11/5/08 - Day 15 - Tatopani to Shikha

Tatopani Elevation: 3,904 ft

Shikha Elevation: 6,348 ft

Daily Distance Walked: 5.0 miles

Total Distance Walked: 118.7 miles

Starting Time: 11:30AM

Ending Time: 4:45PM

Instead of heading towards Beni, a village to the south and one of the potential ending points of the trek, we headed east.  The trek from Tatopani to Shikha is only 3-3.5 hours, so we allowed ourselves to sleep in and get a late start.  We had a very nice breakfast of fresh squeezed orange juice, toast, eggs, and milk tea.  The eggs were the best we've had so far on the trek.  They were cooked sunny-side up and the yolks were a brilliant orange.  They were so fresh and so yummy!  

We walked around Tatopani a bit after breakfast and then had a masala tea and a cinnamon bun before packing up our things and heading for Shikha.  The cinnamon bun was quite tasty.  It was more like the cinnamon buns I am used to in the States than the ones in Manang, but it wasn't as fresh.  We had them heat them up a bit and dipped it in our masala tea, which made them fantastic.

Our lodge in Tatopani.

The garden at our lodge.

The view from Tatopani once the clouds had mostly cleared.

While our trek was short today time-wise, we gained a lot of elevation rather quickly.  The sun was out again today and we finally escaped the road (for good), which made for a much nicer trek.  It was such a beautiful day.  We stopped to take a lot of pictures along the way.  The villages we went through today were so nice and colorful - more evidence of the damage the road is doing to the people along it.

View looking back towards the valley that Tatopani lies in.

A spider we came across but luckily didn't run into :-)

A pretty red flower we encountered often along the trek.

We stopped for lunch in Ghara at a lodge with a beautiful garden and view of the valley below.  We have been back to having pumpkin soup for lunch for the last couple of days, and we also had the best mo-mos yet on the trip.

Flowers in the garden where we stopped for lunch.

Corn hanging to dry in Ghara.

The home that had the corn hanging from it.

A women clearing the grass from her yard.

After lunch, we walked another hour to the beginning of the village of Shikha.  We found a very nice and clean lodge to stop at for the night.  It even had warm water for a shower. We have been getting a bit spoiled with all of our warm/hot showers recently, and I do hope they continue.

The owner of the lodge weaving a basket.

The evening view of the mountains from our lodge.

The presidential election in the States is complete now, and I presume the next President is known.  Prior to leaving Tatopani, we heard that Barack Obama was leading.  At that time though the polls on the West Coast were just closing, so the results were not yet final and a winner had not been declared or even projected yet.  We are hoping that we hear something soon, although it won't be today.  Perhaps tomorrow in Ghorepani we will get news.  Many people go all the way from Tatopani to Ghorepani in the same day, so it is possible that we will run into someone who knows, otherwise I imagine I will have to wait until I reach Pokhara in 2 days.  

Tomorrow will be my last full day with Laurence, which is sad.  We only have about 2.5-3 hours of walking to Ghorepani according to our maps, so we will have plenty of time to relax and enjoy each others company tomorrow afternoon and evening.