On Nepal

After spending 10 weeks in this country, less than twice the size of Pennsylvania, I am more than ready to move on.  In fact I even have the rest of this international trip planned out.  Here's the quick rundown:
Dec 6 - fly to Istanbul and wander around Turkey
Dec 19 - Fly to Israel and visit some friends and family and the sites
Dec 31 - Fly to Kiev, Ukraine (only for new years - gotta love the randomness)
Jan 1 - Fly back to NY

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about Nepal.  I've spent the past week hanging out in Pokhara doing next to nothing except relaxing, reading, catching up on stuff, and planning this next month.  It has given me some time to think about the past 10 weeks here and reflect.

Smog in the Kathmandu Valley

When I first imagined Nepal, I thought about quaint little Buddhist Sherpa villages among giant Himalayan mountains.  Now this does exist, but for maybe 1% of the country.  Having Kathmandu be my introduction to Nepal was certainly a shock.  As you fly in, there is a thick brown haze that covers the entire valley.  Then the taxi ride from the airport was insane, seemingly no roadrules, and people cars livestock and trash equally scattered all about the streets which wander confusingly all around the city.  This is way more like what I have thought of for India, not Nepal.  This was also reinforced once we wandered around a bit, and found that most of the food here is Indian and everyone is Hindu.

Luckily the beginning of our first trek was a great experience (other than Nico being sick for 6 days).  We were doing a section of the Everest Trek that very few people do nowadays.  Because of this the people were all very friendly and genuine, prices were reasonable, and the other trekkers were good company.  When you order muelsi with milk the lodge owner goes out back and milks the water buffalo, and sometimes we be joined on the trail by someone who just wants to talk for a little while as they go about their day.  Little did I know at the time that this would be among the best and most genuine of my experiences in Nepal.  Once we met up with the main trail everything changed.  We encountered mostly large tour groups with no respect for the environment, prices suddenly triple, and the locals are now way more interested in your money than they are in you.

Quaint little village.... before joining the main trail on the Everest Trek

I understand that this is among the least developed countries in the world.  Hence it can sometimes take 11 hours on a bus to go a measly 110 miles, with people luggage and goats all over the bus and even on the roof.  This is fine with me.  One thing that I don't totally understand is the lack of hygiene.  Certainly these people know what soap is, but i doubt many use it.  Staying healthy has been a constant struggle.  I rarely get sick, but I have probably gotten sick from the food here more in the past 10 weeks than I have at all in the past 3 years.  And on most of the treks it is rare to find a group of more than 1 that has not been held up due to someone getting food poisoning or some other illness.

On top of Kala Patthar with the top of the world behind me

Even with dealing with so much crap in this country, the Himalayas are as amazing as I could have ever imagined.  I still think that one of the highlights of this entire year of traveling is that day that we made it up to Kala Patthar and had the amazing views of Everest, the highest point on Earth.  And on the Annapurna trek with Jay we saw constant amazing yet different scenery every day for almost 2 weeks.  I feel an amazing peace with everything when I am just relaxing up high at some amazing viewpoint.

One of the places on the Annapurna trek where I was more at peace than I'd been in a long time... just soaking it all in.

The people here have certainly taken a little while to figure out and get used to.  One of the strangest things is that for them, a shrug of the shoulders and tilt of the head means yes.  Even knowing that it is hard to get used to when you ask if something is okay and it looks like they are shrugging as if they'll do it, but unhappily.  When in fact they are actually saying, "sure, no problem".  Also people here cannot give "I don't know", or "I cannot do that" as an answer.  This very quickly gets frustrating, when you ask some people for information they will tell you something even if they are making it up on the spot.  When trying to see if we could get Nico a flight out from the Annapurna trek, we got 5 different answers about how many planes there are per day and how to even go about getting a ticket.  So when people tell you something, you have no idea if it is true or not.  What also comes from being a major tourist destination is that you never know if someone is trying to genuinely talk to you, or if they just want your money.  Everyone here knows some basic English, which is extremely helpful considering that is the only language I'm comfortable with.  If you are talking about tourist activities, then they are fine, but as soon as you ask something different most people are clueless, but they will respond with an answer to some question even if it is not the question that you asked.

Kids on the trail - they love getting their picture taken

I mentioned earlier about how very few people do the Jiri section of the Everest trek (the first part).  This is because for about the past 10 years, people would be asked for a "donation" at gunpoint to the Maoist party. You would at least get a receipt so you'd be off the hook the next time another Maoist asks for a donation.  As of two years ago the Maoist party was recognized to most of the world as a terrorist organization.  Although recently they have managed to gain control of the government and is now running the place.  There were elections and the people voted them in on their promise to make things better.  But of course after a couple years no one likes them because it was all empty promises and corruption.

