The Journey

The bus left the Ring Road immediately and turns into a muddy road. We have 2 hr of bumpy ride on a local bus, cramp with locals and goods range from rice to fertilizer. As the road passing thro villages and becoming rockier, across the winding road passing through edgeless of wheat field, we are heading north of Kathmandu towards the Himalayans.

The journey to Gurje has to go thro the National Reserved Park whereby foreigners are being charge 200 rupees. Four of us, two Irish, a French and myself, try to hide our face among the locals. Bravo to all of us, we manage to escape paying the unfair price by just crossing the National Reserve Park.

I lost count of how many times my heart almost jump out of the window whenever we pass by a canyon and I feel that half of the bus wheel is dangling at the edge of the canyon, the bus drop us right in front of  the entrance of Gurje Village. I am thrilled as I was being told that we will have to walk 1.5 hours up hill for this journey and somehow, we just got into the “very correct bus”, which travel all the way up to the hill before descending down to its destination.

Nevertheless, the magnificent Lantang Mountain covers with snow caught my breath right after we get out from the bus! The view is picturesque with little houses scatted around the mountains.

Looking down hill, I see the small little blue roof, where the Umbrella Foundation base camp located, everybody walk happily towards, knowing that we no longer need to climb 1.5 hours to reach the base camp.