Gaurikund Transportation

1 more image

I wasn’t going to hire a porter to carry my bag, but did in the end. This is how many people up here earn their livelihood, and it gave me more freedom to take pictures. (Plus, although it doesn’t feel like much at the beginning, by the end of the journey you’re at a respectably high altitude, and unless you’re used to it, walking is hard enough when you’re not carrying anything.)

There are several options: porters (a person who carries your bag[s]), ponies (mostly mules, all shod in metal, which slips on the worn, wet stone), baskets (carried by a man, mostly for bags, children, or tiny adults), and dolis (chairs carried by four men – reportedly the fastest of the options, and very comfortable)(except that, you know, you’re being carried by four fellow humans). You can hire any of them along the stretch of the trail just above town. (Note, however, that the official rates for all of them are posted a couple of turns up the trail, and are posted in Hindi, and unless you get there and can read Hindi, or know better, you will be overcharged.)

I contracted a porter through the hotel where I was staying. I was overcharged. But he was a decent fellow, honest and punctual, and he did some things for me that were beyond his job description. There are people selling all forms of transport everywhere along the trail, though, and you should have no problem getting the correct rate if you know it in advance and have the patience and fortitude to negotiate.