Meet the Zopkis

Once inside we found that the tea house provided everything we needed, but nothing extra - this was fine by us. Our room simply had 2 beds and was separated from the next room by a fairly insubstantial partition wall, so we had to be careful not to make too much noise. We had to wash in our rooms with a big metal 'dog bowl' of water brought to us by our wonderful trekking crew - once it got dark it was too cold for anything more than a quick freshen up anyway. The only heating was in the dining area across the road, so we all gathered there to relax, drink tea house tea, and have a fine hot meal before retiring for an early night.


The next morning our pack animals, the zopkis, (pronounced dropkey) arrived to carry our red trek kit bags. Each one carried 3 bags which wasn't too heavy a load, as we had been encouraged to pack light, and leave as much kit as we could in the Kathmandu hotel store. We were also warned to pack everything in waterproof bags in case the zopkis peed on them. We didn't see them doing this, but we did once see them trampling on some of the bags! The zopkis were yak/cow cross breeds and they were the perfect pack animals for us, as, unlike yaks, they can survive at altitudes under 3,000 metres. They were very characterful, but we were warned not to get too close as they had some rather fearsome horns.

We continued along the river for all of the morning's walk. It might sound like flat walking, but it wasn't: there were lots of undulations. Before we had gone far, we discovered where the electricity, we had enjoyed in the tea house, came from.


As we sat under the sign in the shade - the sun got very hot, very quickly - a little boy spotted us and came up to tell us all about the hydro electric scheme. We had already witnessed the power of all that foaming white water, so it was great to think that it was helping to bring power to the region, so reducing the number of trees cut down for firewood.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx