DAY 2: Buhlbhule to Ghermu
Getting somewhat of a late start at 8:00 AM, I set off after a light breakfast and good views of one of the ten tallest mountains in the world - Manaslu. Just before my trip, there, there was an unfortunate accident to several that were trying to scale the peak of Manaslu. Avalanches that were likely to soon be attributed to climate change, in some form, were triggered and the last I had heard, eight or nine had perished with the same number missing. It's nature's way of fighting back, I suppose.
After heading out to start the day, I was almost immediately reminded of a problem that I would run into frequently last year, also: begging children. While the way it sounds may seem harsh, it is a problem in many areas of the world, like this. Just a kilometer or so into the trek, a young boy gives the "Namaste!" call, and when responding in kind, he immediately says, "Sweets?" If you are reading this and you plan on visiting Nepal, you should be advised not to give sweets. You would unfortunately be enabling a growing problem.
Unfortunately, the couple that was ahead of me did give in and give him a chocolate. I watched the young boy proceed to rip the wrapping off of the chocolate into pieces and simply throw it onto the ground. Not only does it provide no help to the young boy, but he had also just shown disregard for the environment he lives in. This is also a growing problem. All along the trek, I would see garbage that ruined what was otherwise a pristine environment.
Continuing on, I soon came out of the valley area and lost sight of the snow capped peaks. It would be another two days before I would set sight on any of them during my approach to Chame. When leaving the valley, the sun then prompted me to stop and remove the layers and apply sunscreen and insect repellent. It would be a fairly long day, and unfortunately even with sunscreen, I would end up burnt to a crisp.
There are a few areas of the trek that are particularly challenging. The area leading up to Bahundanda is one of the first. It's one of the first of several extremely steep climbs on the trek. Add to it that the temperature had hit around 80 F, it was around noon, and I am still getting used to the weight I was carrying? Well, once I reached the top, I was quite ready for a bite to eat and some cold water.
Before I left on the trip, I had actually purchased a bunch of boxes of crayons and some memo pads. In Bahundanda, I gave the first set of these to a youngster that I assume was the child of the owner of where I had lunch. I explicitly gave these to children that wouldn't beg. My thought was that it would possibly spark creativity and help with literacy issues - be it in whatever language they so choose.
After this, the trek continued on an up and down route until I arrived in Ghermu at around 2:30 PM. I stayed at the Crystal Guest House at the beginning of the village, and immediately went to purchase some flip-flops. The bad part is that as large as my feet are, I had to accept a size too small - I wear US 13s. This let me leave my shoes - which were soaked - out to dry a bit, overnight.
The next morning, I filled my water bottles and, as a precaution, treated them. After making sure everything was in order and talking a bit with a few folks from Belgium and Germany, I set off for Tal.
Cost: 1,900 Rs
Approx. distance trekked: 13 km
Next up: Day 2 from Ghermu to Tal!
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