And on the seventh day of our trek, Mayla gave to me… finally a shorter day!!! It was an easy 11km from Samagaun to Sando, including a stop off at a monastery, the glacial lake sitting below the Manaslu glacier and of course, a swim. We weren’t gaining that much altitude either. But at this height you seem to notice the difference even when it’s only 300m.

We were woken up at 5:30 by a knock on our door from Mayla who wanted us to come up to the roof and look at the mountains, a little random but very sweet of him and they were beautiful. And it was only 15 minutes before our alarm. Despite the shorter day I was adamant we would start early as the clouds had been coming in earlier and earlier, and the best weather had consistently been first thing. After a coffee we were walking at 6:30 AM with a packed breakfast of chapatti and boiled egg. The first stop was the Samagaun Monastry, a beautiful complex that felt comfortingly nestled in the mountains. The main room was decadently adorned, but there weren’t any rituals happening while we were there. I’m always in awe of the peace found in Buddhist monastic compounds, and paired with the juniper smoke all through the air and the mountains so close you feel like you could touch them, I think this was my favorite monastry yet. We had a short look around before heading onwards (and upwards) to the viewpoint over Birendra Lake. The clouds were periodically hiding the peaks, but we still had a lovely breakfast overlooking the glacier and ice shelves further up on Manaslu mountain, discussing routes and expeditions and future dreams. We backtracked a little to get to the main trail again, but none of us minded seeing as it was such a short day. 

From the main trail, it was an easy three hours up to Samdo following the river. Again, there were a tonne of yaks (and babies) and I also spotted three Marmots which was cool, I had never seen them before. (We spent a good few days thinking these were called Mongoose, but a quick google once we got back to WiFi cleared that up). We spent a lot of the walk discussing logistics for a Dhaulaguri expedition, something I would love to come back and do with more of my family, which was a fun way to pass the time. After crossing the main branch of the river just before the climb to Samdo, Josh found us a great swimming spot. At this point it was warm and windy, so we all got in for a quick freshen up. And boy was it fresh!!! Straight from the mountains for sure. A luxury of a shorter day was being able to stop and relax, and we thoroughly enjoyed lounging in the sun after our swim. 

The final climb up to the village was short but steep, and anything steep really tests the lungs now. We arrived at our tea house and had a big lunch of Dahl Baht, and were busy napping and reading in the sun room while considering if we spend the afternoon resting or try and get up a couple hundred more meters to help with acclimatization. Very quickly a howling wind came in and all but made our decision for us. The WiFi wasn’t working (hence why you’re not seeing this right away), so we spent our time reading, napping, playing games and doing yoga. Although it’s nice to have these places all to ourselves, I do wonder what the vibe would be like in season - I’m sure you would meet some great people and have a lot of fun, especially on afternoons where you’re parked up! 

We had an early dinner and went to bed with tea, chocolate and our books, as we would be attempting a big day trip up to the Tibet border tomorrow! By nightfall the clouds had totally packed in, and we went to sleep with fingers and toes crossed for clear skies in the morning.