One thing that I despise is TIMS - Trekker Information Management System.  Sounds nice as they have tons of trekkers who come through here and it would be good to make sure that they all make it out of the mountains alive.  But in fact it is a croc of shit, where you have to pay US$20 (plus another $15 to $30 on park fees, plus more ridiculous prices on food and accommodation) to just go on a hike.  It might be checked once, your info gets written down, and then nothing ever happens with it again.  They don't even pretend to notice if you've made it out alive or not.

Anyway, so overall, Nepal has not turned out to the hiker paradise that I had imagined before I came here.  It was actually a tough country to be in for so long, and I actually feel a sense of accomplishment for making it this far alive.  Although even with all the shit that you need to go through to get there, small parts of the country do come close to that mountain paradise.  Unfortunately to get to some of it you need a budget about 1000 times what you'd expect in a poorly developed country (one region requires a US$500 entrance permit which lasts only 10 days).  I am really happy that I made it to this country, saw some truly amazing scenery, even learned a new alphabet.  10 weeks might have been just a little bit too much time.  Moving on though, I am very excited about what is coming up in the next month.

On Travel Buddies

It has now been 10 months so far of traveling with a companion, Nico.  Five of those months we have basically been within 10 meters of each other at all times, minus only a few days that we have spent in different places.  I really had no idea what I was getting myself into over a year ago when we started talking about the idea of traveling the world together.  I certainly am lucky that it turns out we've got very similar traveling styles.  But like I said... before this began I had no idea what I was getting into, or how lucky I'd be that even after all this time we actually still talk to each other and enjoy each others company.

It is interesting to see how the dynamic changes when suddenly other people are thrown into the mix.  Jay came for a visit.  We had talked a bit beforehand about what we expected to do together and helped prepare him for what to expect, coming to a developing country for the first time.  It sure was nice to have someone else to talk to and interact with for a while.

Then before Jay even left the country, we met up with Mike and Chris (my old roomates from Ithaca) and Charlie (another friend from Ithaca).  This certainly opened my eyes to a few things that I otherwise had taken for granted.  First of all, we certainly did not have enough communication before they came to figure out what we planned on doing together or what they should expect.  In fact I didn't even know Chris was coming until he showed up with Mike at the hotel, and I didn't know Mike was coming for sure until about 2 days before.  Much of this though is due to the fact that for the 2 weeks prior I was in the mountains with no internet access.  Also, Nico and I spent time in NZ, then Australia, then Singapore before we even went to Indonesia and SE Asia.  Each country was slightly less like what you expect in western culture.  So thinking now about how I've had months to ease into such a different culture, I can understand how it would be a shock to come here straight from the U.S.

Also, 5 is a bit on the large side for a group traveling together – especially if you have no plans.  To make a decision on where to go or even something as simple as where to eat lunch, it all takes at least 5 times as long.  If you are in a resort or have everything planned out beforehand, then I don't think it would be much of a problem.  Everything worked out just fine in the end, but just did not go as smoothly as say, having 2 people.  Although even with all that, I am really glad that Jay, Charlie, Mike and Chris all made it out to visit.  To see some familiar faces in such a foreign place really was quite refreshing.  It also encourages me to do some things that I may not have done otherwise, like have a beer and play cards – a couple things I have not done in a very long time, but really enjoyed with Mike, Chris and Charlie.

As its looking like I might only be on the road for one more month, this probably wont come up again.  But in case it does, here are some things that I learned for next time.
1. Have a plan
2. Inform your new travel buddies about what to expect and about cultural differences
3. Make sure you are all on the same page about how nice of places you want to stay and eat at.

After 5 weeks of having others in our party, it is now back to just Nico and I again.  Right now is in the middle of a week where we have nothing planned and can just chill.  When people come for vacation to a place like Nepal for 2 weeks, hanging out and doing nothing is not really the intent. But since we are constantly on the road, it is very nice to sometimes have that downtime to do nothing and catch up on whatever else happens in life.

Part 3 of Nepal

It looks like I left off last time with the expectation of hiking the Helambu Circuit for 7-8 days.  Although why should I expect that anything in this country will ever go according to plan... Beginning the day before the trek, Mikes face started to go numb off and on, and it only got worse throughout the first day of the trek.  We made it to the first nights destination, Chisopani, but he was not feeling all that well.  The next morning it was a tough decision as Mike wanted to see a doctor but didn't want to mess with everyone else's trip and the rest of us would rather that we stick together as a group.  We ended up heading back to Kathmandu.

