Our group (6 people): A young American/Singaporean girl with whom I shared the tent. Very sportive, did many marathons. A young American couple – both TV producers (not really hikers but sportive overall). Two experienced older male hikers from the US.

 

Day 1: Londorossi gate to Mt Mkumba (2’785m)

2.5 hours of walking, 6 hours of bus and waiting around.

We arrived by bus from Arusha – it took us 4 hours (we left at 9am and got to the gate at 1pm). Another 2 hours at the gate to sign in (you need to have a passport number for this, no need for the passport itself) and for the porters to weigh all the bags – porters are not allowed to carry more than 20kg: 15kg of a client bag and 5kg of their own. We had three porters for each of us, some carried food and others carried tents. With us were three guides who would lead us up the mountain.
At the gate, we had a very poor lunch: just cucumbers, avocados (only 1/5 each), bananas and white bread. After the 2 hour wait we drove 20 min in a bus and started to walk (we should have driven further but there was deep water from the previous day rain which we could not cross). Just 15 minutes into our hike, it started to rain. It was no ordinary rain – this was a heavy rain: Within minutes I was completely soaked – my boots, rain jacket – everything was completely drenched. Fortunately, at this time, we were still in the lower altitudes and it was rather warm at around 20°C. The hike was on a steep and very wet dirt path in the rainforest. At one point, I saw a monkey with a big bushy tail taking cover from the rain in a tree. The rain was so heavy that making photo was not possible.

Upon arrival to the camp, I discovered the importance of bringing tested waterproof gear (my rain jacket and hiking boots were not tested in such a rain before and got completely soaked). In general, I would recommend bringing a rain poncho that covers your backpack too instead of a rain jacket. Most of the porters and our guides brought umbrellas. We laughed at it at first, but as it turned out, it wasn’t such a bad idea. With heavy rain and the slow pace, the umbrella protects your head, backpack and body.
That night was the first time ever in my life to sleep in a tent. I love hiking but I prefer and choose comfortable living. I don’t mind walking an extra 10-20km to find a bed and a shower. As it turned out, sleeping in a tent was completely fine for me – it was very low and small but ok.

First night was spent in the rainforest: the night was rather warm and it finally stopped to rain.

 

Day 2: Mt Mkumba to Shira camp (3’504m).

Approx. 8km, 5 hours, easy.

Clothes: 3/4 quarters pants, t-shirt and a windbreaker.

Breakfast was ok, we had porridge, eggs, pancakes/chapati (chapati is a kind of flat bread), peanut butter, jam and bananas. In the morning, the weather was usually nice: sunny and warm. We walked 1 hour through the rainforest. It was always rather annoying to walk in the morning as 1000 of porters were overtaking you and you needed to wait. When we got out of the rainforest to the savannah, we walked in tall grass and on volcanic stones. It was a nice day especially as it did not rain. Until noon, it was sunny and then it got a bit cloudy with a few raindrops in the afternoon. First, I walked with plastic bags inside of my shoes as my leather-hiking boots were still wet from the day before, but with the sun and the wind, they dried up in three hours. The weather stayed dry over the next days but because of the first day, I had rented a heavy and smelly rain poncho.
We had lunch on the way and arrived at the camp around 4pm. It had spectacular views of Kilimanjaro. This was a nice day.

 

Day 3: Shira camp to Moir camp (4’155m)

14km, 5-7 hours, easy.

Clothes: 3/4 quarters pants, t-shirt and a windbreaker. Later I needed my merino pullover.

The walk was flat for a long time crossing the huge Shira crater. Shira is the oldest of Kilimanjaro’s three volcanos. We had one hour of sun and the rest of the day it was cloudy.

That evening it was New Year’s Eve. We had dinner early at 5:30pm: exceptionally it was a kind of pizza and soup. Usually we didn’t get a lot of food but that day there was enough. I ate too many peanuts before dinner (every day at 4pm we had popcorn and peanuts as an appetizer). The pizza was not great and it was definitely the simplest New Year’s Eve dinner of my life. The location was making up for it though. It was a mystic atmosphere with a rather foggy and cloudy camp in a volcanic landscape.

That New Year’s night we went to bed at 9:00pm but I woke up at 11pm (as nature called, and had to go a separate toilet tent) and I wasn’t able to fall asleep again. At the stroke of midnight, shouts, songs and rockets rang out in the night. I got out and was met by a fantastic sky with so many stars. I could see people from other groups, drinking and dancing but nothing going on in our group (boring…). After a half an hour, my tent mate joined me outside and we ended up going to another group and danced a bit. What an experience: dancing with strangers on New Year’s Eve under the stars on Kilimanjaro. It was fun. It was also the first New Year’s Eve in the past 20 years without any alcohol… But despite this, I never felt as bad as I did the next day…

 

1.1.2019: Day 4: Moir camp to Barranco camp (3’986m)
Approx. 7 km, first we came to the Lava Tower camp 4600m and then down to Barranco camp at 3’968m. The worst day for me.

Clothes: 3/4 quarter pants, a t-shirt, a merino pullover and a windbreaker. Later I put on merino 3/4 pants, another merino pullover, a hat and gloves.

I did not sleep well that night – not easy to fall asleep after dancing at 1am.

I woke up at 6:30am as usual. Got a big bucket of warm water and washed my hair with shampoo and a conditioner. My tent mate helped me. I felt very happy about being able to wash my hair and I took many photos that morning.
The happiness feeling changed quickly…

I made four big mistakes that day:

• I took a pill against constipation the night before (normally I can take two pills without any reaction). I don‘t know why but it provoked a strong ‘traveller’s disease’ in the afternoon (actually I discovered later that high altitude increases the effect of anti-constipation pills – so be careful). That meant I was dehydrated, and as anyone can tell you dehydration and high altitude is not a good combination.
• I washed my hair – it was a sunny day in the morning but there was a strong cold wind and I did not put on a hat, so my head and ears were aching and feeling weird in the evening (always protect your head from the wind).
  I took many photos in the beginning of the hike and afterwards always paced to catch up with the others. Never walk fast in high altitude! This also contributed to my altitude sickness.
• I did not drink enough fluid in the morning and brought only 1.5 litres with me for the 3 hours hike until lunch.

Therefore, after 2 hours of hiking I started to have a slight headache, which grew stronger and stronger. Then I started to feel nauseated and dizzy. We arrived at Lava Tower camp (4’600m) after 3-4 hours for lunch. I felt very bad. I could not eat anything. Then ‘traveller’s disease’ started. The following walk down to Barranca camp was a nightmare: I started feeling sick, headache, turning head and I got the hiccups. The view was great with nice trees (like big pineapples) but I did not care, I just wanted to arrive somewhere.

My altitude sickness got even worse in the afternoon. I started to have high altitude cerebral oedema (HACE) – a severe form of altitude sickness. It’s a swelling of the brain caused by a lack of oxygen. The symptoms of HACE are loss of coordination, feeling confused and hallucinations. Everything seemed to be very far away, like in a movie, like it‘s not happening to me. It’s a similar feeling like just before you lose consciousness. It actually means that your brain does not function properly (brain swells with fluid) and normally you need to descent immediately as it can provoke a chain reaction of serious incidents, like coma and even death. So if you have such symptoms, descend immediately at least 1000m down, rest and see how you feel. Don’t listen to the guides who tell you “Hakuna matata”, they do not always understand how you feel (and they are not trained medical professionals) and they are encouraged by agencies to bring people to the top, almost no matter what…
I got very scared and wanted to stop my hike altogether and go all the way down the mountain. The others were not really supporting me including the guides. A very different experience from my Nepal hikes where the guides wanted to bring you down immediately if you felt even minor altitude sickness symptoms… I think they also did not understand how bad I felt. I did not know how bad it was myself. Had I known about HACE at the time, I would go down for sure. I felt like if I lied in a tent I would just die and nobody would notice. Crazy! I could not eat any dinner (had no appetite). I took anti diarrhoea pill in the evening, drank many electrolytes (4 packages). Our guide was sure that I would feel better the next morning but I was very scared to go to sleep and not to wake up again. The scariest was that I had impaired hearing; everything was far away, my head was spinning and I had this weird feeling like I’m watching a movie. It felt like I was about to lose the consciousness…
I went to bed at 7:30pm and during the night; I woke up every 1.5 -2 hours having to go to the bathroom to micturate (wee)…a lot. Apparently, this is one of the side effects of how your body is adjusting to the altitude. Altitude pills like Diamox actually provoke an intensive micturation. It’s incredible how our bodies can adjust to the environment… Now my body was doing the same even without Diamox. At around midnight, I started to feel much better.

 

Day 5: Barranco to Karanga camp.
Slept at 4’034m, 3.2km 5-6 hours.

Clothes: 2 merino pullovers, long hiking pants and a windbreaker. Also gloves and a hat.

I was feeling very good (as a contrast to the previous day), even before I took a Diamox pill. My body somehow adjusted to the altitude by itself. In any case, I took Diamox (it’s a medicine, which should help prevent altitude sickness. Some claim that there are many side effects; some say that it does not really have any effect at all. I don’t know. I did not feel anything. After the horrible experience the day before I decided to take it. I was taking half of a 250mg Diamox pill (morning and evening after food with 12 hours in between). So only 2 pills in total during the whole climb as I just started 2 days before the summit.

It was a cloudy and rather cold day. We climbed the Barranco wall. It is not dangerous at all even though you need to use your hands a bit. It was a horrendous traffic jam with hordes of porters, combined with a very narrow path. At one point, we waited 30 min just for porters to pass. Views were ok but not very exciting. After the steep Barranco wall, we entered what I would describe as a “moon” landscape with volcano rocks and shrubs on the way to the Karanga camp. It was a short day, arriving at the camp at 2pm where we had lunch and I went to read a book in my tent. This was a nice change to a hectic day – just to lie, relax and read. It was cloudy and foggy outside so the tent was not hot. Dinner was at 7pm and I had too much, which meant I couldn’t fall asleep until around 10:30pm.

That night I was not sleeping well. My tent mate woke me up three times and I had trouble falling asleep afterwards. When I did sleep, I had a weird dream…Almost everybody had weird dreams that night – it’s the effect of altitude.

 

Day 6: Karanga camp to Kosovo camp (base camp at 4’876m).
Approx. 3.5km, 4.5 hours

Clothes: long pants, a light merino pullover at first, later a windproof jacket was needed. During the last hour I also put on rainproof pants for wind breaking and an additional pullover, a bit too late though as I was already frozen.

It was my second day on Diamox. I still did not feel any effect (good or bad).

The day started with a beautiful view of Kili. We did 950m altitude gain in 4.5 hours (with short breaks) a total of 5.7 km. Very slowly (pole pole). I took hundreds of photos. I always walked last with one guide. First, it was very hot (I was in a light merino pullover); at around 10am a very strong and cold wind changed the weather situation. I was not fast enough to change into the correct gear so I was a bit afraid that I caught a cold. It was rather tough.

We went to the base camp at 4’876m and had lunch there. Most people staying 200m below in the Barafu camp but it’s better to stay where we were as you avoid an extra 40min steep climb in the summit night. I didn‘t feel any altitude issues but that day I walked slowly and drank a lot. In fact, I drank 5 litres during the day.
Upon arrival, my knees and my lower back were hurting a bit, so getting my backpack off was a big relief.

We had lunch when we arrived to the camp – at 2pm. The wind was so strong that our lunch tent collapsed. We moved to the smaller tents after lunch and even though the wind was strong, the sun made it very hot in there.

We then prepared for the summit night, charged everything and had dinner at 5pm. I ate a lot for both lunch and dinner as I knew I would need my strength for the summit night. I took 1/2 pill of Diamox.

I slept rather ok (from 7pm to 11pm) despite a strong wind that was nearly ripping our tent apart.

I thought that the summit ascent would be cancelled because of the weather but the guide told that it‘s never cancelled as it‘s not dangerous per se.

Even so, the wind was rough and our guide with 30+ years of experience said that he had only experienced something similar once before!

 

Day 7: Summit Day: Kosovo (4’876m) to Summit (5’895m) to Mweka camp (3’110m)

1000m up and almost 3000m!!!! down. Approx. 21km: 5km up and 12km down, the rest more or less flat.

Summit night: we woke up at 11pm and got dressed. I was partly dressed during the night to keep me warm. Being cold the day before, I decided I would put on the correct gear today: a sport bra, merino t-shirt, 3 thin merino pullovers and a fleece. My Patagonia down-jacket (thin, I need to have a thicker one next time) and a rain jacket (as a windbreaker). In my socks I put two chemical hand-warmer packages to keep warm, bandages for knees, one merino 3/4 underwear, one long medium merino pants, long hiking pants and rain pants for wind breaking. Head: merino buff, merino hat on the head and two hoods. I also wore thin merino gloves underneath skiing gloves and hand-warmer packages.

Tea and biscuits were served (just 2 pp as usual – not enough food). I had 3 cups of tea. They told me that you don’t get any other food before the ascent as it could make you sick.

At midnight, we started our ascent. It was insanely cold and with a wind a chill factor of -40°C, it really put you through the wringer. You could feel it in your bones and at times, it felt as if the wind would blow you off the mountain. It wasn’t long before I had to put away my hiking poles, as I needed to keep my hands warm. Soon, I was completely frozen.

With 6.5 hours walking in the dark (sunrise isn’t until 6:30am) and being extremely cold, our guide gave me 4 more hand warmers which I put in my boots and gloves. That gave me one hour of temporary relief.
If you are going to do this trip, check my packing list, as you need to come prepared. However, a thicker parka, warm long underwear, warm skiing socks, big skiing mittens (not gloves) and at least 8 hand warmers are needed!

Practicality when nature calls: For this ascent/descent, with strong winds and an endless array of people all with headlamps, going to the bathroom becomes difficult. I tried to find a suitable place where no one could see me, but in the end, it was just too cold even to take off my gloves.

On this trip another problem occurred. The guides suggested to bring two litres of water (they carry your water for you). You then bring 1 litre yourself (3 litres in total, which is needed for this 9 hour hike). However, the guide who carried my thermoses of water was either far behind or in the front – so I could not get my water. My own bottle was a filter, which froze almost immediately, so in the 9 hours I got less than a litre of fluid. This taught me to bring thermoses or wide-mouth bottles yourself (see my packing list for more info and recommendations).

We walked very slowly up. Almost without stops as it was just too cold to stop. Somewhere around half way up the climb, I started to feel slightly nauseated so I did not eat my snacks at all. All I had was two nut bars but not until we arrived at the camp 9 hours later. This was very hard! The stormy winds made it almost unbearable. My feet, hands and even my core was frozen. The hand warmers helped but only for 30 min/1 hour. We arrived to Stella point at 5:30am. We were a group of three that arrived 30 minutes ahead of everyone else. My tent mate and I hugged and could not stop crying from happiness or relief…maybe both. We thought we had reached the top as our guide also joined in on the hugs and said that we are strong women and then he dropped the bomb…
”We have another 40 min to Uhuru point”! Crazy! It was not the end…the disappointment hit harder than the stormy mountain winds.

The walk from Stella to Uhuru was very tough even though it was not steep at all. With the chilling colds and the strong winds, I had problems with breathing and was slightly nauseated.
We finally arrived at Uhuru point at 6:30am. It was a beautiful sunrise: the sun gave the clouds a red hue but taking photos was impossible, as you would surely get a frostbite just by taking off your gloves. At the summit, I did try to take a photo with my phone but my hands froze immediately to the point where I could not feel them at all and the pain were excruciating and almost making me cry. It was so bad that I had to go to one of the guides to warm my hands in his much thicker jacket. I asked him to take a photo with my phone next to the summit sign – instead he put my phone in his pocket and left. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one freezing!
I didn’t get my phone or water until I later reached the camp. So annoying. With no phone and no water, I did manage to take a crummy photo using my camera that had a frozen lens….

The views on the top of Kilimanjaro are simply amazing. With breath taking views on Kilimanjaro crater (very big and flat), nice views on other volcanos and the nice Kilimanjaro glacier. It is the local’s belief that the volcano will not erupt as long as the glacier is there. However, the glacier is very small and getting smaller… Some studies say that there will be no glaciers anywhere on the globe by 2050 unless we act now…I guess this is a different blog! However, disappearing glaciers might mean we will see Kilimanjaro erupting one day.

Everyone in my group and everyone else as well, walked up as fast as they could to the summit sign and then went immediately down. Because of the wind, no shelter, and the immense cold, it was impossible to stay long on the top. I think I must have stayed for 20 minutes, as I wanted to make photos and look around. I was by far the last in our group to go down. One guide stayed with me (of course not the one who had my water and my phone). Therefore, I went down without any water. It was very tough. It’s a sliding rock/sand path and I would suggest putting on gaiters in order not to get small stones in your boots. The descent took me about 2.5 hours.

When I finally made it to Kosovo camp our toilet tent was broken! After 9 hours of not being able to go to the bathroom, this was not what I wanted to hear. The zipper could not close so two people would hold it together as you are inside…so much for privacy.
We had 1 hour to pack our duffel bags and it took us 30 minutes to go down to a lower camp where we had lunch in a hut from hell (at least it felt like hell for a germophobe like me)!
I counted 10 mice running around and one lying dead on the floor. It was dirty all over with eight broken double decker beds in a room of 3 by 3 meter. We sat on these horrible broken beds and ate our lunch. You should definitely lower your hygiene standards when you come here.

