From Thulo Syabru there were two possible ways to get to our next destination: the local route and the longer, yet easier to follow route described in our guidebook. Unfortunately neither of them allowed us to bypass the 1600m of ascent that we would have to conquer that day. We played it safe and chose the latter and we're glad we did as it was a beautiful stretch of the trek.The day started with a steep hard climb through tiered potato fields. As was often the case, we had to consult and reconsult our guidebook to make sure that we were turning at the correct fork or, in this case, "ancient chorten" (they all look pretty ancient!). Let's see was it this one...

or this one...

 or maybe this one...bingo. 

Our tea break for the morning was at this cluster of teahouses perched on a little plateau that had our first phenomenal views over the Ganesh Himal.

We were assured by the teahouse owner that the next leg was "not so steep" (only slightly encouraging) and so we set out again. The path was gorgeous and took us through forests of oak, hemlock and rhododendrons.

We ate lunch in Sing Gompa, a little town known for its yak cheese and then continued on the trail to our final destination for the day, Laurebina Yak. We walked along a ridge which on one side was dry and parched,

but when we crossed behind the ridge to the other side we were on snow covered trails in a deep forest.

We emerged from the forest to find Laurebina Yak perched on the moutain ahead of us, an hours walk away. Part of the way up we stopped for a water break and to soak up the superb views of Langtang Valley where we'd been just days before.

We reached Laurebina Yak in the mid afternoon and went about our daily ritual of changing out of our sweaty day clothes and into our warmer clothes. It was getting very cold by early evening and we, along with many of the other travelers, were gathered in the dining room awaiting the nightly fire to be lit. This usually happened around 5pm or so but when the fire still hadn't been lit by 6pm one of the Israeli girls we'd befriended went and asked when the fire would be lit. The answer was "never".   Apparently this section of the trail was under strict government rules related to the use of firewood.  They only had an allowance to use the firewood in the kitchen, and since the rule was so new, they had not yet transitioned to the gas heaters that are common on the Annapurna and Everest trails. The temperature was below freezing after the sun set. The barrels of water inside in the dining room had iced over. Needless to say, everyone ate their dinner very quickly that night and took refuge inside their sleeping bags. JB braved the cold long enough to go outside and take a few pictures just as the sun set.

We survived the frigid night and awoke early the next morning eager to get moving.  We had only a half day of walking to Goisankund, a religious site for both Hindus and Buddhists due to the sacred frozen lakes that are found nestled in the mountains there. About 45 minutes above Laurebina Yak we stopped and caught our breath at a small stone temple; the 4000m+ altitude had begun to really make its presence known.

The next part of the trail, described by our guidebook as "not for acrophobes", was quite narrow and hugged the mountain on one side but dropped to the valley on the other.

We reached Gosainkund before lunch and settled in for a little R & R for the rest of day to ready ourselves for the next huge day that awaited us. We were 500m higher at Gosainkund (4400m) and so it was even colder here (the water bucket in the toilet used for "flushing" was frozen solid). The wind whipping off of the frozen lakes made it especially cold but thankfully we had a fire at night because our host informed us that the army (who enforced the firewood rules) didn't make it up to Gosainkund in the evening. However, the next day when we walked passed the remnants of rhododendron trees in the national park we felt horrible for our part in encouraging that fire to be lit. 

With no fire in the morning the cold bordered on unbearable. We ate breakfast with frozen hands and literally ran the first part of the trail to get ourselves warm.

A view of Goisankund from above.

After climbing to the ridge above Gosainkund Lake, we were able to shed a few layers of clothing and concentrate on what was ahead of us. Today we were to climb the snow covered rocky trail to the pass, Laurebina La, at 4600m, and then continue down the other side of the mountain.

Where visible, we walked in the footsteps of other trekkers who had clamped down the deep snow for us. In other places where the trail was less visible, we were aided by cairns like the one pictured below.

After an exhausting couple of hours, we finally reached the pass and could see what was in store for us on the other side of the mountain.

The trail descended through sparse alpine country,

and then transitioned into rhododendron forests.

I think the fact that we have very few pictures of the trail from this point on is indicative of how focused we were on getting to our destination of Therapati that night. The day began at 6:30am and we pushed through, only stopping for lunch, until about 5 that night. At one point,  we looked back at how far we'd traveled that day. Laurebina La was far off in the distance. 

We reached Therapati as the the sun was beginning to go down and enjoyed our first shower (albeit from a bucket) in three days.

The following morning we awoke at dawn.

After a quick breakfast, we started decending.  After four hours walking, we arrived at a village where we had planned to have lunch.  

We had been moving quickly and had both been pondering the possiblity of trying to get back to Kathmandu in one day rather than two. We had heard that from this village we could branch off the main trekking trail and take a local villager's trail instead. This trail would take us to a new road that was 3 hours and 1600 knee jarring meters down into the adjacent valley and from here we could catch a bus.

 However, we'd only heard others speak about this;  our guide book had no information regarding the shortcut. We asked at a couple teashops in the village and one lodge owner said his brother could guide us and so we took him up on the offer. Hiring a guide turned out to be essential because the trail he took us down cut through forests, over streams, beside barns, through clusters of houses, and out into a lush farming area. The trail constantly joined and split and JB and I could have spent hours trying to navigate it. The valley turned out to be beautiful farm land.

The road barely brushed the valley and catching the bus involved standing on the side of the road at a bridge. The bus ride was predictably uncomfortable in ways that are hard to articulate. JB followed the locals lead and decided to give riding on the roof a try:

I decided to pass and instead had to fight old Nepali ladies for leg room on the inside. Riding on the roof let him stretch his legs and I'm sure it was a unique experience, but it also covered him in dust and bruises from bouncing around on the roof racks. He eventually had to fight for leg room as well, but his battle was with the goats.

Tired and dirty we arrived back in Kathmandu at around 7pm. We grabbed a taxi to our hotel, showered and went out for pizza and cocktails, a welcomed change.