Day 1: Chaling to Merack
The leeches that none of us were looking forward to.
After the night at the Chaling Primary School PP (pre-primary) room surrounded by posters of the English alphabet and colors and family member names in Dzongkha, all eleven of us set out for Merack. Finally. The plan to spend the night in Trashigang and get an early start the next morning turned into lounging at the hotel, shopping around Trashigang, eating a huge lunch and then getting picked up by a Trashigang Higher Secondary School yellow school bus at 2, only to be driven to Chaling Primary School where we ate dinner at the principal’s house and spent the night. We didn’t do anything on our first day, so even though it was the second day of a trip, it was our first day trekking.
Our group was a good mix of mostly BCF teachers, two people who work at the district education office in Trashigang, and one student. There was Julian and Shauna from Bartsam; John and Maureen from Wamrong; Scott Harris from Yadi; Jean Daniel from Bidung; Phurpa who’s the messenger at the education office and has trekked to Merack and Sakteng a few times so became the designated guide; Sherub, the assistant district education officer (ADEO), who was our official host; and Sonam, a class 10 student of Shauna’s who came along because he had nothing better to do.
What I thought would be 7 hours of hiking turned into over 10 hours of hiking. Our highest pass was at 3500 meters, over 11,000 feet. It was one of those days that kept going and going and going. Our end point was Merack’s primary school where we all slept on the floor of the PP room. We were greeted by many cups of tea and conversation with Merack teachers. It’s a unique experience to trek with the ADEO and get the local treatment of staying at the schools, an experience that no ordinary tourist would get, and I am thankful for that. But it can also be exhausting. After a long day of trekking, we still had to be ‘on,’ to answer questions, to act overly gracious, to eat dinner at 9:30 pm when all we wanted to do was crash.
I wish I could say that I did crash that first night after trekking, but I didn’t. After drinking cup after cup of tea, I couldn’t sleep. The dogs barking, the mass sleeping with snores coming from different corners, and the caffeine – not a good combination for a rest.
Here are some images from that first day of walking that will describe what it was like a lot better than my words.
Chaling.
Early on in the day's walk, Jean Daniel was able to de-leech himself before the real sucking had begun.
The trekking. Along the way we passed (and got passed by) many local Brokpa people.
One of our many passes.
This is what we came down into.
Bhutanese graffiti.
John taking a rest.
Some other trekkers.
After walking through that nice, flat river bed, there was, of course, one long, last push up before we hit Merack.
What greeted us on top, on the outskirts of Merack, were some kind people who offered us suja.
First glimpse of the school, our home for the night.
Merack at dusk.
After the night at the Chaling Primary School PP (pre-primary) room surrounded by posters of the English alphabet and colors and family member names in Dzongkha, all eleven of us set out for Merack. Finally. The plan to spend the night in Trashigang and get an early start the next morning turned into lounging at the hotel, shopping around Trashigang, eating a huge lunch and then getting picked up by a Trashigang Higher Secondary School yellow school bus at 2, only to be driven to Chaling Primary School where we ate dinner at the principal’s house and spent the night. We didn’t do anything on our first day, so even though it was the second day of a trip, it was our first day trekking. Our group was a good mix of mostly BCF teachers, two people who work at the district education office in Trashigang, and one student. There was Julian and Shauna from Bartsam; John and Maureen from Wamrong; Scott Harris from Yadi; Jean Daniel from Bidung; Phurpa who’s the messenger at the education office and has trekked to Merack and Sakteng a few times so became the designated guide; Sherub, the assistant district education officer (ADEO), who was our official host; and Sonam, a class 10 student of Shauna’s who came along because he had nothing better to do.
What I thought would be 7 hours of hiking turned into over 10 hours of hiking. Our highest pass was at 3500 meters, over 11,000 feet. It was one of those days that kept going and going and going. Our end point was Merack’s primary school where we all slept on the floor of the PP room. We were greeted by many cups of tea and conversation with Merack teachers. It’s a unique experience to trek with the ADEO and get the local treatment of staying at the schools, an experience that no ordinary tourist would get, and I am thankful for that. But it can also be exhausting. After a long day of trekking, we still had to be ‘on,’ to answer questions, to act overly gracious, to eat dinner at 9:30 pm when all we wanted to do was crash.
I wish I could say that I did crash that first night after trekking, but I didn’t. After drinking cup after cup of tea, I couldn’t sleep. The dogs barking, the mass sleeping with snores coming from different corners, and the caffeine – not a good combination for a rest.
Here are some images from that first day of walking that will describe what it was like a lot better than my words.
Chaling.
Early on in the day's walk, Jean Daniel was able to de-leech himself before the real sucking had begun. 
The trekking. Along the way we passed (and got passed by) many local Brokpa people.
One of our many passes.
This is what we came down into.
Bhutanese graffiti.
John taking a rest.
Some other trekkers.
After walking through that nice, flat river bed, there was, of course, one long, last push up before we hit Merack. 
What greeted us on top, on the outskirts of Merack, were some kind people who offered us suja. 
First glimpse of the school, our home for the night. 
Merack at dusk.
posted by Siapiau | 11:11 PM
1 Comments:
I'm digging the animal skin vests. They look warm.
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