After lunch, we started our never-ending descent to Mweka camp. My poor knees did not like this long hike going down. We arrived to Mweka camp at around 6pm and this crazy hiking day started at midnight! I am not sure I understand why we could not spend the night at High Camp, as it is located 1500m before the Mweka and the day after was a short walk anyway. Do check this with your agency and if you can – insist on going down to the High Camp (half way between the base camp and Mweka camp, so you only go down 1’500m and not 3’000m). Our guide gave the reason that you need to go down as much as you can in order for your body to recuperate from the altitude. I believe 1’500m down is sufficient and your knees need to recuperate as well.

Mweka camp at 3’100m is nice as it’s not an open space but has bushes and small trees and each group has its own private spot. We had a dinner at around 7pm. I was expecting a good meal in celebration of making it to the top, but instead it was a very simple meal with no dessert not even fruit. With all the people around, do take extra good care of your valuables.

In the evening, I started to feel pain in my shoulder, which I thought was from carrying my backpack for that many hours. It turned out to be a scratch that was badly infected. The next day half of my neck was hurting like crazy. It wasn’t until I arrived at my hotel and looked in the mirror, that I saw that I had a bubbly infection. I have never had such a thing before in my life but fortunately with some antibiotics cream it was gone after two days. This cream can be tricky to obtain so do bring some with you – it may come in handy.

 

Day 8: From Mweka camp to Mweka gate

10.5km, 1400m down.

Clothes: 3/4 quarter pants, a light t-shirt, a merino pullover (which I took off after 1 hour, as it was warm) and a windbreaker. It was cloudy and cool in the rain forest but got sunny and hot next to the gate and on the bus drive.

I slept very well. It was warm. Nice campsite. We woke up at 7am, and had breakfast as usual and we tipped our porters and guides. Suggestion was USD 250-300 pp.

I was not happy with the overall service: there was no drinking water provided next to the dining tent, no water to wash hands, no tea on the summit night, no help with backpacks (people in other groups (even with the same company) had all these extras). I anyway tipped them USD 250.

Upon departure, all the guides and porters sang and we took some photos together. We then walked 4 hours down (10km, 1400m down) to Mweka gate on 1640m. We saw two chameleons (brown and green on the way, a blue monkey and monkeys with a big tale – but they were too far away for a photo). After the gate, we drove 10 min to a restaurant where we had a cold buffet lunch (as it was brought in from Arusha). I bought some t-shirts there. USD 10 per t-shirt and you can pay by card. It was weird to be back in civilization. Bathrooms were very clean. We got our certificates proving that we climbed Kili (with people singing and playing music). After lunch, we drove 3 hours to our hotel in Arusha.

When I arrived at my hotel, I didn’t rush to take a shower. First thing I did was getting online (nice after 7 days completely off ). I hung my sleeping bag out to dry and didn’t get under the running water until 6pm. It was nice taking a shower but not as nice as people had described it. Yes, it had been one week…
I was also distracted when I saw my infection on the neck and got scared. I imagined the worst and definitely believed it to be a worm inside…

I had a nice dinner with some of the others from the group but you could feel we were all already far away in our thoughts – Kili was over. I had two glasses of red wine, which gave me a killer hangover the next day… It was nice finally having a good quality meal.
I was very happy that it was over in general. Tents, to carry my heavy backpack, dirty toilets, no clean water, dirty hands the whole day, rain, wind, etc. This was so different from my Nepal experience just two months earlier. There I was sad when my 14-day hike was over. Here, well you do Kili not for the journey but for the result! Although I am glad to have done Kilimanjaro, I prefer enjoying the ride and not just getting to a destination. For this reason, it won’t be on my top ten experience list…it is simply too tough to be enjoyable. That being said, in the hours of writing this, I do look back and realize that I did enjoy this trip as a whole and I am glad to check it off my bucket list

– enjoy your trip, good luck and feel free to ask me any questions before embarking on your journey up this iconic volcano.

First full day, Sunday, 10.03.19:
Breakfast was very big: rye bread (something between crackers and rye bread), cinnamon rolls, rice porridge, yogurt, cheese, salami, etc. We also made sandwiches for lunch.
First day we went skiing in the area around the hut: approx. 25km. It was sunny but sometimes very windy. The slopes were not very well prepared, as 50cm of fresh snow had fallen during the night. Along the way, we passed frozen lakes with very nice patterns of snow. For lunch we stopped in a local cute café and I had a tomato soup. Finnish soups contain a lot of cream. They are usually very heavy but tasty.

After skiing, I had my first sauna experience: for Finnish people sauna is veeeery important. Women and men go separately, and you shower before going in. It’s very hot and you add water to get it even hotter. It was nice and relaxing and made me ready for the scrumptious dinner afterwards.

 

