Eagerly starting off on my first Nepal teahouse trek, little did I know that I was stepping into one of the most tragic experiences of my life. After 2 years, I can stand outside my emotions and clearly write about our Panchase Trek and share lessons learned with humor, humility and hindsight. I’ve given away the ending but read on as the story leading up to it is even more interesting. It reminds us that a good time can instantly crash in the middle of nowhere.
After 2 months of volunteering for Acupuncture Relief Project (ARP) in a rural Nepalese village, I meet up with a friend, Debbie, for a 10-day vacation in Pokhara, including a Panchase Teahouse Trek. Our journey starts in Kathmandu, where we catch a short flight on Buddha Air (Where else can you ride a plane named this?) We laugh most of the flight to numb our fears of this rickety third world plane. I admit that even though it has a sketchy interior, with bathroom doors that won’t shut, the flight is flawless. Relieved to safely land, we disembark in the middle of the cloud-covered Himalayas with colorful flowers greeting us to its humid, subtropical zone.
Related: Volunteer Opportunities for Health Care Practitioners with Acupuncture Relief Project in Nepal
Pokhara Valley Attractions
We explore Pokhara during the end of April, which is not the ideal time (Sept-Dec. is best) for the panoramic views of the Himalayas. Monsoon season gains momentum in May lasting until September. We spend 4 days in Pokhara before taking our Teahouse Trek. Pokhara is Nepal’s second largest city and tourism capital, as the base for trekkers undertaking the epic Annapurna Circuit. Also, the Pokhara Valley has Tibetan Refugee Settlements and a New Age glow with spiritual retreats for yoga and meditation.
Pokhara encompasses the pristine Lake Phewa (Nepal’s second largest lake), as a mirror to reflect the Himalayas in the background when the weather is clear. We were not fortunate to catch this reflection due to the overcast skies. However, we enjoyed a day on a paddle boat seeing the paragliders above, water buffalo swimming and the Buddhist temple on an island. All this was experienced without smells of diesel or oil stains on the lake. Also, we spend a day at the largest Tibetan Refugee Settlement and enjoyed the view at Sarangkot and lakeside restaurants.
Related: A Heartwarming Day at Nepal’s Tibetan Refugee Settlement
My Nepal’s Panchase Teahouse Trek
We planned for the 4-day Panchase Teahouse Trek to give us a sense of hiking in Nepal. I couldn’t fathom being in Nepal for 3 months, without getting some hiking in my itinerary. Panchase is a great opportunity when you don’t have the budget or time for the more rugged and expensive Annapurna Circuit. During high season, this trek requires just moderate fitness and gives you panoramic views of the Himalayas through jungles. It has small villages, where hikers stay overnight at teahouses with meals. However, nothing on the internet warned us about the consequences of hiking during the early monsoon season. We rationalize that May is a transitional time and not monsoon season yet.
Our Guide, Mahesh and his son meet us early the first day to start our adventure. Mahesh set up our lodging and arranged for an itinerary to do the trek in 4 days. Our journey launches lightheartedly on the colorful paddle boats to the trail on the other side of Lake Phewa. It feels refreshing to kick off a hike with a short boat ride. The first day we climb approximately 1530 metres in elevation to the village, Bumdi.
Nepal Teahouse Trek – World Peace Pagoda
After the paddle boat ride across the lake, we walk up the stone stairs through a lush forest to our first destination: the 3600 foot (1100 meters) high World Peace Pagoda. This Buddhist monument, Shanti Stupa is one of the 80 Peace Pagodas worldwide, all built by Japanese monks to unify the universal message for peace. The area is surrounded by colorful flower gardens and panoramic views of Phewa Lake below.
Our next stop is lunch outside at the Himalayan Viewpoint Restaurant. Here, we savor a spicy chicken curry dish with vegetable Momo’s. (Nepalese dumplings) We enjoy the panoramic view of Phewa Lake, 3600 feet below (1100 meters) and Pokhara Valley. The overcast skies hide the Annapurna Range, which are famous for their reflection on Lake Phewa on a clear day. It’s a tease being in this region this time of year, missing out on these mystical reflections best seen in autumn, knowing the mountain giants are lurking behind those clouds.
After settling in and savoring the whole experience, we reluctantly get up to move on. An up and back trip, just taking the boat across the Lake and hiking to the World Peace Pagoda, lunch at the Himalayan View Restaurant makes for an awesome day trip. Little did we know that this was the apex of our experience, and things were soon to spiral downwards into dire consequences.
