My first test in the Manaslu Circuit Trek as a porter

My first test in the Manaslu Circuit Trek as a porter

I was born and grew up in a village called Thulo Parsel. I am the second child in my family and in the end, I have 2 more brothers and 1 sister in my family so we had the 6 members in our family. As born in a poor family when I was 4 or 5 years old I need to help my parents in the field and other work around the home. As well as I have to go to school to learn ABCD and Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha, Nga.

Time was passing smoothly and I had just joined in the teenager. At the age of 14, I and my older brother went together as a porter on the Manaslu Circuit Trek. That time not only we two, but there were also so many other young people were going as the porter. At first, I was so excited and nervous because that was the first time I am going to be in Kathmandu.

After we reached Kathmandu we stayed in our uncle’s place nearby Kathmandu Durbar Square. We slept there for two nights and the next day i started my first journey to the Himalayas as a porter. We were traveling on the bus and there was a full bus because that was the camping trek and there were so many Nepalese people working as the Sardar, guides, cooks, kitchen helpers, and porters. I was in the category of one of the porters and the first-timer.

That first night was a kind of a nightmare for me because the very first time I was very far from my home. Because of the over-excited and the environment of the surrounding, I did not sleep that well. I saw so many tents were there for different people and so much other equipment those needed for that trek. As I recalled now that place is called Suntala Ghari nearby Gorkha Bazar.

The next day in the morning time around 6 to 7 o clock all the guides are preparing to load for all the porters. All the porters they are choosing what they want to carry and I chose a drum with a lot of chocolate (I knew later that was chocolate). I carried the heavy drum and they added something more and there was my own equipment. I think the total load was around 40 KG I have to carry for the next 20 days. But that will be less and less every day because they will use that every day.

The first day of carrying the 40 KG was fine but I got blisters on my back, which I realized in the evening. And I was worried about the next day but I don’t have a choice for the next day. However, I carried the same load again the next day. In the beginning, the blisters were hurting me, and my head also paining because we used to carry the load by the head. And similarly, time was passing and our team was getting close to our destination.

The best memory of that trek was the porter’s eating system. Porters have to cook by themselves and wash the big dice by themselves. And there were several teams to cook food every day. I was on one of those teams. We have to collect wood and build a stone stove every time before we cook. When food was ready there were 35 people to eat that and sometimes someone did not get enough food to eat and they got very angry with that particular cooking team.

The second best memory of that trek was every evening everyone got together to sing and dance and sometimes the locals are also joining. About the singing and dancing memory of that trek was the last day we celebrate in a place called Bulbule. That day porters don’t have to cook and they can eat meat and good food on that day. My experience was I chose to drink beer because I don’t know that was alcohol. I just chose the big one. And in the end, we got 500 rupees tips.

My third beautiful experience was I touched snow for the first time. That was at the Dharmasala just before the Larke La Pass. I was looking and searching for snow from 3, 4 days back and I found at that day a little bit. But after the pass when we slept at Bimthang and the next day woke up there was more than 1-meter fresh snow. That was my first fresh snow to touch and I touched it. We made a snowman and play as much as I can but I forget that I have to carry a load and walk to the next place.

After a few hours of snow playing, everyone packed their load and start to walk. I also follow them on the snow which was a bit fun and more stressful because the trail was very slippery. I felt we were very lucky that I got heavy snow after we pass the Larke La. Otherwise the trail to  Bimtahng from Dharmasala will be very taught. Even nowadays that trail is much taught to walk.

My first test of the mountain as a porter was fun, entertaining, learning, earning, and many more. Because I got to know so many other people, I been in the Himalayas, I learn so English words, and of course, I earn 4600 rupees. At that time the porter’s wage was just 200 rupees per day and that trek was 22 days and the company add for one more day. So that in total I earned 4600 plus 500 rupees tips.