It is kinda interesting to see how Nico and I have just gotten so used to being in Nepal.  When we come up to some view, like the picture below, we're like "oh that's a nice valley..."  But when Mike and Chris saw the same thing, they were amazed.

We all made it back to Kathmandu, and then got ready to go to Chitwan.  This is the national park in the southern part of Nepal, known for its wildlife.  There's rhinos and tigers and sloth bears oh my!  Too bad we never got to see any of them...  We did stay in one of the nicest places I've seen since being in Nepal though.  It was really quiet there and much less pollution than most of the rest of the country.  I probably would have been happy to just stay there.  On our full day there we did a jeep safari.  It was a fun ride standing up in the back of the jeep through the jungle, but it seems they try to pack so much distance in that there is no time to ever just stop and see what comes by.  All we got to see there was some deer and a couple crocodiles... a little disappointing, but it's nature and you are never guaranteed to see anything, such is life.  Anyway, next time I'll opt for the guided walk instead.

sunrise in Chitwan

From there we head back to Pokhara for Mike and Chris' last few days.  Spent a day walking up to the world peace pagoda and stopping a local waterfall attraction.  Nothing amazing.  Then on the 27th - happy birthday to Mike! - him and Chris went paragliding.  Jealous... since they actually had a clear day for it and could see the mountains.

And now after almost 5 weeks of travelling with other people, it is nice to have it be just Nico and I again.  We're in the middle of a week here in Pokhara to just relax and catch up on stuff and think about the last month of our trip in Turkey and Israel.  More on my reflections on stuff to come soon....  Time for bed now :)

More Craziness Followed by Hiking Adventures

It's been a while since I last wrote anything... so I'm gonna put it all in this one post chronologically.  Enjoy!

Well... this first part is not so enjoyable... but anyway.  About 7 hours after my last post we woke up and basically just had to brush teeth and get over to the bus.  I hopped on the computer real quick to see if Mike (my roommate from Ithaca) had gotten back to me about coming here, and found something else instead.  Jon Traylen, the guy who ran Earthwise Valley in New Zealand, had died unexpectedly.  I got the email from Bexie, and basically immediately gave her a call to say hi.  This was definitely quite shocking.  But thank you Jon for all that you have taught me and the opportunities I have had because of your visions and programs.  I have certainly been inspired by your work.

Then it was a rush to the bus.  This ride might have been better than the one to Jiri... but I actually felt a bit sick after hearing the news of the morning.  So I basically spent 10 hours on a bumpy bus feeling like I was going to vomit at any moment.  It was such a relief when we finally pulled into Bhulbule.  I could not even eat that evening, but thankfully the next day I was doing better.

This was our sick picture...

Nico and Jay were not quite so lucky.  By the evening after being on the bus, Nico started feeling sick (just like last time).  The next morning she was not much better, so we decided to stay there for the day and let her sleep.  Jay and I wandered off and up some side trail to just check out the area.  He got his first (and only) leech!  That was when we decided that it was time to turn around and hope that we made it back before it fell off and made him bleed profusely.  We made it.

The visual of our "Cascading Waterfalls"

That evening Nico was perking up ... only to have Jay not able to eat dinner cause he was feeling ill!  Rediculous.  Anyway, the next morning I think he was not quite better, but was also too excited and really wanted to move on.  So we put in a slow day, but by the end of the day I was the only one feeling totally well.   Three more half days of hiking, two courses of antibiotics,  and many "cascading waterfalls" later we were all finally feeling well.

Just in time too; for this was about when we started to get into some really exciting scenery.  The day we went from the town of Bhratang to Ngawal we saw some incredible scenery, including a sheer wall that goes up 1 mile and a view of the mountains from a monestary way up on a hill.  Ngawal was at 3660m, so we were also getting up there in altitude.  Oh, also, interesting fact - marijuana grows all over the side of the trail around there.  Jay, Nico and I were all too naive to recognize it though.  It wasnt until we saw this French Canadian couple leaning practically over a cliff trying to pull in a plant.  When we asked they kinda hesitated for a while and then told us that it was "marijooana" in their funny accent.

The next day we passed by Manang (which is the big trading center of the region), but then continued on to Kangsar.  The scenery was sweet, it was like wild west meets huge snow covered mountains.  Apparently the north side of the Annapurna range (where we were) is in a rain shadow from the mountains.  This makes it practically a desert, but with scattered pine trees all over and large brown eroded rock cliffs.  Kangsar is the beginning of a side trip that leads out to Tilicho Tal, the "frozen lake" and biggest and highest in the world.  It sounded really sweet and Jay and I were really excited about spending a few extra days to head out there.

