10/23/08 - Day 2 - Bahundanda to Chamje

Bahundanda Elevation: 4,298 ft

Chamje Elevation: 4,691 ft

Daily Distance Walked: 7.5 miles

Total Distance Walked: 18.1 miles

Starting Time: 7:30AM

Ending Time: 1:30PM

The day's trek began with a steep, rather steep and technical descent.  At least it seemed techinical at the time.  I was still not used to my pack, and I didn't quite have the knack for properly balencing the weight in it yet.  The top was tilted to my right side.  

The scenery we encountered along the way was amazing.  We were surrounded by mountainswith a turquise blue river running through the valley, and the waterfalls and terraced rice fields were incredibly beautiful.  The diversity of the flora and fauna is also amazing.  I have never seen so many different kinds of butterflies, let alone the other insects I have encountered - dragonflies, rightly colored spiders, and scarab beetles.  We encountered a bunch of baby goats today.  They were really cute and were quite interested in nibbling on our things.

There are also a large number of different types of flowers.  I particularly like this one.  It is called Plumeria rubra (thanks John!).

In addition to porters carry supplies into the villages, a lot of things are also transported by mules.  They wear cowbells around their necks, perhaps to let people know they are coming or perhaps to let the other mules know that some of them are moving.  I'm not really sure why, but it is really calming (unless your on a narrow path, then they are stressful for fear of being knocked off the trail if you get bumped by one of their packs on their way by).

A tea house we stopped at at the top of a steep ascent.  We had rejoined the Canadians at this point and enjoyed the misplacement of the space in Marco Polo together.

One of the many waterfalls we encountered on the trek.

The lodge we stayed at in Chamje was much nicer than the one we stayed at in Bahundanda.  We arrived early enough in the day to do laundry and have enough sunlight left in the day to give it a fighting chance of being dry before we departed the next morning.  I do wish I had brougt quick dry shirts.  The thought had crossed my mind before leaving New York, but I opted for old cotton t-shirts that I wouldn't bring back with me instead.  I'll bring quick dry shirts next time.  Also staying at our guest house in Chamje was a mother and daughter from the Netherlands, Nellike and Arranka, who were doing the circuit together.  Nellike is 70 years old and Arranka has bicycled from the Netherlands to Japan and back!  They are amazing people and we ran into them several times along our way.

Our guest house was across from the one our Canadian friends were staying at, so we visited them after dinner.  When we were walking back, we stopped to turn off our head lamps long enough to allow our eyes to adjust to the darkness and let the stars really come out.  There were so many that the constellations I know got lost in the sea of stars; we could even see the Milky Way.