Into Thin Air (Finally!)

After a rough start to our precious two weeks in Bhutan (read The Land of the Thunder Dragon and Gross National Happiness for background if you’re just tuning in), Laura and I were finally feeling better and were eager to get out and do some trekking in the Himalayas. Geographic Expeditions and Yangphel (their local partner in Bhutan) had worked a minor miracle and lined up a completely separate, somewhat abbreviated trek for the two of us that would still get us up to the Chomolhari base camp and back to Paro in the seven days we had to work with.

Chomolhari is the highest peak in Bhutan at 7,314 meters (23,996 feet). It sits in the northwest part of country, nestled between Bhutan and Tibet, and can be seen from the western edge of Paro on clear days. Like its nearby little brother, Jitchu Drake (21,857 feet), Chomolhari is viewed as a sacred summit by the the people of Bhutan, which means that scaling the summit of the mountain is forbidden. As such, base camp is about as close as you’re allowed to get the mountain.

Our best view of Chomolhari was from our Druk Air flightOur trek to base camp had us following one of the most popular trekking routes in Bhutan. We covered more than 80 miles over the course of seven days (including our rest day at base camp), and climbed more than 6,000 vertical feet to reach the high point of our trek at 14,000 feet (base camp was at 13,300 feet, but we did a day hike up a bit higher). Had we been able to start with our original trek group, we would have continued climbing after base camp, eventually reaching a maximum elevation of 15,700 feet before descending back down a loop trail that would reconnect with the main trail for the last night of camp. Because of our delayed start, we missed out on the full loop, but as luck would have it, our timing would work out so we’d be able to meet up with the full group on the last night in camp. We were psyched!

We left the fabulous Zhiwa Ling hotel on Monday and drove a short distance to the beginning of the trail, near the ruins of the Drukyel Dzong (fortress) in Paro. We took a short walking tour of the dzong with our new guide, Sangay (pronounced SONG-ay) Dorji, a really friendly, quiet man who’s been leading cultural and trekking tours in Bhutan for over twenty years. (We included a few pictures of the Drukyel Dzong at the end of our Paro photo album.) From our hike up to Tiger’s Nest with him the day before, we knew that the trek up to base camp was going to be as challenging for Sangay as it was for us because he told us that he’d been mainly leading cultural tours for the last few years. Not mountain trekking! No worries, we knew we’d be slow anyway given our recent illnesses and serious lack of training.

Rather than give you the full blow-by-blow account of our 7-day trek, we thought it might be better to describe what a typical day on our trek was like, a little “day in the life” glimpse of trekking Lustin. We’ve also posted two separate photo albums with the usual semi-narrative captions: Chomolhari Trek – Part 1 and Chomolhari Trek – Part 2. Excluding the first day, which started at the hotel in Paro, here’s what our days on the trail were like:

6:00AM – Laura and I are awakened by one of our crew – technically I think his title is “waiter”, but Sangay also refers to him as “lunch boy” (seriously!) – calling to us in a meek voice from outside our tent: “Hello? Hello? Tea, madame? Tea, sir?”. On a lucky day (for me, that is), he’s on Laura’s side of the tent, and she’s the one who has to wake up quickly (almost impossible for her), unzip the tent flap, interact with our waiter and decide whether she/we want tea or coffee, with or without sugar, with or without milk, and then take the piping hot cups from him and try not to spill them all over our sleeping bags. This ritual happens at 6:00AM almost without fail, regardless of whether we’ve told our waiter the night before that we want to be woken up at 6:30AM or 7:00AM or 8:00AM. This does not make sleepy Laura happy.

6:30AM – Our waiter brings us warm bowls of water for us to use to wash our face and hands. Laura uses these religiously every day; I think I use one once. I am a man, after all.

7:00AM – Laura and I finish packing up our small bags and step out of our mostly warm tent into the usually freezing cold morning air and make our way to the dining tent. There we enjoy a freshly cooked hot breakfast at our little camping table built for two. We sit in camping chairs, which are almost tall enough for the table, but not quite. We have more tea or coffee, and we do our best to eat well to prepare for our long day of hiking. While we eat, our crew packs up our sleeping bags, pads, tents, and packs and loads them all onto one of the six horses/mules that are our porters for the week. They also grab a meal themselves, along with Sangay.

8:00AM – We start trekking with Sangay and hike for 2-3 hours with the occasional water break and, in Laura’s case, the frequent pee break (and not just because we’re taking Diamox, a diuretic, to try and avoid altitude sickness). The trails are a mix of dirt road, loose dirt trail, and rocky paths that require some scrambling to get over. The time we spend hiking on the trail is mostly quiet; there are days when my stomach is a little “off” or Laura doesn’t feel 100%, so we spend quite a bit of time just putting one foot in front of the other and taking in the scenery.

10:15AM – Sangay puts in the first wad of “betelnut” in his mouth for the day and begins chewing. Actually, he wraps an areca nut in betel leaf (“betelnut” is a misnomer), which becomes a stimulant similar to chewing tobacco when lime (calcium carbonate) is added to the mix and creates a chemical reaction. Chewing betelnut is a long-standing tradition in Bhutan and is tightly woven into many of their cultural rituals and customs. It turns Sangay’s teeth red and gives him a mild case of crazy eyes, but he swears that it just gives him a minor buzz. I’m pretty sure Drug Czar in the United States would not be pleased!