Rural Villages and Friendly People Along the Way
Next, we head towards our Teahouse, aiming to arrive before sunset. We walk through villages waving to the local people as we pass by seeing water buffaloes, goats, terraced rice paddy fields, and flower gardens. Also, we see quirky scenarios like a chair on wheel (makeshift wheelchair) hanging from a tree. This is what I love about Nepal. Amidst majestic scenery are organic lifestyles with the most humble and friendly people bowing to say “Namaste.” There is a genuine, heartwarming quirkiness that is so refreshing to experience in the countryside. (In Nepal 66% of the people are farmers) Continuing on, it’s haunting to look back and see the white World Peace Pagoda now looking small below us amidst the misty, emerald hills.
We walk up a road enjoying the views and company of 4, till it starts to rain and then torrentially pour on us. Pulling out the umbrellas and rain ponchos, we then take cover under a shed’s metal roof with some locals. Anxiously, we watch the downpour, waiting for it to slow down.
After letting up a little, we take off in the rain to finally reach our teahouse for food and rest. Approaching, I feel an intimate sense of community, interwoven throughout the lush hillsides up stone steps past gardens, flowers, and small houses. I feel welcomed and delighted that our teahouse is so charming, as neatly painted white with green trim. It’s framed by fuchsia bougainvillea and flowers planted in hanging plastic bottles in upcycled pots along a cozy front porch. It looks out over the fog lingering below in the green, picturesque valley.
Comfortable Stay at our Teahouse
Debbie and I settle in our room, changing into dry clothes and checking out our intriguing, screened beds. We enjoy a nice warm, home-cooked meal and tea from the host family and hear many stories about their local traditions. However, I notice a man walk in front of the porch, laughing as he flicks a leech off his leg. This gives me a creepy sense of dread, but nervously I laugh it off. We turn in and sleep quite well in our screened womb, even though we find a monster spider, disappearing inside our room.
We wake up early the next day to a misty morning and set off on our wet journey. Today, we will walk through a jungle, and the forecast is rain. It seems the monsoon season is starting early this year and, unfortunately, we are about to learn the consequences.
Our teahouse host, a petite-elderly woman offers us a sweet ritual, wishing for a safe journey with prayer and flower. We start off making our way up and out of this community, toward the highpoint for a sunset at the Panchase Hill. Walking for an hour, we begin to notice leeches mostly on the ground greeting us, by reaching upward to grab onto our shoes.
Showers, Leeches and Stones, Oh My….
As we get deeper into the rainforest the leeches exponentially multiply. My friend and I get concerned, as leeches uncontrollably cling to our shoes, crawling in the holes to relentlessly suck our blood. Mahesh stops us, attempting to use salt-wrapped in a pouch on a stick to flick them off. Initially, this slightly helps. But then, we become overwhelmed as the leeches continue to multiply and appear from everywhere from the ground and trees. To make matters worse, the rain exasperates our risky path with wet stones getting more slippery. My friend Debbie says half-jokingly, “This feels like an alien invasion.” Our humor is beginning to get buried in fear.
Mahesh’s son is the first to strike a calamity omen. Stepping down on wet boulders, he haphazardly slips, barely catching himself from a crash onto the hard surface. I feel a chill run up my spine and anxiety raising to an uncontrollable level. Frantically, we just want to finish the day, starting to walk faster on these slippery stones to get away from the leeches everywhere. It truly is beginning to feel like a nightmare. I feel myself slipping away into the surreal realm of utter panic and fear, desperate for this to end. I helplessly feel myself spinning out of control, with no respite to regroup, as everywhere I turn are leeches or slippery granite rocks.
Leeches Up Close & Personal
These Nepali leeches are very small, less than an inch long and thin enough to wiggle through the holes in your shoes. They seem to invade from everywhere. All of our ankles are bleeding and the salt pouch on the futile stick is forgotten. The leeches are multiplying more and more, as we go further into the jungle. Our attitude is that the only way out is through, and we march on battling the leeches. Truly, this is the closest thing, that I have lived to a conscious nightmare. I can’t believe this is happening, beyond my deepest, unimaginable fears.
Turning Point – Breaking my Arm
Then, as I am frantically walking on, I haphazardly step in a large pile of fresh water buffalo shit. This final blow to the perfect storm would have been funny if it wasn’t so unfortunate, as it oozes around all sides of my right shoe. Nothing will make your shoe more slippery than manure on the wet rocks. Feeling more and more closed in, there is no place to clean off the shoe because leeches are everywhere. Anyone, can see what is coming here. Not long after this, I step down on a wet boulder and my right foot slips, hurling my entire body uncontrollably midair, coming down on the hard granite with 100% impact onto my left shoulder/humerus. The impact and crushing pain is unfathomable. I know immediately that my arm is broken. Finally, some finality, so that I have no choice but to pull myself together.
