Nicholas Rice: Manaslu Dispatch

2009 Solo Manaslu Expedition

Dispatch Five: March 28th, 2009

Day Five: Trek Day 2: Khursani Bari to Machha Khola

Today, we again woke up at 5:30am, packed up, and got on our way by 6:30am. An hour and a half later, we were in Lappu Besi, apparently meant to be our lunch spot. Despite our protest at eating lunch at this hour of the morning (it was 9:00am), we were told to wait here. We waited hours for the porters carrying our kitchen gear and food to arrive, and when this finally happened, it was almost lunch time. After eating, we continued along the Buri Gandaki river on to Machha Khola, where we killed the time watching an archaic dental procedure performed by a Chinese dentist (something that looked not only unsanitary, but quite painful) and taking photos of the village. Here, our trekking permits were checked for the first time by officials. After our bags arrived, we set up camp and had a nice dinner inside one of the mud brick buildings.