Day 2 Manaslu trek.
Today the trail follows the Budhi Gandaki river to Machhakhola at 930m. The path is full of ups and downs, either walking along the narrow, stone paths of river cliffs or over the sand of the river bed.
We stop for lunch at the fabulously tranquil Lapubesi. Potato rosti topped with cheese and washed down with lemon, honey, ginger tea. In response to the earthquake, new tourist infrastructure is popping up all along the Budhi Gandaki valley. This is often of a higher quality and in more peaceful locations than the traditional stopover points.
Lapubesi would make a feasible and perhaps preferable substitution for Soti Khola. After lunch there is a diversion around a landslide which requires fording a river. We are frequently overtaken by the 'rebar express', lines of mules carrying building materials. There is a brief tea stop at Khanibesi, before arriving at Machhakhola by late afternoon.