Nico on the other hand was not so excited about it.  In fact she was basically mentally checked out of the whole trekking thing.  Short story is that we'd already been doing it for about 5 weeks and it was time for a real break.  We had only about 3 days between long term treks, all spent in Kathmandu, which is barely a break at all.  Also she was worried about getting another caugh and just the effects on the body spending more time at high altitudes.  She wrote about it in her blog if you want to know more - http://onegreatdewdrop.blogspot.com/.

The following day I packed a day pack and walked with her back to Homde (about 3.5 hrs back) to where there was actually an airport.  Nepali's cannot say that they dont know to anything, even if it means that they make up information for you.  We tried calling the ticket guy early in the morning and later again, but he would never pick up his phone.  Then we asked about flights and every person told us different information about it and how many flights per week there are.  The one thing that seemed sure was that we'd have to go to the airport to see if she can get a flight.  We finally make it to the ticket office in Homde, only to find that there was a man in the adjoining hotel trying to tell us something about flights and "baiyo" and there was no ticket guy there.  We got him to take us across the way to another hotel where someone could translate that - all the flights were booked for the next 2 weeks.  Fuck!  So what to do now, that she really didnt seem to be able to safely get herself over the pass, and she would not at all feel comfortable to walk back with only a single Nepali guy as a companion.  At this point we both were horribly frustrated with this country, nothing ever goes right, you cant plan anything, and on top of that we all are getting sick constantly.  The ticket guy was not supposed to be back for another 3 hours either, and I didn't know what to do cause most of my stuff and Jay was still in Kangsar with no way to communicate.

Luckily the woman from the second hotel phoned the ticket guy, and he came in about 1.5 hours instead.  Good thing that we were persistent, as there was actually one seat left on a second flight in 3 more days.  He had it written down that Nico was booked, but she would not actually get the ticket until the morning of the flight.  At this point we kinda had to trust that something would work out and this flight would actually happen.  It was tough, but I left Nico (at about 3:00pm now) and started back on the journey to Kangsar.  I managed to completely book it and actually get back by around 5:30, just as it was getting dark.  It was a long day, but I was feeling so much better now that it was looking like Nico should be able to get out.  Jay in the meantime had a fine day hanging out with some Nepali women at a festival that happened to be going on just 30 mins away from where we were staying.

I was a little sore the next day, but happy to continue farther into the mountains.  Those amazing views sure makes me feel better.  This day the trail to Tilicho Tal base camp is supposedly a bit dodgy as it traverses across a steep landslide area.  The alternative is a high trail that goes up and over and takes an additional 2 hours.  I'm really glad we took the low trail, as it was not dangerous and was some of the most interesting scenery of the whole trek.  There were such awesome rock formations in this area, and also some huge snow capped mountains all around.

We got to Tilicho Tal base camp by lunchtime, and it was chaos there.  The owners had actually closed it up the day before to go to that festival, so many people (including us had we not spent 2 nights in Kangsar) got there and actually had to turn around and come almost all the way back to Kangsar to a single hotel on the trail.  Apparently though some people got in and their guides and porters were cooking the meals.  Jay and I showed up before the owners got back and wandered into the kitchen trying to ask someone about a room.  We couldn't speak Nepali, so all we got was "no rooms, sleep here" (pointing to the dining area).  Luckily we saw a Czeck group heading out that we previously met on the trail and so they just gave us their key.  It seemed a bit dodgy, but we just rolled out our sleeping bags on the beds, locked up the room and claimed it as our own.  There were 4 beds in there, and so we saved some space for the 3 musketeers.  (I don't think that they know we were calling them that, but Reuben from Canada, Tesa from NZ, and Carlita from Oz, were a few people that we met on the trail and ended up spending a lot of time with.)  We ended up playing cards with them all afternoon, and somehow successfully kept the room.

The next day was an early start for the 800m climb to about 5000m up to the "frozen" lake, which was not frozen.  It was, however, quite beautiful.  It was awesome getting way up high, into some snow and being surrounded by huge bright white glaciers and having a big ol' blue lake for some contrast.  It was quite cold when we first got up there, but then the wind died down a bit and we spent over an hour there just enjoying the views.  Amazing stuff.  Jay and I got back to the basecamp hotel by lunchtime, had a break and then continued almost back to Kangsar to that one hotel on the trail.

