Phortse Thanga -> Luza – a little mountain happiness

14. April 2024

 

 

In the evening some rain had already fallen and in the morning you could see that the snow line was pretty close. But the sun was shining and I hurried off quickly and had a happy time in the mountain forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you see the animal in picture 5? It’s a musk deer! There were also good views and the higher I got, the more beautiful the mountains became.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, finally, on day 8 after leaving Kathmandu, I had found the mountain happiness I had imagined all along. There were still helicopter noises (people had to be rescued from here too), but nothing like the air traffic before.

 

 

Then we left the tree line behind us and continued through bare mountains.

 

 

 

At some point, the path became more crowded, with more and more people coming towards us. But that was almost nothing compared to the previous crowds. There were villages in this valley, but there were no longer many locals who farmed and ranched. Mainly lodges had been built here. You could choose where you wanted to stay and how far you wanted to walk. Incidentally, everything here is Buddhist, with no Hindu symbols or temples to be seen.

 

 

 

 

The side of the valley opposite also had a path marked on the map, which we saw the whole time. It actually looked great too, but nobody walked it. There was no accommodation and it wasn’t maintained either. You could see a few farmsteads and fields, but it wasn’t clear whether they were inhabited or abandoned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like every day, it clouded over at some point and soon there was no sun at all. A bit of a shame for photos and that one couldn’t see the snow-covered mountain peaks.

 

 

 

 

 

Our destination for the day was Luza at 4,350 metres. There is 1 lodge and 1 farmhouse there, where the owner has a herd of yaks. I really liked it there because it was between the places where there was more accommodations. The family was also very nice. Apart from me, there was only one Canadian couple where the man was very ill. He could only whisper because he was hoarse, had a fever and his oxygen level was 54 (far far too low, but I’m not sure if that was really correct), although he had spent the previous days at much higher altitudes. The stove was used to heat up the room and a bowl of boiling tiger balm or so was placed on top. I hope the man still had enough strength for the further descent the following day – he had hardly slept.

 

 

 

 

It was pretty cold at night, but there were plenty of cosy blankets. So I had finally found some mountain joy. Would the mountain happiness last?