There are a few different options to lengthen and shorten the trek which we didn’t really realise at the time of booking, but in the end were happy with how the route worked out.
Our route then was:
Day 1: Machha Khola to Dhoban
Day 2: Dhoban to Philim
Day 3: Philim to Deng
Day 4: Deng to Namrung
Day 5: Namrung to Shyla
Day 6: Shyla to Samdo
Day 7: Rest day and acclimatisation hike in Samdo
Day 8: Samdo to Dharamasala
Day 9: Dharamasala over the Larkya La to Bhimthang
Day 10: Bhimthang to Dharapani
Some people started at Soti Khola, the town before Machha Khola, but that is a whole extra day of walking on the gravel road with dust and cars passing. I’m really glad we didn’t do that! Some people started at Dhoban, and even Jagat (between Dhoban and Philim). However, Jagat is at ~1340 m and starting there reduces the acclimatisation period. We had a rest day in Samdo, while most other trekkers had a rest day in the town before, Sama Gaun. The acclimatisation hike here to a lake and monastery sounded lovely though and were sad to miss that, but we also had a great hike at Samdo on Day 7. We descended quite fast from Bhimthang to Dharapani and ended there, while others took two or more days to descend and ended at Besishahar. From Tilje though you are back walking on a gravel road, so I’m glad we only did the 3 hours on gravel at the end (with a caravan of mules lol) and not another whole day again on a gravel road, and that road was fairly busy with cars and also earth moving equipment. It’s also possible to extend the trek with a side detour to Tsum Valley, we did consider this but in the end were glad we didn’t do this. Some people we met had done this though and it sounded lovely and they had great pictures. If anything, I would have added an extra day in Sama Guan for that extra day hike to the lake and an additional day in Samdo to hike to the Tibetan border (also ~5000 m), but that would have significantly increased the challenge of this trek. All in all, we were happy with the route and number of days.
Two maps of the Manaslu circuit showing the route we took including the altitude of each village in metres above sea level and the surrounding mountains.
(Courtesy of Google Images)
After two full days in Kathmandu, on Saturday morning it was time to leave the city and head to the trek starting point at Machha Khola. We woke to steady rain but were pleased with the cooler temperatures. The rain did eventually clear up into a reasonable day. There was a long drive day ahead of us and cooler weather was a plus.
Our guide Bashu and porter Nara arrived on time to pick us up at 07:30 with a private jeep (many people do this drive in a bus :o). The driver Kiran had good English and we enjoyed lively chats with him throughout the day.
Let’s be honest, the road was pretty awful and we were glad to reach our destination for the day. Fortunately it was Saturday so the roads were quieter than a weekday. There were quite some windy mountain roads (a shortcut apparently lol), a regular patch of road, more windy roads, and a long stretch of very bumpy gravel road. Kiran assured us that the roads have improved and that the drive back from Dharapani would be better. It was not.
We stopped for a tea break (and last Western style sitting toilet for a while lol) and lunch along the way. We all had the same, traditional dhal baat. Bron only ate rice and saag (a kind of spinach) as she was concerned about motion sickness in the car. Unfortunately, we would discover later that Justin picked up food poisoning at lunch (as did two (unknown) others apparently). Fortunately we arrived at the teahouse before he felt unwell, but a not very restful night of toilet visits and vomiting followed =/ Not good timing with our hike starting the next day. Fortunately, the first day was only 3 hours of walking on the gravel road to the next teahouse in Dhoban and we left a bit later so Justin could have a morning nap.
Views of the town and river of Maccha Khola
Day 1 of walking then was from Machha Khola to Dhoban, a short 3 hour walk on a gravel road alongside the river. Justin was a real trooper despite not feeling well. We left at about 11:00 and arrived around 14:00. Lunch was Dhal baat lunch for Bron and potatoes for Justin with mint tea. A bracing cold shower followed lol, definitely a case of take what you can get when you can get it. Justin had an afternoon nap while Bron enjoyed a quiet afternoon reading in the garden. We were the only 2 guests until much later, and then only 4 others arrived.
This was one of my favourite accommodations on the trip, simply for the ample space and that we could sit outside. It’s an old campsite converted into simple rooms in a square with dining tables in the middle with lots of grass around and a veggie patch. It was also very chill with only 6 guests and our guides and porters. And the only place we could stargaze in the end.
The next day, Day 2, was the first proper day of actual hiking then. Justin was still feeling very average and decided to take the antibiotics we had brought with for such a time as this. And we were glad he did, it helped him enormously. Today was a varied day with steep rocky mountain paths, a detour in a riverbed including crossing the river on stones, lots of sturdy metal bridges over the river, and more gravel road at the end of the day. It was a good day to get acquainted with our hiking poles. It was another warm day and at least most of the way was in shade thankfully. Lunch was in Jagat and we had a beautiful view of the mountains around us. Bron was so happy that there was a sitting toilet available at lunch. The rest of the afternoon was walking on gravel road again and we arrived at our next destination of Philim at 16:30. We had our own bathroom with a sitting toilet and basin, such luxury. Bron was thrilled. There were (shared) solar showers here so we took advantage of a semi warm shower since we didn’t know when the next one would be. Also really nice chilled accommodation with more space and not too many guests. Philim is quite a big town with more accommodation options so nothing felt over crowded.