Jay, me, and the 3 musketeers at Tilicho Tal

The next day we were able to take a shortcut up to Yak Karka, back on the main trail.  Along the way there was one amazing viewpoint right in the crotch of the two valleys (one to Tilicho Tal, and the other to Thorung La and the main trail) looking back down the way that we'd come days before.  You could see all the way to Homde (where the airport is), and I was thinking about Nico as her flight was supposed to be that morning.  At the time I had no way of knowing whether or not things worked out for her.

Looking back towards Homde

Nepal strikes again... as this night Jay started feeling crappy again.  Had a headache, but we couldnt imagine it being altitude as this was the third night we'd spent just over 4000m and he was fine before.  Turned out to be more of a head cold.  So we got a late start the following morning after some naptime.  We only made it to Thorung Phedi (4500m), 3 hrs later, when Jay was not doing so well again.  We met up with the 3 musketeers again and had some lunch together.  Somehow these high up towns (made solely to house trekkers) have some good facilities, including wireless internet here.  While we were having lunch, one guy was up in the attic looking for the manual for the computers as the wireless was not working.  Having grown up in the 90's, Reuben states that "i'm a computer expert, I'll help you fix it."  Two hours later, he and Jay actually got it all working again, which I cant imagine the Nepali's could have done without their help.  In return, they got the wireless password and a cup of tea.  This was relieveing for me, since Jay was able to see that Nico had gotten to Pokhara safely.  Then of course he worries her by just saying something along the lines of, "sick again, 50/50 that we make it over the pass tomorrow."

I think that Jay was really excited and wanted to move on, but maybe wasnt quite feeling so well.  Yet somehow we still did the 1.5 hour walk to High Camp (4800m) in 45 minutes.  We made it up there, saw the 3 musketeers banging on the window as they were having breakfast, and Jay walked in a promptly laid down on a bench for the next hour.  People had told us that it was not a good idea to stay in high camp, but it was actually a nice place with alternative and reggae music on their soundsystem.  Carlita wasn't feeling to well when they got up there, so they decided to stay, and we decided the same so that Jay could hopefully feel well for the day going over the pass.  We got a room and Jay passed out for the rest of the morning.

The 3 musketeers and I decided to have a drink at 9am ... of rum and hot chocolate.  Then we managed to put away 5 175ml bottles between the 4 of us.  Why not indulge at about 16,000 ft?  Surprisingly I was not too sloshed by 11am when we decided to go for a little walk up this nearby hill with some sweet views.  Then we all just chilled after lunch, Jay was up so we had to have another round where Jay could have some "medicine".

Snickers kept us going up to the top of the Thorung La at 5416m.

Amazingly we all felt quite good the next morning.  At 4 am I wake up and need to pee.  I walk out in my boxers and my hat (it's below freezing) and the toilets are all in use!  The crazy groups were already up and getting ready to walk to get over the pass!  We had a leisurely start and were walking a little after 8 once it started to warm up a bit.  It was some awesome scenery, and not even that difficult a walk, up to the pass at 5416m / 17,900ft.  Jay and I hung out up there a while until the 3 musketeers rolled up and we all indulged in a cup of tea.  Yes, someone even runs a teashop all the way up there.  Then we began our 1600m descent to Mutkinath.  It was a bit of a shock getting there since there is a road that leads all the way there, meaning that it was quite developed.  We expected that the towns (like on the other side) would be small high up and get bigger closer to the main roads.  But anyway, we had one last night chilling with the 3 musketeers at the BobMarley Hotel with hot showers and yak burgers!  They planned to walk the rest of the way, where Jey and I bus/jeep/taxi'd it all the way back to Pokhara from Mutkinath.

Getting ready to jeep it out

This trek had some really varied terrain and certainly some amazing mountains and views, but it was nice that it was a bit different than our previous trek to Everest Base Camp.  There was no point that was quite as breathtaking as Kala Patthar, but I think there was more days of sweet moutain views.  And it was nice that this trek is not completely overrun with large package tour groups, you actually see way more people doing this one independantly.  The road from Mutkinath seems to be a bit of a mixed blessing.  For trekkers, it straight up sucks.  The road follows where the trail was and so you have to dodge cars, and deal with all the dust kicked up.  Some trekkers were yelling at our driver as we passed... and all the Nepali's in the vehicle just laughed at them.  It certainly can be really good for the towns there though.  They can now get more supplies, or even go to a hospital if they get sick, and all those other benefits of being closer to civilization.  It helped us too, since it was the only way we could have the time to do this trek - by not having to walk the second half of it.  Taking vehicles isn't totally the easy way out though.  It still took almost a day and a half of cramped bumpy rides for us to get out of there.

