Nepal Entry #1, wow!

see all photos »

I'm off to go trekking on the Annapurna Circet. Will be away from a computer for the next three weeks, or a bit longer. I love the mountians, and to be here is fulfilling a dream I almost didn't allow myself to have. I look forward to sharing with you when I return.

cheers, dean

March 29th, 2002 I'm back, but only briefly. In two days I leave for the Everest Base Camp trek, a long time dream of mine. I will be out of touch for another 2 1/2 weeks, which will put me back into Kathmandu around April 18th or so. When I return, I will have a week of waiting to get my India visa, so I will catch you all up at that point!

cheers, dean

April 14th, 2002

Well, here I am in Nepal, Kathmandu to be precise. Just the name Kathmandu stikes up images of far away exotic things. In addition to the fact that Nepal is home to 8 of the 10 highest mountains in the world, Nepal has been able to capture the hearts of adventuros types for a long time. But first I must back up for a moment, just getting to Nepal was a small adventure. Climbing onto my plane in Bangkok, I flew Bangladesh Airlines, the cheapest ticket available. It included an overnight stay in Bangladesh. A bit exhausted from the last few weeks, I fell asleep straight away, even before the plane left the runway. So, when we landed, I rubbed my eyes, grabbed my day pack, and followed the crowd leaving the plane. As I left someone spoke something to me in broken English, I just nodded, because I had no idea what city we were supposed to land in, I just knew it should be somewhere in Bangladesh. So, I headed off with the crowd, got in line for immagration and started filling out the entry card. I thought to myself, ' how strange, the card says Mynamar, they must be using some left over cards'. Well, a few minutes went by as I moved closer to the entry post when into the building several crew members came dashing in, looking for me. I had gotten off at the wrong country, we were in Burma, not Bangladesh. Whoops. The Burmese soldiers were quite amuzed by it all, as they sat there chatting with me, eager to practice their English. The Bangladeah Airline folks gave me dirty looks as I returned to the plane, probably because it created a nasty paperwork error for them. I just smiled, slipped into my seat and fell back asleep, trusting the next time they'ld wake me up when it was time to leave. When I bought the ticket, no one mentioned the several stops before our final one in Bangladesh. Or the fact that they would confiscate my passport and keep it at some airport desk, during my overnight stay, but none the less, I made it to Nepal.

Flying in that morning gave me goose bumps, it was as if I was flying through the heavens and the Gods themselves had come out to welcome me into their residence. Majestic clouds, woven with monumental mountains greeted me into the next step of my journey. And this awoke the sleeping dream of adventure to explore the worlds highest mountains. I have never been under the dillusion of wanting to climb Mt. Everest, coupled with the fact that it would cost 20-50 thousand dollars, which is totally crazy, many peolpe die up there and the latter seems to be a strong enough deter. My dream was to go to the Base Camp, that would be enough to quench my hunger, at least for now.

I did two treks in Nepal. The first trek was called the Annapurna Circut. This route covers a large loop around the Annapurna Mountains. For this trek I was joined by a friend living in Paris, Stephen Camron. I first met Stephen in San Diego several years ago. He was a great hiking partner, in better shape then me, and walked much faster. In addition, he's a doctor, so he could pronounce me dead if needed. :) Leaving Kathmandu early one morning, we set off with no guide, no porter, just a map that had hillarious side bars; 'stone steps', 'area of bandits, hike in group', ect. .....

Taking the bus as far as possible, riding on the roof at times and ducking under tree branches, we eventually got on the trail at 3 PM. Finally. The trek is 350 kilometers long, some people do it in as little as 14 days, why, I have no idea, others take up to 28 days. While we were on the trek, a race around the circut was going on, they did it in 9 days. They were mostly French, which explained a lot.

As I walked along the trek, I couldn't stop smiling, almost giddish over the fact that I was trekking through the Himals. It was such a distant dream of mine to come see the Himilayians, I had to keep pinching myself and saying out loud, 'I'm in the Himilayian mountains, I'm in the Himilayian mountains.' Each day we would hike 4-6 hours, making our way higher and higher, the scenary ever changing. Moving from tropics to Alpine, to just plain cold. One of the many things that struck me was the abundance of butterflies, the shapes, sizes and colors were endless. At times it was like walking through a moving garden. Little messengers of encouragement. As we moved higher, the temperatures moved in the opposite direction. Warm sunny days and cold clear nights. A community of people began to form on the trek. Throughout the day we would leap frog each other and generally stop for lunch or stay in the same locations. Some we got to know well enough that when we saw them in a lodge, we would stay somewhere else. On the way to Thorung La Pass, we started trekking with Ami and Ren, a young couple from Wisconsin. It turned out that they loved cribbage, so at night and throughout the day we would play. Sometimes for hours. Generally you wake up at 6AM, on the trail by 7 and arrive at your next distination by early afternoon, to beat the afternoon clouds and potential rain/snow. This would leave large gaps of time to fill, with no TV, just a book or cards or chatting. I've never had such an easy time waking up at 6:30, and those who know me well understand that this is a big deal, but then again, I've never regurally gone to bed at 7PM either. Meals usually consisted of Dahlbat, a rice and beans combo, with a few veggies on the side. It was what the locals ate, so it was generally safe to eat and fresh.

