EPIC Himalaya Trek- Kanchenjunga Trek Part 5

Well, on the way back down to Kambuchan and possibly Gunsa today from Lonak, passing Ramtang where we stopped for some tea on the way up. And as you can see, shut up, a lot of the lodges are closing up for the season now. It's middle of November, November 19th, and the lodge up at Lonak is going to be closing. And yeah, so you definitely want to do this trek before, finish before mid-November because you could get stuck up here without lodges. And the blue sheep are starting to migrate. The herds are coming down lower, which is also a sign that it's getting too cold up there. When they start coming down near the tea houses and lodges, those tea houses and lodges start closing up. So we made it back to Kambuchan in about three hours and 20 minutes. And it is feeling nice and warm here, just soaking up the rays, waiting for a little veg chow mein for lunch. And I think we are going to push on and make it to Gunsa, skipping over a stop that we made on the way up, spent the night. But hopefully if they've had power for consecutive days in Gunsa, I am looking forward to the possibility of a nice hot shower. So we had some hot showers in Gunsa last night. Battery died, so didn't document that. I had a wonderful hot shower experience. Sam did not. The hot water ran out and I had to take a very cold shower. She made the rookie mistake of cranking it up to the maximum flow, whereas I just put it on a tiny little trickle. That way the electric water heater could heat the water in the tank as I was draining it. Just a trickle, just a trickle of hot shower goodness for the time. Two dollars for a hot shower. Total bill for dinner last night and breakfast today and showers and toilet paper. Hot showers and toilet paper tissue. Total bill was $32.50. Not too bad, considering we haven't had a hot shower in two weeks. Today we're headed up from Gunsa to Selele camp, which is the first stop before we go over the three passes. Feels like we've been going straight up for almost two hours now. Man, that one day of downhill, or should say day and a half of downhill, I got spoiled. Finally hit a flat spot here, a little bit of a open area to the sun. Some views. Did not have Tibetan bread or coffee for breakfast and had a pancake instead and I won't be making that mistake again. Also just realized a little while ago I left my lucky hat back in the room in Gunsa. How are you feeling ma'am? Good, I'm sorry about your hat. Other than the upsetting news about the hat, how do you feel? Great. Yeah, you look fresh and clean. Thank you. Like you just took one minute of a hot shower yesterday. A couple more hours, then we'll be there. Then tomorrow, three pass day, that's going to be a hard one as well. And a couple more hard days I think. Well, we made it to Selele camp. It was a tough day. This guy, he's trying a yak hide out here for maybe a blanket or a coat or something like that. That was a tough day. That was a tough day. Cannot walk right. So, past Selele camp. Tomorrow we do the passes. I think it's going to be cold up here tonight. Not sure, but I think we're going that direction, up and over and over and something like that. Tough day. Made it in five hours and 15 minutes it took. Basically, we're sleeping in a barn, kind of, with tarps as insulation. So, the accommodations at Selele camp, probably the most rustic yet, I would say. Basically, we're in a barn with tarps for insulation, but you can see the light poking through. I don't know if you can hear those bells, but we heard them all night long. And what those are, I'll just show you. So, it was a donkey party. Donkey party all night long, but not too bad. We went to bed at four o'clock in the afternoon, so definitely got some good sleep. Just fueled up on the typical breakfast of the Tibetan bread, a little bit of coffee. So, we're headed in that direction and over. Three passes. Six to nine hours today. Hopefully, it's closer to the six and not the nine. Until we get to Cheram, is the name of the town we're headed to after the passes. This is typical of the accommodations. Sometimes they're double-walled, though, so you don't just have one single panel wall. This is just wood paneling, tarp on the inside. So, a lot of the other ones would be like wood paneling, and then the other side would be wood paneling, and then they put tarp. And then, we've seen some thin foam padding for like insulation as well, but actually ended up being not as cold as I expected it to be. I filled the water up last night because in some of these places where it gets really cold, there's only one water pipe coming into town, and in the morning, it's usually frozen. So, you got to do that the night before, but then the problem is your camelback or your camelback tube will be frozen the next morning. Can you fit through the door? Well, we've been going for almost two hours now, and awesome views of Janu over here, and we're coming up on the first pass, Mirginla, and not as steep as yesterday. A little bit easier than yesterday. Pretty much similar landscape. Are we making good time, Mongol, or no? Good time, according to Mongol, but he says that every day. So, coming up on this first pass, and we can see Makalu in the background there. So, several other mountains. Supposedly, you can see Everest poking up sometimes from this viewpoint. It's a little cloudy, so we're not sure where Everest is on that, but definitely Makalu. Kind of the biggest one to the left of those clouds over there. This is tremendous. Above the clouds, on top of the world. This is one of my favorite parts so far. Just as I was getting the case of the midday doldrums, we have rolled up on Sienle Pass. Sienle Pass. Finally made it to the third and final pass today. So, Lelelapsa Pass, and epic views of Aktong Mountain back there. Clouds started rolling in just as we were getting up here, so partially obscured views on that side, but still good views over here. So, we made it to Cheran, and about, let's see, how many hours? Eight hours it took after the passes, because basically going down, it was like steep drop for two or three hours, but we did it. We did it, honey. We did it. Give me a high five. Good job. She did great, and now just, I guess, getting the bed ready. So, here's the room in Cheran. You'll notice the standard tarp arrangement. However, it is a lot warmer here, because we are at, what, like 800 meters lower, because we are, I don't know, 800 meters lower or something like that, so it's not going to be as cold. Infamous.