Dobato to Chhistibang

Day 5: 12 Oct 2025 (Dobato to Chhistibang)

Morning Start

Woke up by 6 am, freshened up.

(Mulde View Point trek - George & I didn’t go - a few others - Pratibha, Nihar, Anushree & Pinku went. It was very cold the previous night & we had to leave at 5:30 am to go there, so we opted out)

Started hiking at 9 am. The hotel owner gave the Mulda view point banner.

(There was wifi, but we had to pay 100/- and it worked only for an hour. The owner was willing to return the money, but we said it’s ok. We were able to use it a little bit anyway)

Through the Forest

Again hiking through forest. We saw many resting places (stone-built structures) along the way. Beautiful view of the mountains.

George’s AI Class

Was today George’s class on AI? Yes!

Photography & Fun

Bushra took our photos of Titanic pose at the view point where we could see mountains spread out far & wide.

We took photos of Bushra too - she loves taking her side view with hair down. She is beautiful!

Took a group photo. Prakash came running when we were ready to take photo.

Mt. Dhaulagiri Appears!

Started seeing Mt. Dhaulagiri by 9:30 am - dome-like

Reached tea house by noon - very flavourful Daal bhat. Talked to Indu on video. She had just finished half marathon!

Walking the Ledge

More walking along ledge.

Praveen was in an off-mood - with something happened during the morning trek.

Premdai filled water (freezing cold) from a stream - beautiful waterfalls & forest for the most part.

The Final Push

Reached tea house (Hotel Rockland) by 6:00pm.

We wanted to reach before sunset so that we don’t walk in the dark. The last 1 hr was intense, all of us were quiet and just focused on the walk.

Me & Aleema walked together - quietly & behind the others. Premdai was leading in the front.

”We Will Make It!”

At one point, he said 30 more minutes and it was hard. Aleema & I hugged each other and said ‘we will make it!’. That gave us a boost of energy and we continued walking.

Music Transcends All

The sherpas sat around the kitchen table and started singing traditional Nepali folk songs. It was amazing - nice beats & all of them enjoying the song thoroughly.

I also joined and sang with them. Music transcends language, culture & countries. It unifies us all.

Stay

Chhistibang

---

Tomorrow: The grueling climb to Khopra Ridge - “stairway to hell”