It was really great though to finally make it back to Pokhara and see Nico again.  She made friends with Nirit, and Israeli girl who was also waiting for her boyfriend to finish the trek.  Probably the only way she stayed sane, cause apparently there is not a whole lot to do in Pokhara, other than trek ... and paragliding.  And that we did!  But first... Apparently Charlie was supposed to get to Pokhara the same day that Jay and I did.  Then amazingly in the afternoon, he pops up in our hotel!  Him and his cousin Sarah.  So 6 of us went out to dinner that night - I felt like a freshman again, travelling around in a pack in a new place.

Classic paragliding photo

The next day me, Jay, Charlie and Sarah all went paragliding.  Its one of those things that I cant do often on this sort of budget, but Pokhara is well known for it.  It is like scuba diving in Thailand.  And it was sweet.  We drove up to the top of this big hill, got about a minute of instruction before we were strapped into this harness and strapped to the "pilot", and then we took off.  It was amazing, you just glide in the wind.  Unfortunately it was really hazy, so we could not see the mountains at all, but the winds were good and we could just zip back and forth above the hillside.  The parachute actually works like a wing.  It traps the air and then creates a pressure difference as the wind blows by creating lift.  You can just glide all day long out there.  We only had a 30 minuite flight, but it was really neat just floating there with the birds - eagles and vultures doing the same thing we were.  Then we had to glide over towards the lake and get ready to land.  My pilot let me take the ropes for a few minutes on the way there, its pretty easy to control, but theres a lot to learn about the winds.  He then did some tricks with me and we were practically upside down at one point.  It was sweet.

Me with a huge grin after paragliding

The next day we had to get back to Kathmandu cause Jay was flying home the following day.  I had also gotten word from Charlie that Mike actually did buy his ticket and was supposed to land the evening of the 15th in Kathmandu.  Charlie had to go to the Indian boarder to drop off his cousin and then planned on meeting us back here in Kathmandu.  For once we actually had a decent bus ride.  It was only 2 hours late, and no one got sick!  After dinner that evening, I was gonna use the computer downstairs, and on the way down I heard Mikes voice at the front desk.  I got down there to find Chris (my other roommate from Ithaca) there too!  We had no idea he was going to be there - complete surprise.  Then amazingly early the next morning, Charlie walks in.  Holy crap, something actually worked out totally according to plan, and now we are all here together in Kathmandu, figuring out what to do next.

It is really awesome and exciting that after all this time of just travelling, to see some familiar faces.  We've spent the past couple days wandering the city here and getting ready for yet another trek.  This one is the Helambu Circuit - only 6ish days and does not go up too high.  Much better for wintertime as it is noticeably colder here now than when we first arrived a month and a half ago.

Ok, that is the update for now, we'll see how life unfolds.  As always, more pictures are at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/dave.dayan

Everest Base Camp Epic

First off, I'd recommend you check out the picts: https://goo.gl/photos/kDVLEmVm6tT3gt7e9

The Big "E"

Hi!  24 days of hiking and we made it there and back... and we're still alive!  And it was stunning.  That's the short story of this past month; here's the rest....

On Oct 1 I experienced the worst bus ride of my life.  It took 9 hours to go the 188km from Kathmandu to Jiri, where the trek starts.  The bus is clearly made for Nepali sized people, which are kinda like Indonesian sized people - they make me look like a giant.  I barely fit in the seat, not enough room for the 6 of our shoulders across the back, and every bump I am in danger of hitting my head on the ceiling.  Bags are everywhere, people on the roof, and every time we pass another vehicle one of us needs to get off the road.  We finally get to Jiri, only to have Nico puking her head off.... great start, huh?

Jiri

At least she though she was feeling better the next day as we set off to Shivalaya, the first town in.  Soon after though she was still heaving on the side of the trail, and so I ended up carrying her bag (like a Nepali).  We got loads of weird looks, and you can see why...  We did make it to Shivalaya, to the Kala Patthar guest house where we hung out with Padam, the owner.  He is just getting started so we didn't even have to pay for the room!  This is basically how the trekking works here, "tea house" trekking.  You go from village to village and stay in these tea houses where the room is only a couple dollars (if that) but you eat all your meals there.  This section of the trail was very chill without a lot of other tourists, so often we would be the only ones staying in the lodge.  Then we'd get to hang out with the family that runs it and learn some Nepali language and culture.

