Nepal 2025 - Day 8: Rest Day - Side trip to the Tibetan border

 Side trip to Tibetan border (Layung La)

Whatever I had read about this side trip mostly pointed out the tough terrain, steep climb, notorious scree sections and slippery descends, however, the rewards actually overweighed the cons by a lot so it was a no-brainer for me to not explore it. I don't think there is any other trek which offers the opportunity to be right on the Tibetan frontier in Nepal.

Woke up at around 5 in the morning and I was ready to move by 6 but our packed lunch was delayed. It was quite frustrating as it was just boiled potatoes again. After a big bowl of porridge, we left at around 7.30 so we missed out on making some ground in the beautiful weather that morning. Hassan and Sohom decided to use the rest day.

The start of the trek leads you through the same path that we would take the next day going up to Dharamsala. We crossed the village and dropped down to a Mani wall which took us to Larkya Bazaar after crossing a bridge. The open fields of the Bazaar were dominated by the might Naike peak in it's background.

As we moved ahead on this gradual trail, after 20 mins, the trail broke away from the Circuit trail and lead us into the Larkye Danda valley. Although this was supposed to be a tough climb, I was pleasantly surprised at the gradual altitude increase as we moved further up along the banks of the river. The towering monoliths grew bigger and closer we have ever been to them. This was making it a very pleasurable excursion. 

We crossed a wooden bridge after going through a few switchbacks and gaining 300m, we stepped into a beautiful valley with multiple peaks surrounding us. One of the guide from another group informed us that these were the Tibetan peaks of Cheo and Pawar Himal which marked the border to the Annapurna West. Unfortunately, the clouds prevented us from viewing the whole magnificence of this valley. 

We walked another 3km into this beautiful valley which gradually increased in elevation and across a scree section. This was the only tricky part of the trail so far that we had encountered, however, we couldn't help wonder what would rain do to this section on our return. While pondering over this, we saw a herd of Himalayan Tahr casually navigating this without any fuss. Nature is wonderful, isn't it?

We eventually came across a river which we crossed and took a well earned break. It was only going to be steep from hereon as the map was pointing to us. And since this was Jangbu's first time to the border, he had no shortcuts to offer. We had our share of potatoes and climbed a very steep section to get to a flatter section of the trail. After 10 mins into this trail, we saw some prayer flags and cairns marking the route. We could tell that it wouldn't be easy as it was the steepest climb that we had come across yet on this circuit. We laboured on motivating each other and also watching the old group we saw from a couple of days ago moving at a very steady pace made us push forward. The final section once you cross the boulders was a slippery affair. Loose soil and scree made it a difficult surface to get a grip on so it was mostly on our toes for the final 50m. Loose wrappers and bottles with Mandarin text littered across this section indicated that we were just about there.

  And then we made it, we could see the border fence initially marked by stones and then a proper barb wire. We marched our way up the slippery scree and finally we were looking at the fence and the Chinese soldiers guarding that side. My "Ni Hao" to them was greeted by "Tashi Delek". It was fascinating to see a full motorable road the Chinese had built till the pass and surrounding peaks. Their  motorbikes were proudly displayed. 

We spent about 30 mins at the pass getting our pictures and just soaking up the moment. The Tibetan peaks on the other side briefly showed themselves before a cold blizzard came up from the valley which sent everyone running to add their layers and gloves. There was a sudden rush to get down the valley as it got extremely cold within 10 mins. On the way, we got to see the Fukang glacier for a couple of minutes.

We really pushed the pace to get down to Samdo but with better weather, I wouldn't have minded another couple of hours on that trail admiring the scenic beauty. We got back to Samdo around 4 and thoroughly treated ourselves to some desserts from the bakery once again. Jangbu was very happy that we decided to take this route as it was his first time as well. 

Dinner was disappointing again but we didn't really care. All the people who made this journey had a smile across their faces and that's what really mattered. We were a day away from crossing the Larkye Pass and this was the best prep for it.