High at Himalaya: Hash me, I'm hiking

It is the old game that is played again and again when hiking in the mountains. You climb up, as high as possible. And as soon as you are happy to be at the top, you go down again.

The mountain is not the goal, at least not the one summit you are on. It's always the next one, the one behind it, the one that can be seen somewhere on the horizon.

We have to go from Thula Syabru via Bamboo Lodge to Rimche today. So also we go down, out of the almost-city where we spent the night, down into the valley. Because here the Helambu valley cuts the valley of the Langtang, so to speak. In order to get from one to the other, the river has to be overcome, and this is only possible at the very bottom, where a suspension bridge is waiting. Through the village, which has partly new chic houses and partly old cottages, the way down to 2,000 metres is very steep. Fortunately, the side facing away from the sun follows, because in the meantime it has become really warm.

Behind the bridge up again, then a really steep descent follows into the Langtang gorge to the valley floor at 1,700 meters. The path first leads downhill through a dense forest to the river bed of the Langtang-Khola. Afterwards the path climbs slightly through humid and mossy forests. At the rock face opposite the river we admire the huge nests of wild bees, built in fantastic rock walls.

Afterwards we reach the small village Bambo. There some teahouses invite us to rest. In Bamboo Lodge at 1.950 meters we have tea again, we can sit outside and listen to the deafening noise of the water masses. During lunch we admire monkeys playing or whatever monkeys do when they romp through the treetops. From here on the trail follows the river valley, only interrupted by a total descent downhill due to the landscape conditions. Further up through dense forest, at 2,150 meters the next wavering suspension bridge, where now all wanderers the missing screws counting.

But the fragile bridge stops and on the northern bank of the Langtang Khola we continue uphill through mixed forest, now and then overtaken by an English woman who decided to ride up into the mountains because of an allegedly broken foot. Rimche Danda at 2,450 meters comes later than expected, but still early enough to sit in the sun and drink beer on the steps in front of the lodge. All around, marijuana blooms in huge perennials - some hikers stay right here and stop walking.

Hashish and marijuana are almost commonplace between Kathmandu and the border to India, with Hinduism playing a role. This religion is known to be quite strange with the sadhus and everything and it cultivates a relaxed approach to cannabis.

While in the capital, especially at Pashupati, the temple in the centre, not only corpse fires smoke, but also wafts of grass waft through the air, all of this however only tolerated and by no means officially allowed, up here in nature nobody cares who smokes what when. All around here grows hemp, the variety that can be smoked. In Nepal this isn't allowed. And it has never been forbidden.

But we prefer to drink. No Everest this time, but Spanish St. Miguel, which according to the imprint comes from the Philippines. Globalized world. It's 500 now.

The episode before you can read here

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