Day 2 - Jiri - Shivalaya

First day on the trail, starting from Jiri (1955m). We had a nice early start - 7:30 - which became our pattern for the trek. Since you wake up early because you go to bed early, it just makes sense to trek early and get some good walking in before the sun gets too hot. Walking was pretty easy, up initially to the Mali pass (2200m), then downhill to Shivalaya (1770m). Lovely scenery of terraced hillsides and high hills. It certainly seems to be more densely populated than I remember, plus there are tons of little kids running around everywhere. You also now have electricity and that means amongst other things that you see local people talking on their cell phones as they walk from town to town.

After we had some dahl bhat for lunch it was our first decision time - stay here or head UP to Sandabanda or Deurali (3 hours) at 2710m. It was a pretty easy decision as Shivalaya is still a quaint little place with a cobblestoney atmosphere, set nicely by the river. We decided to just hangout for the afternoon and worry about the steep climb ahead tomorrow.

As I said Shivalaya is right at the river and now there are the makings of a rough road that heads to Those, and then to Jiri. So far not much traffic, just the occasional truck or motorcycle, but I would guess in not too long Shivalaya will get as overrun as Jiri. For now though a walk along the river is a pleasant experience, plus we had fun watching a French group setting up camp - 5 tents and we counted 36 porters bringing the gear along!

As an aside there is also apparently a route from the Mali pass to Chordung that takes about three hours and gives some spectacular views. It was our intention to try this on the way back, but unfortunately we never made it back through here on the way out.

Pricing here is relatively cheap. Dahl baht is 105 Rs (with unlimited amounts) and an apple pancake 90 Rs. Later on (by Gokyo and Gorak Shep) Dahl baht will reach at least 380 Rs for a single plate.

One of the more obvious changes on the trek this time is that the old rickety broken board Indiana Jones style bridges have for the most part been replaced (apparently by the Swiss) with very functional, safe, and definitely less thrilling bridges.