by site editor Rick McCharles

Already tired of tiny, potentially unsanitary tea house bedrooms, I’d slept in my tent the previous night.

Yep. As I’ve done on my previous Himalayan tea house treks, I carried a tent. Only 2lbs (Hubba) … I like having the back-up plan.

I slept in my tent until 1:20am when guides woke me in a panic. At the next guesthouse campsite, a thief had cut through a tent and stolen a backpack. It contained a Passport, camera and plenty of cash. Everyone insisted that I must move indoors. For my own safety. 😦

Ascending next morning, the valley looked to be narrowing further.

There are people everywhere in this valley. Here Brion was looking for a public toilet. The “blue door”, he was told.

That one wasn’t bad. But as a general rule I’d recommend you avoid Nepali toilets. It’s more sanitary to sit in the woods. … Assuming you can find a good spot.

This was cute. Kids blocking off their home from pack animals.

Here’s some fencing trying to keep out hungry beasts.

Harvested crops are usually stored up high out of reach.

Tradition here is to use ladders to get up and down.

I had the standard Himalayan meal for lunch.

Dal bhat consists of steamed rice and a cooked lentil soup called dal. Potatoes on the side they call “curry”. The spiciest component they call “pickle” (achar). Often greens are included as they were this time.

Porters and guides can rarely be persuaded to eat anything else. It’s dal baht 3 meals a day. They always eat separately and after their clients. In fact, one of the highest priority jobs for any guide is to act as your waiter. They do everything they can to keep you happy and healthy on the Trail.

Pretty pretty.

Steep gorges like this are prone to washout.

Winter loomed. Every home had enough wood stockpiled.

Compared with Everest and Annapurna, there are far more waterfalls on Manaslu.

Impressive too are the many beautiful butterflies.

Everyone is anticipating this adventure to boom over the next few years. We saw many, many guest houses under construction.

We were surprised to get some rain. It should be bone dry in November. … We didn’t realize at the time that this same day it was snowing up on the high Pass.

We slept in Jagat 1410m, a pretty village.

see high resolution photos from this day on flickr

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