Nepal Trip Day 4 - Phakding to Monjo (Wednesday December 26, 2018)

Nepal Trip Day 4 - Phakding to Monjo (Wednesday December 26, 2018)

Today we will walk from Phakding to Monjo. Most trekking groups do not make this stop. This is a stop that I purposely designed into our trek to allow us more time to acclimatize to the 9000 feet plus elevation and to break up the hike from Phakding to Namche which may be somewhat strenuous depending on one's mental state.

I probably woke up sometime between 4 to 5 am well before the sun was up. The electric heated blanket kept me very warm through the night. I could hear the Dudh Kosi River through out the night. I kept thinking the sound of the Dudh Kosi river was the sound of central air conditioning or central heating unit but I had to tell myself it was not. It was a surreal feeling to be sleeping in the mountain lodge. The sleep felt so normal but yet we were so far away from everything that was familiar to us. We were engrossed in our surroundings and everything felt surprisingly like home to us despite being very far away from North America.

I paced around the room for sometime to wake my system up and changed into my hiking outfit that was hanging on the hook. Shortly after 8 am, we were heading to the dining room for our breakfast.

First morning in the mountain

Sitting down for our breakfast

We were served muesli and cereal first with warm milk along with tea, coffee, and juice. After we were done with the "first course" we were served warm home made toast, egg omelette, potatoes, hard boiled eggs, honey and jam, and large slices of yak butter. Everything tasted so fresh and great. The yak butter was a real treat since we never had it before. Every dish was very memorable and we helped ourselves with second serving. 

We learned that both the German and the Canadian groups were going to Namche today so we would likely be alone in YMH Monjo today. The distance from Phakding to Monjo was not long so we took our time to eat and took more photos with our guides and porters. It wasn't until about 9:30 that we set off on our trek to Monjo. 

Starting our breakfast

Muesli with warm milk

Something from home to complement

Time to eat

Large slices of yak butter, potato, home made toast in a basket with jam and honey

Homemade toast - we don't know how many slices we ate

egg omelette 

hard boil eggs

photo with our guides and porters, from left to right - Mingma Sherpa (lead guide), Tenzing Sherpa (porter), Lapsang Sherpa (porter), me, and Gyaljen Sherpa (assistant guide)

At around 8:30, we finally set off for our trek. We moved through the village of Phakding slowly. We waited for a long donkey train to pass. We would eventually encounter many pack animal trains on this trek today. We talked until a long suspension bridge that spans over the Dudh Kosi River. We waited until the few donkeys passed then we crossed it. 

Trekking through Phakding

Waiting for the long donkey train to pass

One of the many prayer wheels that we saw along the way

Trekking through the quiet village with Nupla Peak 

Phakding

Our duffle bags

Duffles resting on the bench

Leaving Phakding

Suspension bridge over the Dudh Kosi River

Donkey train carrying fuel

Encountering some local folks just before the suspension bridge

Nupla Peak, suspension bridge and mountain lodge 

Waiting for the pack animal and porters to pass

It's finally our turn to cross

Dudh Kosi River viewed from the suspension bridge

The Dudh Kosi River

The trek to Monjo was relatively mild. We traversed through some minor up and down hills, but mostly we were walking through local village homes. We enjoyed watching the pack animals passing us by and the local doing their chores. Not too long into the trek, we were greeted by this giant peak that would be constantly in our view - Thamserku Peak. 

Locals doing their chores

Pack animals and a dog following us


Potatoes


Lodges along the trek

Crossing a small bridge before an uphill climb with Nupla in the background

Going up

Waiting for our turn again

Going through a makeshift bridge with a frozen water fall on the left (water fall not shown in photo)

Thamserku Peak (21,680 feet or 6,608 meters) came into view

Thamserku

Taking a water break with Thamserku in view

Thamserku in view

Happy trekkers?