Chiring and I

The next day Nico was feeling a bit better, and so we set off again for Bandhar.  It was another half day but by the time we got there she was beginning to run a fever...  This fever hung around for about 4 days, and so we just rested there until she was completely better.  In rural Nepal, there are no roads... so the farther in we went the farther she would have had to walk out if it got any worse.  Luckily, it did not.  It did give me the change to hang out with Chiring, the lodge owner there and he even taught me how to read Nepali!  Him and his wife took good care of Nico and also just did their own farming thing.  It was great in the morning when we'd order a muesli with hot milk, he'd go outside and milk his water buffalo, and we'd have it as fresh as it gets.

Finally after the 4 days in Bandhar, we were healthy and ready to continue.  This part of the trek was mostly in relatively low lands (5000-9000ft).  It was lush green hills and big wide valleys, with lots of up and down over passes almost daily.  It was really good to get us into shape before heading up to higher ground.  Over these next few days, as we made some bonds with the other hikers doing this part of trail as well.  We actually spent about 5 or 6 nights in a row with Kristen and James, the UK/Canadian couple, the South Africans - Duncan and Greg, the German family, and the big ol' kiwi group.  It was really nice to hang out with some other people for once.

Sunrise in Bandhar

Normally monsoon is supposed to be done by mid September, although as we have heard in multiple places so far this year, the weather's a changin'...  Almost every day after Bandhar, it was nice from sunrise until about 9am and then the clouds would roll in and by the afternoon it would drop some rain.  This is the high trekking season now for a reason - clear skies.  Oh well, at least down low the people are super friendly, there arent the huge mountains yet, and there is just good cheap food and clean water.

Watch out for those cows!

Being on the trail was always interesting.  Not only is it a hiking trail, but it is the main road between the villages in the region.  We were always sharing the trail with curious Nepalis who wanted to chat, porters carrying everything into the villages, and plenty of farm animals.

The crap weather actually worked in our favor in a way.  Most people fly into Lukla, which we got to after about 8 days of walking.  These are the package tours of people who get their hand held and bags carried all the way to basecamp.  Anyway, this Lukla airport is tiny, and the planes that fly in there cannot land if it is cloudy cause they dont have the instruments that most commercial planes do.  Anyway, as we were passing Lukla, there was 4 days in a row of no flights which meant that there were so very few people on the trail.  Woohoo! No crowds.  Because of this we decided to go right up to Basecamp and enjoy some of the Khumbu valley without the crowds.

Namche Bazaar is the main trading town of the region and is normally packed to the gills with tourists.  We managed to have a guesthouse just to ourselves and this one other guy who got the beginnings of pulmonary edema and had to descend.  He was in rough shape, iv's and rest... This is exactly why we took our rest day in Namche and took it very slowly the rest of the way up to basecamp.  Our rest day in Namche we went for a walk up the ridge above town just to get out and do some walking at higher altitudes.  Finally, we are getting some views of the big ones here.

After the rest day we had only half days (at the most) on the way up.  Namche 3450m, Tengboche 3850m, Pheriche 4250m.  Then a rest day in Pheriche where again, we went on a little walk actually with the South Africans this time.  Now we are finally beginning to really notice the altitude.  Even I would take a few steps uphill and then be gasping for air.  It is also way to easy to just forget to breathe.  I'd be eating or even just lying down, and suddenly realize I feel like I've been holding my breath for 2 mins, but really its been maybe 5 seconds...  The next day, we slowly shuffled our way up to Dukla, 4600m.  At least with this difficult walking we are rewarded with some really cool mountain views (before the clouds roll in at least).

Ama Dablam...

wearing everything I had getting carried down on a donkey

Then things started getting real rough.  I woke up that night multiple times really nauseas.  I hate puking, so I wouldn't let myself do it, plus that would mean getting out of my sleeping bag in my boxers in 30 degree weather.  Diarrhea in the morning... I did manage to get my pack on and walk the 2.5 hours and up 350m to Lobuche.  Luckily the South Africans were looking out for us and they reserved us a room at the nice lodge in town before it got all booked up.   I made it up there, was feeling okay, ate a snickers (first thing of the day) and had some tea.  Then it is a bit of a blur, but I got real nauseas, started puking what little I had in my stomach followed by blood, and then realized I needed some real medical attention.  Luckily there is a western doctor in Pheriche, and luckily I had Nico to help me out here as she organized a porter and a donkey to carry my sorry ass back down a couple villages to where I could get some help.  US$110 for a donkey that did not want to move.  The porter dragged it down the hill with my bag on his back for a few hours... Got to the clinic where they gave me some meds and I was finally able to keep some water down again.  Apparently in the mountains you'll see 3-5 helicopters a DAY medivacing people out.  Mostly due to altitude sickness, but the second most popular reason is dehydration due to diarrhea.  Thankfully I was not one of them.  Luckily it was a classic food poisoning and the next day I was eating again, and the day after that we were back on our way to Lobuche.

