Langtang has always been in my to-do list ever since I had heard of it. I still remember when I was 14, me and my friend sat on our terrace from where we could see the Langtang Lirung. Pointing towards the mountain my friend had said “You know, Alok, there is a beautiful valley under that mountain. A paradise lay some hours ahead in the Kyangjin valley. The Kyangjin gompa has enchanted every adventure loving soul for years!”.Listening to him I had made plan of visiting that valley one day. This eventually led me to make this trip together with my friends Rasish and Sharams, while we were studying in higher secondary level.
The only thing we knew about this place was that we had to start the trek from Syafrubesi which was easily accessible by bus from Kathmandu. Before we moved, I checked a few websites that mentioned about the trails of this trek and then packed some essential stuff in my rucksack and then got set for the journey.
We took a bus from Balaju to Syafrubesi in the early morning around 6 AM. On the way I was amazed to see how the terrain of the place changed as we moved gradually to the upper hills. It was a very narrow road with sharp turns. The road to Syafrubesi was an adventure in itself. Beyond Kalikasthan, the road was really bad till Dhunche. The road was extremely prone to landslide, the entire road was so dangerous that at some parts I even thought if the vehicle would tumble down the steep and treacherous slopes, putting an end to our trek before we could start. We reached Syafrubesi and decided to stay there for the night. The place was really nice with numerous hotels with good facilities of almost everything we needed. We booked a hotel and kept our belongings there. We walked around to have a look at the Chilime hydropower project and the Langtang khola that would join the Trisuli river.
Next morning we started our journey towards Kyangjin valley. We asked a few local people about where the trail started from. Once we had a clear idea we started advancing. We all felt very tired just after an hour of walk but we were determined to keep moving. We met many tourists and local people on the way. After around six hours of walk we reached Lama Hotel. We were already exhausted but a local porter had told us that if we would walk at a good pace we could actually reach Langtang village the same day. We were really excited to hear that. We continued to walk. We were not very fast at that point of the time but we were still determined. My mind was already imagining the Langtang valley and I would keep remembering how my friend had told me about it and how I had planned to reach it. My mind was all full of thoughts which kept me going. On the way it started getting dark. The local people advised us to stay at Ghoda Tabela for the night. We reached Ghoda Tabela at 8 PM in the evening. We stayed there for the night.
Next morning we were told that the trail wasn’t very steep and that Langtang village was just two hours from there. We were exhausted from the previous day’s walk. But hearing that Lantang village is just two hours, we got very excited. We could actually see the Langtang valley from there. On the way, we tasted yak curd; it was pretty unique for me. I liked it very much. We finally reached Langtang at 11 AM. It took us more than three hours because we walked very slow and were very exhausted. I liked the entire Langtang valley very much. It was more than what I had expected it to be. I could see the water falling down the steep rocky slopes at a distance and the entire valley was surrounded by high hills. We asked a local villager about how long it would take to reach Kyangjin valley. He told us that it would take him only an hour and a half. We thought it would take us around three hours. So we just kept walking that day as well.
We reached Kyangjin at 4 PM. I was very excited to have reached the Kyangjin valley. We went to the Super View hotel. The owners greeted us very politely and called us near the fire place. We sat near the fire because it was cold. I was very excited to see the Kyangjin gompa which I had always dreamed of visiting; I couldn’t wait till the next morning to visit it. We kept all our belongings in the hotel and went to see the monastery. It was already closed but there was a man outside who asked us why we were there. I told him that we were there to visit the monastery but it was closed; so we would return and come the next morning. Our hotel was only ten minutes from the monastery. He told us to wait and called the abbot of the monastery. We were very thankful to him; because of him we could actually get inside the same day. When I was inside the monastery I felt a strange energy inside me. It was very strong. The gates of the monastery looked really ancient like we see in the movies. We lighted butter lamps as an offering to the monastery and returned to our hotel.
Next day we decided to stay in Kyangjin and enjoy what it has to offer. The place was one of the best places I have ever been to. The people there were very kind and gentle. There were a few old people however who would ask for cigarettes as soon as they saw people from outside. I didn’t have any so I would just say sorry. In the morning we were looking around the place. We saw a few tourists moving towards a steep hill in front of our hotel. I asked the owner where they were going. He told us that the name of that hill was Kyangjin Ri and that we could see really nice views from that hill and it would only take an hour and a half to reach there. He advised us to go there. He also told us that the weather had favored us because it had been cloudy for the entire week but that day was pretty clear. We took the advice of the owner and started to follow the tourists. There were groups from Israel and Holland. There was an old woman from Holland, Riette (72). She was coming to Nepal for a project that was being run in Pokhara. She told us that she likes Nepal so much that she comes here every year and travels different places. I thanked her for her comments; we walked together with the team.
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| Kyanjin Valley as seen from on the way back from Kyanjin Ri |
The guide, Suresh, was very friendly to us. We became a team instantly, helping each other as we moved. It was one of the steepest roads I had ever walked. On reaching the top I was astounded by the view. I could see the Langtang Lirung from its base to the top and a lot of mountains all around. It was very windy there. We took a few photographs and started to descend as Suresh told us that it would start getting pretty windy after few minutes. We returned to our hotel and asked the owner where else could we go. He suggested us to go to the Langtang base camp which was another 3-4 hours walk. My friends hesitated to go but I forced them and told them that opportunities like these don’t come often. We started moving towards the base camp.
He asked us if we still had energy to walk around. We told him that we could no longer walk and that it was enough for us. We spent rest of the time simply talking and enjoying the view from our hotel.
Next day we planned to head back to Syafrubesi. We started our walk. We met Riette and her guide Suresh at Langtang village. Both of them were very happy to meet us and told us that we all should walk together. We agreed and started our journey together. We reached Lama Hotel very fast. So, we decided we would reach Syafrubesi the same day and kept walking. I was amazed to see the 72 year old woman walk at our pace. We reached Syafrubesi at 7 PM.
We went to the same hotel we had stayed earlier because we had liked it very much. Riette and Suresh had booked a hotel that was in front of our hotel. We all met again and had some snacks together and talked about the trip. We joyously recalled all the great moments and exchanged our emails and phone numbers. We also booked our tickets to Kathmandu in the same vehicle.
Next day, the bus dropped us at Kathmandu. I felt very happy to have made this wonderful trip together with my friends. I felt nostalgic of the kind and helpful people from the Langtang area.
I had truly followed my dream to make this trip happen. It brought me close to the great souls of my fellow countrymen living in the beautiful Himalayan landscape. I also realized that once we stop planning and really start implementing our plans it isn’t really that hard as we think it is. It was an amazing experience of reaching Lantang valley; getting to meet so many people, seeing so many places and learning so much. Nothing was actually hard once we started the trip. The hardest part was just to really implement our plans of some days reaching the Langtang valley. This particular trek did teach me a lot about my beautiful country and its people.
Here is a map of Langtang, along with the route and its location in Nepal:
- Special thanks to Mr. Naresh Kusi for the support and also editing this article from first to last. Check his blog at http://www.nareshkusi.blogspot.com
- Also the map is used from http://www.visitnepal.com/getaway/nepal_lodge_treks/helambu_langtang_trek.htm
- All the photos in this blog are personally taken by me and are a subject to copyright.
- Orignally posted at here.
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