Walking in the Himalayas

Walking in the Himalayas

The Himalayan mountain range runs 2,400 kilometres across the border of India, and through other countries, including Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan.

By Mariellen Ward

As someone who has travelled extensively in South Asia, I have long been drawn to this region – and, in fact, chose to make the lower Himalayas my home when I moved to India. I now live in Rishikesh and continue to visit the Himalayas elsewhere whenever I get the chance. Here are some favourite memories.

TIGER’S NEST MONASTERY IN BHUTAN

NEPAL

Though the entire country is mountainous and a famous destination for trekking, you don’t have to be a mountaineer or skilled, high-altitude trekker to enjoy Nepal. There are a lot of less strenuous treks, like the one I did in the Kathmandu Valley.

Kathmandu is a big, dusty Asian city. It’s fascinating, but if you prize fresh air and soaring vistas, you need only get on a bus and travel a couple of hours to the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. I start in Kopasi and walk for about three days, through paddy fields and villages, across suspension bridges and roads, and up and down several hills to stay in eco-resorts and a Buddhist monastery.

WALKING IN THE HIMALAYAS INDIA ©MARIELLEN WARD

Namo Buddha is my final destination. It’s a sacred mountain that’s home to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery with incredible views of the distant white peaks. Walking into the temple for daily prayers is like entering another world.

Every square inch is plastered with rich, colourful tapestries and paintings, heady incense fills the air, and the monks sit cross-legged in long rows chanting to the accompaniment of loud vibrating gongs, bellowing conch shells and shimmering cymbals. It sounds like a celestial thunderstorm and gives me shivers.

PATH TOWARDS THE TIGER’S NEST BHUTAN

BHUTAN

Visiting Bhutan is a dream come true. In order to preserve their unique culture, this Buddhist Himalayan kingdom has very strict laws in place such as mandating traditional architecture styles and dress codes during working hours. They also restrict scheduled flights into the airport at Paro to very few.

NAMO BUDDHA MONASTERY IN NEPAL

The highlight of my week in Bhutan is the hike to Taktsang Palphug Monastery, also known as Tiger’s Nest. This mythic monastery, clinging to the side of a craggy mountain, is the country’s top tourist attraction. But to get there, you have to hike up a steep forest path.

I find the altitude in Bhutan very difficult, and gasp for air all the way up, encouraged by my two guides. However, I only make it about three-quarters of the way, to a tea house directly across a chasm from the monastery. “Happiness is a place between too much and too little,” as the saying goes, and I achieve it on that day.

CEILING OF NAMO BUDDHA MONASTERY

INDIA

My most memorable moment in the Himalayas is the morning of my birthday, a significant one, in Darjeeling. I arrange for a pickup at 4 a.m. with a local tour company to drive to Tiger Hill.

TIGER HILL, DARJEELING INDIA ©MARIELLEN WARD

The objective is to see one of the most glorious sights that nature bestows: sunrise splashing a myriad of colours across the face of mighty Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain, a mighty massif with five peaks. But I am told the chances are slim, that cloud cover had obscured every sunrise for the past two weeks.

Nevertheless, we set off, optimistic the clouds would part on my auspicious day, to join dozens of others crammed onto a ledge with a front-row view. And we are not disappointed. As the sun comes up above the horizon on my right, the white wall of the Himalayas, stretching as far as the eye can see on my left, lights up with varying hues of rose, gold, lavender.

This is perhaps the best birthday gift I have ever experienced.