Day 2: Monday, 11.03.19:
Next day we packed our luggage and left the house – the luggage was transported by snowmobiles to our next place of sleeping. I was very happy with all that I bought in Switzerland for skiing: especially the overshoes for my skiing boots – they kept my feet warm. In addition, my softshell jacket of Gore (windproof) is ideal. You need to have a jacket with a hood, as it can get very windy (I wore my hood almost all the time).
One of the longest and most difficult days: approx. 35km in total (it was a lot of off-slope: ascent 446m, descent 535m). At first, it was very nice and easy and we were allowed to run fast. I loved it. I was running in front of the group just to get the first peak at a lot of forests and lakes. After 10km, we came to a hut in the middle of nowhere, which was very cute. There were some nice fat birds – Siberian Jays, who will come and eat from your hands if you offer something to eat. I gave them half of my sandwich and a cinnamon roll (I regretted this a bit, as I got very hungry by the end of the day). Afterwards we skied altogether to the National Park visitor centre, where we saw a movie about the park and had lunch (they also had a Wi-Fi, which was the last one we would encounter for a while (there was no Wi-Fi in the huts)). After this we needed to get on our skies and go up to reach the highest point of the day on the fell (=hill) pass (it was very windy). To go down on the other side, we encountered a very steep and icy off-slope. This was a bit scary at times so I took off my skies and walked down, sometimes in waist deep snow. This was a strenuous exercise.
I did not know that „fell“ actually means a hill, so if you do a „fell trek“ – you will need to go a lot up and down. After this tough way down (the most difficult part of the trip), it was no track at all – it was just all off-track, wild, deep snow, through the forest. When we got back to the normal track, I ran fast again. I actually felt ok after these 35km. As I ran fast, I was the first in the hut and could choose the room. 🙂 The hut was much more simple than the first one (we needed to use our sleeping bags), but very warm and with electricity. We were three people in a very small 4-bed room with bunk beds. It was excruciating warm during the night, as we did not see that the heating was set at +25-degrees! My sleeping bag was too warm for it (I brought my bag for -20-degrees, but actually a lighter one would have been enough). We stayed in the same hut for two nights. The sauna there was very small, and as the sauna for Finns is the bathroom as well, this was the only place to shower. Overall, the hut was fine. We had a vegetarian dinner with soya balls, which was surprisingly good.

 

Day 3, Tuesday, 12.03.19:
25km, (454m up and 315m down). It was sunny day with almost no wind. In the morning -25 degrees, then -10/-15. We went to a hill and then climbed up the 300m on skis. It was rather icy on the top but sunny and not windy. On the top, we went to a nice wilderness hut and made grilled sausages – nice and cosy – really loved this experience. Skiing down was easy, especially through the forest (the top icy part I walked. 🙂 After, we had a coffee and cake in a small coffee place, looking like an igloo. Then we went back to the hut and I decided to go by myself to a nearby village – approx. 5 km to and from. It was so nice to ski alone and see the sunset. I loved it. I came back, took a shower and had another good dinner. Tomi (our guide), said that this night was a perfect chance to see the Northern lights, so I decided to practice with the stars first. I put on my warm clothes, getting ready to go outside, and the others in my group thought that it was because of the Northern lights so they got excited and went out with me. 🙂
I thought it was funny and did not tell them that there were no lights outside, just the stars. We went outside and for the first 5 minutes we saw nothing but stars, but then out of the dark, like magic, we saw the Northern lights dancing in sky!! It started as a weak green line but then the show began! What a show! Constantly changing pattern, very bright green light – it was amazing! I was frozen after being outside for 1 hour mostly not wearing any gloves as I took so many photos – I think that’s when I got a minor frostbite, as my fingers were always freezing from that time. In general, you should be very careful with the cold as you can get an irreversible damage to your body – if parts of you are too frozen, you risk that this part of your body will freeze even in warmer temperatures. That evening it was below -30 degrees! I got back, had a tea (it was around 11:15 and everyone else were already in their beds) but I decided to go back out – I just had to see the show one more time and to take more photos. I watched this amazing show of always changing lights alone, far away from the hut (and everything else) on a freezing night in Lapland,…this was a night I will never forget!

 

Day 4, Wednesday, 13.03.19:
34km, 432m up, 376m down. It was partly sunny that day as we went further through the national park to another (but much simpler hut). After a big breakfast, as usual we went for a flat 10-15km in yet another cold morning! With a bit of wind and with an amazing sky of violet, pink, and blue, we skied on a nice path – up and down through the forest. After some time it started to climb and get warmer as we reached our lunch hut – very nice wilderness hut on top of a hill – nice landscape with hills and lonely trees and amazing light on the sky. We ate our sandwiches and I warmed my hands, which were freezing, even though a French gentleman from the group gave me his big mittens. After lunch, we went through the field (off-slope), which turned into a rather steep downhill with a lot of fresh snow. I was the last one down as I fell five times (I would ski, gain speed, and then go into the deep snow to break and then fall, fortunately in landing in soft snow). After this, we had a long and rather flat off-slope track to the wilderness hut. It was difficult as the snow was very deep and the poles were sinking fully in it – you need to have skiing poles with big round circles on the bottom for the deep snow. It was nice through the forest but a bit too long and in the end I was rather fed up – I wanted to arrive.
We arrived around 18:30 at the wilderness hut, which was rather small and cold (heated only with the fireplace in the middle) and had no electricity. But our other guide (who arrived with a snow mobile) already made the fire 4 hours before we came, put candles and had hot soup waiting for us. Then everyone but me went to the sauna (I was not sure how hygienic it is without water and electricity) but supposedly it was amazing – with candles and big space in the middle where you can wash yourself with the warm water from the bucket first and with the cold water after sauna (they fill the water from the running river just next to the hut). Therefore, I waited for three long hours until everyone was done with the sauna. We had a late dinner at 22:00 that night – good pasta with local mushrooms and an amazing blueberry pie.
I must say that being without electricity and running water in a sub-zero environment, is not my favourite thing, but it makes for an experience. Again, the hut got warm during the night and I found that a warm sleeping bag was not needed on the trip at all. Several from the group, said that night in a simple hut with the fire and the candles, was one of their fondest memories from the trip…

 

Day 5, Thursday, 14.03.19:
It was snowing the whole day and in the morning quite a lot, but less in the afternoon. It was a much warmer day (-5 degrees) and there was no wind. After a simple breakfast, we left the hut to go to Haetta. It was a very nice and easy day: 27km, 408m up, 340m down. First, off-slope through the forest, then up a hill and then we went to the hut for a lunch (our sandwiches), and we met a Finnish guy who travelled for 2 weeks with his husky – Mauri – a very cute dog. After lunch, we skied through the canyon of snow – quite nice, ending in a beautiful descent to Haetta, where our minibus waited to take us back to the hut (1 hour driving – 100km – all the distance we made with skis!) We also went to a big souvenir shop on the way, where I bought a mushroom knife, wooden cup, sponge for washing, cream, jam, etc. Prices there were better than in the small coffee shops. In the evening we had a nice dinner with chicken and apple pie. And of course, we also went to the sauna in the hut – loved it.