One night Stephen and I were laying on our beds when we heard some machine gun fire in the village where we were staying. Nepal is currently having some internal political problems, we were aware of it, but weren't concerned, until then. It starteled us both, and we proceeded to have a conversation about an escape plan if needed. Stephen voted for the bushes in the hills, I voted for the closest trail that led out of town ASAP. Thankfully we never had to implement either plan. We encountered a number of army personel on the trek, but never felt unsafe, just a little uneasy.

At one point on the trek we crossesd over a mountain pass called Thorung La Pass. Sitting at a mere 17,765 ft, this day would be the greatest challenge of the trek. Altitude becomes a real concern, and precautions are needed to avoid having problems and potential dangers. This pass is 3,000 ft higher then Mt Rainer of Washington State, which dominates the horizon of the Northwest. The night before we assended the pass, I got sick with a stomach bug. This meant I would begin the trek dehydrated, because it was coming out the back door faster then I could refill it through the front. Combined with air that is majoriely short on oxygen, each step became an effort, as if molassis had replaced my blood. Slowly, but surely, I worked my way to the pass. Waking up at 5AM and leaving at 6AM, we began the 10 hour day, as mornings first light began to hit the tips of the highest mountains. Climbing through snow, over ice, for a brief moment you were allowed into the realm of another world, where the God's call home. A place both breath takingly beautiful and harshly unforgiving. As far as you could see, it was mounatins, snow, ice and rock. The vegatation had long stopped on the trail, leaving only the hardiest life forms to fight it out with the elements. No more butterflies.

My heart was pounding, I wish I could say totally from excitment, but mostly from the shear effort being put forth to get to the top. And to the top we did make it, me in the rear of course. Late morning came, and so did the obligatory photos of reaching the top. From there it was almost all down hill, 6 hours worth of knee pounding down hill trekking. My commrades, moving much quicker then I, jetted ahead of me at their own pace. At one point I was moving extra slow, when I came upon two eastern block European woman, stopped along the trail peeing. They were huge, weight lifters in my mind, so huge that my effort to ignore them failed, they greeted my arrival. Soon they were walking up from behind my slow moving effort and asked if I was alright. Then one of them said, 'yuv vollow us, ve'll take care of vu'. Yikes, I thought, they're going to turn me into a Eastern Block Sandwich, no thanks. Suddenly I felt better and sped off down the trail. Eventually I came crawling into our next guest house, exhausted to the core, but still alive. The trek was constanty changing. On this side of the pass, everything changed again, villages, climate, vegatation. Much more dry. It was more Tibetian. For two days we walked in a river bed, blowing dust in our faces, no shower, just dirty. After awhile you get used to it, but when that shower did come and hot springs, wow. I suspect everyone was happy about that.

Through out the days, Stephen and I discussed the merrits of trekking. The value of doing physical movement, outside in such a beautiful place. How things get boiled down to the basics in a world that is striving to be so complex. It is in these moments that I have gained clarity on what's really important. What really counts. And it is in these moments the burden becomes lighter and more precious. Staying true to your own heart becomes easier, with fewer distractions to cloud the issue. These moments also have a spiritual dimension to them. As a German woman named Claudia said to me,' I don't generally believe in God, but when I come here, I feel like I'm a bit closer to the heavens.' And it's true, you do feel closer to the pearly gates here, at the roof top of the world.

Our final days were spent walking through rhododendra forests. The red floral tree tops, filled at times with black faced and white bearded Langur monkies, with fresh white snow on the ground, this gave it an Asian Christmas feeling. And within a blink, 18 days, we were finished. The quiet of the mountains replaced by honking horns, engines spueing out fumes, and the chatter of everyone trying to sell you something you don't need or want.

Back in Kathmandu, just in time for the 'Holi' festiville. The Holi festiville's purpose is to welcome the upcoming rainy season, after the long dry season. From my prespective, it looked more like an excuse to have a country wide water balloon fight. Reunited with the Nolan family that I had met In Vietnam, we set out with Lucy and Jay in tow to see what was up with 'Holi'. From windows and roof tops, buckets of water would come crashing down onto unsuspecting people below. It was like moving through an obstacle course, where you could trust no-one. Added to all of his were the 'colors', red, orange, and yellow chalk dust that they would rub all over you and especially your face. It made for a very festive and colorful day, one that most people sit inside watching, safe and dry.

After 'Holi', I said goodbye to Stephen, he was off for Paris again. I bunked up with a couple of Australians we me at the end of the trek, and began the preperation for my trek up to the Everest base camp, my dream.

cheers, Dean :)