Everyone is fascinated by the views of beautiful mountains with green lush Alpine Valley before this mountain. In a good season, the mountain shines so bright and the vegetation below looks so green that it certainly feels like a piece of heaven. The natural beauty of the mountain has been preserved to its greatest form to this date and the mountain tour is the most exciting trip ever known by mankind.
While the mountains definitely look amazing for a few days, living in the mountains is not so easy. We have written a story about people living on a mountain and how they cope with the difficulty of life at a higher altitude. Let’s move ahead.
Langtang valley
So I and my husband have always dreamed of going to die Himalayas range. We didn’t just want to climb to the Everest base camp like everyone else, but our dream was to roam around the villages of the mountain so that we could understand the life and culture of a mountain valley. That is why we went to a little-known land close to Kathmandu which is called Langtang Valley.
Thankfully this was not a very difficult trek and was very close to Kathmandu. Just in about a week, we covered a lot of stories in the Himalayas of Langtang and I can proudly say that, although the infrastructure in a mountain might not be very good and people might not be living a luxurious life, it can be said that they are living a happy life. Despite facing extreme difficulty, cold, and poverty all their life, the People in the Himalayas are some of the kindest and happiest people I have ever got to know. And my concept about life changed after the interview. Although I cannot cover everything in a single article let me share a few things that I saw and laughed at on this journey.
They learned to beat the cold
Temperatures around the mountains are always freezing. As we were traveling in October, the temperature was about 5°C in the daytime but in the night it goes up to -10 to 15°C. As per the locals, the three months of winter were the hardest when the temperature dropped off to -20°C in the higher regions. But the good thing is even without a room heater or any artificial heating tools, these people have been able to keep them warm and healthy for a long time. The clothes they make from the local material few warmer than our jacket. The food they eat like butter tea or soup is so much energy to the body to fight against the cold. They do most of their work from 9 AM to 3 PM in the day and leave the evening for rest.
They collect wood around the grassland and store it for the winter, in the center of the house. They place fire in the center of the house, below the chimney-like structure. Everyone in the family spent a lot of time around the fire. The people not only try to keep themselves but also are very careful about protecting their animals. This was also in the Nar Phu valley.
They help each other
The mountain villages have been in total solitude from the world. And it is not possible to live here alone. But the villagers here in Nepal have so much communication and interaction going on that people do not feel alone. The villagers are so helpful and kind to each other that they do everything to save their worst times.
The concept of humans being a social animal is very clear here. Every day people gather in their religious gumbas where they prayed to their God. On good days, they also gathered in the evening celebrating and dancing together. They can trust other people the villagers in the good times and in the bad times. And as they hold each other hands, life gets a bit easier.
Transportation via helicopter or porters
You should note that the large villages of Langtang have been built without single vehicles ever getting into here. For a long time, the locals carried the goods themselves or used mull/ donkey as the only source of transportation. While mules and porters are for carrying the usual goods the locals have started to rely on helicopters for emergency services. Since more and more tourists are visiting these villages frequently, the helicopters that operate for tourists also help the local community.
But the people are leaving
While the mountains have some good people who have been able to cope with the remote knees and coldness of the mountain, a lot of people have failed to do so. Almost all the new generation have now gone far in the city for education or to another country for occupation. When I talked to the locals, we could only find middle-aged people and older people. They said that their kids have gone to Kathmandu or other nearby cities so learn their living. As tourism has definitely created some employment, in such a landscape is just far more difficult for them to fulfill their big dreams. We hope that things will change shortly and children can live with their parents.
