Chapter 3 – Goodbye

"Besides the view, we’re the view haha. Me and Freddie heading to acclimatize in the Gangapurna Glacier’s long hike."

Everything is true about Manang starting from the real herbs and how the weed there was the real purple haze. Rumors have it that the legendary Jimmy Hendrix was in Lamjung in his chopper just to get the purple haze. It sounded far-fetched and I had no idea about weeds because I don’t smoke. It was my first time seeing the purple haze and more than purple it was a crystal blue color.

Lower Pisang was amazing but opposite of us was Upper Pisang even more mesmerizing and mind blowing that the mountain and hills looked amazing everytime. Sarthak wanted to save money his self-prepared meal while Kabir and Freddie discussed about adjusting themselves in the altitude and I ate apple pie with Sonam dai while Nitesh cleaned his bike. I was ready to leave when I saw Freddie plucking the purple haze in the backyard. Back in Kathmandu my friend Sujim has asked me to bring this herb for him so I joined Freddie in picking these. I am indebted to him so this was like a token of love form me. Sarthak had retired from this game of smokes and weed because he had wasted 10 years of his life in drugs and this time he was desperate to change his past habit.

"You can say that the majority of apples overcome the number of people living in Lower Pisang but here’s Nitesh showing off his apple pie with the warm sun highlighting his face."

I feel lucky to travel to Manang and Mustang and learn about this crystal herb. We paid 200 for 2 bags of these and left lower Pisang at 11:30. The day was good for riding as we rode to Hongde with an airport runway and Nagawal was simple; there was an uphill and we stopped to say hi to some Malaysian riders- Michael Phoon, Michael Khor with a rigid bike and Richard Chin. The pine trees and the crystal clear water looked straight out of a fairytale not like any of those google images I had seen. This felt like a dream come true.

Braga and Mungi was an old town with a big field full of yaks and the dogs would tease the yaks. Of course we had yak chowmein (yak meat and noodles) and enjoyed ourselves with a full stomach. Two riders rode past us full speed from the opposite direction (Thorong La to Besisahar) and it was clear that they rode luxury bikes but we had to go on. After crossing Braga we finally reached Manang where we checked in to our hotel rooms at North Pole hotel whose owner Karma Tashi welcomed us with a friendly smile. He was a hind and humble man but we were just fascinated by his rugged appearance and specially his cool manangi accent. He looked like a character from the Wild West had come to Nepal; he had long hair and wore a leather jacket with red stripes, had he been outside he would be the modern version of the Red Indian.

"Up in the Himalayas it’s all about the flavored teas. Freddie, Kabir and I really enjoyed the peach tea during our short break in Manang."

Karma Tashi liked decorating his hotel. He was a hardworking man who worked from as early as 5 till late night at 11. The dining room was cozy with the firewood placed in the fireplace and the hotel had a crazy variety of flavors for tea. We mostly drank the peach tea. Manang is an old town that reminds you of the cowboy Texas movie settings, the dust flying, the saloons and the mud and the horses in their ranches was all the same as you’d imagine. We called Sudeep for our luggage. There were two polish ladies from Luxembourg in the hotel with whom Freddie was attracted to and Eric from Holland who was and is a douchebag (you’ll know why later). We were enjoying the sun at 2:30 pm with peach tea in our hands. Our next destination was Tilicho but the boys wanted rest so it had to be postponed despite my persuasion in taking rest at the Tilicho High Camp.

The hotel that night was packed and the dining hall was full of people sharing conversations in every table including the polish ladies, Eric and a Canadian-Australian couple. Eric said he was a divorced social worker with 3 children. Nitesh was complaining about his teeth and that it was hurting badly. Later that night as I was walking through the passageway I saw Nitesh and Sarthak packing their bikes. Nitesh’s toothache was unbearable so he wanted to go back home as soon as possible to have it treated. He was broke and suffering from his toothache so I did not force him any further but Sarthak seemed to clearly have a hard time up here so we had to let them go. That night Nitesh was in high spirits, not because he was going home but because he could finally drink to his fill. He was like the Drunken Master as he chugged 3 bottles of Gorkha beer in no time.

"Location: Hongde. The clear sky, Neat Mountain and the bright smile definitely compliment the Crystal Lake."

Freddie talked about the purple haze that we collected earlier to impress the polish ladies and it seemed to catch Eric’s attention who joined our table along with his guide, Bhim. Freddie was a player and a show off. Eric later invited Freddie and me to his room so that we all could smoke the haze together. It was my first time ever that I had tried anything like that which I guess is the reason it didn’t take an effect in the beginning. I suddenly felt cold followed by paranoia and now I was dizzy like my whole body was detached. My head was cloudy and I felt annoyed at Bhim who was trying to teach Freddie how to smoke. Unable to keep up and tired I went straight to bed that night leaving the rest on their own.

"Malaysian friends of the road, from left: Michael Khor, Me, Richard Chin, Michael Phoon."

The next morning Nitesh woke me up with a grim look on his face. “What happened?” I asked. “Bro this dude is blaming us for taking his wallet, money, visas and passports! This is absolute shit.” Nitesh frowned.