Day 9 - Mysterious Thare Gompa

Manang to Thare Gompa

Whe I wake up at 6 am it is raining. I didn't get to read or write much last night being very tired so I use this opportunity to write a little bit more in my diary. Then I remember my laundry hanging out to dry and run out to bring it in.
By 7 am I start packing to get ready for Tilicho Lake. My plan is to leave some stuff here and pick it up on return. I also intend to carry the big pack myself.

To Khangsar, the first stop, it only taks 2 hours and about 200 m elevation gain. So I'm not in a rush.
At breakfast I hand over to the artist the crayons, some paper and 1000Rs to encourage him to keep drawing and also bring the necessary stuff with him on the mountain. He is pleasantly surprised and happy. He gives me his email address and I give him mine. Maybe we'll meet again in Kathmandu.

After a hearty breakfast I get ready for departure and say good-bye to Josh and Scott who are continuing on their trek to Thorong La. They are now focused on the two Dutch medicine students we met a few days ago. It was fun watching them the night before over dinner. We also exchange email addresses.

Pipi and I leave at 9:10am. In the meantime the sky has cleared up and it's yet another sunny and hot day.
After traversing the whole village the trail descends a bit and then continues with gentle ups and downs. We cross the Khangsar Khola (river) over a long suspension bridge and then begin a steep uphill section. I keep repeating my mantra while going up: I count 100 steps then stop and breathe. Over and over again. I've been doing this for quite some time now whenever the going gets tough. The landscape is spectacular, the river valley reddish and eroded with very little vegetation.
On our left the slope is still forested and behind the green ridge are the high white slopes of Gangapurna. Most impressive valley.

We reach Khangsar in less than 2 hours. There are a few guesthouses, a bakery and a few dozen houses. Pipi keeps going ahead of me and I wonder where he's going to take me this time, what kind of guest house? He was ahead of me all the time and out of sight for most of the time. Then, suddenly, I realize that he's not planning to stop at all in Khangsar.
-Pipi, where are we going? I was planning to stay in Khangsar.
He stops startled. He doesn't understand, so I repeat. He doesn't understand well and never asks questions which only makes communication harder and pisses me off. He has no curiosity or desire to learn or improve his English. I've asked and learned from him far more Nepali words than he did learn English words. In fact, the only word I tried teaching him was nettle (stinging nettle) but he forgot it by now. In Nepali it's sisnu :-)
-Ok, we passed Khangsar, I'm saying. "I didn't plan on going further today otherwise we would have left earlier. We can stop at the gompa. I can sleep there outside since I have all I need. Do you think think you can stay there overnight?"
He's confused, not understanding everything, so I repeat. Eventually he says he's fine and so we continue for about one hour till we reach the gompa around 12:30 pm.

It is extremely hot, I am having a hard ime with the heat. Had I intended to go this far or farther we would have stared earlier from Manang.
There is nobody at the gompa. Not a soul. I am fine, taking out my book to read and my diary and camera.
-Pipi, are you ok ? I am fine to stay here. If you want you can keep going to the Base Camp Lodge. I'll come in the morning.
He is reluctant. He's never been before and looks a bit scared. I'm not sure whether he's worried about me or just worried about continuing alone. So I take out the map, the long camera lens, and we keep looking on the map and at the terrain. Eventually he decides to go on.

I stay behind and install myself comfortably under the roof of the gompa. There is an area like a covered veranda you can access by climbing on a wooden ladder. It has a tin roof that has some holes in it, but it works well. It is perfect, providing shade during the day and protection should it rain overnight.
I spend hours writing in my diary. From time to time I check whether someone has showed up in any of the 2 buildings nearby.

Later in the afternoon it gets windy and I see in the distance 4 porters carrying heavy stuff up the trail.
Since it's very hot and I'm getting very thirsty I end up running out of water. So I need to fetch the water filter out of the pack and look for a water source. The pipes don't seem to work but I notice an area that is quite muddy and I follow it up and discover the mystery. There's a spot where the connection between the pipe sections is broken. The water runs nicely from the wider pipe creating a little stream. Here I stop and start filtering the water. While I'm busy pumping I suddenly hear a noise behind me. I turn and discover with surprise two black cows looking at me. Obviously this is their territory and I'm the intruder. They're watching me with extreme mistrust.
Then, since I keep pumping without saying anything they slowly and cautiously continue their way. They enter the courtyard of the two low buildings through a hole in the fence and stop again. By the way they look at me, with not just mistrust but even a hint of reproach I get the impression that they actually wanted to come and drink, but I'm in their way.
When I finish pumping and start moving away I see the cows coming to drink.Thank you for your patience!

I continue writing in my diary, take pictures and set up everything for the night.It's best to do it while there's still light.
Then I have the idea os using the opportunity to take some pictures of myself using the tripod. After playing with camera nd tripod I eat some biscuits and continue writing.
Eventually the wind stops but it is all cloudy by now.The ridge in the distance over Tilicho Lake becomes one more time visible at sunset, then all gets covered by clouds and dusk sets in.

As I peek through the little window into the gompa I am startled. There is some light in there. It seems to be a burning candle. I wonder if there's anybody inside and maybe I didn't notice his presence.I do again the whole tour. Nobody. The 2 cows have disappeared.
I assume there's a candle burning all the time inside but I didn't notice it during the daytime. It is said that the gompa is 1000 old. I wish I could see it inside.
When I return from the little tour I check again through the little window. Definitely, there's at least one candle burning, I can identifya flag and something that looks like a white curtain. But there's nobody in there. My attempt to see more using my headlamp fails miserably. Well, this is it: nobody here.

I wrote earlier a thank-you note which I am going to insert into the donation box along with a generous donation. A big panel asks for support as the gompa desperately needs restauration work. I'm happy to contribute, especially after spending this peaceful and lovely afternoon here.

By 6:30 pm I am already in my sleeping bag. It is pitchdark by 7 pm and I listen to the sound of the river down in the valley. There's no wind and no other noise. Lovely!

The alarm is set for 5:30 am. Hopefully I'll hear it.I want to start early and not get caught in the scorching heat before reaching the Tilicho Base Camp Lodge. It should be now some 3 hours away from here based on the trekking information board. If it corresponds to the campsite marked on the map it is set at around 4200m. I am here at 3790m, so there's some 500m net elevation to gain. Plus the upper trail goes much higher, up to around 4500m and then descends. With the heavy pack this means more than 3 hours for me.

I read for another while from my fascinating book about Tibet then fall asleep.