Kate's Blog 2014: Yak Attack

...time to rest and see the "town".

Not sure waking up is the right term, but had the most awesome view this morning. A little kick of the curtain and wham - the most amazing sunrise! Got Jeff with me to the rooftop for a tea and to see the sun completely rise. When you rise early, you will have time to visit the bakery and take a stroll before breakfast, so we did. Jeff didn't feel so good so left back to "hotel". The bakery had all sorts of goodies and yesterday Jeff brought some goods that we had during sun rise, the coffee wasn't bad either. They also had internet - but I watch my screen load for about 20 min, while a Russian guy beside me pretty much had a fit waiting for his. I could only chuckle as what do you expect in the middle of the mountains? and where do you really have to be right now. With that I decided this was not important - and took a little walk of town before heading to hotel. When I got back to hotel I noticed some porters brushing their teeth in water! Water! the lines were not frozen! that meant I could get a head start on my bike before breakfast as well. In the sun it felt so nice. The bike is now good to start tomorrow.

Breakfast was simple but good. Then time to tour with Snow Monkey - a hike up the hill on the other side, then a tour of the town was the plan. I made it down to the bridge but that's about what my tummy could handle for activity. Left the group and not sure how it's possible in a tiny town, but I did get little lost climbing back up, which gave me the chance to see a bit more of this mountain town Manang. It's so primitive, nothing really there but rock buildings, but then there is a guy sitting on his roof top watching satellite tv. The goats are walking down the street, on a mission to somewhere, old ladies are carrying "wood" or something of use I'm sure, in big baskets on their back. Cows seem more relaxed than the goats, with less of a mission in life.
After the detour it was back to hotel and really just hang out and try not to move too much. Jeff got really sick and had a not so nice visit to our personal bathroom - squatty shower thingy - can not be fun to have to deal with sickness here. Poor guy. But he got stuff out and said he felt better after. Hopefully this will be the case, though he didn't stay long for dinner before he had to run.
So far I'm good - the tummy ache doesn't require any fancy bathroom facilities and might just be related to a sinus cold, so I keep taking all the precautions I can - hands are completely sanitized at all times, and sticking to simple food smoking hot (mostly egg and rice) complimented with my shake mixed with hempseeds for some nutrition.

Tomorrow is fairly short but all up again!

Happy Riding!

Wendy, Laxmi and Gerry joined at the hang out - tea, breakfast, more tea and tea, lunch, and tea, then dinner! Wendy probably got the most of the day - big hike and then a movie! (?? years in Tibet...).