For the next 3 days we hiked along Dudh Koshi River, kind of, because steep slopes of the valley often push the trail far and high: from Jubing to Khare, Surke and Monjo passing several other villages on the way, with many lodges and restaurants to stop for the night or just short breaks. Some parts of the trail were very nice, some not so much – the same trail is used to deliver goods to Namche by mules. We visited monastery in Kharikhola and stopped for a break in Bupsa. We spent the night in the most popular lodge in Khare. On the not so interesting section to Surke, we still got good views of the Dudh Koshi Valley, good lunch in Paiya and a first glimpse of high mountains (towards Kusum Kanguru massif) in late afternoon light. In Surke we stayed in Thamserku Lodge (OK, but not very good, shower in sister lodge Namaste). Two other lodges we checked were already full when we arrived. The next day, we walked through beautiful Chaurikharka. In Cheplung we merged with heavy tourist traffic to/from Lukla – happy madness. Some groups were 30-50 strong. Difficult to keep your own hiking pace. By the time we finished lunch in Thadokosi, with nice views from the restaurant terrace, all the groups were pretty much gone. The traffic got lighter in the afternoon as most people trekking from Lukla stayed in Phakding. We continued to Monjo. We had nice room with bathroom at quite large Mount Kailash Lodge (good food, not enough sun to power solar panels for water heaters).
The first 5 days from Phaplu ( 2479 masl) to Monjo ( 2870 masl) we walked 56 kms and felt like we were conquering some “serious” mountains, because the trail was going up and down all the time (1500 – 3100 masl), but in the end we gained only 400 m in altitude. We were a day behind our plan already (= lost reserve day allocated for a day-hike in Thame), but our plan was to warm-up slowly before we go higher and hiking was getting easier every day.