Justin was still feeling a bit off colour on the morning of Day 3 but picked up rapidly after a third and final dose of antibiotics and had a good day in the end and was back to eating normal food and feeling well, yay. Day 3 saw us walk from Philim to Deng (also spelled Dyang) on some rugged mountainside hugging trails. There are no roads for cars after Philim, so all goods going higher up from this point on are brought in by mules. Today was the first day of seeing many caravans of mules and their drivers. Mules typically carry 50 kg each and the harness doesn’t look very comfortable, the fur is typically rubbed away where the harness sits and it also goes under the tail. The drivers hit and throw rocks at the mules which made us quite sad. It’s not clear what kind of care they receive and it probably varies caravan to caravan, but they are the source of people’s livelihoods so they must receive some looking after. While we got some lovely photo’s of the mules, overall we felt quite sad for them. Every meal we said a special thanks for the mules that had carried up the ingredients and gas for cooking, without you we and many others wouldn’t be able to eat.
So far the days had been warm with occasional rain later in the day or evening. On this day, we walked in some light drizzle from lunch time. We arrived at the teahouse in Deng at around 15:00 and were very fortunate as the rain came down about 30 minutes later. Many people were still walking and got caught in the downpour. Rain in itself is not so bad and all hikers will have had rain gear with them, but there’s very little space for hanging things up to dry at the teahouses in general, and it was so crowded at Deng having loads of wet stuff is not ideal.
Bashu had warned us to have low expectations of the accommodation in Deng and he was right. Deng is very small and there are only 3 teahouses for all the hikers to stay. We were lucky we arrived so early in the afternoon and got a good spot, the majority of people arrived after us and it soon filled up. This was our least favourite accommodation simply for the lack of space. The people were friendly and the food was fine, it was just crowded with nowhere to sit really, and outside was also not an option due to the rain. It was also one of only two places we had no access to electricity and couldn’t charge devices (some people were able to here but we lucked out).
All over the teahouse in Deng were posters for the annual Manaslu Trail Race. People run the same route we are hiking over 10 days in 7 days, wow that will be intense. People be crazy! See details of the race here: https://www.manaslutrailrace.org/day-by-day-2/
It rained well into the night but fortunately stopped at some point and we woke to beautiful clear skies and mountain views. We were ready to leave Deng at 07:30, and so was everyone else. Generally we walked alone the four of us and occasionally saw other hikers. Leaving from Deng was one of the few days we all left and walked together for much of the day. I remember this day started with a few pretty steep uphills. I was tempted to have a little rest with a group of older French people and was disappointed when Basu and Nara continued on, but they were right, there was a nicer rest stop with better views just around the corner. We enjoyed great mountain views all morning with a few narrow mountain paths with a sheer drop off. Not for the faint hearted. (I mean, no Mum, it was always perfectly safe ;) )
On the way to Namrung on Day 4, we saw a guy carrying this washing machine up the mountain :o
On another day, we saw one guy carrying a mattress and his friend some rolled up carpets.
Dhal baat for lunch in a record time of 30 minutes! Lunch usually took an hour to arrive and occasionally 90 minutes but you just have to roll with it in the mountains. Lower down we usually ate outside, but the higher we went, there was less opportunity to sit outside and the dining halls didn’t really take advantage of the views. Today’s lunch spot however, was a beautifully built wooden dining hall with 180 degrees of tall glass windows. All the better to gawk at the glorious mountains.
The afternoon was a lovely walk through beautiful dense and ancient Rhododendron forests while still walking next to the river with the most beautiful clean and clear water. The Rhododendron is the national flower of Nepal. Around this height all the blooms were bright red, but higher up they were various shades of a softer pink down to an almost cream.
We saw many donkey caravans today. Usually it’s 10 to 15 mules together with one driver. Just before entering Namrung, we came across several caravans traveling together and around 100 mules must have passed us. We had just crossed over a bridge and were lucky to be in a good safe spot to wait for all of them to pass, they just kept coming! Mules generally don’t tend to stop for humans, they just keep going, it’s up to us to move out the way. Some other hikers got stuck in a narrow region before the bridge, we were lucky to have just crossed over. A special experience.
Our accommodation and large cosy room at the Four Seasons in Namrung
Bashu and Nara were extremely polite to us, sometimes painfully polite. Out of respect and culture, they mostly didn’t eat with us. We strongly encouraged them to though but they didn’t feel it was always possible as usually guides and porters ate separately to their clients. Each morning we had a tea break at a teahouse along the way, and generally they didn’t sit with us, but we always shared our cookies with them wherever they were. Each day when we arrived at the next overnight teahouse, we ordered a ‘small’ 2.5 L pot (thermal flask actually) of ginger honey tea and then Bashu and Nara usually joined us. It was a lovely time of discussing the day past and the next day ahead, sharing some laughs, and getting to know them. Here in Namrung, we enjoyed a lovely pot of tea and cookies together under the watch of the mountains, poring over the Manaslu map Bashu had brought with.
We had packed a lot of warm thermals and fleece jumpers etc. and had been carrying them around without wearing any so far. We thought aloud a number of times, when are we ever going to use these. Namrung was the first place we felt properly chilly and needed a fleece and from here on out, warm gear would be our constant companions.
Here at the end of Day 4 we were feeling good and felt like we had gained a lot of confidence over the last few days and were ready for what lay ahead. Bashu had told us stories of clients who had stopped and turned around after just two days because they had not trained and were not prepared for the intensity of the hike. We had trained hard before the trip but you never know if you’ve done enough until you actually get there and get going. Our legs were tired in the evening, especially that evening in Namrung (Bron was very happy to have a sitting toilet that night and not having to squat!), but we always felt good the next morning and didn’t have any lasting muscle pain. Bron also didn't have any pain in her ankle or calf from previous injuries at all during the trip. We were very thankful all round.
At 2650 metres above sea level, we were officially at high altitude in Namrung.
See you next time for part two of our Manaslu Trek as we enter the high altitude zone!
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