EVEREST TREK : DAY 29

Day 29. Shavalaya to Jiri

Sunday 7 April.

Shavalaya as we left in the morning

We got up at 5:30 am and began to get ready for the bus. Brin came and told us that the bus would be leaving earlier and would pick us up outside the lodge at 6:15 am. We quickly finished packing came down and had breakfast to be waiting outside in time for the bus to arrive. Brin then came down the road and told us that a National strike had been called and the bus wouldn't be running today. My guess was that the driver had learnt of the proposed strike and tried to get away early but was subsequently stopped. The surprising thing was that the office selling bus tickets was still operating and Brin was able to obtain a refund on our tickets.

We now had two options : one, sit in Shavalaya and hope the bus would be running tomorrow or two, walk to Jiri and pray that the bus would be operating from there in the morning or take a taxi if all else failed. We chose to walk to Jiri, so it was one more day's trekking to do.

It was now our earliest start yet, 6:30 am and it was still chilly as we headed up the river valley away from Shavalaya. Soon we were climbing quite steeply but our feet felt light today, we were wearing our trainers. Moira had packed the boots at the bottom of the rucksack. The climb was 600 metres to the pass at Patashi Danda. It wasn't too difficult a climb and we were both striding out well. It took only 2.25 hours to reach the pass. The walk today reminded us a lot of Scotland, with rolling hills through thick pine forests. The ground under the trees was covered in deep brown pine needles. There were many birds about, we didn't see them but took delight in their many and various songs and calls. One sound we did recognise was the cuckoo, that has been accompanying us for the last few days.

Little goats enjoying the spring sunshine

Going down the other side there was a lot was on the dirt road that the bus uses, but we took a number of steep rocky paths to cut the corners and hairpins on the road. We stopped halfway down for tea, she didn't have any milk but the tea was good if I added some sugar. On the trail again I was joined by a young Nepali lad who wanted to accompany me to Jiri. He was finishing off a can of cool drink and just tossed the empty at the side of the trail. I gave him a piece of my mind about spoiling his beautiful country but it didn't seem to have any effect as he just gave me a blank stare. He left me then, thankfully.

As usual there was a very steep final descent dropping to a wide dirt road into Jiri. It was an absolute dump. I don't remember places like this when we trekked Annapurna, it was like India. We told Brin we wanted a decent place to stay but he put us in the usual hovel. It boasted a hot shower but when I tried it the water only trickled out, and it was either cold or scalding hot. We packed up and left. The guide book suggested the hotel Gabila which it described as de luxe. We went there but it was only marginally better. The shower had plenty of pressure and flow but cold, we made do. I don't think there was anything better in this dump of a town.

After lunch Moira and Brin checked out the bus situation for tomorrow. The ticket office was closed but opened at 5 am tomorrow. Later the guy at the hotel said the bus was at 5:30 am for Kathmandu and he had booked seats for us, he would get the tickets first thing in the morning for us. We had a walk through the town in the afternoon and confirmed our first impressions of the place.

There was a small lounge near our bedroom which was comfortable and warm. We played cards until dinner time. We both had a chicken curry, Moira enjoyed it but I didn't like it at all. We got to bed early having to rise at 4 am to get ready for the bus. I didn't sleep particularly well the bed was uncomfortable.