The weather was finally starting to clear up and we were on our way once again.  It was way easier getting up those hills the second time.  We managed to get into Lobuche by 10am, among the first into town to find that the only room available was a single bed for the 2 of us.  This is where it starts to get tough being an independent trekker.  In Lobuche and Gorak Shep there just isnt a lot of accommodation and it all gets booked out by the big tour groups way in advance.  By this time all the people who were stuck in Kathmandu for 4 days due to cloudy weather have now caught up to us.  Anyway, we went on a little walk before it started to snow that afternoon to officially break 5000m for the first time!  And of course we got a glimpse of what was to come...

Knowing that Gorak Shep was tight, we set off at 6am the following morning in the gloomy clouds.  Amazingly though as we got up even higher, it started to break a bit for some of the most stunning views I could have possible imagined.  It was pretty amazing.  Then even though we were the first ones into town that morning, the first, there was not a single room available.  F'n tour groups.  At least there was some open dorm space, which I think is where the porters usually sleep, but at least it was a bed indoors.

Later that day, amongst the snow and clouds, we set off to basecamp.  It was really neat to see things like the Khumbu Ice Fall and finally Mt. Everest poking out above the Nupse ridge.  It was like a dream finally being there.  Standing at 5364m, 50% oxygen and looking at the largest mountain on Earth!  Then we were brought back to reality as more and more people piled into this "tourist" base camp.  (the real one was about another 30 mins walk, but there were no expeditions at the moment...)  We joined some crazy guys from this UK group that we had talked to the past couple nights, who had brought up whiskey and cigars to celebrate their accomplishment.  A bunch of us even posed for a "topless basecamp" photo, freezing our asses off - but I still need to get a good photo from one of them from that.

We finally made it to basecamp!

Then that night (actually began way before that night) Nico started to get sick again.  The "Khumbu cough".  The air is so cold and dry up there that almost everyone gets a bit of a dry cough.  Except for Nico it just kept getting worse and became rattly and constant.  That evening she even developed a fever.  Although luckily after starting on some 5 year old amoxicillin that I had been carrying around, and 11 hours of sleep, she woke up feeling a bit better.  And what a wonderful day it was.  We walked up to Kala Patthar, with the best weather one could possibly hope for.  Finally!  the weather has turned and it was clear all day.  Kala Patthar is a 5600m/18500ft high mountain that is a dwarf compared to those surrounding it.  There are mountains still rising about 2 miles above us!  The scale is so difficult to comprehend that everything just looks so close even though it is still miles away.  All the shit that we put up with getting here, was worth it for this:

Down that valley is where we came from the day before

After spending nearly 1 hour up there in beautiful clear calm weather, we finally started down and then head all the way back to Pheriche.  Now that we are not limited by how high we can go, we actually made it all the way back to Lukla in 3 days.  (it took over 10 to get on top of KP from Lukla).  Every step forward we lost altitude and gained strength.  Now even at Pheriche, ~14000ft, we felt great and could breathe easily... except for Nico's persistent cough.

Then back at Lukla, on the 25th of October (after starting this adventure on the 1st) we finally flew back to Kathmandu.  It is a sketchy little airport with tiny little planes, but it was really awesome to zip by above the passes that we had walked over in the beginning of the month from Jiri.  The plane actually follows the same path back, and what we walked in 8 days, we flew over in 10 mintes.

The Lukla Airport

It was two totally different worlds going from the Jiri section to the section above Namche.  Once above Namche you are with the crowds of big package tour groups, food prices immediately triple, people are less friendly, and the Khumbu valley might be the most germ and disease ridden place in the world except maybe behind Kathmandu... yay mass tourism.  But everyone is really there for the mountains which truly are spectacular.  It was tough when we could not see any mountains for a while due to the crappy weather, but once that broke we were so lucky to be amongst the highest areas on the planet.

Sunset from Gorak Shep

Once back in Kathmandu it was really nice to finally take a shower again (too cold to do it above Namche, so 13 days or so without...) and do some laundry.  And then get ready for our next adventure!

Jay, one of my best friends from Bucknell, has just arrived yesterday and will be joining us for the next few weeks.  We've had about 2 days to recover (enough, right?) and in less than 8 hours we'll all be getting on a bus to go out to the beginning of the Annapurna Circuit to do it all again!  So, don't expect to hear from me until, oh, say the 14th or 15th of November!