 

Day 6, Friday, 15.03.19:
We were very happy to be back in this big hut. After a nice breakfast, we went on a beautiful 25km skiing on well-prepared slopes in the forest. The weather was not the best – cloudy and very warm (around 0 degrees) but it was ok. Lunchtime took place in a wilderness hut with coffee and our sandwiches. That day we were already back at around 4pm. I had a great sauna and my first snow experience. 🙂 I took a backwards fall, as it is easier but make sure the snow isn’t too deep, as you will have a difficult time to stand up. . I even turned in the snow once. 🙂 It’s an amazing and at the same time shocking experience but you feel very energized afterwards. In the evening, we had a fantastic dinner with reindeer ragout (absolutely loved it and can’t wait to make it for my friends in Zürich), with cranberry jam and mashed potatoes and blueberry roulade. I ate too much. 🙂 We also watched a slide show of some of the best photos of one Swiss photographer who lives in Finland 6 months out of the year. They made me want to live in Finland also!

 

Day 7, Saturday, 16.03.19:
Departure day. A lot left early that day. We (3 Swiss ones), had a flight at 18:45 direct to Zürich so we went skiing again. It was an amazing day! I was skiing with Tomi (our guide), and the Swiss couple went by themselves skating. We went across a beautiful lake with the sun shining and 0 degrees. I took many nice photos of old angler huts. Then we came to a coffee place selling reindeer meat. I bought a lot: 3 cans with ragout, dried meat and salami and cranberry jam for it. Really want to repeat my amazing Finnish experience with friends in Switzerland. We also saw yellow nose swans on the lake and then went through a beautiful forest. Loved that day!

I felt so good! I loved Lapland, the nature, the food, the people.

I came back to the hut at 15:00, took a shower, packed and left to the airport at 16:30. All went smooth. I was very happy and had a glass of wine on the plane to reminisce and celebrate one of the best holidays ever!

I plan to go back to Finland again by the end of August/beginning of September when the hiking and mushroom season is open!

Day 1 – Paro (temples, National Museum and Paro Dzong):

I arrived at Paro around 2pm. The flight from Kathmandu was amazing – sit on the left side, as you will see the Himalayas and Everest very well. Loved it. It’s about a one-hour flight.

My guide (Karma) and driver (Tenzin) met me at the airport. We went directly to Dumtse Lhakhang, a temple which was built in 1433 but it was undergoing renovations. I saw women working there, dancing while building a wall, a great introduction to Bhutan. The paintings on the walls were amazing – but you need to have a torch or mobile phone to see them as it’s very dark inside. You cannot take photos inside the temple.

After that, we visited the National Museum, (allow 30-40 mins for it). It has many different masks and dances, especially during the Tsechu (the biggest festival in Bhutan – all about dance of course ). From there, it’s just a 20 min walk to the Dzong (fortress) of Paro. I really liked the architecture and the colourful wooden decorations on the houses. Very different from Nepal and India.

Almost everything closes at 4pm in wintertime, from November, and 5pm in summer. That is why I asked to visit everything straight from the airport and go eating later, You can define the itinerary yourself in advance, you do not need to rely on the one proposed by your travel agent.

We had a buffet lunch at around 3pm, which was not very good, and after that I requested only to have a la carte from restaurants I found on TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet. Nevertheless, the recommendations from TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet do not work very well in Bhutan, especially in Paro (better in Thimphu). The travel agency can usually accommodate your requests but not when it’s too expensive, such as 5 star restaurants.

After lunch, we went to Kyichu Lhakhang (one of the oldest temples) which was very nice. In the evening, I walked through Paro (it’s actually a very small town) and I did some T-shirt shopping. You can pay by credit card – T-shirts are approx. 350-400Nu/rupees or USD 7. You should compare prices and bargain, but they don’t discount as much as in Nepal – only 20-30% and only if you buy several pieces. Indian sellers discount more. I was told that in the past it was not the culture of Bhutan to bargain, but now with competition from Indian sellers, they are obliged to do it. In the evening we ate at the Chef Kitchen – food was not good!

Hotel – Metta resort was out of town but OK. Spacious rooms and not a good breakfast, but it’s the same everywhere in Bhutan. In the hotel they had a traditional dance performance for a Korean group. I watched outside for an hour next to a fire. It was interesting. In the evening it gets really cold – around 5°C.

 

Day 2 – Paro (Tiger’s Nest, hike to Bumdrak Lhakhang and a stone bath in a farmhouse):

Hotel: Metta Resort

Today it was planned just to go to Tiger’s Nest (Taktshang) – the most popular sight in Bhutan. It’s approx. 550m climb to an altitude of over 3000m, so a lot of people spend the whole day doing just this. I wanted to go to the temples above, as described in Lonely Planet, but Karma, my guide, told that it’s too far. He definitely did not know me by then! Little did he know that I had just spent 17 days hiking in Nepal and was in great shape. I told him I would be fine to go without him but he could not allow me to do this, so he joined me.

We went directly up (without going to Tiger’s Nest). First is Zangto Pelri Lakhang – approx. 200m above Tiger’s Nest with a nice view overlooking Tiger’s Nest. It was closed, so we could only see the outside. Next is Ugyen Tshemo Lhakhang (30 min, 150m up from Pelri) with a nice view of the previous temple. After 20-30 mins more climbing we reached Yoselgang Temple with an amazing view of Paro Valley. All the temples were closed but it was actually good as otherwise we would not have been able to do what we wanted – go further to Bumdrak Lhakhang.

