Nepal🇳🇵Hiking the Himalaya’s on flip flops

The next day marked the beginning of my Himalayan trek. Since there was no legroom on the bus, I decided to spend the journey on the bus roof. The driver was afraid of villagers throwing stones, so he‘d stop before each bend, walk a few hundred meters ahead to check if it was safe, and then drive the bus that short distance. This made the bus ride take 8 hours instead of the expected 5. Anyway, I finally arrived in Besisahar (the starting point for my two-week trek through the Himalayas), and after the first 100 meters on asphalt, both soles of my hiking boots completely came off. The material between the shoe and sole had completely dried out and crumbled. There I stood, in my socks, backpack on my back, ready to trek through the Himalayas for two weeks (where you can only travel on foot). Luckily, size 45 is a common concept in Nepal (more irony in 9 words is probably impossible), so flip-flops were the best I could get. The seller tried to push size 42 on me, claiming that the toe-curling was because the shoes needed to be broken in first. I did attempt to have my hiking boots locally repaired, but 40 nails and a tube of glue proved insufficient. After 4 days of walking, we would reach a village where they sold more shoes, and they definitely had size 45 there (sure????? yes, sure sure, sir). It‘s a bit of a shame for this message, but that turned out to be true. So, I continued the rest of the trip in my new Nepalese hiking boots (I had grown quite attached to my flip-flops, which had taken me up to 3000 meters).


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