View of Thamserku along the trek

Thamserku and Dudh Kosi

Walk along the trail with view of Thamserku

Kids enjoying the walk (maybe)

After passing a number of guest houses, we descended downhill into a small village. We saw local folks doing chores and the several cultural relics such as mani stones. We headed towards another suspension bridge and another uphill climb. We reached Monjo shortly after we completed the final uphill climb. It was just before 1 pm when we got to YMH Monjo. It took us just over four hours to complete this leg of the journey. 

Making a descent with pack animal passing us by

Locally grown vegetables

Trekking through the village

Locals drying carpet under the sun

Trekking through the village

Local family doing laundry

Local family doing laundry


Crossing one more suspension bridge with Thamserku peaking out


Donkey train passing through the suspension bridge


A little kid at sitting outside a lodge


Finally our turn to cross


View of the Dudh Kosi River


A little girl on a donkey passing us by


Passing by a water fall with Thamserku in view


More up hill!


Finally here, YMH Monjo


YMH Monjo


Faded sign of YMH Monjo


Can we go in now?

YMH Monjo

The staff greeted us with hot tea and hot towels. We were served our tea at a small table outside the lodge. We drank Masala Chia and Black Tea while we waited for our rooms. After resting for about fifteen minutes, Mingma told us that our lunch was ready, so we proceeded inside to take our lunch. 

We were served potato pancake with yak cheese, fresh salad, and vegetable fried roll. As good as the salad looked, we did not eat it. We again devoured our food and drank more tea. After lunch our rooms were ready. We got our keys from Mingma and settled in our rooms for the afternoon. We were the only guest in the lodge tonight aside from Mingma. We got the two rooms at the end of the hallway next to the sun room. The sun room had a great view of Thamserku and I was able to take several clips of interesting time lapse in this sun room. We took our time to take a hot shower, and rested in the electrically heated bed. We began to observe a weather pattern in the afternoon in the mountain - wind. While the morning is typically cold but it has almost never windy. The wind seems to pick up around 2 pm in the afternoon. We saw the constant fluttering of the YMH flags outside the lodge. We stayed in our rooms and the sun room to stay warm until dinner time. YMH Monjo is one of the newest lodges. The rooms were definitely felt new and nice. We enjoyed this location very much.

YMH Monjo

Organic vegetables is grown right outside the lodge

Making our way into the lodge

Nice to finally take off the backpack

Thamserku 

Waiting for our tea


Arriving just after 1 pm


Our backpacks even looked tired


Enjoying our Masala Chia


Lunch time


Waiting for our food


Beautiful wall decor at YMH Monjo's dining room


Vegetable soup


Vegetarian roll, salad, and potato pancake


One of our rooms with a nice view of the valley below


The sun room


The other room that we have. This one is quite large with nice view of the village homes


Large king size bed


Bathroom is nice and clean


View from our king bed room


Relaxing at the sun room


GG at the sun room

time-lapse of Thamserku #1

https://youtu.be/IoaweeZ3Tuo

time-lapse of Thamserku #2

https://youtu.be/Ye-T24I5lGk

time-lapse of Thamserku #3

https://youtu.be/6ylPcCGrd7U

time-lapse of Thamserku #4

https://youtu.be/YgyNdV3FnFI

We hung out in our rooms until dinner time. We were served garlic soup, chicken, fried rice, vegetables, eggs, and a sweet rice dessert. We hung out in the common room after dinner. Mingma sat with us in the common room to relax as well. We were all quite focus on the warmth of the pop belly stove. Once the firewood has been consumed, we all retired into our rooms. 

Getting ready for dinner

 

Candle and pine leaves

Garlic soup

Fried rice, chicken, vegetables, and eggs

Sweet rice dessert with tea

Lodge staff adding fresh fire wood to the pop belly stove

Relaxing around the pop belly stove before we retire to our rooms

According to my iPhone, our trekking distance was 4.3 miles with 10,206 step and 100 floors. The trek did not feel long and it was quite enjoyable to walk through the village homes and get a feel of the local life. We started our day at Phakding with elevation of 8,563 feet or 2610 meters and ended at Monjo at 9,301 feet or 2,610 meters. 

Our trekking distance for today

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