What people usually do over 2 days, and in a different, easier way, is to start 300m higher than we did, on the other side, and then walk more gradually up. We ascended 1774m in total. It was very difficult at the end (because of the altitude) as you reach 4125m but the views from the top were amazing and well worth it. It was a good test of my fitness level after hiking in Nepal too. I believe I passed the test!

The way down was very long. Good job that I had bandages on my knees for support and hiking poles. The icing on the cake was seeing Tiger’s Nest in the sunset light – perfect for photos. Tiger’s Nest is the most famous of Bhutan’s monasteries and also the most photogenic, hanging onto what looks from afar like a sheer vertical cliff. We took a shortcut after Pelri through a beautiful gorge and arrived at Tiger’s Nest at 4:15pm, but it had already closed being November. Luckily, Karma asked if we could get in and we saw everything almost alone. The most important thing to see there is a small chapel next to the cave where Guru Rinpoche (the most important Buddha for the Bhutanese) meditated for three months. I did not know that there are actually a lot of Buddhas, but only a few are very important. It is said that Guru Rinpoche flew there on a tigress (his wife) to subdue a local demon.

Another highlight is a talking statue. It was brought from Punakha but it was very heavy. When people tried to unload it and disassemble it, the statue spoke to them and asked not to be disassembled.

The temple burnt twice, most recently in 1998 and it was reconstructed in 2005. I felt somehow very spiritual there and lit a candle.

Summary: 33.3km hike, 1774m up, 9 hours, 4125m altitude, Bumdra hike (100,000 angels lived there). Usually a 2-day hike. Descended using the light of a mobile phone as it was dark. Everybody who heard that we did this hike (including our driver, Tenzin) were really impressed.

After this we went to Tshering Farmhouse and had a hot stone bath. It’s not something I enjoyed as I find it very unhygienic. It’s a wooden bath where hot stones are added in the water from one side (behind the wall) and you sit across in the hot water. Boring, but good for the leg muscles after such a hike. I soaked for 15 mins. I wore a swimsuit, but it is actually completely private so you don’t need to wear anything. We ate in the farmhouse on the floor. We were so hungry as I had only 3 power bars for the whole hike and I shared them with the guide. I don’t think that the hot bath and eating in a farmhouse is a must-do experience, but it’s OK. We took a packed lunch from that place for the next day – it was very good!

 

Day 3 – Paro (hiking on Cheli La Pass and visit of Kila Nunnery):

Hotel: Metta Resort

Paro. I stayed 3 nights in Paro – most people only stay for 2 nights, but I was happy doing this as I did two nice hikes and the weather was very good. We drove 1.5 hours to the Cheli La Pass and hiked for another 1.5 hours taking lots of photos. Then we went to the Kila Nunnery – a very nice and easy hike apart from the very steep descent when you need hiking poles. Here we had nice views of Paro, Haa Valley and the Himalayas (Jhomolhari Mountain). We had amazing weather. It took us 4 hours including 1.5 hours for photos :). The Nunnery is nothing special, but we had our packed lunch from the farmhouse which was very nice!

On the way down, we visited a Dzongdrakha Goemba Temple which again had amazing views of Paro. We arrived at 4:15pm – everything closes at 4pm – but it was nice outside. On the inside most temples look rather similar anyway. The views outside were beautiful but would have been better an hour earlier with more sun.

In the evening we ate at the Sonam Trophel Restaurant. I chose it based on TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet reviews, but it was empty and not good. I think in general all tourists just eat buffet dinners in hotels, so the restaurants in the evening are empty and only have a small selection of food. Fortunately it’s different in Thimphu as there are more tourists than in Paro.

 

Day 4 – Thimphu (Buddha Dordenma, Takin preserve, Textile and Painting schools, Post Office, National Library, weekend market, Changangkha Temple):

Hotel: Peaceful resort, nice location outside of town with big rooms.

I left Paro at 7:30am and went to Thimphu – only a one- hour drive which was nothing special. There are so many things to see in Thimphu so allow two nights. We saw the big Buddha Dordenma – the largest sitting Buddha in the world (51m tall)! It was very new (2012) and impressive. Inside there are 125’000 smaller statues of Buddha.

Other highlights visited: Changangkha Lhakhang temple (12th century); Takin Preserve (Takin is a really special animal: between a goat and cow – unique to Bhutan); textile museum; painting school, where you can see how Bhutanese student learn to do crafts (I bought a lot of things in the shop selling crafts done by students – big choice, good price/quality and you can bargain if you buy a lot). We saw handicrafts stalls – they are OK, but you need to have a lot of cash as they don’t take credit cards.

For lunch we ate in the Folk Museum – the best food I ate in Bhutan! The museum is also rather interesting but small. It would take you approx. 15 min to see it all! We went to the post office and I got stamps with my own photo on it. You can give any photo from your mobile phone and then you can get stamps with it – Really cool! 🙂 costs 500Nu (7USD) to send 12 international cards. So I wrote and sent 12 cards, which took me two evenings to do. We also visited the National Library and saw the biggest book in the world (but now there is another one – the Koran, which is bigger – from 2012). The weekend market with vegetables, essences, honey, etc. is not very interesting. I bought some nice smelling essence, honey, fruits, and then we ate Momos in Momo corner next to the weekend market. So tasty! I absolutely loved them! They were so much better than the ones in Nepal. I ate beef and cheese – the cheese ones were amazing!

It was a very long day but nice. At night, I stayed in Peaceful Resort, outside of town with huge rooms! In general, I loved relaxing in my hotel in the evening, having tea (all hotels had a kettle), eating some chocolate and checking the plans for the next day. It was also a time to make contact with my friends and write postcards (and of course to write this very long blogpost ).

 

Day 5 – Punakha (archery match, driving over Dochula Pass, temple of Divine Madman, Punakha Dzong):

Hotel: Meriphuensum Resort – bungalows. The resort was OK with nice homemade chocolate but it’s outside the city and Wi-Fi is only available in Reception. Breakfast is not very good.

