Tatopani hot springs

Saturdays are the only weekend day in Nepal--Sundays are work days. We got to Tambuchet Friday night so Saturday was the perfect day to do a mini-trek since we knew we wouldn't be able to get any work done in the village. We set our sights on Tatopani, literally "Hot Water," a hot springs about 2 km away as the crow flies. Also 900 vertical meters (about 3000 feet) over 7 or so miles of trail. Actually, the first two miles of the trail were pretty flat, so the last 5 miles were solid, steep climbing from around 1700 m. to 2600 m.

The first adventure was crossing this metal footbridge.




Then we passed these beautiful stone stupas:





And the school that serves Tambuchet, Chilime, and another nearby village:



Clancy, Rosainy and me as the climbing begins:



As we started our climb, we were walking through terraced hills planted with millet.





As we climbed higher, we started seeing corn, beans, and amaranth. The new world crops do well in the Himalayan foothills, apparently!



And lots of mustard seed:



Even higher, we started seeing wheat.



This was our first rest stop, The Store On The Edge of the World:







Here we are with the store's proprietor and a Tamang woman who we kept leapfrogging with:



She was very curious to see the photo after it was taken.


Some views on the way up:















All the way up, we kept seeing Tamang people carrying things with head straps. This is the woman from the Store on the Edge of the World, carrying a 50 pound bag of rice.



Some of the other Tamang people we saw on the trail:








Chatting with Clancy after we reached the lodge:



The kitchen at the lodge:



View from the lodge:


"Lodging and Fooding"




Up at Tatopani, Rom built these lovely baths for people to use. We were very grateful to soak our sore muscles, even if we all came out with John Boehner tans!







View from the baths looking down over the village:


Prayer flags over the baths:



We met this Tamang man carrying a bundle of sticks he had cut with the giant knife you see sticking out of his waistband.



The next morning, my companions who are made of stronger stuff than I got up at 3 a.m. to climb another 700m to Nagthali, where they were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. I opted for a second dip in the baths--along with what seemed like every Tamang person from a 10-mile radius! Once the others returned, it was back to Tambuchet to rest up for some hard work the next day . . . featuring the reappearance of the propane tanks accompanied by a seriously non-OSHA approved extension cord.