of course, the locals weren’t averse to harvesting it when it matured in July/August. Fascinated by the sight and unwilling to leave behind that rich, pleasant smell, Michael and I spent a few minutes gathering photographic evidence of our find before we continued on our way.
We later crawled into Tatopani (meaning Hot Water), too exhausted to notice the rich profusion of colours and accompanying sounds of a tropical climate. In full recuperation mode, I sank two bottles of flat coke and a litre of water before savagely attacking a pizza and a bowl of delicious home-made pasta. Much fortified, I was then capable of undertaking the steps up to our room and taking a blissful hot shower to remove the salt rime and adherent grime of my day’s travails. I then laid on my bed in the cool shade, reading Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into the Wild’ (truly inspirational and just as good a read as ‘Into Thin Air’) and listening to that uniquely tropical soundtrack of chirruping insects, calling birds and trickling water.
Eventually, with the heat of day all but gone, it was time to pay a visit to the natural springs that give this lively oasis its name…and we were not disappointed. The intial pain of easing sunburnt calves into the piping hot water was soon replaced by the sublime relief of this same water caressing away the aches and pains of our shot knees and trembling quads. A little later, used to the heat of the water, I was able to slip my pack-weary shoulders under and allow the hot springs to work their magic on these too. An hour later – like new men – we sprang jauntily back up the hill to our guesthouse to enjoy a warm evening before sitting down to dinner. Sitting on the lawn with stunning views up to Dhauligiri I became fascinated by the hunting skills of bats, who seemed to have taken a particular interest in the air above my head. When I then spied not one, but two toads appearing to enjoy a field day at the top of the steps near my feet, I decided to investigate. I found that there was an ants nest swarming from a hole in the ground and spent a fascinated ¼ hour watching the toads gobble and the bats swoop and dive as this temporary, flying buffet eventually dispersed. Leaving the toads and bats behind (sounds like a scene from Macbeth!), I descended down to the restaurant to enjoy my own, slightly more mundane, meal.
Suriya had informed us that the climb to Ghorepani would take approximately 7 hours the following day. We would be ascending from 1200m to 2800m in one, continuous stretch and, accordingly, I tried my best to emulate the eating feats of Kagbeni and Jharkot – but with only limited success. We went to bed early because I was keen to try and break the back of the climb in the cooler morning air and prevent a repeat performance of my exhaustion on arriving in Tatopani.