In the morning we saw an interesting archery match in Thimphu. A dance is performed (they dance all the time anyway 🙂 every time someone hits a target. A 3 hour drive over the Dochula Pass (3140m) should have had nice views but it was too cloudy unfortunately (also on the way back). The place is packed with Indian tourists as they don’t have to pay USD 250 per day.

I visited a temple of the Divine Madman (Chimi Lhakhang, built in 1499) – an amazing experience. He fought the devil spirits with his penis so there are a lot of penises everywhere. It is also a fertility temple, where women who can’t conceive can come to do a three-circuit walk around the temple with the huge wooden penis. Legend has it that you will then conceive and there is a book inside of the temple with many photos of happy couples around the world who, supposedly, were able to get a baby after their visit.
You can also throw a dice and see if you are blessed. I was with the highest number possible, 13 I was very happy.

Then we visited a Nunnery where it was nice to hear nuns pray and sing. The views from there were very nice. Later we went to Punakha Dzong – a really beautiful fortress where the Bhutanese people coronate all their kings. It has a temple which only kings can enter and where the rib of the god of compassion is kept.

Next to Dzong there is a 230m hanging bridge. We ate in a very good restaurant – Phuenzhi Diner. The hotel was OK but rooms were rather small and Wi-Fi was again only in Reception. People were not so friendly there but the location was beautiful and I bought great homemade chocolate.

 

Day 6 – Probjikha valley (Black Crane Festival):

Phobjikha valley is known as little Switzerland (but I don’t know if I agree with that ).

Hotel: Phuntsho Yangkhil Lodge – not good! Avoid it! It’s a new hotel and they have no clue how to manage it. Rather bad food, no electricity, etc.

We wanted to leave at 7am to be in time for Black Crane festival (it takes 3 hours to get there). I saw a lot of monkeys on the way. According to the Bhutanese, seeing Langur monkeys (white bodies and dark faces) is a good sign; seeing brown monkeys is a bad sign.

The festival had a lot of people and tourists for such a small village. It was mostly children performing and was rather boring. Only the mask-dances were interesting but a bit too long. It’s interesting to see once but I’m not sure I want to return to Tsechu (annual festivals) – a lot of people and the dances are all the same. Like in the hotel first night in Paro… It’s interesting to see the local people and children, and how they eat rice and curries during the performances with their hands.

We had an OK lunch in a farmhouse with a lot of tourists and the festival finished at 14:00. We then went for a short one-hour nature walk to see the black cranes (they are very far away) and checked them through the telescope at the visitor centre. It was interesting, as they are unique. They stay in Tibet for the summer and migrate here in winter. There are approx. 600 black cranes in Bhutan and approx. 10,000 in the world. Afterwards we took a short walk from the nunnery over the valley (wooden bridge) to some villages. It was interesting to see rural Bhutanese life but it’s very cold and they have constant electricity black outs unfortunately. They put the electricity cables underground so as not to disturb the black cranes, but it’s more difficult to repair them if something happens. The hotel was new but with no electricity it was very cold and the food was bad (everything was undercooked). There were far too many tourists as well. It might be better to go back to Punakha or find a better place to stay (be prepared anyway for electricity cuts and cold temperatures).

 

Day 7 – Thimphu, evening in Paro (Memorial Chorten, souvenir shopping, momos in Zombola, Jungshi Handmade paper factory, dinner at Babesa Village Restaurant):

The next day we went directly to Thimphu. It takes approx. 5 hours along a very twisting road that makes you rather sick. We again saw a lot of monkeys on the way, arriving at Thimphu at around 12:30. We visited the Memorial Chorten. There were a lot of old people who spend the whole days there as they believe that walking around stupas earns you a better next life. Then we ate amazing momos in Zombola (Zombola 1): 15 pieces! (3 portions): beef and cheese – I like cheese best! They were better than the momos at Momo corner next to the weekend market (I think that was a meal I will always remember). .
Afterwards, we visited a lot of handicrafts places: Jungshi Handmade paper factory (very cool!), Nado Poizokhang Incense Factory (not interesting- only scented sticks but informative), traditional medicine museum (very small – showing some weird things like how to do bloodletting and what kind of plants are used for what… not very interesting). Got to know that this famous, very expensive fungus actually grows from a caterpillar head. I spent a lot of time in Norzin Lam Craft Stalls, bought small things in Tarayana Rural products (only cash), went to Gagyel Lhundrup Weaving Centre which was interesting but I did not buy anything as it was expensive (up to USD 600) and then spent a lot of time in a shop opposite of the Post office. It had the biggest selection of bracelets and amulets – they did two very nice bracelets just for me and a necklace with a magic dagger. In the post office I posted my 12 postcards. I bought red wine for all of us (one bottle): Vintria (red dry) – good flavour but it gives you a bad hangover the next day. We had a very nice traditional dinner at Babesa Village Restaurant. It was so cool and felt as if we were part of the family. We arrived at the hotel late at 11pm. I went to bed after midnight and had to get up at the crack of dawn at 06.30am. That morning I didn’t feel good due to the alcohol, several mosquito bites during the night, noise from planes (the hotel is close to the airport) and the stress of having to pack the many things I bought. Eventually I managed to put almost everything in my suitcase (was only 23kg), a lot in my backpack and the rest in two plastic bags with fragile souvenirs. Luckily I had no problems getting on the plane with all of this. Despite being tired, everything went smoothly. The hotel is only 10 mins from the airport and I was there two hours before the flight. I had a coffee (keep approx. 500Nu for coffee, water, etc. in the airport). The airport has Wi-fi and the flight departed 20 min ahead of schedule, so make sure you are there on time. I left Bhutan on an almost empty plane but with a head and heart full of good experiences and memories.
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I loved my week in Bhutan! I had an amazing guide and driver and I really want to come back again to this beautiful and friendly country!