11:30AM – Sangay asks if we are ready for lunch, which always seems to come 30-45 minutes before we are really ready to eat – if we’re ever ready at all. Despite the amount of exertion we’re doing on the trail, the altitude makes it hard to eat, and the menu doesn’t help much. We end up referring to our rather repetitive lunch and dinner options as the “South Bhutan Diet” plan: soup, rice, veggies with cheese (and sometimes chilies), some sort of mystery meat (yak!), tea/coffee, and fruit for dessert. The food is really quite good, especially given the circumstances, but it does get a bit repetitive after eating mostly the same foods for lunch and dinner all week long. Between the thin air and thin menu choices, it’s no wonder we are getting, well, thinner every day.

12:00PM – We actually stop for lunch, served from backpacks by our friendly cook and “lunch boy,” who are always well ahead of us on the trail and are usually waiting for us in a shady spot for our lunch break.

1:00PM – We hit the trail again for another 2-3 hours. More quiet time… Laura isn’t a big talker while she’s hiking anyway, and the last few weeks of challenges (GI issues and minor travel fatigue in Vanuatu, the shock of Kathmandu, and the flu in Paro) have her in a contemplative mood. This is a challenge for me, since I’m more inclined to chat, ask a lot of questions of our guide, and wax philosophical about where we are, what we’re seeing, and lighter topics like the meaning of life. Sangay is a very gracious and knowledgeable guide, but he’s a very quiet person, too, so I start most of the conversations and ask a lot of questions to learn more about what we’re seeing and the culture of the Bhutanese mountain dwellers.

3:00PM – We arrive at camp, our tents already skillfully erected by our crew, with sleeping bags, pads, and luggage in the tent. (In case it’s not already obvious, this isn’t exactly roughing it.) We spend the rest of the afternoon napping, reading, or wandering near camp taking pictures.

4:30PM – Tea time! We drink a lot of tea and coffee on the trail, probably four or five cups a day on average. It’s wet (again, have to stay hydrated), it’s safe to drink since it’s been boiled, and it is warm!

7:00PM – Sangay calls us to the dining tent, where we have more of the South Bhutan Diet. Laura isn’t too eager to eat the meat (our porter animals aren’t carrying fridges or coolers, after all), but I dig into pretty much whatever they put in front of me. Sangay always keeps us company at dinner, but he waits to eat with the crew after we’ve finished (no matter how many times we invite him to join us).

8:30PM – After another cup of tea or hot chocolate (or Bourne Vita, the Indian equivalent of Ovaltine), we return to our tent to settle in for the night. Many of our nights are really cold (close to or below freezing), so we bundle up in our long underwear, hats, and gloves (and often more layers over those), and wait for our body heat to warm up our tent. We usually struggle to stay awake long enough to read even a few “pages” on our Kindles, and occasionally we play the “What food do you miss most from home?” game (again, given the limited variety in our meals). Frontrunners include Zachary’s pizza, sushi from Asa, a real Mission burrito, and the harissa and djajiki appetizer at La Mediterranee.

9:00PM – We fall asleep to the ever-present sound of the Pa Chu river, feeling pretty lame because we can’t keep our eyes open until 10PM.

And repeat. Somewhere near the end of our trek, Laura had the realization that we were like kids at an adult party: the “adults” carried our gear and cooked all of our meals for us, we ate at the collapsable card table and sat in chairs that didn’t quite reach the height of the table, our guide Sangay kept us company while we ate but then went to eat with the “grown-ups”, and we were put to bed early while the “adults” stayed up late talking and laughing. We were even offered gum by another guide (a friend of Sangay’s) as we trekked out! We were definitely well taken care of, but we couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about all of the service and attention we received.

Despite some really long, challenging days on the dusty trails, some freezing cold nights, and the monotony of the South Bhutan Diet, we absolutely fell in love with Bhutan on our trek – the epic, constantly-changing mountain ranges, the Buddhist stupas and modest homesteads we saw on the trail, the cute dogs that kept us company along the way, and most of all, the local people we met on our trek. The pictures in our Chomolhari albums help to give a sense of why we loved it up there so much, but even they can’t really capture the magical effect of the mountains. The Himalayas of Bhutan are a pretty special place, and we can’t wait to go back for more.

Lustin and our awesome guide Sangay at the end of the trail!

Comments

[Nancy]

Really like the detail here and getting a feeling for exactly what you are going through - much like the fly story downunder...I do miss seeing dates that the story pertains to, instead of just a date it was written....
Very very nice spring in Kansas - its been pretty wet and the flowers have loved it. Taking some fake ones out to grandma and grandpa's graves today for Memorial Day. Hope you guys have a nice reunion and great adventure with Dirk....

[Dustin Frazier]

We'll try to add a dateline to our posts until we get ourselves caught up on the travel blog. Sickness, political instability, and a serious lack of reliable internet in the developing world has made that somewhat difficult, though! We're getting there...

[Ilan]

Just got caught up. Love the last few posts and especially this one. Nothing witty to post this tim. - just wish I was up in those mountains with you, putting one foot after another and sharing the quiet, peaceful air ...

[Patrick]

Glad that you two are feeling better.

Great trek summary and the 6am "tea call" description definitely jogged some memories for me. Bhutan is one of the top places that I've been and I hope to get back there some day.