Langtang + Tamang Heritage Trail Trekking... beauty!

Yaks... I love'em!
Namaste folks!

John and I have spent the couple weeks trekking in the Rasuwa region of Nepal (North of Kathmandu, below the Tibetan border) which was really a neat experience.

We began the trek on a relatively undiscovered region called the Tamang Heritage Trail which is being marketed by Nepal tourism under it's Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program, a more grassroots and culturally sustainable mode of tourism. We spend 5 days trekking and saw only one other tourist which was great. The Tamang people are Tibetan descendants and their culture is quite similar. The women wear dresses with beautifully coloured aprons and multicolour felt hats (the hats are specific to the Tamang). Milet is big, as are potatoes and we sure had our share of Tibetan bread! We stayed in homes and small guest houses, which was a great way to observe and learn a bit about the local culture.

Then we spent the rest of the 10 trekking days is the Langtang area which was quite diverse in its biophysical characteristics, ranging from walks along the river under lush forests with monkeys to glacers and barren landscape with yaks munching away at the existing green. We also ascended Cherko Ri (our smaller version of Everest, with elevation of almost 5000m). The view was absolutely breath taking (or maybe the elevation helped with that feeling!!!), surrounded by blowing prayer flags and white tipped mountains and glaciers- it was sure a memorable experience. We even saw the mountains of Tibet!

Trekking for that long (longer than hikes I've previously done) was definitely humbling and a great way to travel... though we always jumped at occasions to jump into the river to rid ourselves of stench!! (brrr!) and my blisters near the end of the trek gave me the best lesson in patience in my life! But the locals were amazing, always smiling at our attempts at Nepali and Tibetan and it was always a pleasure interacting with them. It was nice to see that tourism is still quite manageable in the region, though in some of the villages, we witnessed some pretty persistent would-be vendors. Unfortunately, I didn't fool them in my Tibetan dress that I actually was a local- I can't quite figure out how I didn't pass under the radar???!! ;)

All in all, a very enjoyable time and great way to see some of the diversity that exists in Nepal.

Namaste and hope everyone is doing well back home!
Your sati (friend),
Kristy

Here are some shots... enjoy! :)