You might have missed my series of Snowman Selfies I took with my XShot camera extender if we’re not Facebook friends (and if not, why not?). Here’s the abbreviated version of photos from our 25-day trek:
Day 1. Boy, I look happy! It was a warm, sunny day when we headed out. Behind me are some of the 30 ponies that accompanied our group.
The ponies were loaded up each day with all of our personal gear, tents and food. Each morning we would depart while our horsemen (there were 5 or 6) and cooks and porters (3) would pack everything up. They were so fast that they would pass us on the trail and have everything set up at camp by the time we arrived later in the day.
That warm, sunny first day didn’t last long. On Day 2 we had rain, rain, rain. About 36 hours worth. And that led to mud, mud, mud. Really for the first week we had to slog through a lot of muddy trails.
I love snow. And I think that’s why I look so happy here. Surely I was cold as I wasn’t yet wearing my North Face puffy coat or Canada Goose rain jacket, only an Icebreaker hoodie and a poncho. But there was snow! The first time on the trek. So that made my day.
We had a rest day on Day 11 and… I got to wash my hair in our shower tent for the first time! (Actually, I attempted to bucket-wash my hair on Day 3 but couldn’t get all the shampoo out and it just left my hair feeling greasy.)
This is in the village of Laya, located at about 12,700 feet. Even though we were 11 days in, according to our guide, Tobgay, this is where the trek started (meaning where it started to get difficult).
We were starting to get into some high altitude but were really lucky with many sunny days after that first week of rain and mud.
My favorite photo of the trip. After leaving Laya, we started coming upon these beautiful turquoise lakes. Wow. Just wow.
Yeah. And then it starts getting really cold as we traverse passes as high as about 18,200 feet. I’m now wearing pretty much all of my cold weather gear and my Canada Goose waterproof jacket and IceBreaker balaclava. Brrrrrrr.
We were a cold but happy bunch.
This is another one of my favorite photos. Mainly because it looks so surreal, like there’s a greenscreen behind me with a fake background. But, no, that was real snow.
At the end of the trek we were greeted with a bottle of wine and momo’s (Tibetan dumplings, my very favorite food in Bhutan!). Look how happy we are!
Jon and I are both returning to Bhutan to do the Snowman Trek in 2016. Incredibly, the tour is already sold out but we have a waiting list in case you’re interested. 🙂
By the way, all of these images were taken with an XShot camera extender. If you want to order your own on the XShot website, you can get $5 off by using the code “wanderlust&xshot”.
Be Bold,
Beth
Do you read blogs in Feedly? Click here to add this blog to your Feedly reader.
Leave a Reply