Travels with Tavish

Note: Quite a few pictures at the end of this final post of 2017 On the 29 th , Gopal and I trekked from Timang (2700m) to Upper Pisang (3410m), crossing three suspension bridges along the way. In the early afternoon, we saw a villager herding his yaks down the road. We were told to stand way to the side of the road while the yaks passed, as they do not like it when anything stands in their way. In addition to the yak herding, we saw many people carrying firewood and harvested crops in large woven baskets with a strap around their forehead to distribute the weight of the basket. This type of carrying method—a woven basket or makeshift wooden plank “backpack” with one strap around the forehead instead of two straps around the shoulders—was the status quo for carrying large loads in Nepal. I am not sure if it is better from a health standpoint to distribute weight to the head/neck region or if it is better to carry it all on the back, but nevertheless this was the ubiquitous method