After Kyanjin Gompa we left the Langtang Trek by crossing over to Thulo Syabru, for which we had to take a really long swing bridge over a river. There are many of those here and they all look really safe ;) From Thulo Syabru (2200m) it was a steep climb up to Sing Gompa (3300m) where we stayed in a really crappy guesthouse. The toilet/shower room was stinking like old poo and it was dirty everywhere.

Some of the lodges on this trek are closed during low season, but luckily there were enough tourists that wanted to go up to Laurebina, our next stop on the way up to Gosainkund.

Our initial goal was to stay in Gosainkund after Laurebina, take the pass to Helambu and hike back to Kathmandu. Unfortunately the lodge in Gosainkund is closed due to the cold (it's on 4400m) and the next lodge after the pass (Phedi) was closed, too. Some others did the 10 hour hike from Laurebina over to Helambu anyway, but we couldn't be bothered ;) Instead we left our backpacks in Laurebina, walked up to the holy (and frozen) lakes of Gosainkund, took some pictures for you guys and returned down to Sing Gompa to buy some more yummy yak cheese. This time we stayed in a much nicer guesthouse thanks to Michael & Redina who we spent quite some time with - like many people we met on the trek they're really nice and interesting to talk to. Mike is from Boston and travelling for 18 months now, Redina is Bulgarian and just finished her studies in Thuebingen and is planning to do some woofing in Nepal.

We're currently in Shyabru Besi (where we started our trip) and will probably start the Tamang Heritage trail from here tomorrow. The idea is to stay with locals in their houses, which is a less western style of travelling - all guesthouses so far had menus where you could order "pasta" etc. - on the heritage trail we will simply eat what the locals eat. Mostly that's Dhal Bhat (the national dish of rice, curry, lentils and pickles), which is our favorite trekking food anyway ;)