Shocked into a horrible reality, I scream, knowing that my arm is broken or shoulder dislocated! We collect ourselves quickly and deliriously march on, anyway. Dumbstruck with shock and fear, I stumble on…Our attitude is that the only way out is through. Finally, after about 10 torturous minutes I stop everyone to surrender. I realize I need a ride to a hospital and am unable to walk my way out of this one. I ask Mahesh where a hospital would be more accessible, going forward or backwards. He advises that we turn around, and he calls on his cell phone to contact an ambulance to meet us at the end of the road. However, we still need to backtrack 3 long miles with my broken arm on slippery rocks with infinite leeches. It feels as though everything is collapsing around us, forcing us into a strange, otherworldly experience.
Nepal Teahouse Trek – Channeling my “Inner Badass”
Here, is where I am super proud of myself. Tapping deep into my unconscious wellspring, I find my inner badass. We all know that feeling when things are snowballing out of control. Stopping yourself to regain control and rationale seems insurmountable. However, pull myself together I did. As, we stand there collecting ourselves, my friend Debbie slips and falls to the ground, not hurting herself. But this warns us again how slippery everything is everywhere.
My inner badass first creates a makeshift “McGyver” arm sling out of a yarn water bottle holder to hang around my neck. Then, I take 2 ibuprofen and eat a snicker and march on. Inevitably, at this frantic pace I soon slip and fall again. This is where I stop myself to truly get a grip, as the reality begins to surface, that I could come out of here with more than a broken arm if I don’t focus.
I dramatically mock Scarlet from Gone with the Wind who famously said, “If God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.” Similarly, I proclaim to the group, “I am going suuuper slow, as I will NOT fall again!”
Realistically, I foresee that this could become even more tragic, if I fell and broke a hip or the like. I stop the roller coaster ride with my own monologue: Get a grip, Trudy now!!!! Way to go with the inner badass self-talk!!
Mahesh offers to carry me, but I know this is not realistic. Then he could fall and break both of us into pieces. So, I decisively surrender to the leeches. I rationalize that they will help me not develop clots from my broken arm. We march on slowly and gingerly. Bracing for support or crawling down with one broken arm, I take no more chance with the slippery unknown. At a leech’s pace, I inch my way back with my broken, dangling painful arm for about 2-3 hours to the ambulance on the road.
Ambulance Ride Back to Pokhara
Finally, we arrive to a rickety, faded-red ambulance. This glorious sight for sore eyes looks like some 50’s Red Cross vehicle. But it works and is worth every penny of the $30 fee. I sit in the front seat. Then, I angrily scream to Mahesh, “Take off my shoes and socks and clean all the leeches off of me. I never want to see those fu#*!ing shoes again.” Leaving my shoes behind, we make our way on the bumpy road. I frequently scream in pain, feeling every bump and pothole. Here, is where I let loose and act like a baby. Finally, it’s OK for me to let my guard down and just be a victim. Wahhhh…
After a 30-minute ride back to Pokhara, I go to the hospital for an x-ray. The doctor says that I can wait to treat back in the U.S. My shoulder wasn’t dislocated and my crack in the humerus probably would heal on its own without a pin or surgery. Thankfully, my friend sends my x-ray to her Orthopedic Physician friend back in the U.S. He confirms that I probably would be fine to wait.
So, with 5 days left for my plane flight, I rest in Pokhara before making the arduous journey back to Seattle. My ankles continue to bleed until the next morning from the ghost of leeches. Leeches inject an anticoagulant when they puncture the skin, leaving you bleeding for hours, even after pulling them off.
R & R in Pokhara for 5 Days
I contemplate spending a lot of money on a plane ticket to leave right away. However, I am so traumatized, that I need those 5 days to rest and rejuvenate for the long plane flights home. Every day I do acupuncture on myself and eat super healthy. We slowly gain a sense of humor about the worst nightmare of our lives. My friend is super helpful. I buy shirts that buttons up the front and learn to care for myself with one arm.
There is a happy ending to all this. After the 22-hour flight back to Seattle, I make it straight to the doctor. Afterwards, I religiously do my physical and occupational therapy. After 6 weeks of resting my arm, I spend almost 2 hours a day for 4 months, stretching and strengthening my arm to ensure an arm that recovered almost 100%.
Afterword – Nepal Teahouse Trek
Reading this you may question, why didn’t we know about the leeches ahead of time? Why didn’t we research this more? Everything we read on the internet mentioned the Panchase Trek with glowing reviews during its high season. Comments made it seem like a walk in the park for everyone, including families. Nothing was ever mentioned in any reviews about the leeches during monsoon season on this trek. However, we learned the hard way about leeches.
In this region, because the Himalayas block the clouds all spring and summer, monsoons downpour from May-Sept. From the elevation of these jungles, it’s the ideal climate for leeches during monsoon season. Since this happened, I talked with many friends having leeches’ stories in India, Nepal, Thailand and Philippines. If this article saves 1 person from an unexpected leeches nightmare, I have done my good deed.
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